Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780517554333
ISBN number: 051755433X
Label: Crown Publishing Co.
Manufacturer: Crown Publishing Co.
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 205
Printing Date: September 05, 1984
Publishing house: Crown Publishing Co.
Release Date: September 05, 1984
Sale Popularity Level: 1110876
Studio: Crown Publishing Co.
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
I read this book when it was very first published and have never forgotten the plot. I just recently re-read it and found it just as absorbing as the very first time! The vision and scope of the author place this book on a short list of masterworks! An exciting narration covers such concepts as multiple identities, time travel, superhuman evolution and carnival freaks. I would not want to harm the reader's enjoyment in unraveling the mysteries of the plot by revealing more here. Suffice it to say that Charles Harness is an acknowledged master of storytelling skills and unlimited imagination.
Rated by buyers 
-
The Paradox Men is a very engrossing read. I, of course, love to read what's been written on the covers of books (not just the pictures, though if the pictures are cool enough, they still get me!), and this one proclaimed itself to be a masterpiece. And after reading all the introductions by various important people I've never really heard of (other than Asimov), I had pretty high expectations for this work.
Well, it almost lived up to them. I was engrossed and really had problems putting it down (I really shouldn't stay up that late to read if I have to work the subsequent morning...). Harness's pacing is excellent, almost manic at times, and I really was becoming fascinated with the characters as they grew, evolved and were revealed.
I guess the finale was anti-climactic to me. I had kinda of guessed it already, but wasn't sure if things were going to really play out that way. I think a twist away from that almost inevitable ending would have been a little more brilliant, or may just more intriguing. [spoiler alert!] And the move for the primary character to all of a sudden super-evolve (or whatever you want to call it) seemed a little over the top for me. And using this leap in evolution to then paint an almost poignant ending seemed a little too much in my mind. Almost had an incredible conclusion, but just missed it.
Would I recommend it? Yes, kind of. Mainly to individuals who enjoy sci-fi and also enjoy thinking about the concepts and sociological analysis many sci-fi writers engage in within their stories. I think this is an excellent example of science fiction in it's early years - and an extremely fine example of that.
I would still rather sit down with an Asimov in hand. Now there is an example of an incredible writer!
Rated by buyers 
-
A rolliking good ride, exquisitely written, engrossing, huge character development- this is simply a good story. Paradox Men will leave you breathless and wanting more. Harness engages in some very interesting temporal philosophy, as he looks at when things went wrong. While some of the resolution is predictable, it is also exactly what must be within the world view of the story. Other bits of the ending will never be what you expect. This myth is complete.
The book however falls short on the science part of science fiction. The basic reasoning behind why events occurs is presented in incredibly complex physics equations. (Yes, there are actually equations in the book.) Either they are technobabble, or they are so complex that only a physicist could actually follow them. I do however know that the biology presented is very off. Harness makes a couple very common errors of laymen when it comes to evolution, arguing that it is possible to find some sort of deus ex machina to transport a person to a higher state of evolution. Similarily it is possible to "de-evolve".
Yet evolution doesn't have higher or lower states of evolution. It simply has organisms adapted to their environment. We are no higher (biologically speaking) than an anemone or an amoeba. We are adapted to different environments. This means that, in order to change, there must be different environments and there must be a good deal of time to adapt. We never "de-evolve", any more than a whale did when returning to the sea- we become re-adapted, but with very different structures. And most importantly, an individual never, never evolves. Populations evolve. Species evolve. Individuals compete and give birth and die.
Unfortunately, Paradox Men is based on these false scientific premises. If you can get past them, I highly recommend the book, for simply being a very good story.
Rated by buyers -
The Paradox Men has become a classic in the SF field, for good reason. It was very first published as "Flight Into Yesterday", in the May 1949 Startling Stories. This edition is slightly expanded and revised.
The Paradox Men is still Harness's most famous and most respected novel. The plot is complicated, but consistent, logical, and thematically sound. The characters are two-dimensional but interesting and involving. The action is well-done, and the scientific ideas are sometimes philosophical and thoughtful, and at other times wild, implausible, but still engaging. The basic story is of a Thief, Alar, who has appeared in Imperial America 5 years prior to the action of the story, with no memory of his past or identity. The Thieves work underground against the repressive society, using tech invented by their mysterious, dead, founder, Kennicot Muir. The key piece of Thief tech is armour which protects them against high velocity weapons (like projectile weapons), but not against swords and knives. Thus fencing is again a major skill. (Herbert swiped this notion for Dune, of course.) At the time of the action, various threads are converging: the plans of Imperial America to attack its Eurasian enemy, the Toynbee society's attempts to avoid the continuing historical cycle of civilizations rising and falling (they believe that the coming war will bring Toynbee Civilization 21 to an end: the subsequent one will be Toynbee 22, hence Harness' original title (never used on a published version): Toynbee Twenty-Two), the completion of an experimental FTL starship, the relationship between the evil leaders of Imperial America and Keiris Muir, the enslaved widow of Kennicot Muir, and her attraction to Alar, the predictions of the computer enhanced human called The Meganet Mind (or the Microfilm Mind in the original). What a horrible sentence: but trying to summarize Harness can do that to you. Everything comes to a head with a trip to the surface of the Sun, and then a much stranger trip ...
I recommend it highly. It seems comparable in many ways to its near contemporary Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination: Harness probably had a more original mind than Bester's, and his themes seem a bit more ambitious, but he really couldn't write with him -- and I think it is because of the writing (both prose and pace) that the manic energy of the Bester book is more successfully sustained. Still, The Paradox Men remains a powerful and interesting novel, and such scenes as the final selfless act of Keiris are unmatched in SF.
Rated by buyers -
'The Paradox Men' seems almost to be the Brigadoon of SF. It gets republished about every 15 years or so, generally with a foreword by some reputable author saying how great it is, and what a shame that it has been out of print. And they are quite right.
'The Paradox Men' is quite a short novel, but it simply bursts with ideas, like Van Vogt, but Harness is much better at integrating the diverse strands into a coherent and wonderous tapestry. Imperial America (remember this was written about 50 years before George the Worst oozed onto the scene), Toynbee's ideas on cyclic history, the re-appearance of swords for personal defence, debt slavery, sociology on a solar energy mining station. a ship that circumnavigated the universe(accumulating sufficient mass to move galaxies), and evolutionary change. Operatically, there are masks, hidden identities and torture. We sweep between the highs(a ball at the Imperial Court) and lows(bond slavery). Approaching the end, World War III (or perhaps IV or V) is happening, yet Harness still manages a hope fulled end. The writing is also that of a literate craftsman, well-versed in the use of such tools. (Harness was a lawyer and writes well). I think he was a patent lawyer, so his knowldge of science is good enough for sf, but he brings a sure grasp of the humanities to the mix as well.
"The Paradox Men" should be considered essential in a well rounded SF collection. Besides, it is just such a good read.
Find other books like this one:
