StartseiteGruppenForumMehrZeitgeist
Web-Site durchsuchen
Diese Seite verwendet Cookies für unsere Dienste, zur Verbesserung unserer Leistungen, für Analytik und (falls Sie nicht eingeloggt sind) für Werbung. Indem Sie LibraryThing nutzen, erklären Sie dass Sie unsere Nutzungsbedingungen und Datenschutzrichtlinie gelesen und verstanden haben. Die Nutzung unserer Webseite und Dienste unterliegt diesen Richtlinien und Geschäftsbedingungen.

Ergebnisse von Google Books

Auf ein Miniaturbild klicken, um zu Google Books zu gelangen.

Lädt ...

The Variable Man (1953)

von Philip K. Dick

MitgliederRezensionenBeliebtheitDurchschnittliche BewertungDiskussionen
363679,911 (3.8)Keine
The Terran system is growing and expanding all the time. But an old and corrupt Centaurian Empire is holding Terra down, as it encircles the Terran system and will not let the humans grow out of their current empire. For this reason Terra is at war with Proxima Centauri and is trying to find a way of breaking free from the Centaurian's hold upon them. Eventually Terra comes up with a concept for a bomb, called Icarus, that Proxima can not defend against. Then the odds start to side with Terra, and Terra prepares to fight with this new-found technology. The only problem being is that Icarus does not yet work which prevents Terra from using it against Proxima Centuari. This is where Thomas Cole, known as The Variable Man, comes in. Cole is a man from the past, from the time just before the First World War. He is brought into the present (or future depending on perspective) as an accident via a Time Bubble that was used for research about the past. He escapes from the authority in the future and spends a lot of time running from them afterwards. It is, however, discovered that this man has a certain genius to fix things and make things work. This is because he comes out of a period of time when humans had a natural genius and an ability to invent things and to solve problems. Read the novel to find out what happens with the Variable Man and the war between Terra and Proxima Centauri.… (mehr)
Keine
Lädt ...

Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest.

Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch.

I read the first two of these stories before I went to University. The titular tale stayed with me ever since.
Finished the other three this month, all very enjoyable PKD fare. It may have taken 41 years to finish the book, but it was worth it in the end.
(Also...what a cover image!) ( )
  CraigGoodwin | Nov 28, 2023 |
The Variable Man is a fascinating tale about 22nd century earth. Society evolved to the point where each person specialises in one task. This makes human behaviour statistically predictable. To assist the war effort against the Proxima Centauri empire, facts are fed into a computer, the SRB, which prints out the statistical ratio of victory. That is until the unpredictable Variable Man enters the equation. Suddenly the SRB is unable to give a meaningful answer. The story follows the events around the search for this Variable Man, so that the chance of victory can be restored, and that the war can be won.

The story takes you through a variety of places, but it really shines through the personalities of the characters. You really feel for, or hate them. The story contains a good measure of action, and an abundance of futuristic ideas - including faster than light travel, force fields and time travel.

Highly recommended for readers of science fiction. ( )
  wez | Sep 15, 2021 |
“Commissioner, it had been changed. A lot of the wiring was different. Moved around. Relays connected differently. Some parts were missing. New parts had been jury rigged out of old. Then I discovered the thing that made me call Security. The vidsender—it really worked.”
“Worked?”
“You see, it never was anything more than a toy. With a range of a few city blocks. So the kids could call back and forth from their rooms. Like a sort of portable vidscreen. Commissioner, I tried out the vidsender, pushing the call button and speaking into the microphone. I—I got a ship of the line. A battleship, operating beyond Proxima Centaurus—over eight light years away. As far out as the actual vidsenders operate. Then I called Security. Right away.”


The story concerns a man from in the early 20th century who arrives in the future driving a horse-drawn cart to the shock of the scientists who have accidentally scooped him up, and his surprising effect on the computers that calculate the odds of victory in Terra's ongoing war against the Centaurans. It's entirely plot-driven and you never get to see through the man from the past's eyes or really know what he is like, you don't even find out his name until quite a long way through, but it's an interesting story and I enjoyed the conflict between the scientist in his lair under the Ural Mountains and the short-sighted bureaucrats who can only see the man from the past's arrival as a menace.

I listened to the Librivox audio-book of this early novella by Philip K. Dick on the SFFaudio podcast. ( )
1 abstimmen isabelx | May 16, 2019 |
keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Du musst dich einloggen, um "Wissenswertes" zu bearbeiten.
Weitere Hilfe gibt es auf der "Wissenswertes"-Hilfe-Seite.
Gebräuchlichster Titel
Originaltitel
Alternative Titel
Ursprüngliches Erscheinungsdatum
Figuren/Charaktere
Wichtige Schauplätze
Wichtige Ereignisse
Zugehörige Filme
Epigraph (Motto/Zitat)
Widmung
Erste Worte
Zitate
Letzte Worte
Hinweis zur Identitätsklärung
Die Informationen stammen von der englischen "Wissenswertes"-Seite. Ändern, um den Eintrag der eigenen Sprache anzupassen.
This work is the short story The Variable Man, do not combine with the collection
Verlagslektoren
Werbezitate von
Originalsprache
Anerkannter DDC/MDS
Anerkannter LCC

Literaturhinweise zu diesem Werk aus externen Quellen.

Wikipedia auf Englisch

Keine

The Terran system is growing and expanding all the time. But an old and corrupt Centaurian Empire is holding Terra down, as it encircles the Terran system and will not let the humans grow out of their current empire. For this reason Terra is at war with Proxima Centauri and is trying to find a way of breaking free from the Centaurian's hold upon them. Eventually Terra comes up with a concept for a bomb, called Icarus, that Proxima can not defend against. Then the odds start to side with Terra, and Terra prepares to fight with this new-found technology. The only problem being is that Icarus does not yet work which prevents Terra from using it against Proxima Centuari. This is where Thomas Cole, known as The Variable Man, comes in. Cole is a man from the past, from the time just before the First World War. He is brought into the present (or future depending on perspective) as an accident via a Time Bubble that was used for research about the past. He escapes from the authority in the future and spends a lot of time running from them afterwards. It is, however, discovered that this man has a certain genius to fix things and make things work. This is because he comes out of a period of time when humans had a natural genius and an ability to invent things and to solve problems. Read the novel to find out what happens with the Variable Man and the war between Terra and Proxima Centauri.

Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden.

Buchbeschreibung
Zusammenfassung in Haiku-Form

Aktuelle Diskussionen

Keine

Beliebte Umschlagbilder

Gespeicherte Links

Bewertung

Durchschnitt: (3.8)
0.5
1
1.5
2 2
2.5
3 3
3.5 2
4 9
4.5
5 4

Bist das du?

Werde ein LibraryThing-Autor.

 

Über uns | Kontakt/Impressum | LibraryThing.com | Datenschutz/Nutzungsbedingungen | Hilfe/FAQs | Blog | LT-Shop | APIs | TinyCat | Nachlassbibliotheken | Vorab-Rezensenten | Wissenswertes | 204,503,157 Bücher! | Menüleiste: Immer sichtbar