I discovered this book in the early 1960's at the time I was mostly sustaining myself on Heinlein and his more upbeat proliferation of classic science fiction. The centerpiece of "Cold Equations" is actually not the title work, but the included novel "The Survivors", included in this volume of Godwin's works. Known in the early 60's as "Space Prison", this novel relates the 200 year long saga of a group of humans relegated to a planet after being attacked by barbarians during a space journey near the planet Ragnarok. Fully half of the thousands of colonists aboard this ship are relegated to this planet, declared uninhabitable by prior explorers (the other half is taken into slavery). Ragnarok is noted for its 1.5 G gravity, and the collection of ferocious beasts inhabiting it. On the first night alone, 200 of the colonists are killed. At the low point, the colony is reduced to only 49 individuals, before the group finally learns to adapt to the harsh conditions and to thrive and start to grow in numbers again.

The novel is a mixture of desperation and total hopelessness coupled with incredible yet believable examples of humankind's efforts to survive and succeed under incredible adversity. The story is very haunting, and finally ends when descendants of the original group of colonists escape from the planet.

I can think of only a handful of science fiction books that have stayed with me 40 years later after only a single reading, and I have occasionally looked for a copy, only finding old collectibles as a source. I could not have been more pleased when I found it had finally been reprinted only last month: I ordered it on the spot and await reading it again with great anticipation and sharing it with my 17 year old son.