Historian Frederick J. Pohl shakes up the common conceptions of the man known to the world as Christopher Columbus in this biography, published in 1986. If you haven't studied Columbus since this time, you may not know Columbus at all.

Pohl submits that the man who sailed under the name Christopher Columbus was born Juan Colon on the island of Majorca, son of a Jewish mother and an absent, dispossessed nobleman. As a result, Colon spent his life seeking the kind of power that had been denied the father he never knew. Convinced that finding a shorter trade route to India would mean wealth and power to its discoverer, Colon began a long public relations campaign to thus cash in on his abilities as navigator and ship's captain. Unable to get the Portugese to finance his expedition, he was forced to turn to Ferdinand and Isabel of Spain, but, since his family was still outlawed from a failed revolt years earlier, he was forced to assume the identity of a Genoese merchant whom he knew had died at sea: Cristoforo Colombo. Pohl describes Colon's career in fascinating detail, including all of the so-called voyages of discovery, and even goes into the successes of Americo Vespucci at some length.

While it is not this reviewer's intention to pass critical judgement on Pohl's scholarship, the very outrageousness of some of these claims inclines one to wonder about their veracity. The notes at the end of the book clearly show that there are and always have been many unanswered questions about Columbus, and the net effect of this book may be more confusing (and sensationalist) than enlightening. The first couple of chapters weren't particularly good; the story was disjointed and episodic, and the positioning of the maps further on in the book, combined with the subject's unfamiliar name, make this section disconcertingly cryptic: "Where is Majorca? Who is this Juan Colon? Where in blazes is Castile? Why aren't we talking about Columbus?" While the solutions to these questions are eventually presented (in one form or another) Pohl should probably have been more forthright from the beginning instead of trying to spring surprises on his readers. After all, this book is being read in a country where three out of ten students can't find Canada on a map, let alone Navarre. All this aside, Pohl presents us with an entertaining account of one man's extraordinary life in relatively simple, straight-forward language. If you're interested in this period of history, and you're ready for a radically different viewpoint on this famous explorer, Pohl's book is worth discovering.

A soft scince fiction look at how immortality would affect us. Like any science this one isn't perfect and anomalies crop up. The part that truly captivated me was more how the background characters dealt with being immortal than than how he dealt w/ impending death. To be able to change jobs from doctor to engineer just because you want to. Or to learn the ancient greek dialect that Oedipus was originally written in because you have the time. That gave the story more depth and feeling than what it would've had.

The first of a trilogy (the other books are Undersea Quest and Undersea City) of SF "juveniles", is in the fine tradition of Heinlein's early works for younger readers that seem to have set the tone for this type of science-fiction novel. Written in the mid-50s, the books' setting was probably inspired by the voyage of the nuclear-powered US submarine "Nautilus". It's a world in which the oceans are dotted with large underwater domed cities and undersea vessels ply the traderoutes between them or engage in harvesting and mining the vast wealth of the sea.

Our young hero is James Eden a cadet at the Sub-sea Academy, the service school for the undersea fleet. The Edens are a family famous in the realm of undersea exploration, since his uncle, Stewart invented "edenite", the material that allows ships and structures to withstand gigantic underwater pressures. The Edens have their rivals, once of which figures prominently in this book.

In a spare 150 pages, James has to outwit his enemies, solve the mystery of his uncle's disappearance, and try to keep himself from being tossed out the academy. It's pure and simple fun, an engagingly written (I sense more of Pohl at work than Williamson) adventure for young adults or older readers who want to capture a bit of that nostaglia that comes from the type of books they read when they were young.

The book consists of a series of interwoven short stories showing the development of a future New York City from a slum into a Utopia. The characters are interesting and memorable.

The idea behind this novel struck me as quite original, innovative, and promising. Four couples are selected to journey to a newly-discovered planet (dubbed Alpha-Aleph) orbiting Alpha Centauri and eventually return to earth as heroes. In actuality, there is no planet Alpha-Aleph to be explored, and the astronauts are not going to be coming back to earth at all. The man behind the mission is a German named Knefhausen, and he serves the President of the United States. There is nothing united about America, though; the president controls the area around Washington, D.C., while the rest of the nation is split up into fiercely divided autonomies controlled by diverse factions. Knefhausen has somehow convinced the astronauts that recreational advanced math is the most joyous way to spend an otherwise twenty-plus year space journey-the plan is for the astronauts to make some gigantic scientific discoveries which can be transmitted back to earth and put to use by the president in a bid to unite the country and restore true power to the presidency. The astronauts do indeed make some great theoretical and engineering leaps, but their interests and activities quickly turn toward carnal, philosophical, and other pursuits practically useless for Knefhausen's purposes. When the explorers discover that they have been hoodwinked into undertaking an unethical forced suicide mission, Knefhausen's plans go distinctly awry.

The increasingly tawdry (as well as ridiculously unbelievable) nature of the astronauts' accomplishments quickly neutralizes the interesting ideas Pohl puts forth. These eight space pioneers accomplish some amazing things on their own, yet carnal pursuits become so prevalent that their offspring begin having children of their own by the age of six or eight. Pohl did create opportunities in which he could have resurrected the integrity of the story, but he did not take advantage of them in my mind. The ending is not so much a climax as a gradual declension which neither satisfied nor impressed me. I really like the premise of this novel, even though it seems rather foolish to think that a long period of forced isolation is all one needs in order to perform mathematical and scientific miracles (not to mention the fact that advanced math is hardly conducive to anything remotely resembling recreation). The idea hardly even applies here because the astronauts are increasingly at each other's throats, and the addition of dozens of children inside the small spaceship produces a situation which I would call the exact opposite of isolation. There are a couple of interesting mathematical concepts buried in the text, but I would be hard pressed to give this book the label of hard science fiction. Ultimately, this potentially compelling story goes nowhere and then dejectedly shambles off to the side at the end.

I read this novel nearly 2 decades ago. While only a vague recollection of the plot remains with me, the sense of wonder I experienced from Pohl's idea of a "recreational math" program designed to provoke genius left a lasting impression.

One scene in particular stands out. The supergenius crew has made several revolutionary engineering advances (among them controlled fusion), but rather than just send them back to Earth, convert the document describing them to a very large number (via a real technique, "Godelization"), then, ingeniously and intuitively, rewrite the number as a short arithmetic expression: (3.875*12^26)! + 1973^854 +331^852 + 17^2008 + 3^9606 + 2^88 - 78.

The idea that such a thing is possible contradicts information theory, and has provoked some interesting discussion among number theorists, who generally agree that it is not. That the original document was "tweaked" slightly provides just enough of a loophole that I've yet to make up my mind about it.

If you're a Math lover, even if you dislike science fiction, I highly recommend you find and read this book. Fred Pohl clearly loved Math, too.

A cute, not-very-long novel about a journey to Alpha Centauri by 8 of Earth's best and brightest. Catch: the President has agreed to use them as guinea pigs for a genius-making experiment. They are sent to visit a planet that doesn't exist, knowing they can't return and will all die in space. But, on the journey, they will be forced to become super geniuses, and perhaps solve Earth's problems as a side-product! Silly, but somehow, Pohl pulls it off convincingly. Pohl's English is sometimes quaint (e.g., 'Januarys'), but his obvious attempt to study hard science and put it in his sci-fi in a popular form is commendable. As a work of literature ... forget it; cut-out characters, made to serve the sci-fi.

"O Pioneer" tells the story of Evesham Giyt, a futuristic hacker, who decides to immigrate to the new frontier, a newly inhabited planet named Tupelo. One thing Evesham wasn't aware of when he came to the planet - it is NOT empty. The planet is already inhabited by 5 other sentient races, each with its own characteristics. In addition, it seems there is some kind of a conspiracy going on the planet, and there's no one able to stop it - except Evesham!
This is a real cute book. Very relaxing and enjoying. The aliens are really a delight to read about, so diverse - yet very consistent. But the bad thing about the story - it's very predictable from first to last page - there's no catch or anything. And the story gets a bit slow at times - which is annoying, since the book is very short anyway (~250 pages). Nevertheless, it's still worth a read to any sci-fi fan, if only for the aliens. One last comment, I am a Star Trek fan, and I'm really getting tired that all aliens there are nearly identical in appearance and behavior.. this book shows there are more possibilities to this often underexplored genre.

I have never read Frederik Pohl before, but then I noticed "O Pioneer!" sitting on a shelf. I bought it and enjoyed it. The nonchalance of the main character is very humorous, and the aliens described through a human's eyes is funny. The sloth-like aliens were particularly enlightening, and the 'sex' party scene was engaging. I guess I'll look into more Frederik Pohl books, but this review is only from the standpoint of a one-time reader of Pohl. Well, take a lookee see at "O Pioneer!" if you like irreverant humor in sci-fi writing.

I enjoyed this book. It appealed to my bizzare sense of humour. I agree with the previous review that the plot was a bit predictable, but I thought it had a couple of interesting twists. The characters were ok but not out of the ordinary. It was a bit difficult to get into at the start but I found that I was fairly involved at the end. I would advise anyone that it is definitely worth a look.

I picked this book up because it was (co)authored by Isaac Asimov. But even though it is published under the names of Asimov and Pohl, the book definitely does NOT read in the style of Asimov. It is a disappointment for those looking for the usual 'wit and charm' of the old Doctor. 'Our Angry Earth' lacks emotion as the author(s) dryly present point after point on the diverse ways in which we are abusing our planet (i.e., toxic emissions, acid rain, deforestation, global warming, etc.). Hence, the title. Though much of the content may be (and probably is) accurate from a scientific perspective, the authors present it in such a way that you can't help but feel you're listening to a street-corner doomsday prophet. Very unconvincing. Finally, in the early sections of the book, we are lead to believe the authors will propose 'workable' solutions to our environmental ills. Yet, by the end of the book, we are presented with solutions that are nothing new and questionably workable (writing letters, forming environmental clubs, getting involved in politics). Are we polluting our planet? Unquestionably, yes. Have the authors galvanized us to action? Unfortunately, no

Every once in a while you hear something about the environment, namely the ways in which we're destroying our world - global warming, ozone depletion, toxic waste, etc. Then you nod and say: "Oh yes, it's very important, something has to be done", but you just go on with your life doing absolutely nothing. This book is out to change that. It will give you a new way of looking at the world - and you won't like what you see. This book isn't just excellent - it's a "must". Through flowing style and easily understood points, the two grand masters of science fiction give us their most important work ever - and this book is all REAL. Written a year before Asimov's death, it's not only an account of the "maladies and cures", but also a loud wake-up call for every one of us to get up and ACT. Even if the political- and activist-oriented sections are somewhat schematic, the book's importance is in it's true power to influence people. I know that at least for me, "Our Angry Earth" was the beginning of a new stage of life. Asimov and Pohl, who wrote about a great future for humanity, are asking us not let our race finish itself off just when we were getting started. We just can't go down like that. It's time for YOU to read this book and look out your window. Can you smell the smog? It's going to kill your children if you don't do something about it.

There just isn't much to praise in this book. Standard aliens, standard plot, and one glaring scientific error at the end when Pohl's plot relies on methane having a greater density than average Earth atmosphere and sinking and pooling at the surface of the Earth-- in fact, methane has only about half the density of "air" and rises up through it. How does someone of Pohl's experience and stature make a freshmen chemistry mistake like this? Answer: it was a rushed book, and it shows.

Though the third book in the Eschaton Sequence is in some ways the conclusion, Pohl leaves enough room so that more novels could be written about Dan Dannerman (well one of them at least). The third book introduces the Horch, in the form of Beert and his nest. The Docs are represented mostly by Pirraghiz, who acts as Dan's nurse and later becomes his friend. Wisely Pohl keeps the science mostly in the fictional realm, so not to overburden the reader. With over half of the book set in the "prison" camp that had been liberated by the Horch, and only the occasional appearance one of the other Dans, there was not nearly the confusion of characters, that are the same person (most of the confusion occurred when dealing with the Pats), which happen a lot in the second book. Ironically, the only drawback to the book was that most of the other characters from the other books did not make appearences.

Let it be said at the outset that Frederik Pohl's Eschaton Sequence ("The Other End of Time," "The Siege of Eternity," and "The Far Shore of Time") does not represent Pohl at his peak. Each novel seems a good deal longer than it needs to be and, taken as a whole, the sequence could probably completely lose the second novel without any damage to the main ideas. The main story--an involved alien abduction/invasion saga involving two alien races, the so-called Beloved Leaders and the Horch--might, except for a few contemporary scientific notions, have been written fifty years ago. And it is indeed frustrating that the most potent concept in the novels--the idea of Heaven as a scientifically-verifiable state, or place, which all living things will enter after the "Big Crunch" collapse of the universe--remains almost totally undeveloped. In all, it must be admitted that these novels are not the place to start for a reader new to the works of Frederik Pohl.

And yet I give this book (and the other two) four stars. Why? Perhaps because all three represent such a marvelous time-traveling experience; for those of us who grew up on 1950s-style SF, it's wonderful to see that such work is still written and can still be published. The fact is, for all its bloat, The Eschaton Sequence is marvelously entertaining, with interesting characters and constant unexpected twists of plot. The books work on the most basic level: the reader wants to know what will happen next. And contrary to some opinions on this page, I immediately ran out and purchased "Siege of Eternity" and "Far Shore of Time" after reading the first in the sequence. It never crossed my mind not to finish all the novels; they are truly engrossing, as Frederik Pohl almost always is.

No, these books are not science fiction classics. And, in fact, the ending of "Far Shore of Time" leaves the question very much open as to whether or not the sequence is even finished--"Far Shore" is billed as the "conclusion," but there is plenty of room for another novel. With Pohl now over 80 years old, it's unclear whether this possible next novel will be written. But if it is, I will certainly purchase it the day it is released. Frederik Pohl, even at less than his best, is still better than 90% of the writers in the field; and at this point in his life and career, Mr. Pohl can surely be forgiven for not producing masterpieces. Anyone who knows SF knows how many he has already given us--"Gateway," "Man Plus," and "The Space Merchants" all jump immediately to mind. Consider the Eschaton novels as highly enjoyable minor dividends from a glorious career. The Lion in Winter still has a few good roars left in him.

I found this to be an interesting and entertaining book but it is certainly not a classic of science fiction. Pohl is very talented at writing dialogue, and I enjoyed the interplay between the characters. The story gets somewhat bogged down in the middle while our heroes are in the alien cell and then ends somewhat abruptly. The aliens' use of "tachyon" technology for transportation and copying is interesting. I was puzzled at the end as to who/where are the copies and who/where are the originals, maybe the sequel will make that clearer. By the end of the book it seems to be clear who the "bad" aliens are or does it? Are we being mislead on this? I've started reading the sequel so I'll comment on that also when I finish it. This book is better than the majority of science fiction that I read. Could someone explain the relevance of the title though? At age 80+, Pohl is still going strong!

This is a fine book. It hooked me within the first five pages (the first time in a long time that an SF novel has done that) and kept me reading for hours. It's not *the* most thought-provoking work that Pohl has ever done, but (to borrow a phrase) it ain't bad, and the characterization is very well done. I finished the book just last night, and today I went out and picked up both sequels. I'm looking forward to another long evening.

Pohl consistently turns out inventive, readable, novels. The concept and the characters are up to his usual high standards. Unfortunately, the last third of the book moves at a glacial pace-- documenting the incarceration of our heroes in an alien test lab, where next to nothing of any consequence happens. Near the end, the plot picks up pace, only to be abruptly concluded in the final 10 pages with an unsatisfying and unsurprising ending. If you haven't read "Gateway" or "Starburst" or such, read those first