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When I wasn't painting and scanning the sky anxiously for signs of more rain, I finished reading The Embedding by Ian Watson. This book was published in 1973 and is regarded as an important work of its time. The phrase "of its time" being very significant here. There was a big change happening in SF at this time. The very nature of what the genre covered and even what it was called were being examined and this book helped push those boundaries.
But that was then. Over the years I have read a lot of books and short stories from this era. Books where the central theme is the power of the human mind and how that power could be changed and enhanced. This was to be achieved using drugs - just look at that date again to figure out why. The point I'm slowly getting to is that this book really does seem rather dated now. Disproportionately so for its age. A reflection of how this particular fashion of storyline has been done to death and discarded.
It is worth the effort to push through the dated nature as it is well worth reading. It explores some interesting, even powerful, ideas in an intertwined plot. It is about the power of language and consciousness and how that affects our place in the universe. It does rather run out of ideas at the end. The problem, as with all books of this type, being that while the ideas can be put out there, the actual enlightenment is missing. This is OK in a philosophic discussion but not so great in a novel when you want to wrap things up. Most seem to devolve into a stream of consciousness at the end - probably with a bit of chemical help. It may even be The Embedding that started this although it does wrap things up rather better than other Watson novels I have read.
But that was then. Over the years I have read a lot of books and short stories from this era. Books where the central theme is the power of the human mind and how that power could be changed and enhanced. This was to be achieved using drugs - just look at that date again to figure out why. The point I'm slowly getting to is that this book really does seem rather dated now. Disproportionately so for its age. A reflection of how this particular fashion of storyline has been done to death and discarded.
It is worth the effort to push through the dated nature as it is well worth reading. It explores some interesting, even powerful, ideas in an intertwined plot. It is about the power of language and consciousness and how that affects our place in the universe. It does rather run out of ideas at the end. The problem, as with all books of this type, being that while the ideas can be put out there, the actual enlightenment is missing. This is OK in a philosophic discussion but not so great in a novel when you want to wrap things up. Most seem to devolve into a stream of consciousness at the end - probably with a bit of chemical help. It may even be The Embedding that started this although it does wrap things up rather better than other Watson novels I have read.