Is not is not not is
This book took me a ridiculous amount of time to read; at 176 pages a novel that should have taken me a few days to finish took about a year. Oddly enough, I'm thinking about re-reading it. The premise is a great one: Chester W. Chester IV owes a million credits in back taxes; he decides selling his circus is his best bet in paying most of the money back. His eccentric great-grandfather passes away, leaving Chester as his sole heir. He inherits a run-down old mansion and an antiquated computer. He is less than thrilled with his inheritance until he discovers this computer holds the whole of the world's history and can recreate in a life-like fashion any time period. Chester and his friend Case devise a scheme to make money by bringing dinosaurs and other blasts from the past back to life. Basically, the plan is to fake a time machine.
All doesn't go as planned as the computer simulations are a little too life-like. Chester, Case, and the computer made companion Genie become stuck in various eras. And speaking of stuck, this is one of my biggest complaints about this novel. It has a very 1960s feel to it despite it taking place in the future. I know to a certain extent that can't be helped as it was indeed written in the 60s, but it really distracted me. Everything about the characters- their dialogue, their attitudes- just seemed too limited to me. Another complaint: Boring, unlikeable characters. I didn't care about the exploits of the main character Chester. The humor didn't work for me even though the cover promised this book is âHilarious and swingingâ.
Chester's experience stuck in time is full of thought-provoking philosophical concepts regarding achieving a higher state through conditioning oneself by testing one's mental and physical limitations. Also, some groovy words worth pondering, such as the above mentioned âIs not is not not isâ.
Unfortunately, this journey through time (or not, it's never 100% clear that they've actually time traveled) has more drawn out boring parts than swinging moments. I somewhat dug the first half, but then it became a bit of a drag.
This book took me a ridiculous amount of time to read; at 176 pages a novel that should have taken me a few days to finish took about a year. Oddly enough, I'm thinking about re-reading it. The premise is a great one: Chester W. Chester IV owes a million credits in back taxes; he decides selling his circus is his best bet in paying most of the money back. His eccentric great-grandfather passes away, leaving Chester as his sole heir. He inherits a run-down old mansion and an antiquated computer. He is less than thrilled with his inheritance until he discovers this computer holds the whole of the world's history and can recreate in a life-like fashion any time period. Chester and his friend Case devise a scheme to make money by bringing dinosaurs and other blasts from the past back to life. Basically, the plan is to fake a time machine.
All doesn't go as planned as the computer simulations are a little too life-like. Chester, Case, and the computer made companion Genie become stuck in various eras. And speaking of stuck, this is one of my biggest complaints about this novel. It has a very 1960s feel to it despite it taking place in the future. I know to a certain extent that can't be helped as it was indeed written in the 60s, but it really distracted me. Everything about the characters- their dialogue, their attitudes- just seemed too limited to me. Another complaint: Boring, unlikeable characters. I didn't care about the exploits of the main character Chester. The humor didn't work for me even though the cover promised this book is âHilarious and swingingâ.
Chester's experience stuck in time is full of thought-provoking philosophical concepts regarding achieving a higher state through conditioning oneself by testing one's mental and physical limitations. Also, some groovy words worth pondering, such as the above mentioned âIs not is not not isâ.
Unfortunately, this journey through time (or not, it's never 100% clear that they've actually time traveled) has more drawn out boring parts than swinging moments. I somewhat dug the first half, but then it became a bit of a drag.
Copyright is 1963. Author had a good imagination and wrote an enjoyable farce.
One of Keith Laumer better books among a host of great ones.
