Page 18 RAIN Oct./Nov. 1982 Futures They’d Rather Be Right, by Mark Oifton and Frank Riley, 1981,173 pp., $4.95 from: The Donning Company I^blishers 5659 Virginia Beach Blvd. Norfolk, VA 23502 This sci-fi novel was first published as a 1950s magazine serial, but only recently came out as a book after resolution of copyright problems. A winner of the Hugo Award, the book has some very interesting concepts going for it. In essence, a group of scientists has invented a super-computer that can make people immortal by reprogramming their minds. The only catch is that you can't hold on to your old concepts. You have to let them go and let "Bossy" (the computer) program away. For this reason, the process works better on bums than college professors. Anyone with strongly held preconceived notions cannot gain immortality or the many powers that Bossy offers. Tracing disease and death to patterns of thought is an important concept. Recognizing that giving up frozen and rigid ideas is necessary to growth and health is likewise important. Coming out of the McCarthy Era, these themes are flat amazing. But the idea of hooking yourself up to a computer and having it reprogram you makes me nervous. Anything humans make will reflect human preconceptions. Computers are useful tools. As gods, they are far from adequate. If we're going to find immortality, I susp>ect it wUl not be through technological development, but through an entirely different kind of inner growth. They'd Rather Be Right has some very interesting philosophical content and good persf)ectives on the relativity of truth. But it's also 1950s sci-fi with that era's own preconceived notion — that science and technology could save us from ourselves. — Patrick Mazza An End to Ordinary History, by Michael Murphy, 1982,213 pp., $11.95, from: J.P. Tarcher Inc. 9110 Simset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90069 Michael Murphy's latest novel, while in the thriller genre, has a number of elements that make it highly unusual and valuable. Among them are a view of life in the Soviet Union that you just don't get in the American media, psychic netAccess works and psychic warfare, and intimations of a mass transformation of hymanity. Murphy, a cofounder of Esalen Institute, takes us on a journey through a Soviet Union where "the Mysteries have not died." The spiritual and mystic elements of that country play a prominent role in the book. Representing these elements is Kirov, a KGB agent, an initiate of a mystic school in Central Asia, and the Soviet Union's leading expert on parapsychology. Much of the book is devoted to Kirov's Byzantine maneuverings to have research into the spiritual accepted by a materialist bureaucracy. The view of Soviet life is rich and deep. Without downplaying the negative elements, Murphy (who has travelled extensively there) creates a picture of the Soviet Union as a kindred nation to the United States, complex and holding tremendous positive potential. Murphy sees the two nations as capable of leading humanity towards a transformation that will eliminate the threat of nuclear war hanging over both. In the novel, Murphy hints at cooperating networks of psychics in both counties moving towards that goal. If you want entertaining reading and some very interesting ideas and persj^ec- tives, try this book. — Patrick Mazza Future Survey Annual, 1980-81, edited by Michael Marien, 1982, 268pp., $25.00 from: World Future Society 4916 St. Elmo Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814 From Herman Kahn to Hazel Henderson, from William F. Buckley to Richard Barnet, and from Edward Teller to Amory Lovins: this massive survey of future-oriented thinking covers the gamut of proposed solutions to problems of world energy supplies, arms control, resource exploitation, social justice, education — and much more. Michael Marien has produced excellent abstracts of nearly 1500 recent books, articles and reports (principally by American authors) to provide, in his own words, "a neutral forum that crosses barriers between academic disciplines and professions, between specialized scholars and 'popular' writers . . . and between 'establishment' and 'non-establishment' viewpoints." Future Survey Annual is a guide which will be indispensable for anyone seeking to understand both the problems facing our world in the coming decades and the fuU range of strategies—wise and foolish. credible and incredible — being proposed to resolve those problems and move us toward some vision of an ideal future. — John Ferrell Good Things Never Kiss a Goat on the Lips, The Adventures of a Suburban Homesteader by Vic Sussman, 1981,272 pp., $8.95, from: Rodale Press Oiganic Park Emmaus, PA 18049 Vic Sussman is too sentimental, a tad self-righteous, and maybe a little late to be out selling simple living. To hear him tell it, life on the "farm" (2 acres, 20 miles from D.C.) is everything we thought it would be including the setbacks that build character and cement relationships. If only cute little suburban spreads didn't cost the better part of a fortune nowadays. But even this dose of economic reality hasn't prevented my going out on weekends to look for my own perfect spot. And Tm still convinced that the old- gardener - who's - been - maintaining - it - for-half-a-century-but-is-moving-now- to-live-with-her-kids-who-have-made- it will recognize in me a kindred soul and give me a 1960s deal. In other words, Tm the perfect target for Sussman's book and you may be too. He does get a little heavy on the rhetoric, and his bad news is generally too funny to be taken as fair warning, so don't anticipate "how-to" instructions. There is some of that, even some recipes, but the gist of this book seems to ^ that even klutzes like us can live relatively clean, wholesome lives in the almost country if we can spend every waking hour at it. "From late July until the first frost is apple picking time. Notice how neatly it overlaps tomato-and-every- thing-else picking time, canning time, freezing time, and firewood cutting time?" One suggestion he makes is to trade in your TV for some of that "prime time." He even suggests the best test I've heard of to get yourself off the tube. "Keep a monthly diary of every single TV program you watch. Write down the name of the program, the time elapsed, a synopsis of the content, and then — most importantly — write a brief description of what you got out of the hour or more you spent viewing. At the end of the month, read back, out loud, if you dare, your notes." Only one of many bits of "good life" advice tucked away in this journal of sorts. Carlotta Collette
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