Man Plus
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 Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author | Frederik Pohl |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Released | 1976 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 215 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-394-48676-5 |
| Followed by | Mars Plus, 1994[1] |
Man Plus is a 1976 science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl.[2] It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1976[3] and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1977. Pohl teamed up with Thomas T. Thomas to write a sequel, Mars Plus, published in 1994.[4]
[edit] Plot introduction
In the not too distant future, a cold war threatens to turn hot. Colonization of Mars seems to be mankinds only hope of surviving certain armageddon. To facilitate this, the American government begins a cyborg program to create a being capable of surviving the harsh Martian environment...Man Plus. After the death of the first candidate, Roger Torraway becomes the heart of the program.
In order to survive in the thin Martian atmosphere, Roger Torraway's body must be replaced with an artificial one. At every step he becomes more and more disconnected from humanity, unable to feel things in his new body. It is only after arriving on Mars that his new body begins to make sense to him. It is perfectly adapted to this new world, and thus he becomes perfectly separated from his old world, and from humanity.
The success of the Martian mission spurs similar cyborg programs in other space-faring nations. It is revealed that the computer networks of earth have become sentient, and that by insuring humanity's survival will guarantee their's as well. In the end, the network is puzzled...it appears that something else was behind the push to space, a mystery even to the machines.
[edit] Major themes
A common theme in science fiction is existentialist isolation, whether isolation starting from within, or the separation of human beings from other species, or the effects of the isolation of Earth from the rest of the universe by great distances. In Man Plus, a human being is transformed into a cyborg being. The physical transformation is examined in great detail as it is echoed in the increasing distance between Roger Torraway and his wife, and between Roger and the rest of humanity.
Man Plus also makes much of the (assumed, rather than argued) difficulty of separating the way you think from what you are, and vice versa: Roger Torraway's new artificial body strongly affects how he treats the world around him.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Source: WorldCat entry on "Man plus"
- ^ Pohl, Frederik (1976). Man Plus. Random House. ISBN 0-394-48676-5. (Note: unless otherwise noted, all statements in this article regarding the contents of Man Plus are based on the book itself).
- ^ Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (2006-12-03). Nebula Awards Past Winners (html). Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
- ^ Pohl, Frederik; Thomas T. Thomas (1994). Mars Plus. Baen Books. ISBN 0-671-87605-8.
| Preceded by The Forever War by Joe Haldeman |
Nebula Award for Best Novel 1976 |
Succeeded by Gateway by Frederik Pohl |
