A science fiction book that deals with issues relevant even today, it had been a while since I've read one of those!
I started it a few days before I started Cibola Burn, as I waited for other club members to acquire the book and start reading it.
The Space Merchants was originally published in 1952, that’s 73 years ago, and it always boggles my mind to think about that. In this novel we follow the perspective of Mitchell Courtenay, a “star class copysmith” who is quickly rising to the top of an advertising company, that is pretty much ruling the world at this point.
Most people are consumers, with horrible lives and repetitive work, endlessly paying off debts that will only grow as they keep on existing. It is a sad reality that is not quite fiction in today’s world.
This book is a satire, a style I hadn’t really read before. Most events and characters are bizarre and somewhat foolish. The protagonist will say the most outlandish stuff as a matter of fact, when it comes to how humans can be controlled and suggested, it sounds ironic, and kind of funny, and at the same time, terrifyingly accurate. There were a few quotes I found quite thought provoking, which I’ll share later.
Courtenay’s next venture: a propaganda campaign to get people convinced that Venus rules. Even though the planet is absolutely not suitable for human life, he is doing everything to change public perception, so Venus is seen as the next frontier where Humanity shall expand to.
However, things will not go as planned, as there’s a conspiracy against him that will strip him of his identity and privilege, and he’ll end up at the the bottom of the barrel, forced to work as a slave and experience the life of a consumer.
Of course, as this guy is kind of smart, he’ll work his way up and try to uncover this conspiracy, by inflitrating the Consies, a faction of “terrorists” that opposes the consummerism of the modern world.
The way this book goes from A to B to C is quite remarkable. There will be some loose ends, but none of them matter that much. The point is how the protagonist evolves and changes after facing different sides of society and how it works.
A lot of the themes in the book remain incredibly relevant to this day, the idea of consummerism and corporations out of control, the overpopulation of the planet and the scarcity of resources, the inequality of the economic landscape and everything else. It has barely dated at all in those regards.
However, the science aspects of it can be a little hit or miss, although I think that’s just kind of charming. Computers don’t exist, basically everyone is addicted to smoking, phones just work as they did in the 50s. There are things I didn’t even understand because of how dated it is. According to some summaries I saw, rockets are being used as a transportation method within the planet? I didn’t even get that while reading, I just assumed they were regular planes. All those issues can be easily overlooked, if a little confusing some times.
The one thing I thought was kind of weird, is the romance, of course there’s a romance. However, it really isn’t that bad, and the satirical tone of the whole thing helps a lot to not take it super seriously either. I was barely annoyed by it, I’m only bringing it up because there’s little else to complain about.
Overall, I really got hooked by this book as soon as I returned to it, I think it’s worth checking out, entertaining, thought provoking, and a roller coaster filled with twists and turns that lead to pretty crazy places. I highly recommend it.
I don’t highlight quotes that often, but this book had some pretty interesting ones, so I couldn’t help it. I should do it a bit more often for future reviews.
Science is always a step ahead of the failure of natural resources. After all, when real meat got scarce, we had soyaburguers ready. when oil ran low, technology developed the pedicab.
He could have played his part in the world, buying and using and making work and profits for his brothers all around the globe, ever increasing his wants and needs, ever increasing everybody’s work and profits in the circle of consumption, raising children to be consumers in turn. It hurt to see him perverted into a sterile zealot.
It is always easy to persuade a consumer that the grass is greener far away.
It was an appeal to reason, and they’re always dangerous. You can’t trust reason. We threw it out of the ad profession long ago and have never missed it.
She’d been brought up in a deeply moral, sales-fearing home, and you couldn’t expect her to commit the high commercial crime of breaking a labor contract without there being a terrific emotional lashback.
…I could not relax in the presence of so many books without a word of advertising in any of them. I am not prude about solitary pleasures when they serve a useful purpose. But my tolerance has limits.
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