Product Description

Ill luck made Roger Torraway the subject of the Man Plus Programe, but it was deliberate biological engineering which turned him into a monster -- a machine perfectly adapted to survive on Mars. For according to computer predictions, Mars is humankind's only alternative to extinction. But beneath his monstrous exterior, Torraway still carries a man's capacity for suffering.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8709 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 215 pages

About the Author
SALES POINTS * #29 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written. * Winner of the Nebula Award * 'A spellbinding book written by a brilliant writer at the height of his powers' Times Literary Supplement * 'Brilliant' J. G. Ballard

Customer Reviews

Haunting.
Having read my first Frederik Pohl; "Jem" earlier this year, I was keen to read more, and Man Plus doesn't disappoint. It's a precursor to many more recent Martian novels and unlike the Barsoomian nonsense of Edgar Rice Burroughs which I read as a boy, or the politically intense Kim Stanley Robinson, Man Plus explores the individual cost and emotional journey of a single Martian colonist. It really is a unique and clever approach, with Mars itself being relegated to a supporting role in the story. Pohl handles the alien [as a concept] very well and there's an overarching strangeness and a sense of isolation to this novel that could only be conjured by a writer with a soul, for which, I can only admire him.

Frankenstein meets 2001 (including HAL)
There has been one really nice thing about both Frederik Pohl entries in the SF Masterworks series - they are good old-fashioned stories that I understand, with no bizarre concepts or abstractions for me to get my head round. However, that in no way diminishes their brilliance or their impact - this was a gripping read from start to finish, that had me laughing on some occasions and almost crying on others. What person could read this book and not feel the pain and suffering inflicted on Roger in the name of science ? When Roger realises that he is the next candidate for the Man Plus project, his terror is both palpable and understandable - who among us would not react the same way ? There is only one thing about the book that makes it less than perfect - the problem of the computers. Pohl refers to complex, room sized IBM's (of which only two exist in his entire United States), and the problem of providing even moderately powerful mobile computers for the mission to Mars. That may have been reality in the 60's and 70's, but it's a bit laughable to those of us who live amongst laptops and Palm Pilots, and detracts from the feel of the future the author is trying to convey. Still, it's a minor quibble, and the gobsmacking surprise of an ending more than makes up for it. All in all, a brilliant addition to the 'man on Mars' idea.

A thought-provoking twist. Come on, Hollywood
So many stories about Mars, particularly recent ones, are obsessed with terraforming the red planet. What Pohl does in this absorbing classic is turn that idea on its head, and have mankind surgically altered to suit Mars. With well-drawn characters, a page-turning pace and a fantastically sinister surprise ending, this is a thought-provoking tale. And Pohl takes little more than 200 pages to tell it (please take note, Kim Stanley Robinson, with your forest-stripping doorstep Martian trilogy). Two things amaze me: that Man Plus was written so long ago (in the 1970s), and that it hasn't been made into a major Hollywood movie. David Lynch, no stranger to the subject of physical deformity (maybe it should be "reformity" in this case), would do a great job.