Greener Than You Think (Classics of Modern Science Fiction, Vol. 10)

I am thrilled that this Science Fiction classic has been re-issued in a fine new editon. More than 60 years old, it still holds a fascination that wont erode. In 2002, I posted an essay "Civilization's Decay and An Unusual Biosphere Limit State" at UK astronomer Dr. David Darling's website: www.daviddarling.info/Cathcart.html . Ward Moore carried a Greenish vision to its ultimate extreme termination and did so in the most attractive English prose. No reader can go wrong reading this book. I reccommend it very strongly! Moore brings the other side of Science Fiction warnings for humanity ("Keep Watching the Sky!")by instructing people everywhere to "Keep Watching the Ground!".

"--Little did Mrs. Dinkman know that when a somewhat less than scrupulous salesman sprayed her dying suburban Los Angeles lawn with a dose of the Metamorphizer she was witnessing the beginning of the end of the world. That salesman was Albert Weener, a two-bit huckster looking for instant riches, who had cajoled the remarkable new plant nutrient away from its recalcitrant inventor, botanist Josephine Spencer Francis. The only problem was, Miss Francis did not yet know how to neutralize her magic chemical--" "Written in 1947, a science fiction novel about the grass we tread upon. When an unscrupulous salesman sprays a dying suburban Los Angeles lawn with an untested chemical spray, it is the beginning of the end of the world. The grass begins to grow uncontrollably and riotously, ten feet height, thick, tough, impenetrable, gradually engulfing Los Angeles, then California...After reading this novel, you will never view your lawn in the same way." "The story is told with a satirical lilt, with a defini te bias for farce characterizations and situations; brightening what would otherwise be a harrowing tale."

I encountered this book by chance at a used book store in 1980.I read it then and wrote on the inside cover "Undoubtedly my favorite book of all!" All these years later, now being 2003,I thought to myself "I wonder if it's still in print?"Well, I see I can get it used and I want to buy one and send it along to director Tim Burton and tell him to make this into a movie!I laugh aloud at the events in the story. Moore's subtle use of language brings new meaning to the word stealth. His characters come to life effortlessly and satisfyingly. Our hapless everyman protagonist, Albert Weener, hasn't a clue as to how the world around him perceives him and moves forward to the beat of his own drummer. All the while, the world's very existence is threatened by a product of his own doing. As I reread this book twenty years later I still want to say it's my favorite.Read it....it's a real gem!

Written soon after World War II, this book encapsulates many of that decade's turmoil and at the same time manages to project into the future to address some interesting contemporary ideas into a compact and delightful science fiction satire. Ward Moore's style of writing is clever and comical without veering from the main character's oddball mindset and vernacular. The mutant grass is a metaphor for good against evil, mankind against nature or nature against mankind, World War III, and precedes the writings of the environmental historians and of environmental ethics in philosophy. The book also touches on such issues as environmental determinism, evolution, and survival of the fittest, and too, looks at various biblical themes, among them, Adam and Eve (Eve being Miss Francis) and Noah's Ark. When you read it you will probably find your own list of cleverly placed themes and analogies.