Man plus

Its Evolution Baby The evolutionary dream, the end point of human desire, the ability to leave behind the limitations of the Earth and take to the stars, is fraught with it's own limitations. Pohl speculates that, while a hostile environment may kill a person, we can survive because we take a bit of a friendly environment with us. We can take air, food, water and fuel to the Antartic, the Moon, Mars and beyond but the environment remains hostile and the human body, fragile and ill adapted. "Man Plus", as may be evident from the title, is concerned with the possibilities of adapting the human body and how the body itself is tied up with notions of identity and belonging. The cyborg is familiar at least to Science Fiction readers and has been for many years, so, to most of these veterans, Pohl's ideas may seem rehashed, even clumsy in this age of genetic manipulation. Leaving aside these anachronisms (the book was written in 1976), we see in "Man Plus", the raw power of the cyborg as a work of imagination. This power manifests itself in the predominantly earthbound text in the emotional responses, clinical discourses, whispered asides and outright revulsion of those around the cyborg. Political intrigue as the project is kept from view, as well as carnivalesque musings on cyborg sexuality thicken the texture of Pohl's writing. The counterpoint to the inhumanity of the cyborg is his superhuman abilities and his adeptness once in the right environment. After the death of the original cyborg, Roger Torraway goes through the intimate manipulations of surgeons as all his organs are removed or bypassed, a computer is attached to his back and "wings" containing solar receptors are installed. His life on Earth becomes miserable as the "monster" becomes estranged from his wife and friends by his grotesque appearance but, like the robot in the Asimov short story "Stranger in Paradise," is so ideally suited to the Martian environment that his life there is filled with the joy of belonging. The solar wings transform from demons' to angels' wings in this environment. This is both a deeply personal look at the transformation of Torroway from man to cyborg and a socio-political reflection on the contingencies of the space race. The growing threat of nuclear armageddon and the sense of overcrowding and paranoia that this engenders on earth also formed the internal logic of the race to the moon. The inevitability of nuclear aggression is dealt with here (and during the cold war) as a force of nature rather than as a result of human actions. Dealt with in this way, it becomes a generic "threat to humanity" and we could almost read this, from a contemporary viewpoint, as the threat of ecological armageddon. It is the clock against which the "free world" is racing to start a Mars colony and the best computer predictions grant them a few years at most. Between the lines, there is room to question the inhumanity of a humanity unable to address its problems withou

All in all this was a very good novel. I felt that Frederick Pohl had a brilliant vision for this book, and caried it out in full detail. The story revolves around Roger Torroway, a typical astronaut married to a typical wife living a typical lifestyle. However, Roger is involved in a project which isn't typical at all. This project is called Man Plus, and is devoted to saving the human race, (wihch is, the latest simulation says, a ninety nine percent chance of destroying itself within the next ten years.) Man Plus is devoted to turning a man into more than a man. by ripping out most of his biological components and replacing them with mechanical body parts, thus enabling him to live on Mars. The result would make a super being to start a colony on Mars, thus saving the human race. When William Hartnett, the original Man Plus dies, Roger Torroway has to take his place.This novel is full of surprises, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

Man Plus is a decent story about creating a cyborg to live on Mars. Presumably, the world is going to crumble unless we can begin to colonize Mars (according to computer projections), and so a cyborg is built and sent. Although a little less time might have been spent on Earth, and a little more on Mars, this is still a compelling tale. In particular the science of turning man into machine was page turning. Some of the subplots though were a little weak.

In his book Man Plus, Frederick Pohl mixes the worlds of medicine, cybernetics, and political intrigue into a well thought out tale of a man's journey to Mars. Roger Tarroway, who is a backup in the Man Plus project, suddenly finds himself next in line to be turned into something both wonderful and horrific: a human that can live on the surface of Mars without the need of a suit. But the changes he must go through transform him into something hideous and powerful. Can Roger's mind withstand the changes that he has to go through on an accelerated course? Can he trust his best friend? Will it work? Pohl sets this admist and Earth in peril of destroying itself, and many think that the Man Plus project and the colonization of Mars is the only way to save it from the brink of disaster...and there are other interested parties involved...watching.Some may find it a little slow or dry in places because there is little action throughout. Pohl's use of the first person "we" at times was a little strange to me in a book written entirely in the third person, but there is a reason for it. While not as tight or emotionally gripping as Pohl's masterpiece Gateway, Man Plus is a well written and executed award winner and deserves to be on the shelf of most sci-fi readers.

This book is not only a genuine science fiction classic, but also a poignant commentary on the human spirit. Roger Torraway's transition from a normal human being to cyborg is one of the most powerful statements in imaginative literature.