The Byworlder

This is somewhat above average for Poul Anderson (one of my favorite authors). Its brevity is a pleasant contrast to the long-winded novels that are popular these days. The characters are interesting, but not as nearly distinctive as the author can manage when he's at his best. The alien isn't as alien as it first appears. It would have seemed quite believable back in 1971, but today the cold war mindset seems a bit outdated. The technological extrapolations are cautious enough to avoid anything embarrassing. He goes partway toward predicting the world wide web, but describes something that sounds like what we would have if the phone company maintained a monopoly on new information services.