Time and Again

I have read twenty or so of Simak's novels and this is unquestionably the finest (even better than City).The other reviews have said it better than I could, but this might be one of the best, if not the very best, novels that I have ever read.Time and Again is an exciting, thought-provoking, and deeply religious work. If you like science fiction and you like to think, do not pass this one up.

It's been nearly forty years since I first read Simak's "Time And Again" but I still remember it very clearly as I read it several times. It just blew me away! I was fifteen years old and in the hospital. It was 1963 and the civil rights movement was in full bloom. Whether or not Simak intended to create a story to parallel the issues of the civil rights movement, I do not know, but a thoughtful reading of the story certainly suggests them.This is a book to read and think about beyond its riveting plot and subplots. The principal questions raised by the book are "Who has the right to be human?" and "What is humanity?"Simak's story is still fresh and relevant after all this time and I would love to see it reissued so that I can buy another copy and read it again.

It is the future and Mankind has spread to the stars like seeds before the wind. One star system, though, shrouded in mystery, has defied Man's every attempt to visit it. Every expedition to 61 Cygni has found its path inexplicably deflected and has been forced to return home in frustration. In desperation, special agent Asher Sutton was sent on a solo mission, but unlike the others he did not return and 61 Cygni was quietly forgotten.As the book begins, twenty years have passed and, against all odds, Asher Sutton has returned. The mystery only deepens when it is discovered that Asher's ship was damaged many years ago in a crash that left it completely disabled and ought to have killed its sole passenger. The conclusion becomes inescapable; Asher Sutton died but now he's back. As the story develops, we discover Asher is not alone and it's not clear that he's even entirely human. But most importantly, Asher returns bearing an idea that will shake Mankind's beliefs to their foundations.In Time and Again, Mankind is spread thin across the stars and to help hold the frontier he has created biological androids. Created in the lab by chemical means, androids are sterile and cannot reproduce but in all other respects are as human as their creators. None the less, androids are treated as property and bear a mark on their foreheads to distinguish them from "true" humans.Androids dream of one day being acknowledged and treated as the equals of the "humans" and Asher's idea is the key for which they have been searching. Asher soon becomes the center of a struggle between three groups; humans of the present who fear any new idea that might loosen Mankind's tenuous grip on the stars, humans of the future who, via time travel, are waging a quiet war to alter the past to maintain the current status quo, and the androids of the future who struggle to let Asher's idea be born. Simak weaves these disparate elements into a delicious story. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This book is really about religion and time. About the power of religion and about the cost one can pay for the knowing the truth. The book deals with the personal sacrifice, loneliness and betrayal that important historical figures, past, present and future, often endure. Asher Sutton is the ultimate imperfect, reluctant hero. Those of you who love Heinlein will undoubtedly enjoy this book - I couldn't recommend it any more thoroughly. I read City (Simak's most acclaimed book) and thought that "Time and Again" was easily a superior work