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The Warlock in Spite of Himself (Warlock, #1)

Christopher Stasheff

Start date: July 1, 2014

Finish date: July 30, 2014

Discussion: Book Discussions

Discussion leader: Jim

Why we're reading this: Group Classic Novel discussion July 2014
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What Members Thought

Aug 25, 2008 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, fantasy, sword-sorcery, 2fiction, 3series, 1paper

July2014: Rereading this for the first time in a lot of years with the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I'm hoping it won't disappoint since it is an old favorite.

It's fast moving & a lot of fun even today & knowing what was coming. Some of the ideas of SF are a bit dated, but I found the observation on literacy & the spread of knowledge interesting, especially in light of today's Internet.

These are 2 paragraphs from very early in the book.
It had long been July2014: Rereading this for the first time in a lot of years with the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I'm hoping it won't disappoint since it is an old favorite.

It's fast moving & a lot of fun even today & knowing what was coming. Some of the ideas of SF are a bit dated, but I found the observation on literacy & the spread of knowledge interesting, especially in light of today's Internet.

These are 2 paragraphs from very early in the book.
It had long been known that the inefficiency of democratic governments was basically a problem of communication and prejudice. But, over a period of two centuries, DDT cells had functioned as speakeasy schoolrooms, resulting in total literacy and masters' degrees for seventy-two percent of the population; prejudice had thus joined polio and cancer on the list of curable diseases. The problems of communication had been solved by the development, in DDT laboratories, of sub-molecular electronics, which had lowered the bulk and price of electronic communication gear to the point where its truly extensive use became practical for the first time. Every individual was thus able to squawk at his Tribune at a moment's notice; and, being educated, they tended to do a lot of squawking just on general principles - all very healthy for a democracy.

Squawking by radio had proved singularly effective, due largely to an automatic record of the squawk. The problems of records and other bureaucratic red tape had been solved by red oxide audio recording tape, with tracks a single molecule in width, and the development of data-retrieval systems so efficient that the memorization of facts became obsolete. Education thus became exclusively a training in concepts, and the success of democracy was assured.

They contain a lot of ideas with varying degrees of success, at least by today's standards.
- Prejudice crushed by literacy & knowledge seems to be working. We're definitely not there yet, but tribalism is breaking down.
- Instant, cheap communication & education fostering a healthier democracy doesn't, at least not yet. We seem to be more polarized than ever & much of the communication isn't worth the time to read. Growing pains? I hope so.
- The idea that the communication was done via voice & tiny tapes that were then databased is interesting. It should be noted that the first email was sent about the time this book was originally published in 1969.
-Databases so efficient that no one memorizes facts. Google, anyone?
;)

Stasheff did a good job on this one. No, it's not one of the great classics, but it was a great time. Glad I took the time to reread it.

2007: Added when I joined & not read in 20 years or more. His best book ever & it is very good. Funny & fun. Great mix of SF & Fantasy, although heavy on the latter. We have 2 editions of the paperback in our library, merged when my wife & I got married in 1982. This was a favorite of both of us. ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Jan 21, 2008 Jeffrey rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy, signed-by-author

A classic sf fantasy tale of a man from an advanced technological universe who comes to a planet where strange properties can be used to create magic, and becomes a powerful warlock to maintain peace.

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 31, 2012 Andrew rated it liked it · review of another edition

Ok so here we go with the first comments of 2013. I should make a note of myself never to read comments and reviews of others on books I am or am about you read. You see yes I agree with many I still find some issue of my own. Namely that even though this is a science fantasy (by many commentators agreement a phrase coined for these books) I struggle in the fact that some characters - namely the main protagonist- speak in modern clearly understood english, while the natives speaketh thus and so ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2014 Karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars

I loved the concept of this story but I did have some issues with the execution. (view spoiler) However, for the most part I quite li ...more

2 likes · Like · see review