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arf88's review against another edition
3.0
I think I like the ideas of this book, more than the actual book itself. Great world building, entertaining story, although the blight of a narrator "too stupid to live" was annoying. Like so much sci-fi the main theme of this book was thought provoking, but I in the end I had little sympathy for the "good guys". Maybe it's because we live a in world where ridiculous companies like PETA exist and where twitter armies will descend on randoms they disagree with, but I have little sympathy for a group of people who will happily ruining a man's life because he had the "wrong" sort of politics.
johnayliff's review against another edition
5.0
A satire about a future dominated by advertising companies, which remains at least as relevant today as it was in 1952. The plot is a fun, fast-moving adventure, in which the main character jets around the world and to the moon, evading various groups intent on murdering him and meanwhile trying to reconcile with his estranged wife. Where the book shines, though, is in the world-building. The future setting allows a familiar world with many amusing-but-scarily-plausible twists: addictive goods explicitly engineered to trap consumers in cycles of consumption; warfare between rival ad agencies; police replaced by private firms and congressmen representing corporations rather than voters.
We see this world through the eyes of a character who is both near the top of the advertising system that deliberately shapes the culture for corporate ends, and who has also himself been indoctrinated into the system. The quasi-religious way in which he sees his profession as noble, and his clearly dystopian world as a good one, is chilling, and becomes more so on reflecting back on the book after finishing it. An element of Orwellian doublethink is present--the character can't bring himself to think, let alone voice, thoughts that go against the system--but unlike in Nineteen Eighty-Four this is only implied rather than spelled out.
The world presented in The Space Merchants is actually very similar to that of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the main difference being that here it is profit-driven corporations, not governments, that dominate the world. This book may prove to be the more prescient of the two.
We see this world through the eyes of a character who is both near the top of the advertising system that deliberately shapes the culture for corporate ends, and who has also himself been indoctrinated into the system. The quasi-religious way in which he sees his profession as noble, and his clearly dystopian world as a good one, is chilling, and becomes more so on reflecting back on the book after finishing it. An element of Orwellian doublethink is present--the character can't bring himself to think, let alone voice, thoughts that go against the system--but unlike in Nineteen Eighty-Four this is only implied rather than spelled out.
The world presented in The Space Merchants is actually very similar to that of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the main difference being that here it is profit-driven corporations, not governments, that dominate the world. This book may prove to be the more prescient of the two.
infinispace's review against another edition
3.0
Full review: http://infinispace.net/2013/10/review-the-space-merchants-by-frederik-pohl-c-m-kornbluth/
carlylottsofbookz's review against another edition
3.0
Space Merchants is the story of how the US could be. In the futuristic society where advertising is king: the little people are still the ones to suffer. It takes living as one of the lower classes for one of the upper classmen to understand what it means...but it doesn't mean he has to change.
A fun book with some hilarious plot twists--a good quick read. :)
A fun book with some hilarious plot twists--a good quick read. :)
jaipal's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It does remind me of Madmen but it's very different as well. This book is a good reflection of modern life in 2016. It is well written and I would recommend it for those who want to read about an unchecked capitalist society and the system that makes it function.
rocketiza's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the corporate control and advertising of the future themes of the book. The last 30 pages or so felt like things wrapped up a little too nicely though.
loonyboi's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a lot of fun. A sort of sci-fi Mad Men, with a dash of Sullivan's Travels thrown in for good measure.
fisk42's review against another edition
4.0
Good book, written in the 50s but very ahead of its time with the whole advertising/corporate based dystopia.