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Mesklin #1
Mission of Gravity
Mesklin is a vast, inhospitable, disc-shaped planet, so cold that its oceans are liquid methane and its snows are frozen ammonia. It is a world spinning dizzyingly, a world where gravity can be a crushing 700 times greater than Earth's, a world too hostile for human explorers. But the planet holds secrets of inestimable value, and an unmanned probe that has crashed close to one of its poles must be recovered. Only the Mesklinites, the small creatures so bizarrely adapted to their harsh environment, can help.
And so Barlennan, the resourceful and courageous captain of the Mesklinite ship Bree, sets out on an heroic and appalling journey into the terrible unknown. For him and his people, the prize to be gained is as great as that for mankind...
Hal Clement's MISSION OF GRAVITY is universally regarded as one of the most important and best loved novels in the genre. The remarkable and sympathetic depiction of an alien species and the plausible and scientifically based realisation of the strange world they inhabit make it a major landmark in the history of hard SF.
And so Barlennan, the resourceful and courageous captain of the Mesklinite ship Bree, sets out on an heroic and appalling journey into the terrible unknown. For him and his people, the prize to be gained is as great as that for mankind...
Hal Clement's MISSION OF GRAVITY is universally regarded as one of the most important and best loved novels in the genre. The remarkable and sympathetic depiction of an alien species and the plausible and scientifically based realisation of the strange world they inhabit make it a major landmark in the history of hard SF.
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
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About the author
Hal Clement
170听books111听followersHarry Clement Stubbs better known by the pen name
Hal Clement
, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 276 reviews
February 10, 2017
This is one of those novels that I must firmly place in the "Interesting idea" category without having it really grace the realm of "great story".
Indeed, I loved the way that Hal Clement literally built a world from scratch, not merely creating 15 inch long aliens, but making a damn interesting planet that had different pulls of gravity depending on how close you were to the poles versus the equator, because the whole planet was flattened, was roughly 5k times the mass of earth, and the surface pull of gravity meant that we measly humans needed very heavy augmentation just to visit or we'd be crushed.
Even the author sent out a call in the afterword, which to my opinion was even better than the main tale, to anyone out there to use his creation as they see fit and improve the math or write in the setting, and I appreciate that, because I keep wondering how much better it might have been if we had spent all our time in the heads of the humans rather than the aliens.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the attempt, but I did get rather bored with all the haggling and trading and industrial espionage that revolved around techs that could handle so much gravity or the gradual and immense differences between the equator and the pole during the travels. Like I said, it was very cool in concept.
That being said, I kinda wish that all the awesome nuts and bolts of the world had been introduced or interspersed throughout the novel, from the human's point of view, so as to awe me in the context other than the density of the lifeforms or the fear of flying (or falling) and what might result with a splat of 300 gravities. :)
It was fun for what it was, and it does rather show that it was written back in '53, but the focus on making sure there was good science (as far as Hal, himself, could manage it,) was both admirable and ambitious, so that's where I'm placing all my stars. :)
Indeed, I loved the way that Hal Clement literally built a world from scratch, not merely creating 15 inch long aliens, but making a damn interesting planet that had different pulls of gravity depending on how close you were to the poles versus the equator, because the whole planet was flattened, was roughly 5k times the mass of earth, and the surface pull of gravity meant that we measly humans needed very heavy augmentation just to visit or we'd be crushed.
Even the author sent out a call in the afterword, which to my opinion was even better than the main tale, to anyone out there to use his creation as they see fit and improve the math or write in the setting, and I appreciate that, because I keep wondering how much better it might have been if we had spent all our time in the heads of the humans rather than the aliens.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the attempt, but I did get rather bored with all the haggling and trading and industrial espionage that revolved around techs that could handle so much gravity or the gradual and immense differences between the equator and the pole during the travels. Like I said, it was very cool in concept.
That being said, I kinda wish that all the awesome nuts and bolts of the world had been introduced or interspersed throughout the novel, from the human's point of view, so as to awe me in the context other than the density of the lifeforms or the fear of flying (or falling) and what might result with a splat of 300 gravities. :)
It was fun for what it was, and it does rather show that it was written back in '53, but the focus on making sure there was good science (as far as Hal, himself, could manage it,) was both admirable and ambitious, so that's where I'm placing all my stars. :)
August 25, 2024
Some pretty "heavy" ideas here!
In Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement created Mesklin, a very odd planet indeed - so massive, so oblate and spinning so rapidly that its gravity varies from 3g at its equator to 700g at its poles! Its day is little more than 20 of our minutes long and its temperature is so low that it has liquid methane oceans. Its high eccentricity orbit causes seasons of grotesquely uneven length. Charles Lackland and his team of human space faring scientists can manage at the equator with mechanically assisted survival suits but existence under 700g at the poles is simply beyond human engineering capabilities. Recovery of a rocket with all of its instrumentation landed at one of the poles is a problem that seems insurmountable until our intrepid explorers stumble into a serendipitous encounter with Barlennan, a rather audacious native traveling merchant. Barlennan's species, best described as 15 inch caterpillars with outrageously strong pincers, has evolved under the extreme conditions at Mesklin's pole. Being on an exploratory mission themselves in Mesklin's equatorial region, they admit to feeling somewhat giddy and "light"-headed under what they describe as virtually non-existent gravity in comparison to what they are used to on their home turf!
Clement has created a delightfully simple plot that revolves around the hard science of his hypothetical planet. Lackland enlists Barlennan's aid in recovering the stranded hardware in exchange for information such as maps and weather forecasts. Along the route to the pole, Clement proposes physical problems and raises questions - What might the weather of such a planet be? How does a reconnaissance satellite achieve a low altitude geosynchronous orbit of a planet that is spinning at such an enormous speed? How might its natives appear having evolved under such dramatically different conditions? How might their psychological outlook on this world be different as a result of those physical conditions? How might engineering problems, simple on earth, be made astonishingly difficult on Mesklin and what modified approaches would be used in their solution? What surprising effects are caused by the universality of physical rules that apply regardless of the local gravity?
It should come as no surprise to a reader to learn that Clement was also a skilled high school science teacher. The development of the science in his story is lean, lucid and clear to a fault. Clement lets the plot and his characters naturally encounter the problems, puzzle through their difficulties and propose and create clear logical solutions which seem to clarify the science. Clement never bores the reader with dull narrative explanations, never over-explains and shows rather than tells.
Sadly, at less than 200 pages, Mission of Gravity suffers by its very brevity. Mesklin is such a vast, unique and dramatic concept that Clement barely scratched its surface. I found myself wanting much, much more science and a greater depth in the development of potential avenues to explore. The soft science was effectively ignored. For example, Barlennan's attitudes and reactions were anthropomorphized to the extent of being cartoonish (C'mon, Hal ... let your aliens be alien!). Barlennan's mastery of English came conveniently easily but communication with other races on the planet was abandoned as an unsolved problem.
Mission of Gravity, while not a frenetic page-turner, is an enjoyable story that ends on a mild plot twist and a universally warm, optimistic note. It has earned the moniker "classic" and I certainly look forward to the sequel Starlight. Perhaps the broadened scientific horizons that I hope for will appear there!
Paul Weiss
In Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement created Mesklin, a very odd planet indeed - so massive, so oblate and spinning so rapidly that its gravity varies from 3g at its equator to 700g at its poles! Its day is little more than 20 of our minutes long and its temperature is so low that it has liquid methane oceans. Its high eccentricity orbit causes seasons of grotesquely uneven length. Charles Lackland and his team of human space faring scientists can manage at the equator with mechanically assisted survival suits but existence under 700g at the poles is simply beyond human engineering capabilities. Recovery of a rocket with all of its instrumentation landed at one of the poles is a problem that seems insurmountable until our intrepid explorers stumble into a serendipitous encounter with Barlennan, a rather audacious native traveling merchant. Barlennan's species, best described as 15 inch caterpillars with outrageously strong pincers, has evolved under the extreme conditions at Mesklin's pole. Being on an exploratory mission themselves in Mesklin's equatorial region, they admit to feeling somewhat giddy and "light"-headed under what they describe as virtually non-existent gravity in comparison to what they are used to on their home turf!
Clement has created a delightfully simple plot that revolves around the hard science of his hypothetical planet. Lackland enlists Barlennan's aid in recovering the stranded hardware in exchange for information such as maps and weather forecasts. Along the route to the pole, Clement proposes physical problems and raises questions - What might the weather of such a planet be? How does a reconnaissance satellite achieve a low altitude geosynchronous orbit of a planet that is spinning at such an enormous speed? How might its natives appear having evolved under such dramatically different conditions? How might their psychological outlook on this world be different as a result of those physical conditions? How might engineering problems, simple on earth, be made astonishingly difficult on Mesklin and what modified approaches would be used in their solution? What surprising effects are caused by the universality of physical rules that apply regardless of the local gravity?
It should come as no surprise to a reader to learn that Clement was also a skilled high school science teacher. The development of the science in his story is lean, lucid and clear to a fault. Clement lets the plot and his characters naturally encounter the problems, puzzle through their difficulties and propose and create clear logical solutions which seem to clarify the science. Clement never bores the reader with dull narrative explanations, never over-explains and shows rather than tells.
Sadly, at less than 200 pages, Mission of Gravity suffers by its very brevity. Mesklin is such a vast, unique and dramatic concept that Clement barely scratched its surface. I found myself wanting much, much more science and a greater depth in the development of potential avenues to explore. The soft science was effectively ignored. For example, Barlennan's attitudes and reactions were anthropomorphized to the extent of being cartoonish (C'mon, Hal ... let your aliens be alien!). Barlennan's mastery of English came conveniently easily but communication with other races on the planet was abandoned as an unsolved problem.
Mission of Gravity, while not a frenetic page-turner, is an enjoyable story that ends on a mild plot twist and a universally warm, optimistic note. It has earned the moniker "classic" and I certainly look forward to the sequel Starlight. Perhaps the broadened scientific horizons that I hope for will appear there!
Paul Weiss
May 2, 2012
- Hello, this is Mesklin Advance calling Earth, do you read me?
- Coming in loud and clear, MA! So what's up?
- Well, we've got a little problem here now we've reached the transition point to the polar zone. Our boats -
- Ah, let me see, is their cross-section an arc of a circle subtending an angle of 3蟺/2?
- That's right, how did you guess?
- And you're floating on a sea of an ideal fluid with density 蟻?
- Correct!
- And the velocity of the boat is v, where v is given by...
- Oh, wait, I just found it in the instructions. It says the answer is given in Chapter 4, exercise 6. Sorry.
- No problem. These things happen. Anything else?
- Yeah... what sexual positions work best at two hundred times Earth gravity?
- What was that? You're breaking up.
- Ah, nothing. Just my little joke about 50s hard-science SF. Well, I'm sure I'll be back soon with another physics problem...
- Any time!
- Thanks! Over and out.
- Over and out.
- Coming in loud and clear, MA! So what's up?
- Well, we've got a little problem here now we've reached the transition point to the polar zone. Our boats -
- Ah, let me see, is their cross-section an arc of a circle subtending an angle of 3蟺/2?
- That's right, how did you guess?
- And you're floating on a sea of an ideal fluid with density 蟻?
- Correct!
- And the velocity of the boat is v, where v is given by...
- Oh, wait, I just found it in the instructions. It says the answer is given in Chapter 4, exercise 6. Sorry.
- No problem. These things happen. Anything else?
- Yeah... what sexual positions work best at two hundred times Earth gravity?
- What was that? You're breaking up.
- Ah, nothing. Just my little joke about 50s hard-science SF. Well, I'm sure I'll be back soon with another physics problem...
- Any time!
- Thanks! Over and out.
- Over and out.
March 25, 2014
Mission of Gravity is, I believe, the granddaddy of hard science fiction. It is often mentioned when discussions of hard sf come up. For some reason the label hard sf usually lead me to expect serious moody novels. For no good reason I tend to equate serious science with serious stories, imagine my surprise when Mission of Gravity turns out to be something of a romp, a good one too. Another point worth mentioning is that while the book was first published in 1953 it still holds up well today because the real world science Clement employs is still valid today.
The main attraction of the book for hard sf fans is probably the world building. The planet Mesklin is an 鈥渙blate spheroid鈥� in shape resulting in different gravity levels from the poles to equator. The minimum gravity there is still three times that of earth (3g) and the max is all of 700g. The native intelligent race of this planet, the 鈥淢esklinites鈥�, is consequently centipede like in shape to stay close to the ground where a small drop of a foot in a high gravity area can be fatal. Building on this great scenario Hal Clement creates a culture where the concept of flying and throwing is unheard of and all the natives are afraid of height. The science makes all these details very plausible without sacrificing the sense of wonder, enhancing it even.
Another great gimmick of this novel is that the narrative is mostly told from an alien point of view, one specific alien protagonist named Barlennan. A rather roguish, cunning, and likable captain of a raft called The Bree.
character. The Mesklinites remind me a little of the primitive aliens in Le Guin鈥檚 and by H. Beam Piper. Fortunately they are gifted linguists and adaptable to new concepts and experiences so they are able to work with and learn from the humans. I really love this kind of good natured sf story where species learn to work together for mutual benefits. Stories where hideous aliens are blasted to smithereens by super weapons are fun but a change is as good as a rest.
The plot mainly concerns a mission to retrieve a stranded manmade rocket containing valuable information which accidentally landed on one of the planet鈥檚 poles. Barlennan and his crew undertake to retrieve this rocket in exchange for knowledge for the advancement of their people. A lot of exploration and adventure ensues and while the ending is not exactly unpredictable I find it quite pleasing.
Mission of Gravity is a short novel of less than 200 pages in length. The book by itself is out of print but as part of the omnibus volume which contains a sequel called Star Light, some short stories and an essay; all for the price of one book. An offer you can鈥檛 refuse I think. I鈥檓 looking forward to reading the rest of the volume soon. Great fun and educational, what鈥檚 not to like?
The main attraction of the book for hard sf fans is probably the world building. The planet Mesklin is an 鈥渙blate spheroid鈥� in shape resulting in different gravity levels from the poles to equator. The minimum gravity there is still three times that of earth (3g) and the max is all of 700g. The native intelligent race of this planet, the 鈥淢esklinites鈥�, is consequently centipede like in shape to stay close to the ground where a small drop of a foot in a high gravity area can be fatal. Building on this great scenario Hal Clement creates a culture where the concept of flying and throwing is unheard of and all the natives are afraid of height. The science makes all these details very plausible without sacrificing the sense of wonder, enhancing it even.
Another great gimmick of this novel is that the narrative is mostly told from an alien point of view, one specific alien protagonist named Barlennan. A rather roguish, cunning, and likable captain of a raft called The Bree.
character. The Mesklinites remind me a little of the primitive aliens in Le Guin鈥檚 and by H. Beam Piper. Fortunately they are gifted linguists and adaptable to new concepts and experiences so they are able to work with and learn from the humans. I really love this kind of good natured sf story where species learn to work together for mutual benefits. Stories where hideous aliens are blasted to smithereens by super weapons are fun but a change is as good as a rest.
The plot mainly concerns a mission to retrieve a stranded manmade rocket containing valuable information which accidentally landed on one of the planet鈥檚 poles. Barlennan and his crew undertake to retrieve this rocket in exchange for knowledge for the advancement of their people. A lot of exploration and adventure ensues and while the ending is not exactly unpredictable I find it quite pleasing.
Mission of Gravity is a short novel of less than 200 pages in length. The book by itself is out of print but as part of the omnibus volume which contains a sequel called Star Light, some short stories and an essay; all for the price of one book. An offer you can鈥檛 refuse I think. I鈥檓 looking forward to reading the rest of the volume soon. Great fun and educational, what鈥檚 not to like?
January 28, 2023
Originally published serially in John W. Campbell Jr.'s magazine Astounding Science Fiction (long a flagship for the hard SF tradition in the U.S. literary scene) in 1953, this novel was first published in book form in the following year. When I took a Univ. of Iowa correspondence course on the history of science fiction back in the 90s, this was the recommended reading for the unit on hard SF.
Harry Clement Stubbs (1922-2003), an undergraduate astronomy major with graduate degrees in both chemistry and education, was a long-time high school science teacher in his native state of Massachusetts. He wrote his SF stories and novels (many of them, like this one, published in Astounding) on the side under the "Hal Clement" name, to keep his writing and work life separate. (His colleagues and students generally had no idea that he was a writer.) During his lifetime, he was well-known (under his pen name) and popular with genre fans who appreciated his style of scrupulously scientifically accurate treatment of premises strictly extrapolated from known scientific possibilities, in the manner of the "hard" school. (In 1999, the Science Fiction Writers of America named him a Grand Master for his lifetime contribution to the genre.) This particular novel is his best-known work; he followed it up with three sequels (another novel and two short stories) and a 1953 nonfiction essay "Whirligig World" about the writing of this book which expresses his philosophy of SF writing, but I haven't read any of the latter. The only other work of his I've experienced is the story "Cold Front," which I read as a kid in the anthology and also liked; but back in 1996, I didn't remember his name as the author of the latter. (I only rediscovered that information years later, after joining 欧宝娱乐, when I checked out a copy of the anthology to do a retrospective review.)
Set chronologically in a conventional (for this genre) far-future time of manned space exploration by FTL travel, this novel has one of the most original fictional physical settings ever created. The planet Mesklin supposedly has a super-fast rotation, with a day that's only 18 minutes long. This has gradually distorted the planet's physical shape; while it isn't a flat disk, it's closer to a disk than to a circle, with a much shorter distance between the poles (if you drew an imaginary line through the core of the planet) than the diameter at the equator. As a result, while the surface gravity at the equator is three times that of Earth's, the gravity at the poles is about 700 times that of ours. Also, the atmosphere is methane-based. Clement meticulously works out and brings to life the kind of environment this creates, and his intelligent though technologically primitive native Mesklinites, who resemble 15-inch long centipedes, are thoroughly adapted to it. Here, itinerant Mesklinite trader Barlennan and his crew wind up joining with a group of Earth-native explorers on a long land and sea odyssey across half the planet, in search of a lost unmanned probe.
Though the instructor of the course I took considered this novel a "slog," I personally didn't find it boring. It's more plot (and message) driven than character-driven, but the plot involves a good many physical challenges and jeopardies, both from the planet's harsh physical features and from not-always-friendly native tribes. Through all of these, the superior technology of the Earthmen is the ace in the hole that pulls them through and repeatedly saves the day. This ultimately convinces Barlennen of the greatly beneficial character of Science, and inspires him to want to learn more about it so that his people can share in its glories. That's the standard technophilic optimist message of much of the SF in this tradition. One could argue that in its uncritical form, it's a somewhat naive and unbalanced message (though it certainly has its positive side), but Clement delivers it with compositional artistry, culminating in the effective symbolism at the end.
But he also delivers a more subtle but equally important message. Although their physical appearance and biology, and their culture, are very unlike ours, Mesklinites and Earthlings are very like in their basic psychological make-up: thoughts, motives, and feelings; and these psychological factors and capabilities are the most essential ones that make intelligent beings who they are. Like us, Mesklinites can feel intellectual curiosity, desire for adventure (and for profit). They want to deserve the good opinion of those they respect, have an awareness of right and wrong, and a capacity for courage, loyalty and pity. As Earthling expedition leader Lackland sees, the two races are "enough alike to talk together" --and to understand, and form friendships with, each other. If that kind of cross-cultural understanding and friendship between humans and 15-inch centipedes is possible, it ought to be at least as possible across the racial, cultural and class divides of this world; and I think that at least some readers of this novel will connect those dots.
Harry Clement Stubbs (1922-2003), an undergraduate astronomy major with graduate degrees in both chemistry and education, was a long-time high school science teacher in his native state of Massachusetts. He wrote his SF stories and novels (many of them, like this one, published in Astounding) on the side under the "Hal Clement" name, to keep his writing and work life separate. (His colleagues and students generally had no idea that he was a writer.) During his lifetime, he was well-known (under his pen name) and popular with genre fans who appreciated his style of scrupulously scientifically accurate treatment of premises strictly extrapolated from known scientific possibilities, in the manner of the "hard" school. (In 1999, the Science Fiction Writers of America named him a Grand Master for his lifetime contribution to the genre.) This particular novel is his best-known work; he followed it up with three sequels (another novel and two short stories) and a 1953 nonfiction essay "Whirligig World" about the writing of this book which expresses his philosophy of SF writing, but I haven't read any of the latter. The only other work of his I've experienced is the story "Cold Front," which I read as a kid in the anthology and also liked; but back in 1996, I didn't remember his name as the author of the latter. (I only rediscovered that information years later, after joining 欧宝娱乐, when I checked out a copy of the anthology to do a retrospective review.)
Set chronologically in a conventional (for this genre) far-future time of manned space exploration by FTL travel, this novel has one of the most original fictional physical settings ever created. The planet Mesklin supposedly has a super-fast rotation, with a day that's only 18 minutes long. This has gradually distorted the planet's physical shape; while it isn't a flat disk, it's closer to a disk than to a circle, with a much shorter distance between the poles (if you drew an imaginary line through the core of the planet) than the diameter at the equator. As a result, while the surface gravity at the equator is three times that of Earth's, the gravity at the poles is about 700 times that of ours. Also, the atmosphere is methane-based. Clement meticulously works out and brings to life the kind of environment this creates, and his intelligent though technologically primitive native Mesklinites, who resemble 15-inch long centipedes, are thoroughly adapted to it. Here, itinerant Mesklinite trader Barlennan and his crew wind up joining with a group of Earth-native explorers on a long land and sea odyssey across half the planet, in search of a lost unmanned probe.
Though the instructor of the course I took considered this novel a "slog," I personally didn't find it boring. It's more plot (and message) driven than character-driven, but the plot involves a good many physical challenges and jeopardies, both from the planet's harsh physical features and from not-always-friendly native tribes. Through all of these, the superior technology of the Earthmen is the ace in the hole that pulls them through and repeatedly saves the day. This ultimately convinces Barlennen of the greatly beneficial character of Science, and inspires him to want to learn more about it so that his people can share in its glories. That's the standard technophilic optimist message of much of the SF in this tradition. One could argue that in its uncritical form, it's a somewhat naive and unbalanced message (though it certainly has its positive side), but Clement delivers it with compositional artistry, culminating in the effective symbolism at the end.
But he also delivers a more subtle but equally important message. Although their physical appearance and biology, and their culture, are very unlike ours, Mesklinites and Earthlings are very like in their basic psychological make-up: thoughts, motives, and feelings; and these psychological factors and capabilities are the most essential ones that make intelligent beings who they are. Like us, Mesklinites can feel intellectual curiosity, desire for adventure (and for profit). They want to deserve the good opinion of those they respect, have an awareness of right and wrong, and a capacity for courage, loyalty and pity. As Earthling expedition leader Lackland sees, the two races are "enough alike to talk together" --and to understand, and form friendships with, each other. If that kind of cross-cultural understanding and friendship between humans and 15-inch centipedes is possible, it ought to be at least as possible across the racial, cultural and class divides of this world; and I think that at least some readers of this novel will connect those dots.
January 28, 2010
2.5 stars. Interesting concept of a world where gravity is 700 times that of Earth at the poles and only 3 times Earth at the equator. Ultimately, the story was not interesting enough to keep me engaged, but the scientific explanations were interesting.
Nominee: Hugo (Retro) Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
Nominee: Hugo (Retro) Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
November 29, 2023
Check out my full, spoiler free, video review Great early hard science fiction with some cool aliens. A group of humans need to retrieve a probe from a planet that has up to 700 times the gravity of earth. One of the scientists convinces some of the aliens to help get the probe. Let the adventure begin. This is an excellent novel that has lots of hard science fiction, some interesting characters/aliens, and an adventure driven plot.
August 19, 2015
This book surely must be the record-holder for having the most endearing arthropodic character in fiction and possibly for weirdest planet in fiction! Of course the two are connected; if a planet has a surface gravitational pull never less than three times that of Earth and varying up to 700x that of Earth, intelligent life isn't going to look just like a human with maybe a weird looking forehead or nose.
Clement has very carefully worked out what the consequences of his rapidly spinning, exceedingly cold planet are and built a jolly adventure story round them, with a somewhat piratical, canny, mischievous explorer-trader as the protagonist asked to rescue the science probe visiting humans have lost and are unable to rescue themselves.
Long considered a genre classic and deservingly so.
Clement has very carefully worked out what the consequences of his rapidly spinning, exceedingly cold planet are and built a jolly adventure story round them, with a somewhat piratical, canny, mischievous explorer-trader as the protagonist asked to rescue the science probe visiting humans have lost and are unable to rescue themselves.
Long considered a genre classic and deservingly so.
October 19, 2018
La historia transcurre en el planeta Mesklin, sometido a las m谩s extremas condiciones. La elevada rotaci贸n del planeta hace que la gravedad var铆e desde los 3 g. en el ecuador, a los 700 grs. en los polos. Tormentas apocal铆pticas, fr铆o extremo, oc茅anos de metano, esto es a lo que se enfrentan sus habitantes. En el planeta se encuentra un grupo de cient铆ficos humanos que se ven en un aprieto: deben recuperar una costosa sonda que se ha estrellado en uno de los polos. Para ello contar谩n con la ayuda de los mesklinitas, en concreto del capit谩n Barlennan y su grupo de tripulantes.
鈥楳isi贸n de gravedad鈥� (Mission of Gravity, 1953), del estadounidense Hal Clement, es un cl谩sico de la ciencia ficci贸n hard. El autor sabe imbricar muy bien los conceptos f铆sicos en la trama, sin que estos abrumen al lector. En realidad se trata m谩s bien de una novela de aventuras en un planeta ex贸tico, con los m谩s peculiares protagonistas. Clement no entra en la psicolog铆a de los personajes, ni tan siquiera nos cuenta c贸mo llegaron los humanos al planeta Mesklin. En resumen, interesente libro del pionero de la ciencia ficci贸n hard, sin duda una de las m谩s estimulantes ramas del subg茅nero.
鈥楳isi贸n de gravedad鈥� (Mission of Gravity, 1953), del estadounidense Hal Clement, es un cl谩sico de la ciencia ficci贸n hard. El autor sabe imbricar muy bien los conceptos f铆sicos en la trama, sin que estos abrumen al lector. En realidad se trata m谩s bien de una novela de aventuras en un planeta ex贸tico, con los m谩s peculiares protagonistas. Clement no entra en la psicolog铆a de los personajes, ni tan siquiera nos cuenta c贸mo llegaron los humanos al planeta Mesklin. En resumen, interesente libro del pionero de la ciencia ficci贸n hard, sin duda una de las m谩s estimulantes ramas del subg茅nero.
October 13, 2019
Science fiction as it should be, wacky and confident of itself in its wackiness. Science fiction should be fun sometimes and free of any stupid social/political underpinnings, because frankly, don't we all get sick of it? Lighten up, people, and enjoy this message-free adventure story of 15-inch caterpillar alien sailors living on a planet nearly flattened into a disc by intense gravitational forces who are the only ones who can help the strange Flyers (that's us) rescue one of their rocket probes from one of the planet's poles.
In a fascinating turn, most of the story is told from the little caterpillar aliens points of view as they, through their bargain with the helpless humans, explore parts of their world hitherto unknown to them and certainly to us. A grand alien's alien story in which unrelenting explorers that aren't us, yay!, try to puzzle out their own world and the weird giants who came out of the sky.
In a fascinating turn, most of the story is told from the little caterpillar aliens points of view as they, through their bargain with the helpless humans, explore parts of their world hitherto unknown to them and certainly to us. A grand alien's alien story in which unrelenting explorers that aren't us, yay!, try to puzzle out their own world and the weird giants who came out of the sky.
June 13, 2017
He disfrutado de la parte 鈥渉ard鈥� y he conseguido leer la parte 鈥渘ovela鈥�.
Cl谩sico ya de CF Hard no me parece muy recomendable a quien no disfrute de este subg茅nero porque ni por especies ni por personajes ni por tensi贸n narrativa vale demasiado.
Pero 隆ah!, los conceptos de un planeta con una velocidad de rotaci贸n bestia, con un achatamiento de casi 3:1, con mares de metano y mareas exageradas y con gravedades de 3 a 700 g le permite a Clement crear esta peque帽a joya para los rarunos de la CF.
Disfrutadla, rarunos.
Cl谩sico ya de CF Hard no me parece muy recomendable a quien no disfrute de este subg茅nero porque ni por especies ni por personajes ni por tensi贸n narrativa vale demasiado.
Pero 隆ah!, los conceptos de un planeta con una velocidad de rotaci贸n bestia, con un achatamiento de casi 3:1, con mares de metano y mareas exageradas y con gravedades de 3 a 700 g le permite a Clement crear esta peque帽a joya para los rarunos de la CF.
Disfrutadla, rarunos.
April 18, 2021
An alien odyssey across a bizarre planet written in the old school science fiction style, with lot of telling rather than showing or deep characterization.
The characters and their dialog have that juvenile "Gee whiz" feel particular to 50s sci-fi. Which is a bit distracting but serves to focus the story on the planet itself as the main character.
Fun but definitely an artifact of its time.
The characters and their dialog have that juvenile "Gee whiz" feel particular to 50s sci-fi. Which is a bit distracting but serves to focus the story on the planet itself as the main character.
Fun but definitely an artifact of its time.
March 23, 2012
Often cited as one of the bedrock works of "hard" science fiction, this extremely well-constructed little novel paints wonders of chemistry, biology, and physics, but crowns its triumph with a touching and developed portrait of an alien species with their own peculiar neuroses and ambitions.
The gravity of the planet Mesklin is far beyond that of Earth. At Mesklin's equator, humans in power-assisted suits can temporarily tolerate the 3 Gs found there, but at the planet's poles centrifugal force ratchets this up to hundreds of Gs. When a human scientific probe goes down in a polar region, the only possible way to retrieve it is to enlist an expedition of the native Mesklinites.
These enterprising little creatures, shaped something like centipedes, sail, fight, and explore their way across their harsh planet, all the while learning to overcome their ancestral fears and limitations (for example, Mesklinites are pathologically afraid of heights, and of even the concept of an object being held above them, due to the severity of any fall in such a high-gravity environment). What I find most laudable about Clement's Mesklinites is that they're not content to be used as brainless fetch-its by humans. When they become convinced that the humans are witholding information about the probe, they threaten to keep it for themselves. This allows them to re-negotiate the terms of their service and secure a fairer future for the partnership between the species. Hardly -The Autobiography of Malcolm X,- but nonetheless a very welcome portrait of extraterrestrial autonomy and dignity in an era when the right of fictional human beings to kick little green men around for their own purposes was not what you'd call "deeply examined."
The gravity of the planet Mesklin is far beyond that of Earth. At Mesklin's equator, humans in power-assisted suits can temporarily tolerate the 3 Gs found there, but at the planet's poles centrifugal force ratchets this up to hundreds of Gs. When a human scientific probe goes down in a polar region, the only possible way to retrieve it is to enlist an expedition of the native Mesklinites.
These enterprising little creatures, shaped something like centipedes, sail, fight, and explore their way across their harsh planet, all the while learning to overcome their ancestral fears and limitations (for example, Mesklinites are pathologically afraid of heights, and of even the concept of an object being held above them, due to the severity of any fall in such a high-gravity environment). What I find most laudable about Clement's Mesklinites is that they're not content to be used as brainless fetch-its by humans. When they become convinced that the humans are witholding information about the probe, they threaten to keep it for themselves. This allows them to re-negotiate the terms of their service and secure a fairer future for the partnership between the species. Hardly -The Autobiography of Malcolm X,- but nonetheless a very welcome portrait of extraterrestrial autonomy and dignity in an era when the right of fictional human beings to kick little green men around for their own purposes was not what you'd call "deeply examined."
August 6, 2016
This has been on my 'must read' book shelf area for years as I have known it was an essential historical novel of the genre. And yes, it is that. In serial form, this was first published in 1953 in Campbell Jr.'s Astounding. It is right down the publisher's alley: Lots of science set in a fictional world; a classic "What if" type story: What if the planet is a highly 'oblate' planet named Mesklin, which has a surface gravity that varies between 700 gs at the poles and 3 gs at the equator.
It is a perfect example of 'info dumping' with lots of technical babble, thus it is more academic rather than well developed character based fiction, with very stiff awkward dialogue, yet there is good world building here and plenty of adventure - in the usual pulp sense. A notable difference here is that all is done by the alien natives of the planet who carried with them an audio-visual unit provided by human crew of mostly scientists, who are broadcasting from the planets moon, as even in pressure suits, they could not be mobile, let alone survive under the brutal natural conditions imposed by the planet itself. Even the 'Bree' who are making the expedition with the purpose of locating a lost human prob, have difficulty travelling beyond their home geographical point of origin for the same geological reasons.
This would fit into the 'hard science fiction' category; something that Arthur C. Clarke might have come up with but unfortunately, Hal Clement is no A.C. Clarke or Asimov, though according to his afterword, he had consulted 'the Doctor' on some of the science that the novel would, by default, impose on the story. Had this big idea been put into the hands of more skilled or sophisticated author, it could have been an even more important classic of the genre.
I am, however, looking forward to see if or not Mr. Clement honed in his story telling skills as he continued to write science fiction, five decades after this, only his third novel.
It is a perfect example of 'info dumping' with lots of technical babble, thus it is more academic rather than well developed character based fiction, with very stiff awkward dialogue, yet there is good world building here and plenty of adventure - in the usual pulp sense. A notable difference here is that all is done by the alien natives of the planet who carried with them an audio-visual unit provided by human crew of mostly scientists, who are broadcasting from the planets moon, as even in pressure suits, they could not be mobile, let alone survive under the brutal natural conditions imposed by the planet itself. Even the 'Bree' who are making the expedition with the purpose of locating a lost human prob, have difficulty travelling beyond their home geographical point of origin for the same geological reasons.
This would fit into the 'hard science fiction' category; something that Arthur C. Clarke might have come up with but unfortunately, Hal Clement is no A.C. Clarke or Asimov, though according to his afterword, he had consulted 'the Doctor' on some of the science that the novel would, by default, impose on the story. Had this big idea been put into the hands of more skilled or sophisticated author, it could have been an even more important classic of the genre.
I am, however, looking forward to see if or not Mr. Clement honed in his story telling skills as he continued to write science fiction, five decades after this, only his third novel.
January 18, 2024
En el programa de Gabinete de Curiosidades dedicado a la Ciencia Ficci贸n Dura hablo en m谩s detalle de esta novela:
隆Qu茅 hermosa es la ciencia ficci贸n cuando toda su ficci贸n es indistinguible de la ciencia! 隆Qu茅 capacidad de maravillarnos con mundos cuya existencia resulta incre铆ble y, sin embargo, son perfectamente posibles en el papel gracias a la imaginaci贸n y brillantez del intr茅pido escritor con genio cient铆fico, o del avezado cient铆fico con alma de literato! Y esparcidos todos los adjetivos y toda la 帽o帽er铆a, y esperando haber provocado m谩s de una caries y de una diabetes tipo II, procedo a contar por qu茅 pongo tres estrellas a un libro cuya rese帽a ha empezado no con una, sino dos exclamaciones.
Nos encontramos en el planeta Mesklin, el primo Zumosol de los planetas extrasolares, un orbe gigante que f谩cilmente podr铆a contener 10 Tierras en su interior, con una fuerza gravitatoria tan fuerte y una velocidad de rotaci贸n tan r谩pida que m谩s que un orbe, es un huevo. Tan curiosa forma hace que la gravedad del planeta vari茅 con la latitud, siendo s贸lo de 3g (3 veces la gravedad en la Tierra) en el ecuador y 665g en los polos -ni Goku en la Maquina de Gravedad aguantar铆a tal exceso-. Por si esto fuera poco, la mayor parte de la superficie del planeta est谩 cubierta por oc茅anos de metano l铆quido debido a las glaciales temperaturas. Queda bastante claro que Mesklin, como destino tur铆stico, es una mierda. Sin embargo, la curiosidad innata del ser humano est谩, sorprendentemente, mucho m谩s hipertrofiada que su debilidad por el esparcimiento, por lo que una nave expedicionaria lleva unos meses orbitando el planeta, estudi谩ndolo y realizando mediciones, con tan mala suerte que una sonda de investigaci贸n ha terminado estrell谩ndose en el polo del planeta 驴Qui茅n podr谩 recuperar la sonda siniestrada y los valiosos datos recogidos por 茅sta? Bueno, por suerte, la vida siempre se abre camino, da igual el frio, la gravedad, el metano o la frecuencia angular. En efecto: en Mesklin hay vida.
Es en este punto d贸nde empieza nuestra historia. S贸lo os he aportado un poco de contexto, pero no m谩s del que puede aparecer en la contraportada o en una sinopsis ap贸crifa de Internet. En la p谩gina uno conocemos a los mesklinitas, no es un giro de guion ni una sorpresa: son los protagonistas absolutos de la historia, los que cargan con todo el peso de la trama; los humanos son meros espectadores, a lo m谩s, gu铆as, pues est谩n fisiol贸gicamente limitados para hollar la superficie de Mesklin. Los mesklinitas, pues, no son s贸lo inteligentes y sociales, sino que se expresan en un perfecto ingl茅s y se llevan deliciosamente con nuestra especie, esperando que este favor sea el principio de un fecundo intercambio tecnol贸gico, comercial y cultural. Y el adoptar esta perspectiva y este modo de narrar me parece a la vez el mejor acierto y el mayor lastre de la historia. Me explico.
Misi贸n de Gravedad es una historia muy sencilla, una novela de aventuras como las de antes, en las que unos personajes apenas bosquejados se enfrentan a un mundo desconocido y tienen que salir del paso gracias a su audacia, ingenio y habilidad. En este caso, la historia es una excusa para descubrir Mesklin, desde el ecuador hasta el polo, su curiosa geograf铆a y su an贸malas caracter铆sticas planetarias. Es imposible no recordar los viajes extraordinarios del Verne m谩s inspirado, el de 20.000 Leguas de Viaje Submarino y Viaje al Centro de la Tierra, el que no dejaba de maravillarte con descubrimientos a cada cual m谩s asombroso. Y la verdad es que a Mesklin no le faltan encantos, porque no s贸lo es un escenario tan ajeno a nuestro mundo, tan "marciano" -meskliniano, mejor dicho- que requiere un importante esfuerzo de imaginaci贸n en determinados tramos de la lectura, sino tambi茅n un mundo perfectamente veros铆mil; cada detalle est谩 cuidado y mimado para que en ning煤n momento se resquebraje la suspensi贸n de la credulidad del lector, sea 茅ste un advenedizo o asiduo al g茅nero. La comparaci贸n con Verne no acaba aqu铆, por supuesto. A lo largo del viaje los extraterrestres, adaptados magn铆ficamente a su planeta pero a煤n as铆 bastante limitados fisiol贸gicamente, encontraran numerosos obst谩culos que sortear gracias a unos rudimentarios conocimientos cient铆ficos y un poquito de ayuda humana. Con cada obst谩culo superado, el lector va terminando de perfilar en su mente el incomprensible mundo que es Mesklin, y al contrario que Verne, que no ten铆a reparos en detener la narraci贸n para explicarte detalladamente todo lo que hay alrededor de los personajes, Clement presenta cada nueva regi贸n de forma org谩nica, sin recrearse, alimentando la ilusi贸n de ser un mesklenita m谩s y haciendo que la narraci贸n fluya de forma natural y din谩mica. Algo que en la ciencia ficci贸n m谩s especulativa es muy raro de ver. No son pocas las novelas que sufren de un terrible problema de incontinencia verbal.
Sin embargo, y como he dicho anteriormente, la historia es simple como el mecanismo de un chupete. No hay grandes giros ni grandes sorpresas m谩s all谩 del planeta y sus habitantes. Y al tratarse, adem谩s, de un libro breve, se deja la puerta abierta a secuelas que, seguramente, ampliaran m谩s este interesante universo. Al ser todo esta historia una expedici贸n donde se ensalza como gracias al ingenio y los conocimientos cient铆ficos cualquier ser inteligente-sea humano o mesklinita- puede imponerse a un medio desconocido de condiciones hostiles, ciertos aspectos de la misma est谩n mucho menos cuidados que el escenario que se nos describe. Uno de estos detalles son los mesklenitas. No se nos describen exhaustivamente pero, en palabras de Krasty, imaginad un animal peque帽o con muchas patas 驴Cre茅is posible, pues, que un alien铆gena asi no ya solo sea capaz de comunicarse con nosotros, sino encima pronunciar perfectamente el ingles? Es, cuanto menos, improbable. Claro que Clement no quiere explorar la dificultad, o hasta la imposibilidad, de comunicarnos con otra especie inteligente (para eso mejor leer Solaris o La historia de tu vida), pero no deja de sorprenderme que alguien que ha concebido y descrito de forma tan puntillosa su planeta haya dicho, sabes qu茅, que los bichos hablen ingles, s铆. Ojo, no lo hacen por magia espacial a lo Star Wars, los mesklenitas aprenden el idioma de los humanos, pero tampoco se profundiza mucho en el cu谩ndo o el c贸mo. Esta es, a mi parecer, el peor defecto que encuentro al libro, aunque pueda justificarlo por el contexto en que se escribi贸 la historia, en plena Edad de Oro, una 茅poca bastante antropocentrista en la que todos los astronautas eran cauc谩sicos y guapos y todos cre铆an que en el siglo XXI conducir铆amos un coche volador, y porque la historia que Clement quiere contarnos es una aventura de sabor cl谩sico, una excusa para trasladarnos a un mundo incre铆ble pero cient铆ficamente posible.
Conforme he ido escribiendo esta rese帽a me he dado cuenta de que la historia me ha gustado mucho m谩s ahora que cuando la termine en su momento, y estoy tentado de cambiarle la puntuaci贸n. Todo es culpa de esa fijaci贸n de 欧宝娱乐 por las estrellas enteras. En fin, poco m谩s puedo a帽adir que no sea repetirme. Misi贸n de gravedad es una novela fascinante que merece leerse solo por el interesant铆simo mundo que nos ofrece, que opaca, y con creces, los defectos que tiene y lo simpleza de su argumento.
隆Qu茅 hermosa es la ciencia ficci贸n cuando toda su ficci贸n es indistinguible de la ciencia! 隆Qu茅 capacidad de maravillarnos con mundos cuya existencia resulta incre铆ble y, sin embargo, son perfectamente posibles en el papel gracias a la imaginaci贸n y brillantez del intr茅pido escritor con genio cient铆fico, o del avezado cient铆fico con alma de literato! Y esparcidos todos los adjetivos y toda la 帽o帽er铆a, y esperando haber provocado m谩s de una caries y de una diabetes tipo II, procedo a contar por qu茅 pongo tres estrellas a un libro cuya rese帽a ha empezado no con una, sino dos exclamaciones.
Nos encontramos en el planeta Mesklin, el primo Zumosol de los planetas extrasolares, un orbe gigante que f谩cilmente podr铆a contener 10 Tierras en su interior, con una fuerza gravitatoria tan fuerte y una velocidad de rotaci贸n tan r谩pida que m谩s que un orbe, es un huevo. Tan curiosa forma hace que la gravedad del planeta vari茅 con la latitud, siendo s贸lo de 3g (3 veces la gravedad en la Tierra) en el ecuador y 665g en los polos -ni Goku en la Maquina de Gravedad aguantar铆a tal exceso-. Por si esto fuera poco, la mayor parte de la superficie del planeta est谩 cubierta por oc茅anos de metano l铆quido debido a las glaciales temperaturas. Queda bastante claro que Mesklin, como destino tur铆stico, es una mierda. Sin embargo, la curiosidad innata del ser humano est谩, sorprendentemente, mucho m谩s hipertrofiada que su debilidad por el esparcimiento, por lo que una nave expedicionaria lleva unos meses orbitando el planeta, estudi谩ndolo y realizando mediciones, con tan mala suerte que una sonda de investigaci贸n ha terminado estrell谩ndose en el polo del planeta 驴Qui茅n podr谩 recuperar la sonda siniestrada y los valiosos datos recogidos por 茅sta? Bueno, por suerte, la vida siempre se abre camino, da igual el frio, la gravedad, el metano o la frecuencia angular. En efecto: en Mesklin hay vida.
Es en este punto d贸nde empieza nuestra historia. S贸lo os he aportado un poco de contexto, pero no m谩s del que puede aparecer en la contraportada o en una sinopsis ap贸crifa de Internet. En la p谩gina uno conocemos a los mesklinitas, no es un giro de guion ni una sorpresa: son los protagonistas absolutos de la historia, los que cargan con todo el peso de la trama; los humanos son meros espectadores, a lo m谩s, gu铆as, pues est谩n fisiol贸gicamente limitados para hollar la superficie de Mesklin. Los mesklinitas, pues, no son s贸lo inteligentes y sociales, sino que se expresan en un perfecto ingl茅s y se llevan deliciosamente con nuestra especie, esperando que este favor sea el principio de un fecundo intercambio tecnol贸gico, comercial y cultural. Y el adoptar esta perspectiva y este modo de narrar me parece a la vez el mejor acierto y el mayor lastre de la historia. Me explico.
Misi贸n de Gravedad es una historia muy sencilla, una novela de aventuras como las de antes, en las que unos personajes apenas bosquejados se enfrentan a un mundo desconocido y tienen que salir del paso gracias a su audacia, ingenio y habilidad. En este caso, la historia es una excusa para descubrir Mesklin, desde el ecuador hasta el polo, su curiosa geograf铆a y su an贸malas caracter铆sticas planetarias. Es imposible no recordar los viajes extraordinarios del Verne m谩s inspirado, el de 20.000 Leguas de Viaje Submarino y Viaje al Centro de la Tierra, el que no dejaba de maravillarte con descubrimientos a cada cual m谩s asombroso. Y la verdad es que a Mesklin no le faltan encantos, porque no s贸lo es un escenario tan ajeno a nuestro mundo, tan "marciano" -meskliniano, mejor dicho- que requiere un importante esfuerzo de imaginaci贸n en determinados tramos de la lectura, sino tambi茅n un mundo perfectamente veros铆mil; cada detalle est谩 cuidado y mimado para que en ning煤n momento se resquebraje la suspensi贸n de la credulidad del lector, sea 茅ste un advenedizo o asiduo al g茅nero. La comparaci贸n con Verne no acaba aqu铆, por supuesto. A lo largo del viaje los extraterrestres, adaptados magn铆ficamente a su planeta pero a煤n as铆 bastante limitados fisiol贸gicamente, encontraran numerosos obst谩culos que sortear gracias a unos rudimentarios conocimientos cient铆ficos y un poquito de ayuda humana. Con cada obst谩culo superado, el lector va terminando de perfilar en su mente el incomprensible mundo que es Mesklin, y al contrario que Verne, que no ten铆a reparos en detener la narraci贸n para explicarte detalladamente todo lo que hay alrededor de los personajes, Clement presenta cada nueva regi贸n de forma org谩nica, sin recrearse, alimentando la ilusi贸n de ser un mesklenita m谩s y haciendo que la narraci贸n fluya de forma natural y din谩mica. Algo que en la ciencia ficci贸n m谩s especulativa es muy raro de ver. No son pocas las novelas que sufren de un terrible problema de incontinencia verbal.
Sin embargo, y como he dicho anteriormente, la historia es simple como el mecanismo de un chupete. No hay grandes giros ni grandes sorpresas m谩s all谩 del planeta y sus habitantes. Y al tratarse, adem谩s, de un libro breve, se deja la puerta abierta a secuelas que, seguramente, ampliaran m谩s este interesante universo. Al ser todo esta historia una expedici贸n donde se ensalza como gracias al ingenio y los conocimientos cient铆ficos cualquier ser inteligente-sea humano o mesklinita- puede imponerse a un medio desconocido de condiciones hostiles, ciertos aspectos de la misma est谩n mucho menos cuidados que el escenario que se nos describe. Uno de estos detalles son los mesklenitas. No se nos describen exhaustivamente pero, en palabras de Krasty, imaginad un animal peque帽o con muchas patas 驴Cre茅is posible, pues, que un alien铆gena asi no ya solo sea capaz de comunicarse con nosotros, sino encima pronunciar perfectamente el ingles? Es, cuanto menos, improbable. Claro que Clement no quiere explorar la dificultad, o hasta la imposibilidad, de comunicarnos con otra especie inteligente (para eso mejor leer Solaris o La historia de tu vida), pero no deja de sorprenderme que alguien que ha concebido y descrito de forma tan puntillosa su planeta haya dicho, sabes qu茅, que los bichos hablen ingles, s铆. Ojo, no lo hacen por magia espacial a lo Star Wars, los mesklenitas aprenden el idioma de los humanos, pero tampoco se profundiza mucho en el cu谩ndo o el c贸mo. Esta es, a mi parecer, el peor defecto que encuentro al libro, aunque pueda justificarlo por el contexto en que se escribi贸 la historia, en plena Edad de Oro, una 茅poca bastante antropocentrista en la que todos los astronautas eran cauc谩sicos y guapos y todos cre铆an que en el siglo XXI conducir铆amos un coche volador, y porque la historia que Clement quiere contarnos es una aventura de sabor cl谩sico, una excusa para trasladarnos a un mundo incre铆ble pero cient铆ficamente posible.
Conforme he ido escribiendo esta rese帽a me he dado cuenta de que la historia me ha gustado mucho m谩s ahora que cuando la termine en su momento, y estoy tentado de cambiarle la puntuaci贸n. Todo es culpa de esa fijaci贸n de 欧宝娱乐 por las estrellas enteras. En fin, poco m谩s puedo a帽adir que no sea repetirme. Misi贸n de gravedad es una novela fascinante que merece leerse solo por el interesant铆simo mundo que nos ofrece, que opaca, y con creces, los defectos que tiene y lo simpleza de su argumento.
May 14, 2013
I wanted to like this book more. It has a really cool premise; a planet with unusual gravity because of its high rotation.
But the characters were distractingly confusing and bad. I enjoyed the scientific reveals, but was impatient for them to come. The story ends abruptly in the middle of a ho-hum mission.
The aliens, themselves, were pretty interesting in their biology and psychology. Again, personality was lacking. I think what bothered me the most was that they spoke English. I don't have a problem with them being able to, but it is how they spoke which bothered me.
They spoke naturally, using correct idioms and a wide vocabulary. I think, if you're gonna have aliens speaking English, they should speak it at least as poorly as a human learning English as a second language.
But the characters were distractingly confusing and bad. I enjoyed the scientific reveals, but was impatient for them to come. The story ends abruptly in the middle of a ho-hum mission.
The aliens, themselves, were pretty interesting in their biology and psychology. Again, personality was lacking. I think what bothered me the most was that they spoke English. I don't have a problem with them being able to, but it is how they spoke which bothered me.
They spoke naturally, using correct idioms and a wide vocabulary. I think, if you're gonna have aliens speaking English, they should speak it at least as poorly as a human learning English as a second language.
April 28, 2020
Mission of Gravity is one of the true classics of the science fiction field, with an emphasis on science. It was one of the first great depictions of an alien race that could (as J.W. Campbell put it) think as well as man, but not -like-man. It's been fifty years since I first read it, and I still remember being impressed with the plucky Barlennan and his quest. There's not a whole lot in the way of characterization of the humans, but the planet Mesklin and the society that's developed there is still remarkably fascinating and thought provoking.
April 3, 2018
good story, although dated...4 stars taken into account when it was written...
February 22, 2021
1 February 2009 - Somehow, I have come through 40 solid years of reading science fiction without reading any novel by Hal Clement before this. While the science he uses is definitely 1950s vintage, it is his engineering-like approach to world-building that I appreciate most. He really has considered many aspects of astronomy, planetary mechanics, and chemistry in making Mesklin a believable planet - even if his ideas of biology and environmental systems are naive. As for the plot, I found the intelligent centipede Barlennan's cunning wiles to be fun, as he negotiated his way out of various troubles along the way. I'm afraid, though, that the end became completely predictable once I understood what was happening. Still, I enjoyed reading this "new" author.
January 28, 2012
If you are about my age, you probably first met this book through the picture of the Mesklinite in 鈥楤arlowe鈥檚 Guide to Extraterrestrials鈥�. They are our high-density low-temperature hydrogen-breathing pals who are fun to be with.
What struck me re-reading it this time is how 鈥楳ission of Gravity鈥� is a paean to science.
First of all, it is proper science fiction. Not 鈥榠ndistinguishable from magic鈥� science fiction. Not some rubbish latte-land love triangle with spaceships and aliens. Not flip-through-this-week鈥檚-New-Scientist-and-grab-a-few-dodgy-interpretation-of-Quantum-Mechanics-articles science fiction. Just Newtonian Physics pushed to the edge.
Second, the motivation of the (largely offstage) human characters is all science all the time. They want to know stuff. They are part of a project spending a fortune to find stuff out. Completely fundamental blue-sky no-applications-need-apply stuff. It鈥檚 all they care about. They never talk about anything else. Which is how it ought to be, because next to a world like Mesklin everything else is pretty boring.
Third, the narrative arc of the novel is the conversion of the Mesklinite characters to the scientific worldview. Barlennan, the main character, is the Han Solo or Vasco de Gama of his world. As the story begins he is all about the phat lewtz. But as it goes on 鈥� like Han Solo 鈥� he becomes aware of a higher purpose. A higher purpose that might enable him primarily to get more phat lewtz, true, but a higher purpose. Again and again, the scientific skills of the humans are shown to be of practical use in solving problems. Barlennan realises that he wants what they鈥檙e having. At the climax of the novel he refuses to help the humans anymore unless they teach him science. This is the sort of standoff situation people like me dream of. And there is this beautiful interchange that encapsulates the wonder and the sheer *utility* of the scientific method in a way that I haven't seen anywhere else.
What struck me re-reading it this time is how 鈥楳ission of Gravity鈥� is a paean to science.
First of all, it is proper science fiction. Not 鈥榠ndistinguishable from magic鈥� science fiction. Not some rubbish latte-land love triangle with spaceships and aliens. Not flip-through-this-week鈥檚-New-Scientist-and-grab-a-few-dodgy-interpretation-of-Quantum-Mechanics-articles science fiction. Just Newtonian Physics pushed to the edge.
Second, the motivation of the (largely offstage) human characters is all science all the time. They want to know stuff. They are part of a project spending a fortune to find stuff out. Completely fundamental blue-sky no-applications-need-apply stuff. It鈥檚 all they care about. They never talk about anything else. Which is how it ought to be, because next to a world like Mesklin everything else is pretty boring.
Third, the narrative arc of the novel is the conversion of the Mesklinite characters to the scientific worldview. Barlennan, the main character, is the Han Solo or Vasco de Gama of his world. As the story begins he is all about the phat lewtz. But as it goes on 鈥� like Han Solo 鈥� he becomes aware of a higher purpose. A higher purpose that might enable him primarily to get more phat lewtz, true, but a higher purpose. Again and again, the scientific skills of the humans are shown to be of practical use in solving problems. Barlennan realises that he wants what they鈥檙e having. At the climax of the novel he refuses to help the humans anymore unless they teach him science. This is the sort of standoff situation people like me dream of. And there is this beautiful interchange that encapsulates the wonder and the sheer *utility* of the scientific method in a way that I haven't seen anywhere else.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2011
This is another one of those SF books that is written by a scientist, for scientists. Like Fred Hoyle's , it is the scientists and engineers who are the calling the shots and saving the day. Unlike "The Black Cloud" however, there is very little to interest the reader who isn't a scientist, doesn't enjoy following through scientific reasoning and working through technical problems.
As the Mesklinites have to traverse their way halfway across their planet, from the equatorial region that has very similar levels of gravity to Earth, to one of the polar regions at which one will experience gravity at something like 600 times that of Earth, they encounter different sorts of problems in which the human scientists help and advise them.
The characters are flat, the plot is dull, the narrative style dated and stale. Many times throughout I considered throwing it down but stuck with it since it is not too long at 200 pages. It was an interesting premise but could have been handled so much better by someone who could actually write fiction. I certainly don't intend to read anything else by this author.
As the Mesklinites have to traverse their way halfway across their planet, from the equatorial region that has very similar levels of gravity to Earth, to one of the polar regions at which one will experience gravity at something like 600 times that of Earth, they encounter different sorts of problems in which the human scientists help and advise them.
The characters are flat, the plot is dull, the narrative style dated and stale. Many times throughout I considered throwing it down but stuck with it since it is not too long at 200 pages. It was an interesting premise but could have been handled so much better by someone who could actually write fiction. I certainly don't intend to read anything else by this author.
February 11, 2024
I didn't get exactly what I was expecting here. But then, do you ever with lesser-known classic Sci-Fi books? Mission of Gravity doesn't follow the first contact formula we usually see today. But was the first contact formula even a formula back in 1954? These days it's the norm for the aliens to be gradually revealed to the reader through the eyes of the human protagonist. Following the getting-to-know-each-other process as it evolves is usually one of the main payoffs. You get none of that here.
You are thrown right into the mix from page one as the story begins from the alien's point of view, the whole first contact having happened several months prior to the book's opening. So we don't get to experience, what I would consider the most interesting portion of the first contact scenario, the introduction. With Clement's approach, we very quickly learn the dynamic between aliens and humans with everything already well established. The drive is the understanding and mutual benefit each offers. Humans are the brains and the aliens are the muscle. Or so we're led to believe.
To be honest, there is little by way of progressive plot in the first third of this 203-page novel. The author spends this time setting the scene and fully introducing the relevant characters and world. But things take a bit of a turn at this point, leaving no doubt that this is where the scene setting ends and the story really begins. At least, this is where the pace picks up and the action and tension begin to build.
However, this book's main focus is not on the characters or situations as much as it is on the planet itself. Discovering the topography and unusuality of the environment and gravitational importance are the drives behind the entire novel. Mission of Gravity is definitely about the ideas more than the narrative. If this kind of thing appeals to you, I'm sure you'll gain a lot from reading it. Personally, I prefer a more character-driven premise.
I have no real complaints. I always try to keep my mind firmly in the era of the book's origin while reading to keep my expectations honest. But there were a couple of aspects I found quite irritating. The main human character, Charles, rarely, if ever, comes up with ideas of his own. He's constantly taking inspiration from colleagues and the aliens around him. Call me finicky but, shouldn't an astronaut charged with discovering new worlds be a thinker? An individual who is more than capable of solutional thinking? Also, I found the writing a little childish - well, not exactly the writing, but more the mentality behind the writing.
Not a favourite by any means, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I was uninterested or bored.
Wow! You read all that!? If you'd like more
You are thrown right into the mix from page one as the story begins from the alien's point of view, the whole first contact having happened several months prior to the book's opening. So we don't get to experience, what I would consider the most interesting portion of the first contact scenario, the introduction. With Clement's approach, we very quickly learn the dynamic between aliens and humans with everything already well established. The drive is the understanding and mutual benefit each offers. Humans are the brains and the aliens are the muscle. Or so we're led to believe.
To be honest, there is little by way of progressive plot in the first third of this 203-page novel. The author spends this time setting the scene and fully introducing the relevant characters and world. But things take a bit of a turn at this point, leaving no doubt that this is where the scene setting ends and the story really begins. At least, this is where the pace picks up and the action and tension begin to build.
However, this book's main focus is not on the characters or situations as much as it is on the planet itself. Discovering the topography and unusuality of the environment and gravitational importance are the drives behind the entire novel. Mission of Gravity is definitely about the ideas more than the narrative. If this kind of thing appeals to you, I'm sure you'll gain a lot from reading it. Personally, I prefer a more character-driven premise.
I have no real complaints. I always try to keep my mind firmly in the era of the book's origin while reading to keep my expectations honest. But there were a couple of aspects I found quite irritating. The main human character, Charles, rarely, if ever, comes up with ideas of his own. He's constantly taking inspiration from colleagues and the aliens around him. Call me finicky but, shouldn't an astronaut charged with discovering new worlds be a thinker? An individual who is more than capable of solutional thinking? Also, I found the writing a little childish - well, not exactly the writing, but more the mentality behind the writing.
Not a favourite by any means, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I was uninterested or bored.
Wow! You read all that!? If you'd like more
January 10, 2025
A decent enough hard SF novel which I can understand why it is so popular and influential on writers and scientists. The concept is excellent - even if it could have been fleshed out a bit more coherently in places - and provides some intriguing problem solving for the adventurers to have to overcome.
In fact this is perhaps more of an adventure/exploration sci fi story than anything else as the natives chart through unknown areas to find a rocket their new human friends have lost in the polar regions where gravity is 700 times that of Earth and are consequently unable to retrieve themselves. Most of the science of the planet is quite subtly communicated which I appreciated despite it reducing the level of awe, albeit when Clement did get descriptive, that's when it got muddled and contradictory and showed some of his weaknesses as a writer.
Despite these misgivings about his writing, his strength lies in pairing Earth people with imaginatively created, yet believable alien races that have great differences in biology and homeworlds with unusual chemistry and physics. He does this to great effect in Iceworld, even though that also suffered from weak storytelling. There is a strong point about the Meskinites (like all Clement's creations) having too human a personality and motivations, but it does prevent the narrative getting too bogged down. Mission of Gravity was originally serialised, so any further complexity beyond the science would have made it too slow for that format. It's also hard to not root for Barlemann and his crew who show real invention, quick thinking and courage in their mission.
Overall I enjoyed enough of it to overcome some of the more annoying flaws and am keen to continue with his essays and sequels. It's an easy book to recommend if you like hard SF. just keep in mind that although it is plausible and well researched for its time, it has dated - just not to any real detriment in my mind.
In fact this is perhaps more of an adventure/exploration sci fi story than anything else as the natives chart through unknown areas to find a rocket their new human friends have lost in the polar regions where gravity is 700 times that of Earth and are consequently unable to retrieve themselves. Most of the science of the planet is quite subtly communicated which I appreciated despite it reducing the level of awe, albeit when Clement did get descriptive, that's when it got muddled and contradictory and showed some of his weaknesses as a writer.
Despite these misgivings about his writing, his strength lies in pairing Earth people with imaginatively created, yet believable alien races that have great differences in biology and homeworlds with unusual chemistry and physics. He does this to great effect in Iceworld, even though that also suffered from weak storytelling. There is a strong point about the Meskinites (like all Clement's creations) having too human a personality and motivations, but it does prevent the narrative getting too bogged down. Mission of Gravity was originally serialised, so any further complexity beyond the science would have made it too slow for that format. It's also hard to not root for Barlemann and his crew who show real invention, quick thinking and courage in their mission.
Overall I enjoyed enough of it to overcome some of the more annoying flaws and am keen to continue with his essays and sequels. It's an easy book to recommend if you like hard SF. just keep in mind that although it is plausible and well researched for its time, it has dated - just not to any real detriment in my mind.
April 4, 2023
This was one of our (my twin brother and I) favourite SF books from childhood. More than forty years after first reading it, it still holds up well and was a good read. For me, now, it lays all the physics and world building of a hi-G world too thickly, but the story of how the humans work with their Mesklinite centipede-like aliens to recover a lost rocket, overcoming various challenges thrown at them along the way, is entertaining enough.
October 1, 2018
Bit of a struggle to get into the mindset of a four-inch centipede interacting with earthmen on a super-heavy planet, but it turned out to be a fun read by the end.
Monopoly hard SF entry!
Monopoly hard SF entry!
April 20, 2024
This was a fun read, probably the first sci-fi book I read that focused on a disk-shaped world with extreme gravity, 700gs! (thus the title). The action was non-stop and the characters, while superficially drawn, were still engaging and compelling. The aliens here are of extreme originality and I appreciated the human-Mesklinite relationships and bartering and adventures together that form the core of the plot. The book reads very quickly and for 1953 has aged well in my opinion. It is another major sci-fi classic. I know there are two other books in this trilogy, but apparently, the quality drops off precipitously after this first one.
May 19, 2023
Fourth time reading Clement, and at this point I know what I'm getting. Camaraderie between human and alien, extreme physical environments, "plot" as a series of physics/chemistry/engineering puzzles.
Mesklin is a unique setting, at least. A lozenge of a planet, with 3 Earth gravities at the equator, grading to 700 at the poles. The Mesklinites are thus terrified of heights, as even a fall of an inch is enough to kill them, and the concepts of "throwing" and "jumping" are alien to them. Clement gets a lot of mileage out of this concept, as he's worked out the physics and chemistry of this world, and how beings would live in it. The planet spins so rapidly that days last less than 10 minutes, thus the Mesklinites have no diurnal cycle, and will work through consecutive days and nights. A long running mystery involves the Mesklinite belief that the world is a bowl, and the horizon curves upward. The book is littered with things like this.
Characterization is simple, but not totally wooden. Barlennan is the Odysseus-like captain of his ship, Dondragmer his more intelligent, yet less adventurous first mate, the human Lackland a companion and occasional teacher. Together the two Mesklinites have their assumptions about reality challenged both by the science of humanity, and the inventions of other cultures of their own planet, culminating in Clement has a knack for these surprisingly emotional endings, perhaps aided by the relative dryness of the majority of the material.
Clement returned to Mesklin with two short stories, "Under" and "Lecture Demonstration", and a sequel featuring Barlennan and Dondragmer, Star Light. Along with an essay on the development of Mesklin, "Whirligig World", these were collected in the omnibus Heavy Planet.
Love this entry of Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. The description was quite light in the book, so Barlowe has some freedom with the shape of the mouth and layout of the eyes, and the false head at the rear, fitting for the comparison with a caterpillar. The pose is very cute. My only quibble is the lack of legs on the front of the body. While Barlennan's Mesklinites are described as being able to lift their fronts, they only did so in the low gravity latitudes. It seems unlikely they would lift their bodies often, if ever, in their native latitudes, and they'd probably have legs all the way up to the head.
Mesklin is a unique setting, at least. A lozenge of a planet, with 3 Earth gravities at the equator, grading to 700 at the poles. The Mesklinites are thus terrified of heights, as even a fall of an inch is enough to kill them, and the concepts of "throwing" and "jumping" are alien to them. Clement gets a lot of mileage out of this concept, as he's worked out the physics and chemistry of this world, and how beings would live in it. The planet spins so rapidly that days last less than 10 minutes, thus the Mesklinites have no diurnal cycle, and will work through consecutive days and nights. A long running mystery involves the Mesklinite belief that the world is a bowl, and the horizon curves upward. The book is littered with things like this.
Characterization is simple, but not totally wooden. Barlennan is the Odysseus-like captain of his ship, Dondragmer his more intelligent, yet less adventurous first mate, the human Lackland a companion and occasional teacher. Together the two Mesklinites have their assumptions about reality challenged both by the science of humanity, and the inventions of other cultures of their own planet, culminating in Clement has a knack for these surprisingly emotional endings, perhaps aided by the relative dryness of the majority of the material.
Clement returned to Mesklin with two short stories, "Under" and "Lecture Demonstration", and a sequel featuring Barlennan and Dondragmer, Star Light. Along with an essay on the development of Mesklin, "Whirligig World", these were collected in the omnibus Heavy Planet.
Love this entry of Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. The description was quite light in the book, so Barlowe has some freedom with the shape of the mouth and layout of the eyes, and the false head at the rear, fitting for the comparison with a caterpillar. The pose is very cute. My only quibble is the lack of legs on the front of the body. While Barlennan's Mesklinites are described as being able to lift their fronts, they only did so in the low gravity latitudes. It seems unlikely they would lift their bodies often, if ever, in their native latitudes, and they'd probably have legs all the way up to the head.
February 2, 2021
I'd give it 2.5 stars if I could, but I can't round up to 3. It's better than just "ok" but to say "I liked it" might be a bit much.
Clement's world building is the highlight of this sci-fi classic from 1954. Mesklin is a large, disc-shaped world that spins so fast that days are only 18 minutes long. Gravity runs from 3 G at the equator to 700 G at the poles. It is a world of liquid methane seas and ammonia snow. The humans have special environmental suits to protect them from the hostile atmosphere and tanks to get around, provided they stay close to the equator. And yet there's sentient life: 15 inch-long centipede-like beings who are in the early stages of civilization.
And that's the high point of this book.
Characterization is flat. Even the aliens show very little depth, behaving very much like their human counterparts. Interactions between Barlennan, the local Meskinite captain, and Lackland, his human contact, are rather easy. Lackland taught Barlennan English (before the story begins) and except for the occasional idiom or scientific concept, there is little lost in translation. The most interesting part is that the humans and Barlennan's trade group work together to solve problems rather than trying to kill one another.
Science fiction doesn't really age well. Unforeseen technological advances (Computers!) and cultural progression trip up most stories. While the technological hiccups here are few and easy enough to skip over (slide rule, film projector reel), and there isn't any cultural baggage, the writing style is stuck in the time period from when it was written. It's stale. Conversations are all business. The prose is stark, all too objective. It's the Asteroids video game equivalent of literature, with far fewer explosions.
The story is a very linear progression from one encounter to another as the Mesklinites journey from the equator, where they encountered to the south pole of their world to retrieve very expensive equipment from an incapacitated human rocket. It's as much a mission of exploration for the north pole dwelling Barlennan as it is for the visiting humans (though they're keeping an eye on the action via a radio). Unfortunately, we drown in minutiae, both travelogue and mathematical. At times, it seems as if Clement has written this story for boys yearning for careers in science. "Look lads, you can have all sorts of adventures if you study hard!"
It isn't bad, but it isn't terribly exciting either.
Clement's world building is the highlight of this sci-fi classic from 1954. Mesklin is a large, disc-shaped world that spins so fast that days are only 18 minutes long. Gravity runs from 3 G at the equator to 700 G at the poles. It is a world of liquid methane seas and ammonia snow. The humans have special environmental suits to protect them from the hostile atmosphere and tanks to get around, provided they stay close to the equator. And yet there's sentient life: 15 inch-long centipede-like beings who are in the early stages of civilization.
And that's the high point of this book.
Characterization is flat. Even the aliens show very little depth, behaving very much like their human counterparts. Interactions between Barlennan, the local Meskinite captain, and Lackland, his human contact, are rather easy. Lackland taught Barlennan English (before the story begins) and except for the occasional idiom or scientific concept, there is little lost in translation. The most interesting part is that the humans and Barlennan's trade group work together to solve problems rather than trying to kill one another.
Science fiction doesn't really age well. Unforeseen technological advances (Computers!) and cultural progression trip up most stories. While the technological hiccups here are few and easy enough to skip over (slide rule, film projector reel), and there isn't any cultural baggage, the writing style is stuck in the time period from when it was written. It's stale. Conversations are all business. The prose is stark, all too objective. It's the Asteroids video game equivalent of literature, with far fewer explosions.
The story is a very linear progression from one encounter to another as the Mesklinites journey from the equator, where they encountered to the south pole of their world to retrieve very expensive equipment from an incapacitated human rocket. It's as much a mission of exploration for the north pole dwelling Barlennan as it is for the visiting humans (though they're keeping an eye on the action via a radio). Unfortunately, we drown in minutiae, both travelogue and mathematical. At times, it seems as if Clement has written this story for boys yearning for careers in science. "Look lads, you can have all sorts of adventures if you study hard!"
It isn't bad, but it isn't terribly exciting either.
January 2, 2018
I can see now why Hal Clement is viewed with such reverence among fans of older science fiction. This is one of the best 鈥渃ontact鈥� stories I鈥檝e read, though the first contact is in the viewpoint of the alien race. And what an alien race! Foot-long worm-like creatures on a planet with such a spin it鈥檚 practically a disk. I enjoyed it right through to the ending.
The book has some of the archaic future-science I complained of in but here they don鈥檛 detract from the story. The use of such technology, such as photographing incoming television signals onto film, is handled over maybe a paragraph or two, and isn鈥檛 critical to the problems the characters are having; something like it would have to happen in any case. I originally thought that the portable video units were annoyingly unwieldy, until I discovered that the people carrying them were only a foot or so long!
But the travel through an unfamiliar and unique world on the one side, and the negotiations with a not-at-all understood alien race on both sides makes this an excellent science fiction story, what the genre was designed for.
The book has some of the archaic future-science I complained of in but here they don鈥檛 detract from the story. The use of such technology, such as photographing incoming television signals onto film, is handled over maybe a paragraph or two, and isn鈥檛 critical to the problems the characters are having; something like it would have to happen in any case. I originally thought that the portable video units were annoyingly unwieldy, until I discovered that the people carrying them were only a foot or so long!
But the travel through an unfamiliar and unique world on the one side, and the negotiations with a not-at-all understood alien race on both sides makes this an excellent science fiction story, what the genre was designed for.
July 31, 2012
A voyage of discovery on the oceans of the planet Mesklin, a giant iron-cored planet that rotates so rapidly that its shape is a flattened ogive. Mesklin's gravity at the equator is 3 Earth gravities, while at the poles it exceeds 50 G's. The "mission of gravity" is for a Mesklinite crew to retrieve a data package from a grounded earth probe near the pole and return it to the equator for pickup. The Mesklinites look like yard-long centipedes with exoskeletons made of nickle-steel. They also have a well-developed fear of heights, any thing more than one body length above the ground or so - and with an acceleration of 1500+ ft/sec squared near the pole, who can blame them?
Hal Clement was a master at exploring extreme physical conditions through the medium of science fiction, but with a hard science rationale to support his speculations - enjoy!
Hal Clement was a master at exploring extreme physical conditions through the medium of science fiction, but with a hard science rationale to support his speculations - enjoy!
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