Lägg till bokmärke
A slight departure of setting for frank herbert, this book is his testing ground for concepts that show up in the dune books in some capacity. Howe... (show more)
The Santaroga Barrier
Santaroga seemed to be nothing more than a prosperous farm community. But there was something . . . different . . . about Santaroga.
Santaroga had no juvenile delinquency, or any crime at all. Outsiders found no house for sale or rent in this valley, and no one ever moved out. No one bought cigarettes in Santaroga. No cheese, wine, beer or produce from outside the valley could be sold there. The list went on and on and grew stranger and stranger.
Maybe Santaroga was the last outpost of ... (show more)
Santaroga seemed to be nothing more than a prosperous farm community. But there was something . . . different . . . about Santaroga.
Santaroga had no juvenile delinquency, or any crime at all. Outsiders found no house for sale or rent in this valley, and no one ever moved out. No one bought cigarettes in Santaroga. No cheese, wine, beer or produce from outside the valley could be sold there. The list went on and on and grew stranger and stranger.
Maybe Santaroga was the last outpost of American individualism. Maybe they were just a bunch of religious kooks. . . .
Or maybe there was something extraordinary at work in Santaroga. Something far more disturbing than anyone could imagine.
Related Media
Photo Gallery
Reviews (See all 34) Write a reviewfor this
It's a hit!
No, it's a flop!
not his best writing, but classic sci-fi. great if you've read a lot of other Herbert and want to get a sense for his development as a writer and t... (show more)
not his best writing, but classic sci-fi. great if you've read a lot of other Herbert and want to get a sense for his development as a writer and thinker (show less)
More Reviews
-
This short, early novel by Frank Herbert (pre-"Dune") explores one of his favorite themes: mind-expanding drugs. A psychologist from U.C. Berkeley visits his ex-girlfriend in a strange Northern California town where everybody is hooked on a peculiar kind of cheese. (Psychedelic cheese? Groovy!) It's a peaceful rural community where people seem to live in complete harmony with one another -- something that must have appealed to the author's friends in 1960's Berkeley who were bu... (show more)
This short, early novel by Frank Herbert (pre-"Dune") explores one of his favorite themes: mind-expanding drugs. A psychologist from U.C. Berkeley visits his ex-girlfriend in a strange Northern California town where everybody is hooked on a peculiar kind of cheese. (Psychedelic cheese? Groovy!) It's a peaceful rural community where people seem to live in complete harmony with one another -- something that must have appealed to the author's friends in 1960's Berkeley who were busy dropping acid and joining communes. At the same time, Herbert offers up the horrifying possibility that these happy people have lost their free will and capacity for individual self-determination. In a way they are all just different faces of a single mind. Moreover, the "hive mind" seems to have unconscious urges for violence and even murder. This is an intellectual sort of book that seems almost quaint in how earnestly Herbert wants to debate the pros vs. cons of psychedelic drug use (not a topic that is given much serious discussion today). (show less)
Already read
-
Frank Herbert's usual themes on subjectivity and consciousness are packed into a fun little sci-fi mystery.
Maybe compare to the second and third sections of Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land?
Also, hallucino-empatho-genic cheese ftw.
Already read
- See all reviews
Advertisement
Lists
This book has been added to these lists:
More Stuff
About Us
LivingSocial.com is a social discovery and cataloging network that allows people to review and share their favorite movies, books, games, music, restaurants and beer
