Brain Wave: Difference between revisions

Brain Wave
	First edition
Author	Poul Anderson
Cover artist	Richard Powers
Language	English
Subject	Intelligence
Genre	science fiction
Publisher	Ballantine
Publication date	1954
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Paperback, Hardcover)
Pages	164
OCLC	2886722
LC Class	54-8910

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Brain Wave is a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson, first published in serial form in Space Science Fiction in 1953, and then as a novel in 1954. Anderson had said that he could consider it one of his top five books.^[1] This is one of many science fiction works written at this time on the theme of heightened intelligence.

Plot summary

At the end of the Cretaceous period, Earth moved into an energy-dampening field in space. While Earth was in this field, all conductors became more insulating, dramatically lowering the intelligence of all animal life by inhibiting the function of neurons. As a result, almost all of the life on Earth with neurons died off, causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The ones that survived passed on their genes for sufficiently capable neurons to deal with the new circumstance. Now in modern times, Earth suddenly moves out of the field. Within weeks all animal life on Earth becomes about 5 times as intelligent. The novel goes through the triumphs and tribulations of various people and non-human animals on Earth after this event.

The book opens with a lyrical description of a rabbit, stuck inside a trap, becoming able to reason his way out. This is a common theme in the book. Traps, cages, and fences are based on the inability of animals to reason their way out of them. When the animals gain the ability to reason, they start escaping.

Institutions which seemed to be vital to human society, such as a money economy and centralized government, disappear in North America. Africans, with the assistance of intelligent apes, overcome colonial rule, while Chinese and Russians rebel against their Communist governments. However, some of the means by which people cope with the "Change" are by inventing new anti-scientific religions such as the Third Ba'al, or adopting pseudo-science.

As humans develop interstellar travel, they discover no other races are as intelligent as they; other races evolved brains while outside the dampening field. With no environmental pressure to select for higher intelligence, the average IQ of other races is roughly equivalent to that of pre-Change humanity.

Eventually "normal" humanity evolves to the point where they can exert considerable mental control over their intellectual and physical processes. After preventing an attempt by a group of insane scientists to artificially re-create the dampening field around the Earth, humanity resolves to leave the planet in the charge of the intelligent animals and mentally-impaired humans. In turn, the human race will become an unseen helping hand to the multitude of other races throughout the universe.

Characters

Archie Brock

Archie Brock, one of the main characters in the story, is mentally disabled; when the Earth moves out of the field he becomes a genius by pre-Change standards. His character is central to the story. Halfway through the book he has taken over the farm that he worked on and, with the aid of his dog (who now understands simple English) and some escaped circus animals (two chimps and an elephant), they successfully run the farm together. Even though his intelligence has increased fivefold, so has everyone else's. He is still considered a relative simpleton, but has very much come to terms with that. In the end, when nearly all the humans leave Earth, he decides to stay behind as leader of a colony of now sentient animals and formerly mentally disabled people.

Dr. Peter Corinth

Physics researcher who spent a brief period at Los Alamos in WWII. He is one of the first to understand the change. After the change he experiences an emotional battle to stay loyal to his wife, although he has feelings for another woman in his office. He later becomes a pilot of the first spaceship able to explore the galaxy. As part of that exploration, he again crosses into the energy-dampening field. His mind quickly becomes unable to work the complex controls, and he must wait for the ship to move back out of the field on its own. His delay in returning home results in his wife's attempted suicide.

Sheila Corinth

Wife of Peter Corinth. She is a housewife before the change. The first effect she goes through when the change begins is a philosophical realization that her life as a housewife is "better" than that of her non-conformist friends. Later on she begins to lose her sanity from having to deal daily with the existential crisis. Her story is typical of many people in the book who lacked the intelligence before the change to know how bad their situations were. Later she goes into her husband's lab to use an electroconvulsive therapy machine that severely damages her brain, bringing her IQ down to about 150, with which she is more comfortable. Her memories of Peter are erased, and in the last scene we see her introduced to Archie Brock's farm.

Felix Mandelbaum

Neighbor of the Corinths. Before the change he is a Jewish executive secretary of a local union. He is 50 years old and was born on the lower East Side of New York. Later on he becomes "executive of the world", and is instrumental in stopping the plot to return the Earth to pre-Change intelligence.

Reception

Some have argued that the book is too short, possibly a result of editorial requirements at the time. For example, Thomas M. Wagner writes, "The book does feel somewhat rushed, as well as heavily edited, and I felt there was more Anderson was wanting to tell me. Anderson focuses his plot on a handful of lead characters."^[2]

Reviewer Groff Conklin praised the novel as an "original idea . . . brilliantly carried out" but faulted its "rather fumbling ending".^[3] P. Schuyler Miller described Brain Wave as "a brilliant idea that somehow doesn't quite come off".^[4] Anthony Boucher praised the novel, saying that "Anderson has worked out in wonderfully logical detail the logical consequences of [his] assumption [and] advanced his speculations with exciting storytelling and moving characterization."^[5] Leslie Flood wrote in New Worlds that "Brain Wave is a convincing, humanly realistic example of the wonders of the science fiction novel at its literary and thought-provoking best."^[6]

References

^ Locus: Poul Anderson interview
^ SF REVIEWS.NET: Brain Wave / Poul Anderson ☆☆☆
^ "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1954, p.114
^ "The Reference Library," Astounding Science Fiction, March 1954, pp.154
^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, September 1954, p.92.
^ "Book Reviews", New Worlds, February 1956, p.128

External links

Brain Wave title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

[1] Locus: Poul Anderson interview

[2] SF REVIEWS.NET: Brain Wave / Poul Anderson ☆☆☆

[3] "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1954, p.114

[4] "The Reference Library," Astounding Science Fiction, March 1954, pp.154

[5] "Recommended Reading," F&SF, September 1954, p.92.

[6] "Book Reviews", New Worlds, February 1956, p.128

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|1953 novel by Poul Anderson}}{{Other uses|Brain waves (disambiguation){{!}}Brain wave}}
 {{Infobox book
 <!-- |italic title = (see above) -->
 | name             = Brain Wave
-| image            = <!-- include the file, px and alt: [[File:Example.jpg|200px|alt=Cover]] -->
+| image            = BrainWavePoul.jpg
-| image_caption    =
+| caption          = First edition
 | author           = Poul Anderson
 | title_orig       =
@@ Line 9: / Line 10: @@
 | illustrator      =
 | cover_artist     = [[Richard M. Powers|Richard Powers]]
-| country          = {{USA}}
+| country          = United States
 | language         = English
 | series           =
@@ Line 19: / Line 20: @@
 | english_pub_date =
 | media_type       = Print (Paperback, Hardcover)
-| pages            = 164pp
+| pages            = 164
 | awards           =
 | isbn             =
@@ Line 29: / Line 30: @@
 | wikisource       =
 }}
+'''''Brain Wave''''' is a [[science fiction]] novel by American writer [[Poul Anderson]], first published in serial form in ''[[Space Science Fiction Magazine|Space Science Fiction]]'' in 1953, and then as a novel in 1954. Anderson had said that he could consider it one of his top five books.<ref>[http://www.locusmag.com/1997/Issues/04/Anderson.html Locus: Poul Anderson interview<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> This is one of many science fiction works written at this time on the theme of heightened intelligence.
-'''''Brain Wave''''' is a [[science fiction novel]] by [[Poul Anderson]] first published in serial form in ''Space Science Fiction'' in 1953, and then as a novel in 1954. Anderson had said that he could consider it one of his top five books<ref>[http://www.locusmag.com/1997/Issues/04/Anderson.html Locus: Poul Anderson interview<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> This is one of many science fiction works written at this time on the theme of heightened intelligence.
 ==Plot summary==
-At the end of the [[Cretaceous]] [[Geologic period|period]] the [[Earth]] moved into an energy dampening field in space. As long as Earth was in this field all [[Electrical conductor|conductors]] became more insulating. As a result almost all of the life on Earth with neurons died off, causing the [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event]]. The ones that survived passed on their [[genes]] for sufficiently capable neurons to deal with the new circumstance.  Now in modern times the Earth suddenly moves out of the field.  Within weeks all animal life on earth becomes about 5 times as [[intelligent]]. The novel goes through the triumphs and tribulations of various people and non-human animals and groups on earth after this event.
+At the end of the [[Cretaceous]] [[Geologic period|period]], [[Earth]] moved into an energy-dampening field in space. While Earth was in this field, all [[Electrical conductor|conductors]] became more insulating, dramatically lowering the intelligence of all animal life by inhibiting the function of neurons. As a result, almost all of the life on Earth with neurons died off, causing the [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event]]. The ones that survived passed on their [[genes]] for sufficiently capable neurons to deal with the new circumstance.  Now in modern times, Earth suddenly moves out of the field.  Within weeks all animal life on Earth becomes about 5 times as [[intelligent]]. The novel goes through the triumphs and tribulations of various people and non-human animals on Earth after this event.
-The book opens with a lyrical description of a [[rabbit]] stuck inside of a trap becoming able to reason his way out. This is a common theme in the book. Animal traps are based on the idea that the animal cannot reason their way out of them. When the animals get the ability to reason they start escaping.
+The book opens with a lyrical description of a [[rabbit]], stuck inside a trap, becoming able to reason his way out. This is a common theme in the book. Traps, cages, and fences are based on the inability of animals to reason their way out of them. When the animals gain the ability to reason, they start escaping.
-Institutions which seemed to be vital to human society, such as a money economy and centralized government, disappear in North America, while Africans, with the assistance of chimpanzees, overcome colonial rule and Chinese rebel against the Communist government. However, some of the means by which people cope with the "Change" are inventing new anti-scientific religions such as the Third Ba'al or adopting [[pseudo-science]].
+Institutions which seemed to be vital to human society, such as a money economy and centralized government, disappear in North America. Africans, with the assistance of intelligent apes, overcome colonial rule, while Chinese and Russians rebel against their Communist governments. However, some of the means by which people cope with the "Change" are by inventing new anti-scientific religions such as the Third Ba'al, or adopting [[pseudo-science]].
-As humans develop interstellar travel, they discover no other races are as intelligent as they; other races developed pre-Change intelligence, and there was no environmental pressure to select for higher intellgience after that.
+As humans develop interstellar travel, they discover no other races are as intelligent as they; other races evolved brains while outside the dampening field. With no environmental pressure to select for higher intelligence, the average IQ of other races is roughly equivalent to that of pre-Change humanity.
+Eventually "normal" humanity evolves to the point where they can exert considerable mental control over their intellectual and physical processes.  After preventing an attempt by a group of insane scientists to artificially re-create the dampening field around the Earth, humanity resolves to leave the planet in the charge of the intelligent animals and mentally-impaired humans.  In turn, the human race will become an unseen helping hand to the multitude of other races throughout the universe.
-==Archie Brock==
-Archie Brock, one of the main characters in the story, is mentally disabled; when the earth moves out of the field he becomes a genius by pre-change standards. His character is central to the story. Half way through the book he has taken over the farm that he worked on and, with the aid of his dog who now understands simple English and some escaped circus animals (two chimps and an elephant), they successfully run the farm together.  Even through his intelligence has increased fivefold, so has everyone else's.   He is still considered a relative simpleton, but has very much come to terms with that. In the end when nearly all the humans leave Earth he decides to stay behind as leader of a colony of now sentient animals and formerly mentally disabled people.
-==Sheila Corinth==
+==Characters==
-Wife of Peter Corinth. She is a housewife before the change. The first effect she goes through when the change begins is a philosophical realization that her life as a housewife is "better" than her non-conformist friends. Later on she begins to lose her sanity from having to deal daily with the existential crisis. Her story is typical of many people in the book who didn't have the intelligence before the change to know how bad off they had it. Later she goes into her husband's lab to use a machine there to destroy parts of her brain, bringing her IQ down to about 150, which she is more comfortable with. She leaves Peter and in the last scene we see her introduced to Archie Brock's farm.
+===Archie Brock===
-==Dr. Peter Corinth==
+Archie Brock, one of the main characters in the story, is mentally disabled; when the Earth moves out of the field he becomes a genius by pre-Change standards. His character is central to the story. Halfway through the book he has taken over the farm that he worked on and, with the aid of his dog (who now understands simple English) and some escaped circus animals (two chimps and an elephant), they successfully run the farm together. Even though his intelligence has increased fivefold, so has everyone else's. He is still considered a relative simpleton, but has very much come to terms with that. In the end, when nearly all the humans leave Earth, he decides to stay behind as leader of a colony of now sentient animals and formerly mentally disabled people.
-Physics researcher who spent a brief period at Los Alamos in WWII.  He is one of the first to understand the change. After the change he experiences an emotional battle to stay loyal to his wife, although he has feelings for another woman in his office. He later becomes a pilot of the spaceship able to explore the galaxy. As part of that exploration, he again crosses into the energy dampening field.
-==Felix Mandelbaum==
+===Dr. Peter Corinth===
+Physics researcher who spent a brief period at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] in WWII. He is one of the first to understand the change. After the change he experiences an emotional battle to stay loyal to his wife, although he has feelings for another woman in his office. He later becomes a pilot of the first spaceship able to explore the galaxy. As part of that exploration, he again crosses into the energy-dampening field. His mind quickly becomes unable to work the complex controls, and he must wait for the ship to move back out of the field on its own.  His delay in returning home results in his wife's attempted suicide.
-Neighbor of the Corinths. Before the change he is a Jewish executive secretary of a local union. He is 50 years old and was born on the lower East side. Later on he becomes "executive of the world."
+===Sheila Corinth===
+Wife of Peter Corinth. She is a housewife before the change. The first effect she goes through when the change begins is a philosophical realization that her life as a housewife is "better" than that of her non-conformist friends. Later on she begins to lose her sanity from having to deal daily with the existential crisis. Her story is typical of many people in the book who lacked the intelligence before the change to know how bad their situations were. Later she goes into her husband's lab to use an [[electroconvulsive therapy]] machine that severely damages her brain, bringing her IQ down to about 150, with which she is more comfortable. Her memories of Peter are erased, and in the last scene we see her introduced to Archie Brock's farm.
+===Felix Mandelbaum===
+Neighbor of the Corinths. Before the change he is a Jewish executive secretary of a local union. He is 50 years old and was born on the lower East Side of New York. Later on he becomes "executive of the world", and is instrumental in stopping the plot to return the Earth to pre-Change intelligence.
 ==Reception==
-Some have argued that the book is too short which might have been a result of editor pressure at the time. For example Thomas M. Wagner<ref>[http://www.sfreviews.net/brainwave.html SF REVIEWS.NET: Brain Wave / Poul Anderson ☆☆☆<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> writes:
+Some have argued that the book is too short, possibly a result of editorial requirements at the time. For example, Thomas M. Wagner writes, "The book does feel somewhat rushed, as well as heavily edited, and I felt there was more Anderson was wanting to tell me. Anderson focuses his plot on a handful of lead characters."<ref>[http://www.sfreviews.net/brainwave.html SF REVIEWS.NET: Brain Wave / Poul Anderson ☆☆☆<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
-<blockquote>
+Reviewer [[Groff Conklin]] praised the novel as an "original idea . . . brilliantly carried out" but faulted its "rather fumbling ending".<ref>"Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'', September 1954, p.114</ref> [[P. Schuyler Miller]] described ''Brain Wave'' as "a brilliant idea that somehow doesn't quite come off".<ref>"The Reference Library," ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'', March 1954, pp.154</ref> [[Anthony Boucher]] praised the novel, saying that "Anderson has worked out in wonderfully logical detail the logical consequences of [his] assumption [and] advanced his speculations with exciting storytelling and moving characterization."<ref>"Recommended Reading," ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction|F&SF]]'', September 1954, p.92.</ref>  Leslie Flood wrote in ''[[New Worlds (magazine)|New Worlds]]'' that "''Brain Wave'' is a convincing, humanly realistic example of the wonders of the science fiction novel at its literary and thought-provoking best."<ref>"Book Reviews", ''New Worlds'', February 1956, p.128</ref>
-"the book does feel somewhat rushed, as well as heavily edited, and I felt there was more Anderson was wanting to tell me. Anderson focuses his plot on a handful of lead characters"
-</blockquote>
-Reviewer [[Groff Conklin]] praised the novel an "original idea . . . brilliantly carried out" but faulted its "rather fumbling ending."<ref>"Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'', September 1954, p.114</ref> [[P. Schuyler Miller]] described ''Brain Wave'' as "a brilliant idea that somehow doesn't quite come off."<ref>"The Reference Library," ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'', March 1954, pp.154</ref> [[Anthony Boucher]] praised the novel, saying that "Anderson has worked out in wonderfully logical detail the logical consequences of [his] assumption [and] advanced his speculations with exciting storytelling and moving characterization."<ref>"Recommended Reading," ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction|F&SF]]'', September 1954, p.92.</ref>
 ==References==
@@ Line 68: / Line 70: @@
 {{Poul Anderson}}
-[[Category:1954 novels]]
+[[Category:1953 American novels]]
-[[Category:1950s science fiction novels]]
+[[Category:1953 science fiction novels]]
-[[Category:Transhumanist books]]
-[[Category:Novels by Poul Anderson]]
 [[Category:American science fiction novels]]
+[[Category:Debut science fiction novels]]
+[[Category:Novels about extraterrestrial life]]
+[[Category:Novels by Poul Anderson]]
+[[Category:Transhumanist books]]
+[[Category:1953 debut novels]]
+[[Category:Novels first published in serial form]]