Limbo

It took me a long time to get into the world of this book. Since it was written in 1950 and extrapolated that 1950's world into the world of 1990 along with all of the Cold War hysteria and the fear of the Bomb. The premise of the book was so far out there, I couldn't even get my mind into it. But to my amazement, Mr. Wolfe did actually make the world seem plausible.

The so called premise was; after an all-out 3rd world war and the major use of nuclear weapons, the few remaing habitable areas (The U.S. was a strip of land from about Montana down to New Mexico with some areas of the south that were still useable to a much lessened degree, and Russia was similarly cut down. The people were so sickened by war that when a Dr. started spouting half-truths from the notebook of a friend thought martyred, that the only true dis-armament was by literally having the limbs of men cut off. The prosthetics that were in use then were like super arms and legs. Men could jump amazing distances and lift unbelievable weights, but as they thought when and if they were ever tempted to raise their arms in violence, all they needed to do was remove them until cooler heads prevailed.

Now, as far fetched as all that sounds, the author does manage to make it seem plausible, through many long and dry pages of philosophical ramblings. This book is not an easy read, no, not at all. But if you stick with it, I guarantee that it will stick with you for a long time.