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Federation #3
The Cosmic Computer
During the System States' War, Poictesme was the general HQ and supply depot for the final thrust at the enemy. When the war ended, the buildings, the munitions, the freeze-dried food supplies, were all abandoned without a thought. Now the colony world is a poverty-stricken agricultural society with only two exports: the fermented products of their world's unique grapes, and the salvaged war equipment, now selling at about 1% of its true value.
And, persisting over the decades, is the legend of MERLIN, the super-computer said to have planned the grand strategy which successfully concluded the war. "If we could only find Merlin," the inhabitants said to each other, "all our problems would be solved."
And, persisting over the decades, is the legend of MERLIN, the super-computer said to have planned the grand strategy which successfully concluded the war. "If we could only find Merlin," the inhabitants said to each other, "all our problems would be solved."
Then young Conn Maxwell returned from Earth, with a university degree, and a few clues about the location and the true nature of Merlin. And the sure knowledge that finding the Cosmic Computer would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to his home world.
249 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
144 people are currently reading
744 people want to read
About the author
H. Beam Piper
434Ìýbooks239ÌýfollowersHenry Beam Piper (1904 - 1964) was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
January 21, 2020
3.5 stars. A solid sci-fi yarn about a backwater planet with access to huge stores of salvageable war surplus teetering on the edge of economic collapse and their search for a long forgotten super computer that they hope can help turn their fate around. Fairly well written, the elements of the story are somewhat unremarkable taken on their own, but I found the core concept interesting enough to make it a compelling read. Plus, there's a great unexpected twist that brings to mind one of the core elements from . Recommended for fans of 50's/early 60's era sci-fi.
March 8, 2023
The Cosmic Computer is a novel set within the framework of Piper's Federation universe. It was first published by Putnam in hardback in 1963 with the title Junkyard Planet (which I prefer) and was an expansion of his 1958 novelette from Galaxy magazine, Graveyard of Dreams. Ace published the first mass market edition in 1964 with the current title (and with one of Ed Valigursky's trademark nifty-menacing-robot covers) and reissued it with a Michael Whelan painting. It's a good story about the search for a semi-mystical lost computer known as MERLIN, set on a back-water planet that houses an abandoned store of military material. Piper had a great grasp of historical perspective and progression, and also told a gripping, action-packed adventure tale. The story is quite reminiscent of Asimov's Foundation, and it's surprising to me that the first version was published in Galaxy since I would have said it was heavily influenced by John W. Campbell, who edited Astounding SF. Some of Piper's works tend to bog down a bit with too much political/economic/sociological philosophizing, but this one is a page-turner.
February 11, 2025
A really good book in Piper's Federation series. A good 60's space adventure that also explores local politics, family dynamics, hope, and mob mentality. The disruption of a planet's economy by being on the winning side of a war is rarely used as a backdrop, and makes the story even more interesting. The ending is a satisfying wrap-up much in the style of the 60's.
July 7, 2017
You know that asshole friend of a friend who is always going around telling people to read The Fountainhead or, heaven forbid, Atlas Shrugged as a way to really get excited about capitalism? And it always turns out that the only things those books do is to produce another asshole who blames his problems on everyone else being "moochers"?
Well, next time that asshole opens his mouth, tell him to read this book instead. This book is the most joyous, vibrant, exciting exploration of capitalism I have ever read. No one in the book is an asshole. No one blames their problems on anyone else. They just go out and form companies and start doing business, then they merge their LLCs into holding companies and do more business, then they issue stock in the holding company and do even more business, and everyone has a blast doing it.
The Plot: After the interplanetary System Alliance War ended, the Planetary Federation Army (just like the US Army after WWII), wrapped up its heavy equipment and either buried it in the desert or just left it behind. The end of the war resulted in an economic (and spiritual) depression, severely contracting the economy. Rumors abound that the Army had developed an Artificial Intelligence named MERLIN and left it buried on one of the agricultural planets. A sort of cargo cult has arisen around MERLIN; people believe that only MERLIN can save them by directing their economy and government. As a result, without MERLIN, nothing gets done.
Conn Maxwell is a young man from that agricultural planet, just returned from University on Earth. Everyone thinks he knows where MERLIN is, though he claims he doesn't. What he does admit to knowing, though, is the location of hundreds of supply depots the army left behind. He and his father form a salvage corporation to go and dig up these depots. This stirs up competition -- other citizens come out of their doldrums and form their own salvage teams -- some of them still looking for MERLIN.
When it turns out that some of the supply depots are really dockyards for building interstellar transport ships, the Maxwells form another corporation to build interstellar transport ships. This stirs up competition -- other citizens come out of their doldrums and form their own shipbuilding companies. Some of those companies join into holding companies to form a shipping services company. Once the planet has its own starships, it won't be tied to Earth's transport monopoly.
Unemployment across the planet drops, as men who couldn't find jobs before now rush to retrain to become salvagers, spaceship builders, navigators, communication techs, computer programmers -- everything the new economy needs.
Still MERLIN isn't found....
I won't give anymore away, because you get the picture -- the people soon learn that they didn't need MERLIN. All they needed was something to jumpstart their economy, and a reason to get back to work. It's hard to imagine a more pro-capitalist book, and what's great is that unlike the works of Ayn Rand, no one in the book (or the audience) ends up a miserable asshole.
Well, next time that asshole opens his mouth, tell him to read this book instead. This book is the most joyous, vibrant, exciting exploration of capitalism I have ever read. No one in the book is an asshole. No one blames their problems on anyone else. They just go out and form companies and start doing business, then they merge their LLCs into holding companies and do more business, then they issue stock in the holding company and do even more business, and everyone has a blast doing it.
The Plot: After the interplanetary System Alliance War ended, the Planetary Federation Army (just like the US Army after WWII), wrapped up its heavy equipment and either buried it in the desert or just left it behind. The end of the war resulted in an economic (and spiritual) depression, severely contracting the economy. Rumors abound that the Army had developed an Artificial Intelligence named MERLIN and left it buried on one of the agricultural planets. A sort of cargo cult has arisen around MERLIN; people believe that only MERLIN can save them by directing their economy and government. As a result, without MERLIN, nothing gets done.
Conn Maxwell is a young man from that agricultural planet, just returned from University on Earth. Everyone thinks he knows where MERLIN is, though he claims he doesn't. What he does admit to knowing, though, is the location of hundreds of supply depots the army left behind. He and his father form a salvage corporation to go and dig up these depots. This stirs up competition -- other citizens come out of their doldrums and form their own salvage teams -- some of them still looking for MERLIN.
When it turns out that some of the supply depots are really dockyards for building interstellar transport ships, the Maxwells form another corporation to build interstellar transport ships. This stirs up competition -- other citizens come out of their doldrums and form their own shipbuilding companies. Some of those companies join into holding companies to form a shipping services company. Once the planet has its own starships, it won't be tied to Earth's transport monopoly.
Unemployment across the planet drops, as men who couldn't find jobs before now rush to retrain to become salvagers, spaceship builders, navigators, communication techs, computer programmers -- everything the new economy needs.
Still MERLIN isn't found....
I won't give anymore away, because you get the picture -- the people soon learn that they didn't need MERLIN. All they needed was something to jumpstart their economy, and a reason to get back to work. It's hard to imagine a more pro-capitalist book, and what's great is that unlike the works of Ayn Rand, no one in the book (or the audience) ends up a miserable asshole.
September 27, 2019
Set on a world struggling to lift themselves out of economic collapse, it tells the story of the enterprising Conn Maxwell, who returns from a university stint on Earth and tells his compatriots that a long-rumoured super-computer known as MERLIN does, in fact, exist, and is buried along with much other disused weaponry in the planet’s wastes. He employs some people to help him dig, and more people dig, and all of a sudden the desolate planet with no hope is buzzing with industry and purpose. It’s very pro-capitalism (there are a lot of ltd. companies created in this book, plus holding companies and shell companies and companies of every kind, really), and also very anti-worker’s rights � they get whipped, if you please � so that’s kind of problematic. I mean, I like capitalism as much as the next business owner, but come on.
Still, it’s a pretty inventive story from a stalwart of SF’s golden age, and as I have not read any of H. Beam Piper’s other works, and given that he wrote dozens of books and short stories, I am just glad to have, at last, sampled his offerings. I’m not sure I’ll be rushing out to read any more of them, however.
There are only so many board of directors� meetings and formation of LLCs that a sci-fi fan can take, after all.
Still, it’s a pretty inventive story from a stalwart of SF’s golden age, and as I have not read any of H. Beam Piper’s other works, and given that he wrote dozens of books and short stories, I am just glad to have, at last, sampled his offerings. I’m not sure I’ll be rushing out to read any more of them, however.
There are only so many board of directors� meetings and formation of LLCs that a sci-fi fan can take, after all.
November 29, 2020
Junkyard Plant / The Cosmic Computer - H. Beam Piper, part of the Terro-Human Future History Series
The former title is the original. This is the the novel version of his short work "Graveyard of Dreams". I enjoyed this version more, though not by much.
The book is very much pro-capitalism. The characters strongly believe that there's little that a limited liability company and the judicious use of violence can't solve.
Unfortunately none of the covers are particularly representative of the actual content, as its relatively light on action, and the scene depicted in the cover is the only time a significant firefight occurs.
Most of the novel is concerned with the protagonist returning from University in the hope the he will be able to revitalize his junkyard planet, but the only thing everyone wants to do is find the the cosmic computer known as Merlin and have it solve all their problems. So much so that that it's become a religion. The protagonist co-opts this religious fervor and hopes to redirect it towards planetary restoration, improved trade, and invigoration of their stagnant culture.
I assume it's a reference to the Reconstruction era following the Civil War, which is probably the System States War in this universe.
Rating: 3.5 (rounded down to 3 in this case, unfortunately)
The former title is the original. This is the the novel version of his short work "Graveyard of Dreams". I enjoyed this version more, though not by much.
The book is very much pro-capitalism. The characters strongly believe that there's little that a limited liability company and the judicious use of violence can't solve.
Unfortunately none of the covers are particularly representative of the actual content, as its relatively light on action, and the scene depicted in the cover is the only time a significant firefight occurs.
Most of the novel is concerned with the protagonist returning from University in the hope the he will be able to revitalize his junkyard planet, but the only thing everyone wants to do is find the the cosmic computer known as Merlin and have it solve all their problems. So much so that that it's become a religion. The protagonist co-opts this religious fervor and hopes to redirect it towards planetary restoration, improved trade, and invigoration of their stagnant culture.
I assume it's a reference to the Reconstruction era following the Civil War, which is probably the System States War in this universe.
Rating: 3.5 (rounded down to 3 in this case, unfortunately)
July 5, 2016
'During the System States' War, Poictesme was the general HQ and supply depot for the final thrust at the enemy. When the war ended, the buildings, the munitions, the freeze-dried food supplies, were all abandoned without a thought. Now the colony world is a poverty-stricken agricultural society with only two exports: the fermented products of their world's unique grapes, and the salvaged war equipment, now selling at about 1% of its true value.
And, persisting over the decades, is the legend of MERLIN, the super-computer said to have planned the grand strategy which successfully concluded the war. "If we could only find Merlin," the inhabitants said to each other, "all our problems would be solved."
Then young Conn Maxwell returned from Earth, with a university degree, and a few clues about the location and the true nature of Merlin. And the sure knowledge that finding the Cosmic Computer would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to his home world.'
Blurb from the 1978 Ace paperback edition.
As is made clear from the blurb, Conn Maxwell was designated to travel to Earth from the colony world of Poictesme, a world desperate for regeneration following an intersystem war, to try and identify the location of the super computer Merlin, which many of the colonists believe is hidden somewhere on the planet and which they see as their salvation.
Although Conn has identified the sites of many abandoned bases and spacefields likely to contain valuable equipment and ships, he has been informed that Merlin was a myth, invented to boost morale and demoralise the enemy.
After making this clear to a trusted few, including his father, they decide to publicly embark on the search for Merlin, their aim being to loot the abandoned sites, build enough finances to build a hypership and trade on their own terms with Earth, exporting their valuable melon brandy and revitalising their world. If this means lying to the public, then so be it.
One can argue that this is borderline SF at best. The society of Poictesme is lifted wholesale from the US of the Nineteen Fifties, along with its values and inevitable sexism. Piper has made no attempt to create a believable colony society and, as other critics have pointed out, has not considered that computers may have been miniaturised by the time Man has reached the stars. To be fair, he was never alone in this, and it is the least of this novel's problems. It suffers for one thing from a surfeit of minor characters, many of whom are not fleshed out enough to be distinguishable from the rest.
It is at root a political farce, possibly a homage to James Branch Cabell, since the name of the world and its main town are lifted from Cabell's work. It has dated considerably in comparison with other novels of the time. It also owes a lot to Asimov's 'Foundation' trilogy at the denouement which uses the same premise of analysing data to predict the future of human civilisation in the galaxy.
Interestingly, Piper seems to have been the inventor of the word 'Collapsium' which Will McCarthy later used to great effect in his novels of The Queendom of Sol.
Having said all that it's an entertaining piece and mildly amusing in places, but is not an important work by any stretch of the imagination.
And, persisting over the decades, is the legend of MERLIN, the super-computer said to have planned the grand strategy which successfully concluded the war. "If we could only find Merlin," the inhabitants said to each other, "all our problems would be solved."
Then young Conn Maxwell returned from Earth, with a university degree, and a few clues about the location and the true nature of Merlin. And the sure knowledge that finding the Cosmic Computer would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to his home world.'
Blurb from the 1978 Ace paperback edition.
As is made clear from the blurb, Conn Maxwell was designated to travel to Earth from the colony world of Poictesme, a world desperate for regeneration following an intersystem war, to try and identify the location of the super computer Merlin, which many of the colonists believe is hidden somewhere on the planet and which they see as their salvation.
Although Conn has identified the sites of many abandoned bases and spacefields likely to contain valuable equipment and ships, he has been informed that Merlin was a myth, invented to boost morale and demoralise the enemy.
After making this clear to a trusted few, including his father, they decide to publicly embark on the search for Merlin, their aim being to loot the abandoned sites, build enough finances to build a hypership and trade on their own terms with Earth, exporting their valuable melon brandy and revitalising their world. If this means lying to the public, then so be it.
One can argue that this is borderline SF at best. The society of Poictesme is lifted wholesale from the US of the Nineteen Fifties, along with its values and inevitable sexism. Piper has made no attempt to create a believable colony society and, as other critics have pointed out, has not considered that computers may have been miniaturised by the time Man has reached the stars. To be fair, he was never alone in this, and it is the least of this novel's problems. It suffers for one thing from a surfeit of minor characters, many of whom are not fleshed out enough to be distinguishable from the rest.
It is at root a political farce, possibly a homage to James Branch Cabell, since the name of the world and its main town are lifted from Cabell's work. It has dated considerably in comparison with other novels of the time. It also owes a lot to Asimov's 'Foundation' trilogy at the denouement which uses the same premise of analysing data to predict the future of human civilisation in the galaxy.
Interestingly, Piper seems to have been the inventor of the word 'Collapsium' which Will McCarthy later used to great effect in his novels of The Queendom of Sol.
Having said all that it's an entertaining piece and mildly amusing in places, but is not an important work by any stretch of the imagination.
August 16, 2017
The Cosmic Computer is set in a post inter-galactic war society. The economy of the planet the story centers around is in the midst of a depression, and things are only getting worse. During and after the war rumors circulated about a super computer that could solve the problems of mankind, and revive the economy. A young boy is sent to study computers on another planet and learn all he can about this super computer 'Merlin'.
*** Partial Spoiler (contains information from the first 3 chapters) ***
He meets a war general who tells him that the computer never existed. When he gets back to his home planet, he is unable to dash the hopes pinned on the existence of Merlin. Instead he tells them the computer exists, and, with the help of his father, manipulates the search efforts to give the economy a jumpstart.
***end spoiler***
This was a freebie Kindle book, and a quick 2 day read. While the story was interesting enough that I didn't want to put it down, it didn't pull me in as much as other sci-fi books have. Overall, I don't regret the time spent reading it, but I am not inclined to read it again or look for other books by the author. I might suggest the book to someone who is interested in computers and sci-fi, but it would not be a top recommendation.
*** Partial Spoiler (contains information from the first 3 chapters) ***
He meets a war general who tells him that the computer never existed. When he gets back to his home planet, he is unable to dash the hopes pinned on the existence of Merlin. Instead he tells them the computer exists, and, with the help of his father, manipulates the search efforts to give the economy a jumpstart.
***end spoiler***
This was a freebie Kindle book, and a quick 2 day read. While the story was interesting enough that I didn't want to put it down, it didn't pull me in as much as other sci-fi books have. Overall, I don't regret the time spent reading it, but I am not inclined to read it again or look for other books by the author. I might suggest the book to someone who is interested in computers and sci-fi, but it would not be a top recommendation.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2012
The Cosmic Computer is basically a story about economic development. It features the same sorts of hardy capable men as Four Day Planet did. It also includes a hardy capable woman. It's set in the same fictional galaxy, as well.
The adventure isn't quite as rollicking as in Four Day Planet. But nor is the tale quite as simple, either.
The reveals are decent. (One draws a bit from Asimov's Foundation.) The conclusion is okay, short-term, but isn't really a conclusion. But, hey, no one ever promised one, did they?
All in all, a fine read, just not as fun or satisfying as the other Piper works I've read.
The adventure isn't quite as rollicking as in Four Day Planet. But nor is the tale quite as simple, either.
The reveals are decent. (One draws a bit from Asimov's Foundation.) The conclusion is okay, short-term, but isn't really a conclusion. But, hey, no one ever promised one, did they?
All in all, a fine read, just not as fun or satisfying as the other Piper works I've read.
July 21, 2018
1979 grade unknown
2018 grade B
This full novel is a fast easy read but not 100% engrossing. This is partly because there is quite a bit of technobabble in the second half and the conclusion is a small let down. But it is also because the story is complex and covers a lot of ground causing some trouble suspending my disbelief that it could all be accomplished in the time allotted. Never the less it is worth reading and I won't mind reading it a third time some day.
(Although I own the paperback edition, I read it on Kindle this time. It was free for Kindle.
aka Junkyard Planet
2018 grade B
This full novel is a fast easy read but not 100% engrossing. This is partly because there is quite a bit of technobabble in the second half and the conclusion is a small let down. But it is also because the story is complex and covers a lot of ground causing some trouble suspending my disbelief that it could all be accomplished in the time allotted. Never the less it is worth reading and I won't mind reading it a third time some day.
(Although I own the paperback edition, I read it on Kindle this time. It was free for Kindle.
aka Junkyard Planet
July 30, 2013
Short and almost pointless. Not the best example of H. Beam Piper.
It was just barely okay.
It was just barely okay.
January 24, 2018
The book takes place in a "universe" that is a forerunner to the "Firefly" universe. There was a big war of unification/consolidation, and after the war the backwater planets are poor while the core planets remain wealthy. The residents of one of the backwater planets intend to better their situation by cutting out the middleman and to start shipping their goods to market themselves and keep the mark-up.
Meanwhile, there is always talk of mythical, super-computer that was used to win the war, and then left abandoned on the planet where the story takes place. The enterprising business men need money to salvage equipment to build their fleet of spaceships, so they tell people they are using the investment to look for the computer when they are in fact creating a business empire that is making everyone wealthy without the computer.
Everyone else thinks they are looking for the computer that may or may not exist, and the rest of the story unfolds from there.
What is interesting about the computer in the story is that it is supposed to be so powerful that it is infallible. Some think it is a source of evil, others a source of the salvation of mankind. But to us looking back at the opinions of technology held by people in the 50's and 60's, it is an interesting study of anachronistic beliefs.
Meanwhile, there is always talk of mythical, super-computer that was used to win the war, and then left abandoned on the planet where the story takes place. The enterprising business men need money to salvage equipment to build their fleet of spaceships, so they tell people they are using the investment to look for the computer when they are in fact creating a business empire that is making everyone wealthy without the computer.
Everyone else thinks they are looking for the computer that may or may not exist, and the rest of the story unfolds from there.
What is interesting about the computer in the story is that it is supposed to be so powerful that it is infallible. Some think it is a source of evil, others a source of the salvation of mankind. But to us looking back at the opinions of technology held by people in the 50's and 60's, it is an interesting study of anachronistic beliefs.
August 22, 2021
I chose to read this book because of one reason and one reason only. I read that this book was an inspiration for the game science fiction RPG Traveller and I was not disappointed. The universe that it describes is very obviously similar to the Traveller universe which is clearly derived from it.�
I did like the story and the topic is still relevant. The protagonists are in search of an AI computer that was abandoned 40 years previously during a period of war. No one knows if the computer is real or not or whether this it just a legend and the computer gains almost mystical status.
I got the impression that the computer Deep Thought in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy could have been inspired by the computer in this novel. You could imagine if it was so clever then someone might ask it what is the meaning of life the universe and everything is.
This genre of science fiction forms the background for Star Trek and Star Wars though we clearly live in a more high tech computer age than the author could imagine.
I did like the story and the topic is still relevant. The protagonists are in search of an AI computer that was abandoned 40 years previously during a period of war. No one knows if the computer is real or not or whether this it just a legend and the computer gains almost mystical status.
I got the impression that the computer Deep Thought in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy could have been inspired by the computer in this novel. You could imagine if it was so clever then someone might ask it what is the meaning of life the universe and everything is.
This genre of science fiction forms the background for Star Trek and Star Wars though we clearly live in a more high tech computer age than the author could imagine.
December 19, 2018
I was familiar with Piper through Little Fuzzy but this is not the same kind of story. It still shows his wry sense of humor, but the tale itself is more of a typical space opera and barely held my attention at times. That said, the which I listened to is read well and split into two-chapter chunks making it easy to consume.
March 26, 2021
Apparently this book is all about the greatness of capitalism. Luckily for me, I only have a very surface level understanding of anything I read and so I was able to enjoy the book and remain a communist.
July 21, 2020
An enjoyable read. The end borrows a bit from Asimov, but I did enjoy this book. Pretty typical in style of the SF of its time. Essentially no important female characters, etc. After reading a bit about Piper I see where he very much injected his own political leanings into the novel, which I suppose is also common.
August 8, 2020
Fascinating geopolitical space adventure!
October 17, 2014
I haven't posted a book review in a while due to studies. In lieu of recently cutting down on my workload, I decided to listen to Mark Nelson's Librivox reading of The Cosmic Computer, the fourth of his readings that I've had the pleasure of listening to. It is also the third H. Beam Piper novel, set in the Terro-Human science fiction universe. This is the same setting as novels such as Little Fuzzy and Four-Day Planet. I ended up listening to the novel during my walks along the ocean.
GIST
Conn Maxwell arrives back home from a sponsored off-world information-gathering trip to Terra to find the rumored top secret war-time supercomputer Merlin. He is received by his sponsors, including his father, and feeling that it would dash their hopes decides not to tell them that he couldn't dig up anything useful. Conn's father Rodney Maxwell confronts his son in private soon after and the two conceive of a plan to reboot the planet of Poictesme's economy by using the belief in Merlin's existence to spur commerce, exploration and manufacture. So begins the rather messy regeneration of Poictesme.
THOUGHTS
With all of H. Beam Piper's novels, The Cosmic Computer is told with humour derived from human behaviour and logic. The story flows easily, and we see how something so simple can snowball near out of control within a short period of time. It is the juggling of many tasks that often creates conflict for Conn and his father, and their pact to secrecy is put to the test many times throughout.
Another trait of H. Beam Piper's novels is the art of the conspiracy. Whilst we see some of this with Conn and Rodney Maxwell's plan to some extent, we also see the machinations of the various antagonists also creating obstacles for the plan. The motivation for one of the players also adds in another problem relating to the nature of Merlin, an invention that Conn and Rodney are doubtful even exists. There are clues to his identity right from the beginning, but I don't want to spoil that part.
Another aspect of H. Beam Piper's novels is technology and violent conflict. To the case of Merlin, it might seem laughable given the reality of Moore's law and in micronization in general. Whilst we see Piper's descriptions of technology such as computers often being limited to his own era, this did not take away from my enjoyment of the novel.
CONCLUSION
I really liked this novel. The characterizations, plot and action worked like a charm. I also extend my thanks to Mark Nelson for taking time out to record so many classic audiobooks, especially silver-age science fiction. I highly recommend this novel to lovers of science fiction and humour.
GIST
Conn Maxwell arrives back home from a sponsored off-world information-gathering trip to Terra to find the rumored top secret war-time supercomputer Merlin. He is received by his sponsors, including his father, and feeling that it would dash their hopes decides not to tell them that he couldn't dig up anything useful. Conn's father Rodney Maxwell confronts his son in private soon after and the two conceive of a plan to reboot the planet of Poictesme's economy by using the belief in Merlin's existence to spur commerce, exploration and manufacture. So begins the rather messy regeneration of Poictesme.
THOUGHTS
With all of H. Beam Piper's novels, The Cosmic Computer is told with humour derived from human behaviour and logic. The story flows easily, and we see how something so simple can snowball near out of control within a short period of time. It is the juggling of many tasks that often creates conflict for Conn and his father, and their pact to secrecy is put to the test many times throughout.
Another trait of H. Beam Piper's novels is the art of the conspiracy. Whilst we see some of this with Conn and Rodney Maxwell's plan to some extent, we also see the machinations of the various antagonists also creating obstacles for the plan. The motivation for one of the players also adds in another problem relating to the nature of Merlin, an invention that Conn and Rodney are doubtful even exists. There are clues to his identity right from the beginning, but I don't want to spoil that part.
Another aspect of H. Beam Piper's novels is technology and violent conflict. To the case of Merlin, it might seem laughable given the reality of Moore's law and in micronization in general. Whilst we see Piper's descriptions of technology such as computers often being limited to his own era, this did not take away from my enjoyment of the novel.
CONCLUSION
I really liked this novel. The characterizations, plot and action worked like a charm. I also extend my thanks to Mark Nelson for taking time out to record so many classic audiobooks, especially silver-age science fiction. I highly recommend this novel to lovers of science fiction and humour.
August 10, 2016
Originally posted with links at Fantasy Literature.
Conn Maxwell is returning to his impoverished backwater home planet, Poictesme (a nod to James Branch Cabell), after years at the university where he studied computer science. The leaders of Poictesme sent him to school so that he could learn about MERLIN, a legendary supercomputer that is thought to be located somewhere near their planet. They believe that if they can find MERLIN, they will have the information and guidance they need to raise the economic power and status of Poictesme back to its former glory. It used to be an important military outpost but it was abandoned by the government when the war ended. Some farmers remain (they produce a highly prized brandy) along with all the stuff that the military left behind.
Now that Conn has returned, the search for MERLIN can begin. But there are people on Poictesme who don’t believe in the legend. There are others who don’t want to find MERLIN � they are afraid of what a supercomputer might do to them. And there are still others who only want to find MERLIN for themselves. Conn must work with all of these people � and some of them are his own family members � to try to do the best thing for his planet. And that might mean telling a big lie!
The Cosmic Computer, also published as Junkyard Planet, is the third book in Piper’s TERRAN FEDERATION series, but it can stand alone. (I have not read the previous novels, Uller Uprising and Four Day Planet.) The Cosmic Computer is a fun science fiction quest story that has a lot going on despite its short length. There’s plenty of science and technology � robotics, engineering, astronautics. Some of this is quite dated because the book was published in 1963, but one of Piper’s female characters is a roboticist (the “real� women don’t like her, of course). There’s also lots of business, economics, sociology, religion, politics, and psychology. Plus, space battles!
It’s a little hard to believe that the people of Poictesme couldn’t figure out another way to make their planet prosper (it will be obvious to any reader). The reveal at the end is really hard to swallow, too, but this is still a nice adventure story with an interesting premise, some exciting exploration, and a couple of unexpected plot twists. The Cosmic Computer has some obvious parallels with Asimov’s ROBOT and FOUNDATION stories.
The Cosmic Computer is now in the public domain. I got the Kindle version for free and then purchased the audiobook for $1.99 with Amazon’s Whispersync deal. Jeffrey Kafer’s narration is quite nice.
Conn Maxwell is returning to his impoverished backwater home planet, Poictesme (a nod to James Branch Cabell), after years at the university where he studied computer science. The leaders of Poictesme sent him to school so that he could learn about MERLIN, a legendary supercomputer that is thought to be located somewhere near their planet. They believe that if they can find MERLIN, they will have the information and guidance they need to raise the economic power and status of Poictesme back to its former glory. It used to be an important military outpost but it was abandoned by the government when the war ended. Some farmers remain (they produce a highly prized brandy) along with all the stuff that the military left behind.
Now that Conn has returned, the search for MERLIN can begin. But there are people on Poictesme who don’t believe in the legend. There are others who don’t want to find MERLIN � they are afraid of what a supercomputer might do to them. And there are still others who only want to find MERLIN for themselves. Conn must work with all of these people � and some of them are his own family members � to try to do the best thing for his planet. And that might mean telling a big lie!
The Cosmic Computer, also published as Junkyard Planet, is the third book in Piper’s TERRAN FEDERATION series, but it can stand alone. (I have not read the previous novels, Uller Uprising and Four Day Planet.) The Cosmic Computer is a fun science fiction quest story that has a lot going on despite its short length. There’s plenty of science and technology � robotics, engineering, astronautics. Some of this is quite dated because the book was published in 1963, but one of Piper’s female characters is a roboticist (the “real� women don’t like her, of course). There’s also lots of business, economics, sociology, religion, politics, and psychology. Plus, space battles!
It’s a little hard to believe that the people of Poictesme couldn’t figure out another way to make their planet prosper (it will be obvious to any reader). The reveal at the end is really hard to swallow, too, but this is still a nice adventure story with an interesting premise, some exciting exploration, and a couple of unexpected plot twists. The Cosmic Computer has some obvious parallels with Asimov’s ROBOT and FOUNDATION stories.
The Cosmic Computer is now in the public domain. I got the Kindle version for free and then purchased the audiobook for $1.99 with Amazon’s Whispersync deal. Jeffrey Kafer’s narration is quite nice.
December 24, 2012
The planet Poictesme is in a deep economic rut: the original Gartner Trisystem colonies was almost exclusively an export economy, and when its trading partners gained manufacturing capabilities the Trisystem economy collapsed. After a long depression the System States War briefly returned prosperity, as Poictesme was strategically important to the Federation. At its sudden conclusion, the Federation forces quickly withdrew, taking their jobs and personnel but leaving practically all of their equipment, buildings, vehicles, and materiel.
The people of Poictesme (I'll save you a Google search: it's pronounced "pwa-tem", and is taken from James Branch Cabell) are in economic and spiritual doldrums, and most believe that only a top secret piece of war equipment, a supercomputer named MERLIN, can save them by directing their economy and government, and so forth.
This is a book that throws a lot of ideas at the reader. In addition to the intricate economic construction (just the idea that the armed forces left everything behind is intriguing) is the psychology and sociology of a hidebound, almost superstitious population whose fixation on MERLIN blinds them to the possibilities. It takes the rare individual with entrepreneurial spirit to lift them out, and then only by trickery and guile. MERLIN appears to be an extended metaphor for the various emotional crutches that limit people from solving their own problems.
And then there's the psychology of a market bubble, as produced by the searchers for MERLIN. Wealth just sort of appears, driven by the desire for people to get involved. A rumor that MERLIN may not exist risks the market itself. The searchers must solidify the market with actual profits and gains before it crashes and takes the planet back into depression. So, the government and commercial interests were spending a deficit, essentially. The difference between a depression and a growth economy is getting people motivated to do something.
I'm not convinced that Piper's model holds water completely: Poictesme farmers bemoan overproduction of their brandy as unsellable (and plan to cut production), yet it apparently goes for tremendous profit offworld. Is the problem a lack of trading vessels? Why hadn't that been solved elsewhere, if not on Poictesme? It appears to be a case where a thing is extremely profitable, yet nobody is doing it.
The people of Poictesme (I'll save you a Google search: it's pronounced "pwa-tem", and is taken from James Branch Cabell) are in economic and spiritual doldrums, and most believe that only a top secret piece of war equipment, a supercomputer named MERLIN, can save them by directing their economy and government, and so forth.
This is a book that throws a lot of ideas at the reader. In addition to the intricate economic construction (just the idea that the armed forces left everything behind is intriguing) is the psychology and sociology of a hidebound, almost superstitious population whose fixation on MERLIN blinds them to the possibilities. It takes the rare individual with entrepreneurial spirit to lift them out, and then only by trickery and guile. MERLIN appears to be an extended metaphor for the various emotional crutches that limit people from solving their own problems.
And then there's the psychology of a market bubble, as produced by the searchers for MERLIN. Wealth just sort of appears, driven by the desire for people to get involved. A rumor that MERLIN may not exist risks the market itself. The searchers must solidify the market with actual profits and gains before it crashes and takes the planet back into depression. So, the government and commercial interests were spending a deficit, essentially. The difference between a depression and a growth economy is getting people motivated to do something.
I'm not convinced that Piper's model holds water completely: Poictesme farmers bemoan overproduction of their brandy as unsellable (and plan to cut production), yet it apparently goes for tremendous profit offworld. Is the problem a lack of trading vessels? Why hadn't that been solved elsewhere, if not on Poictesme? It appears to be a case where a thing is extremely profitable, yet nobody is doing it.
August 10, 2023
Notes on Cosmic Computer
I really liked a previous work of H Beam Piper’s—Little Fuzzy—so I was interested in reading this novel, The Cosmic Computer. It was a little heavy in the front-loading-exposition department so I decided to download an e-copy of the book to help me keep track of names and such. It was cheap and came with 32 other novels and stories—Bonus!! Who could beat that? A lot more to read! :) I really wanted to like this book and some aspects of it I did enjoy, but others I did not. I probably won’t read this again. My somewhat disjointed notes are below.
This book is a part of Piper’s multi-volume Federation timeline, but stands alone and is a fairly easy, solid and logical read, as far as it goes. It’s primary concerns are politics and economics on various levels and whether a rumored ‘supercomputer� might be the solution to everyone’s problems. One of the surprises in the book is the casual, off-handed way Piper remarks on how easy it is to form conspiracy theories. An important caveat here—Cosmic Computer is a product of its time and can be quite problematic when viewed with modern eyes—and I don’t mean just technologically either. I’ll get to that in a minute, but first an overview of the novel’s setup. All this occurs in under 40 pages.
The book opens with the end of a journey to the city of Litchfield on the planet Poictesme, which is part of an isolated “Trisystem� (aka a triple sun solar system) in Federation space (no relation to Star Trek). It is some 40 years after a galactic civil war referred to as the System States War which had a disastrous effect on the Trisystem’s economy. People are now scrounging for a living, either through agriculture or excavating old Federation military supplies and munitions abandoned at the end of the war and selling it for pennies on the dollar. All throughout the war there was a rumor about a “supercomputer� (what we would call an AI today) somewhere in the system but was never proven or found. This computer was code-named Merlin and over the decades has become an obsession with quasi-religious overtones with much of the population.
Six years before the start of the novel, our young hero Conn Maxwell is sent out of the system to earn degrees in computer science and learn all he can (if anything) about where Merlin might be. His expenses and education are covered by his father Rodney and a loose consortium of colorful family friends. The novel opens with Conn’s bittersweet return. After the meet and greet with family and his “education consortium�, Conn privately admits to his dad that while he managed to get his Computer Science degrees and found the location of every sealed military base in the system (which means a lot of money for everyone), he has determined that Merlin does not—and never did—exist. Realizing that the education consortium are made up of die hard “Merlinolators� who would never believe this turn of events, the Maxwells decide to essentially defraud their friends for the common good. They would announce to the consortium that while Conn had no exact location of Merlin, it had to exist deep within one of the hidden bases he has uncovered. They would then get the consortium to formalize as a large salvage company publicly interested in hitting every single base they had information on, but secretly interested in finding Merlin. The Maxwells hoped that the salvage company would in time earn enough money to not only make the partners rich enough to make the question of Merlin moot. Thusly, the long con begins and hilarity ensues. (And that’s just the first 40 pages, folks)
As the story progresses the reader will be hit constantly with a such steady stream of names and places a spreadsheet is recommended. I kept one up for the first half of the book, then I finally got my sea legs.
There are some snarky parts to the novel, such as the Litchfield Exploration & Salvage’s organizational meeting when Prof Kellton and Mayor Kurt Fawzi passive-aggressively vie to chair the committee only for both to be thwarted by the suggestion that old Judge Ledue take the lead. It is followed by Ledue’s first order of business, to give Conn Maxwell—who “…needs no introduction…� a ten minute introduction. Other bits of humor are peppered throughout the book.
As with any fiction 60+ years old, much of which was socially acceptable then did not age well. In terms of race, while Piper did create numerous characters of diverse backgrounds—more than many of his contemporaries did at the time—they were kept firmly to sidelines, positioned only to move the story along and provide exposition. At no time do we see from their point of view or hear their personal histories from themselves. Then there’s the treatment of women. The book goes out of its way to portray two of the three named women in this book as emotional, unreasonable, and immune to logic simply because they are women. These two are Flora and Con’s mother who is not even given a first name, just “Mrs. Maxwell� (!) The third is Sylvie Jacquemont, Conn’s love interest, who in turn convinces Conn that women can indeed be useful and raises a support staff of “girls�. But none are singled out by name and only mentioned once or twice after their supposed integration into the work force
While I was more or less expecting the above, what caught me off guard was that the robots would be made to respond in a dialect called “Sheshan� that made them sound like tin rejects from Gone With the Wind. That was an unpleasant turn of events and fortunately only was shown in one scene near the end. Furthermore the addition of the dialect was presented as a surprise upgrade to his mother’s clunky bots because “all the smart people on Terra…had Sheshan humanoid robots�.
A common theme throughout is The Ends Justify The Means. First we have the Maxwells forming Litchfield Exploration & Salvage company under false pretenses, then we have Mayor Fawzi, a founder and member of the board and various company committees leverage taxpayer funds to start a public works program that’s designed to ultimately provide candidates for LE&Ss future labor and lower management needs. There was a point where local sheriff Tom Brangwyn organized a press gang to supply Rodney Maxwell with labor to close out his independent excavation in order to free him up to attend to LE&S business. No call-outs or consequences ever arise for this behavior.
Another reviewer on this site postulated that Cosmic Computer is a Pro-Capitalist Story For People Who Aren’t Jerks (as opposed to say, the works of Ayn Rand). This is the best one sentence review of the book anyone can make. But it’s a fairly idealized capitalism that is run essentially by true believers who, while yes, are indeed in pursuit of wealth and profits for themselves are also looking to provide jobs for everyone in the Trisystem so all can share in the rewards. I have to find a little irony here, considering the clear influence of Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy toward the end of this work. I won’t give out specific points of influence as it would spoil the story, but I will provide a bit of context. In one essay, Asimov claimed that a reviewer made the claim that Foundation was clearly based on the Communist Manifesto. Asimov denied this, stating at the time he wrote Foundation he had yet to read Karl Marx. There is also apparently a Reddit on this assumption where other readers have made similar comparisons.
I really liked a previous work of H Beam Piper’s—Little Fuzzy—so I was interested in reading this novel, The Cosmic Computer. It was a little heavy in the front-loading-exposition department so I decided to download an e-copy of the book to help me keep track of names and such. It was cheap and came with 32 other novels and stories—Bonus!! Who could beat that? A lot more to read! :) I really wanted to like this book and some aspects of it I did enjoy, but others I did not. I probably won’t read this again. My somewhat disjointed notes are below.
This book is a part of Piper’s multi-volume Federation timeline, but stands alone and is a fairly easy, solid and logical read, as far as it goes. It’s primary concerns are politics and economics on various levels and whether a rumored ‘supercomputer� might be the solution to everyone’s problems. One of the surprises in the book is the casual, off-handed way Piper remarks on how easy it is to form conspiracy theories. An important caveat here—Cosmic Computer is a product of its time and can be quite problematic when viewed with modern eyes—and I don’t mean just technologically either. I’ll get to that in a minute, but first an overview of the novel’s setup. All this occurs in under 40 pages.
The book opens with the end of a journey to the city of Litchfield on the planet Poictesme, which is part of an isolated “Trisystem� (aka a triple sun solar system) in Federation space (no relation to Star Trek). It is some 40 years after a galactic civil war referred to as the System States War which had a disastrous effect on the Trisystem’s economy. People are now scrounging for a living, either through agriculture or excavating old Federation military supplies and munitions abandoned at the end of the war and selling it for pennies on the dollar. All throughout the war there was a rumor about a “supercomputer� (what we would call an AI today) somewhere in the system but was never proven or found. This computer was code-named Merlin and over the decades has become an obsession with quasi-religious overtones with much of the population.
Six years before the start of the novel, our young hero Conn Maxwell is sent out of the system to earn degrees in computer science and learn all he can (if anything) about where Merlin might be. His expenses and education are covered by his father Rodney and a loose consortium of colorful family friends. The novel opens with Conn’s bittersweet return. After the meet and greet with family and his “education consortium�, Conn privately admits to his dad that while he managed to get his Computer Science degrees and found the location of every sealed military base in the system (which means a lot of money for everyone), he has determined that Merlin does not—and never did—exist. Realizing that the education consortium are made up of die hard “Merlinolators� who would never believe this turn of events, the Maxwells decide to essentially defraud their friends for the common good. They would announce to the consortium that while Conn had no exact location of Merlin, it had to exist deep within one of the hidden bases he has uncovered. They would then get the consortium to formalize as a large salvage company publicly interested in hitting every single base they had information on, but secretly interested in finding Merlin. The Maxwells hoped that the salvage company would in time earn enough money to not only make the partners rich enough to make the question of Merlin moot. Thusly, the long con begins and hilarity ensues. (And that’s just the first 40 pages, folks)
As the story progresses the reader will be hit constantly with a such steady stream of names and places a spreadsheet is recommended. I kept one up for the first half of the book, then I finally got my sea legs.
There are some snarky parts to the novel, such as the Litchfield Exploration & Salvage’s organizational meeting when Prof Kellton and Mayor Kurt Fawzi passive-aggressively vie to chair the committee only for both to be thwarted by the suggestion that old Judge Ledue take the lead. It is followed by Ledue’s first order of business, to give Conn Maxwell—who “…needs no introduction…� a ten minute introduction. Other bits of humor are peppered throughout the book.
As with any fiction 60+ years old, much of which was socially acceptable then did not age well. In terms of race, while Piper did create numerous characters of diverse backgrounds—more than many of his contemporaries did at the time—they were kept firmly to sidelines, positioned only to move the story along and provide exposition. At no time do we see from their point of view or hear their personal histories from themselves. Then there’s the treatment of women. The book goes out of its way to portray two of the three named women in this book as emotional, unreasonable, and immune to logic simply because they are women. These two are Flora and Con’s mother who is not even given a first name, just “Mrs. Maxwell� (!) The third is Sylvie Jacquemont, Conn’s love interest, who in turn convinces Conn that women can indeed be useful and raises a support staff of “girls�. But none are singled out by name and only mentioned once or twice after their supposed integration into the work force
While I was more or less expecting the above, what caught me off guard was that the robots would be made to respond in a dialect called “Sheshan� that made them sound like tin rejects from Gone With the Wind. That was an unpleasant turn of events and fortunately only was shown in one scene near the end. Furthermore the addition of the dialect was presented as a surprise upgrade to his mother’s clunky bots because “all the smart people on Terra…had Sheshan humanoid robots�.
A common theme throughout is The Ends Justify The Means. First we have the Maxwells forming Litchfield Exploration & Salvage company under false pretenses, then we have Mayor Fawzi, a founder and member of the board and various company committees leverage taxpayer funds to start a public works program that’s designed to ultimately provide candidates for LE&Ss future labor and lower management needs. There was a point where local sheriff Tom Brangwyn organized a press gang to supply Rodney Maxwell with labor to close out his independent excavation in order to free him up to attend to LE&S business. No call-outs or consequences ever arise for this behavior.
Another reviewer on this site postulated that Cosmic Computer is a Pro-Capitalist Story For People Who Aren’t Jerks (as opposed to say, the works of Ayn Rand). This is the best one sentence review of the book anyone can make. But it’s a fairly idealized capitalism that is run essentially by true believers who, while yes, are indeed in pursuit of wealth and profits for themselves are also looking to provide jobs for everyone in the Trisystem so all can share in the rewards. I have to find a little irony here, considering the clear influence of Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy toward the end of this work. I won’t give out specific points of influence as it would spoil the story, but I will provide a bit of context. In one essay, Asimov claimed that a reviewer made the claim that Foundation was clearly based on the Communist Manifesto. Asimov denied this, stating at the time he wrote Foundation he had yet to read Karl Marx. There is also apparently a Reddit on this assumption where other readers have made similar comparisons.
December 27, 2015
Well, this was enjoyable--especially because it was so compact! It clocks in at 190 pages, for a story that would almost certainly require 300 or more these days. Part of that difference might benefit the modern version, as a novel like this now would probably go to more trouble to flesh out the characters, who are, herein, pretty shallowly sketched. On the other hand, the tight length means it chugs along quite quickly. And the plot really isn't that complex, so added verbiage would not necessarily make it better. Planet impoverished after an interplanetary war goes after the mythical supercomputer that supposedly was built and then lost during said war, even though it supposedly does not really exist, as our protagonist "knows." Turns out he's wrong, of course. Not that that really matters much, as once the supercomputer is found the novel pretty much just stops; the supposedly earth-shattering (literally) consequences never occurring, making the supercomputer perhaps the biggest macguffin in all literature (the computer is gigantic, as miniaturization is something apparently generally unforeseen by SFwriters). What is most interesting is that the novel is actually fairly grounded in economics more than anything else; what really matters is how the search for the computer stimulates economic growth. The characters charter companies, sell stock, see the market grow, worry about it crashing, collude to keep it strong, etc. There is some rather wry if not outright satirical handling of manipulation, both political and economic, as a major element. Rather dated in its handling of women, who are allowed (in one instance anyway) a degree of competence but are still basically "girls" (so-called) and relegated to fiance and wife roles. Not SF for the ages, to be sure, but a fun and engaging old-time SF adventure. Fans will probably like it, but I doubt it would win any converts.
January 2, 2014
From my lofty perspective of the 21st century, it is amusing how many classic sci-fi authors were able to imagine computers of near-godlike capacity... and yet never imagine miniaturization. I suppose the former follows, while the latter was dependent on advances and discoveries not currently in evidence.
In any case, "Junkyard Planet" (I greatly prefer this title) is an unremarkable and yet perfectly competent little tale from the golden age of Sci-Fi. I had to look up whether this book pre- or post-dated Asimov's "Foundation" As it turns out, it was written a dozen years later, and therefore ought to confess to being just a wee bit derivative: the concept of being able to predict macro-history with startling accuracy appears here as well.
I was amused to note a couple of references here and in the sequel / related thematic story "" to Zarathustran sun-stones: he's clearly placed his sci-fi writings in the same basic universe as "," although the stories are separated by enough space and time as to make this fact unimportant, at least from the perspective of deciding what to read first.
In any case, "Junkyard Planet" (I greatly prefer this title) is an unremarkable and yet perfectly competent little tale from the golden age of Sci-Fi. I had to look up whether this book pre- or post-dated Asimov's "Foundation" As it turns out, it was written a dozen years later, and therefore ought to confess to being just a wee bit derivative: the concept of being able to predict macro-history with startling accuracy appears here as well.
I was amused to note a couple of references here and in the sequel / related thematic story "" to Zarathustran sun-stones: he's clearly placed his sci-fi writings in the same basic universe as "," although the stories are separated by enough space and time as to make this fact unimportant, at least from the perspective of deciding what to read first.
April 19, 2010
Oddly, Piper had a very limited vision of what future computer technology might look like, but the story is more about people than about hardware.
At the core of the story is the economic upheaval that can follow a war, in this case an entire planet that was in a "boom town" economy during wartime, but in near collapse after peace returned, because the military had provided so much of its economic structure. He may have used real world cities within the U.S. as a pattern for this, in the way some cities were heavily disrupted by the closures of major military bases.
Some of the people have a goal...to find a mysterious, hidden super-computer to help them calculate a solution to the world's problems. Of course, the computer may not exist, and if it does, there may have been a good reason to hide it. Along the way, the central character attempts to use the search itself as a way to help his people. Bandits, bankers and politicians all attempt to interfere, each with their own forms of dishonesty.
Piper was not a computer specialist or a futurist, or else his far future computers probably would have evolved past punch tape output, but his knowledge of people made this an interesting story. I would recommend it to people who have read and enjoyed Asimov's Foundation books.
At the core of the story is the economic upheaval that can follow a war, in this case an entire planet that was in a "boom town" economy during wartime, but in near collapse after peace returned, because the military had provided so much of its economic structure. He may have used real world cities within the U.S. as a pattern for this, in the way some cities were heavily disrupted by the closures of major military bases.
Some of the people have a goal...to find a mysterious, hidden super-computer to help them calculate a solution to the world's problems. Of course, the computer may not exist, and if it does, there may have been a good reason to hide it. Along the way, the central character attempts to use the search itself as a way to help his people. Bandits, bankers and politicians all attempt to interfere, each with their own forms of dishonesty.
Piper was not a computer specialist or a futurist, or else his far future computers probably would have evolved past punch tape output, but his knowledge of people made this an interesting story. I would recommend it to people who have read and enjoyed Asimov's Foundation books.
December 27, 2015
Piper's The Cosmic Computer is an interesting artifact of its time. It crosses a lot of genre lines, and the result isn't really scientific enough to be a modern science-fiction novel, but that doesn't make it any less interesting. Overall, it's an intriguing story of a civilization rebuilding itself, with some tomfoolery along the way. The characters are weak, and I'd like to see a bit more action. I also some qualms that the ending of The Cosmic Computer falls a bit close to Isaac Asimov's famous Foundation trilogy. Nonethelesss, this remains an interesting look at Piper's Future History. I wish there was more of it!
May 19, 2015
Many people think of older science fiction works as they would a star trek episode, ie stupid and uninteresting. However my immersion into the science fiction of the past has confirmed quite the opposite to me. This book is no exception. It is packed with both adventure and intelligence. Sure, H. Beam Piper couldn't have imagined what a computer would look like in the future, but that doesn't stop the reader from enjoying the book. Or it shouldn't, in my opinion.
October 17, 2019
The Cosmic Computer, originally titled Junkyard Planet is the fourth work I've read recently by H. Beam Piper. I started with a short story, The Return, which was very good. Then I read Little Fuzzy, also very good. Uller Uprising and this one, The Cosmic Computer, were both disappointing, compared to the first two. So Piper is a mixed bag. Theodore Sturgeon was right when he said, “Sure, 90% of science fiction is crap. That's because 90% of everything is crap.�
September 2, 2014
Amusing, goofy space opera about the search for a massive computer not unlike the systems that would be imagined by Asimov in the Foundation trilogy. I listened to the Librivox edition as read by Mark Nelson.
December 19, 2007
Action-adventure juvie with socio-politics thrown in for good measure... Heinleinesque, if not quite as entertaining.
July 15, 2020
This is the second time I’ve read this book. The first time was when I was a kid. In fact, it’s probably the book that got me into sci-fi � and, I am happy that it was just as good this time.
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