The Cosmic Computer

De: H. Beam Piper

Narrado por: Jeffrey Kafer

Conn Maxwell returns from Terra to his poverty-stricken home planet of Poictesme, “The Junkyard Planet”, with news of the possible location of Merlin, a military super-computer rumored to have been abandoned there after the last war. The inhabitants hope to find Merlin, which they think will be their ticket to wealth and prosperity. But is Merlin real or just an old rumor? And if they find it, will it save them - or tear them apart?

Public Domain (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Good, but reader should have looked stuff up.

My biggest problem with this reading was that the reader should have looked up how to pronounce "Poictesme". It's not "poyk-TEZ-mee", it's "pwah-TEM". It's a portmanteau of two French city names. The rest of the reading was okay, but every time I heard that mangled planet name, it jarred.

This is not an unreasonable expectation, for a reader to check the pronunciation for unusual words.

Please learn how to pronounce the character and place names

Poictesme (pwa.‘tem’). Not Poi-tes-me
Anse is not pronounced Ans-ee
Listen to a version on LibriVox
Please

Excellent storytelling

I simply love the major theme of this book. Everything needed to get the planets economy up and running was right in front of them the entire time. Merlin wasn't necessary.

Another old favorite classic

I've re-read this book many times and always enjoyed it. As a computer guy, I am greatly amused by the 'peak' of computer technology and how, back in the 1950s they thought that computers would just get bigger, with the same interfaces. It makes me wonder just how badly wrong we are in our expectations of where technology is going.

There's a lot going on in this short SF quest

Originally posted 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.

Terro-Human Future History by Piper

H. Beam Piper was a successful author for over a decade and placed his stories in two separate settings, Paratime or the Terro-Human Future History THFH. Cosmic Computer is set near the end of the first phase of the THFH when the population of Poictesme find themselves in a major economic depression following the end of the civil war where the System States Alliance rebelled against the Federation and nearly succeeded in breaking away to form an independent group outside the Federation. After the victory the Federation withdrew their forces so quickly they abandoned trillions valuable military hardware behind and the most popular way for the civilians left behind to make a living is to gather up abandoned military surplus and ship it off planet at bargain prices to colonies where dangerous wildlife or criminals need to be defeated. With hundreds of worlds there is always someone somewhere who can use weapons and ammunition but living as scavenger's has collapsed most other aspects of the local economy.
The audible version of the book is solid and makes for a good listen, especially if you are already familiar with Piper and his style of writing.

Cool

I like how they did the screen and radio communications, with the tinniness of the speakers. Overall, well played out. I’ve rereading these books since I was a kid.

Terrible.

What disappointed you about The Cosmic Computer?

The performance.

What was most disappointing about H. Beam Piper’s story?

Ugh. A bunch of post US civil war frontiers men with about the same political views, walking around toting guns, starting companies left right and centre for every purpose other than to prospect the darn computer. The attitude towards women is pretty offensive too, and about as dated as the paper-tape spitting cosmic computer that has an interface taking hours to decipher.

What didn’t you like about Jeffrey Kafer’s performance?

It sounded like he was sight reading. The prosody was off-kilter and difficult to follow -- I have heard better from text-to-speech systems.

What character would you cut from The Cosmic Computer?

They're all so slow witted.

Any additional comments?

Don't buy it. It's probably better to read it yourself, if you're interested in antiquated guesses about the future with antiquated political and social views. I was glad to finish it and disappointed that they didn't all wipe themselves out.