BRAIN WAVE. New York: Ballantine Books, [1954]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Ballantine Books 80. "BRAIN WAVE, perhaps his most famous single novel, remains very nearly his finest. Its premise is simple: for millions of years the part of the galaxy containing our solar system has been moving through a vast force field whose effect has been to inhibit "certain electromagnetic and electrochemical processes", and thus certain neuronic functions; it is a concept Vernor Vinge would exploit and expand in his A FIRE UPON THE DEEP (1992). When Earth escapes the inhibiting field, synapse-speed immediately increases, causing a rise in intelligence; after the book has traced various absorbing consequences of this transformation, a transfigured humanity reaches for the stars, leaving behind (it is a conclusion evocative of Clifford D Simak at his best) former mental defectives and bright animals to inherit the planet." - John Clute, SFE (online). Anatomy of Wonder (2004) II-22. Survey of Science Fiction Literature I, pp. 242-6. A fine copy. (#175211).
Price: $75.00
No statement of printing.