In the Country of the Blind

by Michael Flynn

Book Overview

A society dedicated to uplifting mankind uses the obscure Babbage Machine, an early computing device, to subtly change the course of human history for the better. But as time passes, power-hungry... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312874448
• ISBN13: 9780312874445
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Asimov's Second Foundation on the Net

I love conspiracy and alternative history books. Here we have a secret society like Asimov's Second Foundation moving in a net-connected Earth (like our own). This book is all "Cryptonomicon" wanted to be.It's all on the uncanny coincidences and turning points of history, on how tiny little changes make momentous differences in the long term, as predicted by chaos theory...and humanity caught in history whirlwind. Recommended for those who love historical science-fiction.

Between Generas

Michael Flynn is one of the people (along with Lois McMaster Bujold and Spider Robinson) that I consider the sucessor to Robert A. Heinlein (and yes, it takes at least three people to fill Heinlein's shoes). I was very glad to see that his first novel, In the Country of the Blind, was going to be back in print (will his short story collection, Werehouse, be following I hope I hope I hope).This novel never got the respect it deserved when first published. It fell "between the cracks" of science fiction and a mainstream thriller. The Babbage Society believes they can mathmatically model the future. If they are correct, the book is Science Fiction. If they are delusional, but still willing to kill to protect their worthless secret, it's a contemporary mainstream thiller. Either way makes no difference to the plot, well-developed characters hold and express both opinions, and the book rides a quantum function without resolving itself into one or the other.So why didn't it become a crossover hit, popular with fans of both generas? I don't know. Possibly too speculative for the mainstream, not speculative enough for hard SF fans?Both groups have cheated themselves out of a fantastic read. If you like near-future (now near-past) science fiction OR contemporary techno-thrillers, buy this book, read this book, pass this book along to fans.Personal note, other reviewers have remarked, unfavorably, on the dust jacket pictures of some of Mr. Flynn's other books. This one continues the unfortunate trend. The central character is a Black woman. On the cover of the paperback we had the metaphorical one-eyed man, now we have a White woman in a cyber-helmet breaking chains. Would it be so wrong to put a Black woman on the cover? Would it be so dificult to have a dust jacket that wasn't mud fence ugly? DEFINITELY do not judge this book by its cover.

A terrific "thinking man's" novel . . .

One of the usually less successful types of science fiction story (in my opinion) is the "secret history" story, in which the plot turns on events that most of us don't know about -- things we aren't *supposed* to know about, secret things that allow some individual or group to (usually) rule the world. Generally, the key events or relationships that give the secret group its power are a little too pat, a little too coincidental, and the stories usually are not believable. Asimov's Foundation trilogy was an exception, up to a point, and so was Wilson & Shea's Illuminati triology. And now, so is this novel. The early 19th century was a time of amateur gentleman scholars who thought that if you could only gather enough information, enough data, about people and society at large, you could work out policies that would improve everyone's lot in life. According to Flynn, a small group of those do-gooders in New England (1) managed to develop a mathematical approach to social engineering, (2) got Babbage's engine to work, and (3) began to do something about the state of the world. And they've been at it ever since. Only, they're really not very good at it. Flynn has a real knack for the language and he seems to know his history. The "fulcra" he selects, the points where a small change might tip the course of events in quite a different direction, are quite reasonable, and he'll tell you exactly why. The characters are believable and three-dimensional and often sympathetic, even the bad guys. And coincidence is kept to a minimum. There's lots of juicy quotes in this one, too. This book was recommended to me by a friend several years ago, but I've only just gotten around to reading it -- and now I have to go see what else Flynn has written!

The Best Science Fiction Book Which Cannot Be Bought

I am currently re-re-re-reading "In the Country of the Blind" (which was published in the early 90s) and it impresses me yet again.The subject is the construction of Babbage's difference engine in the mid-1800s, and the existence of "societies" which develop the science of forecasting a full century in advance of what has happened in (our) timeline. The development of the book is brilliant and as complex as the subject which it addresses. Flynn clearly has an overarching expertise in many of the related specializations, and knows how to convey that information to the reader, blended perfectly with the thrust of the novel.This is not a linear work of fiction. It's not a comic book.Try comparing Flynn's "Blind" with Gibson's "Difference Engine" and you will quickly realize why this book is so difficult to find. Flynn makes Gibson (who is an excellent writer) look spavined and directionless.Of course, the inability to find the book could easily be taken as an extension of the ideas presented. I'll take the less machiavellian view that present day editors and readers are too weak to handle this material at this level of complexity, BUT, that the people who own a copy NEVER will part with it.On the other hand, it may not be in print for the same general reason that Harlan Ellison's "The Glass Teat" was pulled from bookstores in 1970.