The Tomorrow File

by Lawrence Sanders

Book Overview

Nicholas Bennington Flair, an assistant Deputy Director in the Department of Bliss, and committed to scientific creation and control of the nation's populace and policies, experiences an unprofitable... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425081796
• Release Date: August 1985
• Publisher: Berkley
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.0" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

a terriffic read

a mostly unknown gem from 1973 by the author who became known for THE FIRST DEADLY SIN and THE MCNALLY CAPERS . when i read this novel back in 75 ( the first paperback edition) i did not want to see the year 2000! SANDERS' look at the immediate future is horrifying. predicting the future is always risky business but SANDERS fills his futuristic tale with the most incredible plot twists and memorable caracters. welcome to a world where many people are born in a test tube with genetic ratings ( those who were born naturally are known as OBSOS for obsolete) the dept. of health and welfare is now known as the dept. of public happiness or the dept. of bliss. almost all drugs are legal. people drink vodka and smack and smoke marijuana as readily as we drink vodka and tonic. pot is legal and sold by the government . one brand is called BOLD. when you have sex with someone that person is known as a 'user". if you enjoyed the sex then it was "profitable".( martha and i used each other last night , it was quite a profit". money is called LOVE. ( sorry nick but theres no love in this project lets move on to something else) . food and drink as we know it is almost all genetically engineered from petro or oil.people eat "petroveal" and "propeas" and drink wine that tastes like fuel. occassionally you can find a real bottle of wine made from REAL grapes that will cost a fortune.( what do you want to eat tonight nick, fake italian or fake french?) an artificially inseminated male with a grade a genetic rating is catogorized as a AINMA-A. the government controlls all genetic ratings and if you dont have an A rating you cant have children. the united states is a huge corporation heading towards leading a corporate world. known now as simply THE US ( the u.s. of america was dropped ) any nation can join the US. costa rica and purto rico where the first to join. england is thinking of joining the us at the time of writing. medical and genetic engineering are racing ahead with startling and frightening rapidity. the govt. absolutley rules everything. nicolas bennington flair is the main carachter whos job among other things is to protect and keep alive a dying obso social genius named hyman lewishon. he comes up with the most frightening and horrifying idea i think ive ever read in any sci fi or social fiction tale that i wont even hint at to avoid spoiling it for those who havent read it yet. his friend and user is paul bumford . also his understudy . they work directly for angela lee berri, the director of the dept. of bliss. the reader is taken on a ride with so many plot twists and turns and surprises through the machinations of corporate power and political leaders that after a while nothing is as it seems. who is screwing who?? right up to the final line of the book the suspense is just incredible. a tale of futuristic social and governmental workings that is sometimes funny,always frightening and endlessly fascinating. SANDERS imagination must have been

my all time favorite book

This is the only book that I've read 5plus times. It is truly amazing, especially in that it was published 4 years before I was born. Way ahead of it's time, I look forward to reading it again!!!!

Biological Time Bomb went off back n 1973

To get full impact of The Tomorrow File, try digging up The Biological Time Bomb and comparing with Huxley's Brave New World and Brave New World Revsited.The read it again -- The Tomorrow File, that is.I first read The Tomorrow File and The Biological Time Bomb [sorry, can not recall that author's name] in 1973. MAYBE even 1972.And by 1991 when the paperback re-issue was added to a bookstore across the street that is no more, well, I was seeing evidence every day that folks reading it for the FIRST time in 1991 were already LEFT BEHIND on what's real in "sociology."Can't fault YOU, Larry. Or Aldous or Julian or even H.G. Welles and Upton Sinclair.You warned them hard enough. Not that any bodies with the good old "It Can't Happen Here" attitudes ever paid attention.Nicholas definitely pushed his luck too far. So far, even though thoroughly mind-diddled my own great love and I have stayed relatively free and happy with only the following chatter to show for going on 11 years...

An excellent book, apparently overlooked by all

An amazing and chilling tale! Should be classified as Science Fiction and thus, it is unlike any other Sanders book - not a mystery or a sex-fest, though it has those elements in spades. Obviously, Sanders had fun with his premise, which (I think) is: What would happen if the Government set about to make its citizenry happy? And at any cost, including active manipulation of individual lives. Imagine Brave New World, with an entertaining mystery, modernized, and taken to the next degree. Sanders cleverly renames common terms, for example: Males are EM's, females are EF's, sex is "using." This extends to the government - the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has evolved into the "Department of Bliss." (Couldn't happen? - remember the Dept. of Defense used to be called the War Department.) Definitely will make you glad your government is as inept as it is - after reading TF, you will never ask again for a government that knows what it's doing! Ken

A near future when kids get MUCH smarter, much younger.<br>

Sanders, in a change of pace, chillingly limns a future when fast maturation and blazing intelligence are available to young teens, gradually forcing the older leaders and movers of society into unwanted retirement. Excellent characterization, pace, and imaginative projections of current trends in computer science, media (think MTV election specials), and sports forcing for the Olympics make this a novel that you will think back on often, and wonder if you'll be replaced by a ten-year-old with a 200 IQ...