Time and Again

By Clifford D. Simak

Book Overview

"Twenty years ago, Asher Sutton vanished somewhere in the star system 61 Cygni, an inaccessible corner of the universe that humankind has thus far been unable to explore. Now, Asher has returned to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441810039
• ISBN13: 9780441810031
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This book is still radical today.

This book, and the book that Asher Sutton was struggling to write, is more radical than even those who have written reviews realized. Forgive me -- I just ordered a replacement copy, since I lost mine in moving, and I must paraphrase the beginning of the book SUTTON ultimately will write: "You are not alone. Nothing that LIVES is alone." That says it all.

Simak's very best

I have read twenty or so of Simak's novels and this is unquestionably the finest (even better than City).The other reviews have said it better than I could, but this might be one of the best, if not the very best, novels that I have ever read.Time and Again is an exciting, thought-provoking, and deeply religious work. If you like science fiction and you like to think, do not pass this one up.

A Gem That You Won't Forget

It is the future and Mankind has spread to the stars like seeds before the wind. One star system, though, shrouded in mystery, has defied Man's every attempt to visit it. Every expedition to 61 Cygni has found its path inexplicably deflected and has been forced to return home in frustration. In desperation, special agent Asher Sutton was sent on a solo mission, but unlike the others he did not return and 61 Cygni was quietly forgotten.As the book begins, twenty years have passed and, against all odds, Asher Sutton has returned. The mystery only deepens when it is discovered that Asher's ship was damaged many years ago in a crash that left it completely disabled and ought to have killed its sole passenger. The conclusion becomes inescapable; Asher Sutton died but now he's back. As the story develops, we discover Asher is not alone and it's not clear that he's even entirely human. But most importantly, Asher returns bearing an idea that will shake Mankind's beliefs to their foundations.In Time and Again, Mankind is spread thin across the stars and to help hold the frontier he has created biological androids. Created in the lab by chemical means, androids are sterile and cannot reproduce but in all other respects are as human as their creators. None the less, androids are treated as property and bear a mark on their foreheads to distinguish them from "true" humans.Androids dream of one day being acknowledged and treated as the equals of the "humans" and Asher's idea is the key for which they have been searching. Asher soon becomes the center of a struggle between three groups; humans of the present who fear any new idea that might loosen Mankind's tenuous grip on the stars, humans of the future who, via time travel, are waging a quiet war to alter the past to maintain the current status quo, and the androids of the future who struggle to let Asher's idea be born. Simak weaves these disparate elements into a delicious story. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

An incredibly good read - out "Heinleins" Heinlein!

This book is really about religion and time. About the power of religion and about the cost one can pay for the knowing the truth. The book deals with the personal sacrifice, loneliness and betrayal that important historical figures, past, present and future, often endure. Asher Sutton is the ultimate imperfect, reluctant hero. Those of you who love Heinlein will undoubtedly enjoy this book - I couldn't recommend it any more thoroughly. I read City (Simak's most acclaimed book) and thought that "Time and Again" was easily a superior work