Given the current political climate there will be a temptation to horomorphise The Blade Runner. I'll leave that to the indie cable company that should make this book into a movie. (If Ridley Scott will re loan the title back since he bought ALL rights to the novel just to snag the cool title.)The book is true science fiction. No time travel or malevolent aliens. It even predicts the common use of microwave "stoves" and hints at computer networks and cell phones.It is an extremely fast read and an engaging story. Nourse, for whatever reason, completely avoids physical descriptions of the characters. Possibly purposeful given the blanding of humanity required by the Health authorities. Or maybe lazy author.The premise is, if you need health care badly enough you are coming in to be treated for a disease that has a genetic or epigenetic epidemiology to it and with sterilization it won't be passed on. And why that is good science fiction is that Nourse (a doctor himself) takes the premise and looks at the consequences it plays out in humanity as an whole.The premise is, of course, largely flawed and irrelevant. Industrialized nations' birthrate went down anyway. But the book was written when people were hand wringing about "population bombs". Nor did it anticipate frozen zygotes or sperm or eggs.What is relevant is how much authority will we cede to the Government? How much will our Government wink at antinomianism in order to keep failure hidden?The book regards nobility in individuals and expresses distrust when big government consolidates power.
This book, which I had picked up originally because of the name, was surprisingly good! Although the only thing it has in common with the movie of the same name is that it takes place in a cyberpunked future, the story was still very interesting and had enough science-fiction elements to keep me interested. Although the story focuses more on a tyrannical organization called Health Control which restricts health care to those who submit to sterilization, the world in which it takes place could be lifted from any sort of dystopian future story, be it 1984 or any William Gibson novel. It saddens me that this well-written book has not gotten more attention than it has, but it's definitely worth a read to anyone interested in the genres I've mentioned.
Do You like book The Bladerunner (1974)?
A lesser known classic. This has the feel of other new age sci-fi novels of the 60s & 70s, but also can be considered pre-cyberpunk and biopunk that came afterwards. Nourse calls upon his physican background to create a very plausible viral epidemic as a result of dystopian heathcare reform. I finished this 2 days before the 2012 Obama vs Romney election where Healthcare might possibly be the number 1 issue. This novel predicts healthcare system chaos very well, and the fantasy story hits a little close to home, I hope this really isn't our future!
—Byron 'Giggsy' Paul
A Vision of the Future that Still Rings True TodayFrom the 60s a tale of single payer government-run health care in the 21st century that rings even more true today than it did when I first read it almost fifty years ago.Healthcare is provided for free if you qualify. But since there is infinite demand for a free good the qualifications are rather steep - Sterilization. If you don't qualify there are doctors who will perform illegal procedures using supplies gathered by black market dealers - Blade runners. The system limps along, mostly doing well enough to get by, until a super bug starts to create a strain too great for the system.
—Beregond
Weirdly timely for a book written in 1972. It is 2012. The cost of healthcare has gotten out of hand because people are living longer and having fewer babies. There aren't enough working young people to support the overwhelming cost of healthcare. The economy is reeling from the 2010 stock-market crash. Eugenics policies are in place requiring sterilization in exchange for healthcare to everyone who doesn't pass the eugenics standards. So, there is an underground healthcare industry and the Bladerunners smuggle medical supplies to underground doctors and assist them as they practice medicine in people's homes. This prescient and fun book tells the story of a Bladerunner and his doctor and the dangers they face when everything comes apart. Don't expect the story that is in the Ridley Scott movie. They have nothing to do with one another.
—Phillip
