Science Fiction Books
First Lensman (The Lensman Series, Book 2)
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You Save: $ 15.00 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: Old Earth Books
Author: Edward E. Smith
Publisher: Old Earth Books
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price:
You Save: $ 15.00 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: Old Earth Books
Author: Edward E. Smith
Publisher: Old Earth Books
Average Customer Rating:
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First Lensman (The Lensman Series, Book 2) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781882968107
ISBN: 1882968107
Label: Old Earth Books
Manufacturer: Old Earth Books
Number Of Items: 1
Publication Date: 1997-12
Publisher: Old Earth Books
Studio: Old Earth Books
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781882968107
ISBN: 1882968107
Label: Old Earth Books
Manufacturer: Old Earth Books
Number Of Items: 1
Publication Date: 1997-12
Publisher: Old Earth Books
Studio: Old Earth Books
Editorial Review of First Lensman (The Lensman Series, Book 2)
In the not too distance future, while fleets of commercial space ships travel between the planets of numerous solar systems, a traveler named Virgil Samms visits the planet Arisia. There he becomes the first wearer of the Lens, the almost-living symbol of the forces of law and order. As the first Lensman, Samms helps to form the Galactic Patrol, a battalion of Lensmen who are larger than life heroes. These solders are the best of the best, with incredible skills, stealth, and drive. They are dedicated and incorruptible fighters who are willing to die to protect the universe from the most horrific threat it has ever known. Read by Reed McColm. 10 CD's 11 Hrs.
Customer Reviews of First Lensman (The Lensman Series, Book 2)
Customer Rating: 
Review Summary: This is the true start to the lensman stories
Review: "First Lensman" is the true start of the lensman series of stories. Virgil Samms starts the Galactic Patrol, is given the first lens, and battles the bad guys. Let us not quibble about stuff. This is a good adventure story.
Politically correct folks will carp at this and that. Other critics may try to point to out-dated 'science'. Ignore them. Just have fun reading a fast-paced adventure.
I recommend this book.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Embarassingly poor Narrator: Reed McColm
Review: The one star rating is for the narrator - although he actually deserves a negative number: Reed McColm not the Author E.E. Smith.
I wonder what McColm's background is. Some narrators, usually actors, can bring the story to life. McColm seems to think that emphasizing certain words makes them exciting. It's a bit like Marvel Comics where every sentence has an exclamation mark.
McColm has got two different voices: a normal one and a throaty one that is a bit like a poor imitation of Bill Clinton. The worst bits however are the aliens. He tries to give the first one a sort of ethereal, ghostly character. To make the next alien sound different he changes to a singsong voice. His voice, rising and falling, got so embarrassing that I had to stop listening.
I'm glad, I only bought this recording, as all the other lensmen books are also read by McColm. My advice, if you are interested in E.E. Smith's space opera read the books. Only the masochistically inclined should consider listening to McColm.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Super Reader
Review: Virgil Samms is one of the head honchos of the Triplanetary organisation. He is the man the Arisians have decided will become the first wearer of the Lens, being of the right ethical and genetic stuff.
Samms must overcome political problems on Earth, where Rod Kinnison is an honest politician, and husband the creation of the Galactic Patrol. The Lens is a dream come come true, a badge of office that it is impossible for criminals to duplicate.
The scope for this book is therefore still not as broad as what is yet to come, and is still setting the stage.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: When we were young and space was new
Review: When we were young and space was new
and unfettered by knowledge of dark matter
or scientific belief, tear drop shaped space ships made for a vacuum
that doesn't need streamlining
and death rays that defy all science became part of our active imaginations.
With new reincarnations of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon continuing
I read this 1980's 15th reprinting of the second in the Lensmen series.
I have an older yet 1970's version of Second Stage Lensman that says it is the 8th printing.
They both seem to have started their printing history in the early 1950's
after appearing in a monthly magazine as serials?
The writing style is by modern standards stilted,
the characterization is kind of patchy,
the descriptions are at times puzzling,
and the plot with it's battles between fleets of space ships seems very predictable.
I really doubt a modern editor would consider this book worthy of publication
with Star Wars setting a new higher standard for futuristic space operas.
The two elder races that represent idealized forces of good and evil in puppet masters
are mostly dull and unbelievable as Godlike aliens. Yet the book is still an entertaining read more than 50 years later.
There seems little doubt that generations in 100 years will also be reading
these serial novels that are so young in spirit. The closest modern series is J.K. Rowling's Henry Potter books.
There are many Sci Fi and fantasy serial novels in modern terms by writers
who are actually in technical terms better, but none seems to touch this raw vitality that E.E. "Doc" Smith innately had.
He created his own living and breathing future world deep in space
where astronomical distances and faster than light drives are less than believable; like "B" westerns where the 6 guns keep firing
and are never reloaded. In both cases it seems to be the continual action
and heroes winning against odds that endears them as entertainment and not as "high" literature.
Having read of late some high literature in Pulitzer Prize winners that were either very dull or very negative,
I have to say that there is no comparison: the space opera like the comic book
will be popular when literary some master pieces of today are totally forgotten.
If I were a movie maker I'd stop making remakes of H.G. Wells novels
and get screen plays made up for these novels!
Second Stage Lensman (#5 in the series)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Be warned--this series is dreck
Review: It is odd that the Amazon review form has a check-off box to attest that the reviewer is over the age of 13. It is difficult to imagine anyone over the age of 13 having much positive to say about the Lensman Series.
E.E. Smith, who according to John Clute was a food chemist specializing in donuts, wrote this series for the pulps in the 1930's. Its primary audience was clearly adolescent boys. I read it when I was about 17 or 18 and read it to conclusion, even though the writing was dreadful, because it had a propulsive, energetic plot that hooks anyone vulnerable to space opera. The basic device is good aliens versus evil aliens in a galaxy and eons spanning struggle in which humans are anointed to administer the coup de grace to forces of cosmic evil. We are, of course, the center of the universe. Every book in the series ratchets up the stage another order of magnitude. Had the notion of a multiverse been current in the 1930's, Smith would no doubt have written further volumes to involve the other universes as well.
The problem with the series is that aside from the addicting quality of space opera, every other aspect of Smith's writing is just god-awful. He simply has no skills at all in the craft of writing. The dialogue, characterizations, and style are so bad you have to read the books to believe it. Psychology, motivation, wit, nuance, ambiguity. What do those words mean ? I couldn't fairly compare the series to comic books because quite a few comic books these days have literary merit. Perhaps they would be comparable to comic books in the 1950's between the demise of E.C. and the rise of Marvel, but even these probably had better editing.
I am not inveighing against the pleasures of space opera. There's abundance of it out there for your enjoyment by competent authors like Iain Banks or Vernor Vinge, who won't make you wince while you read. Some, like Jack Vance, are master stylists.
I have many times encountered readers with strong prejudices against science fiction and fantasy and have tried to encourage them to read some of the finer writers in the field. It's my hope that readers who aren't sci-fi fans would never open the covers of the Lensman books. They would be permanently poisoned.
Review Summary: This is the true start to the lensman stories
Review: "First Lensman" is the true start of the lensman series of stories. Virgil Samms starts the Galactic Patrol, is given the first lens, and battles the bad guys. Let us not quibble about stuff. This is a good adventure story.
Politically correct folks will carp at this and that. Other critics may try to point to out-dated 'science'. Ignore them. Just have fun reading a fast-paced adventure.
I recommend this book.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Embarassingly poor Narrator: Reed McColm
Review: The one star rating is for the narrator - although he actually deserves a negative number: Reed McColm not the Author E.E. Smith.
I wonder what McColm's background is. Some narrators, usually actors, can bring the story to life. McColm seems to think that emphasizing certain words makes them exciting. It's a bit like Marvel Comics where every sentence has an exclamation mark.
McColm has got two different voices: a normal one and a throaty one that is a bit like a poor imitation of Bill Clinton. The worst bits however are the aliens. He tries to give the first one a sort of ethereal, ghostly character. To make the next alien sound different he changes to a singsong voice. His voice, rising and falling, got so embarrassing that I had to stop listening.
I'm glad, I only bought this recording, as all the other lensmen books are also read by McColm. My advice, if you are interested in E.E. Smith's space opera read the books. Only the masochistically inclined should consider listening to McColm.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Super Reader
Review: Virgil Samms is one of the head honchos of the Triplanetary organisation. He is the man the Arisians have decided will become the first wearer of the Lens, being of the right ethical and genetic stuff.
Samms must overcome political problems on Earth, where Rod Kinnison is an honest politician, and husband the creation of the Galactic Patrol. The Lens is a dream come come true, a badge of office that it is impossible for criminals to duplicate.
The scope for this book is therefore still not as broad as what is yet to come, and is still setting the stage.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: When we were young and space was new
Review: When we were young and space was new
and unfettered by knowledge of dark matter
or scientific belief, tear drop shaped space ships made for a vacuum
that doesn't need streamlining
and death rays that defy all science became part of our active imaginations.
With new reincarnations of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon continuing
I read this 1980's 15th reprinting of the second in the Lensmen series.
I have an older yet 1970's version of Second Stage Lensman that says it is the 8th printing.
They both seem to have started their printing history in the early 1950's
after appearing in a monthly magazine as serials?
The writing style is by modern standards stilted,
the characterization is kind of patchy,
the descriptions are at times puzzling,
and the plot with it's battles between fleets of space ships seems very predictable.
I really doubt a modern editor would consider this book worthy of publication
with Star Wars setting a new higher standard for futuristic space operas.
The two elder races that represent idealized forces of good and evil in puppet masters
are mostly dull and unbelievable as Godlike aliens. Yet the book is still an entertaining read more than 50 years later.
There seems little doubt that generations in 100 years will also be reading
these serial novels that are so young in spirit. The closest modern series is J.K. Rowling's Henry Potter books.
There are many Sci Fi and fantasy serial novels in modern terms by writers
who are actually in technical terms better, but none seems to touch this raw vitality that E.E. "Doc" Smith innately had.
He created his own living and breathing future world deep in space
where astronomical distances and faster than light drives are less than believable; like "B" westerns where the 6 guns keep firing
and are never reloaded. In both cases it seems to be the continual action
and heroes winning against odds that endears them as entertainment and not as "high" literature.
Having read of late some high literature in Pulitzer Prize winners that were either very dull or very negative,
I have to say that there is no comparison: the space opera like the comic book
will be popular when literary some master pieces of today are totally forgotten.
If I were a movie maker I'd stop making remakes of H.G. Wells novels
and get screen plays made up for these novels!
Second Stage Lensman (#5 in the series)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Be warned--this series is dreck
Review: It is odd that the Amazon review form has a check-off box to attest that the reviewer is over the age of 13. It is difficult to imagine anyone over the age of 13 having much positive to say about the Lensman Series.
E.E. Smith, who according to John Clute was a food chemist specializing in donuts, wrote this series for the pulps in the 1930's. Its primary audience was clearly adolescent boys. I read it when I was about 17 or 18 and read it to conclusion, even though the writing was dreadful, because it had a propulsive, energetic plot that hooks anyone vulnerable to space opera. The basic device is good aliens versus evil aliens in a galaxy and eons spanning struggle in which humans are anointed to administer the coup de grace to forces of cosmic evil. We are, of course, the center of the universe. Every book in the series ratchets up the stage another order of magnitude. Had the notion of a multiverse been current in the 1930's, Smith would no doubt have written further volumes to involve the other universes as well.
The problem with the series is that aside from the addicting quality of space opera, every other aspect of Smith's writing is just god-awful. He simply has no skills at all in the craft of writing. The dialogue, characterizations, and style are so bad you have to read the books to believe it. Psychology, motivation, wit, nuance, ambiguity. What do those words mean ? I couldn't fairly compare the series to comic books because quite a few comic books these days have literary merit. Perhaps they would be comparable to comic books in the 1950's between the demise of E.C. and the rise of Marvel, but even these probably had better editing.
I am not inveighing against the pleasures of space opera. There's abundance of it out there for your enjoyment by competent authors like Iain Banks or Vernor Vinge, who won't make you wince while you read. Some, like Jack Vance, are master stylists.
I have many times encountered readers with strong prejudices against science fiction and fantasy and have tried to encourage them to read some of the finer writers in the field. It's my hope that readers who aren't sci-fi fans would never open the covers of the Lensman books. They would be permanently poisoned.