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The Canopy Of Time
UK edition. Eleven early (and excellent) science fiction stories from the 1950's, orig published in 1959.
191 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
179 people want to read
About the author
Brian W. Aldiss
834 books676 followersPseudonyms: Jael Cracken, Peter Pica, John Runciman, C.C. Shackleton, Arch Mendicant, & "Doc" Peristyle.
Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.
Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads
Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.
Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 16, 2011
This collection of poetic/satirical short stories has some gems. My favourite, which also appears in several other collections, is But Who Can Replace A Man?
It's a future world inhabited almost entirely by robots, who are categorised from Level 10 to Level 1 depending on how smart they are. One day, a thrilling rumour emerges: there are no more men! The last one has just died.
The robots realise they now free, and uncertainly start to organise their own society. The action focusses on one little group, who are amusingly characterised; the remorselessly logical bantering between them is what makes the story so memorable. I particularly liked the quarry robot, whose recurrent line, offered in response to almost any remark, is "I have a good supply of fissionable blasting materials". Somehow, it just gets funnier each time he says it.
The smarter robots in the group - the Twos and Threes - decide the main danger facing them is that men may not be extinct after all. Some of them think a few men may survive in the Badlands to the South. So they set off to finish the job. Evidently, unarmed humans won't have a chance against them, particularly with all those fissionable blasting materials.
After several days of searching, they do finally locate a man. He's thin, weak and in poor shape. They close in for the kill.
The man looks up at them. "Get me food!" he croaks.
"Yes, Master," they reply.
It's a future world inhabited almost entirely by robots, who are categorised from Level 10 to Level 1 depending on how smart they are. One day, a thrilling rumour emerges: there are no more men! The last one has just died.
The robots realise they now free, and uncertainly start to organise their own society. The action focusses on one little group, who are amusingly characterised; the remorselessly logical bantering between them is what makes the story so memorable. I particularly liked the quarry robot, whose recurrent line, offered in response to almost any remark, is "I have a good supply of fissionable blasting materials". Somehow, it just gets funnier each time he says it.
The smarter robots in the group - the Twos and Threes - decide the main danger facing them is that men may not be extinct after all. Some of them think a few men may survive in the Badlands to the South. So they set off to finish the job. Evidently, unarmed humans won't have a chance against them, particularly with all those fissionable blasting materials.
After several days of searching, they do finally locate a man. He's thin, weak and in poor shape. They close in for the kill.
The man looks up at them. "Get me food!" he croaks.
"Yes, Master," they reply.
July 25, 2012
I don't tend to read much of Aldiss' work these days although I've read quite a bit in the past. He has some great classics to his name but I've also encountered some of his more mediocre pieces so I had cooled a bit towards him. I've had this quite early collection sitting on my to-read shelf for some time and it was my involvement in a reading group that caused me to get around to it. I'm glad I did.
This is a collection of originally unrelated stories that have been retrospectively arranged (and slightly re-worked by the author himself) to form a kind of future history of earth, spanning the eons until the end of the galaxy. Even though the stories themselves are quite varied, it's a framing device that works very well and gave the collection a cohesion that many lack.
And there were some real gems in here too. "Three's a Cloud" was a touching tale of three strangers who stumble upon each other but find themselves inexplicably transformed into some kind of completed unit, a gestalt.
"Who Can Replace a Man?" was a superb story about a time when human kind appears to have finally become extinct, freeing all the service robots from lives of endless toil to attempt to form some kind of new society for themselves. There's definitely a few allegorical messages to be found here as they do very badly at organising themselves, especially when they find out that humans are not quite as extinct as they thought they were...
"Incentive" completely blew me away in how ahead of its time it seemed to be as it took a left turn and slipped into Ligottian horror as human kind is forced to come to terms with a new way of viewing its place in the cosmos.
The following story "Gene Hive" goes in the opposite direction, moving from a horror story to become SF after all as it explores a possibility for Man's next evolutionary leap. This theme is explored again in a different way in the final story of the collection "Visiting Amoeba".
Not all of the stories were top quality but all in all a very strong collection. Highly recommended if you can find it.
This is a collection of originally unrelated stories that have been retrospectively arranged (and slightly re-worked by the author himself) to form a kind of future history of earth, spanning the eons until the end of the galaxy. Even though the stories themselves are quite varied, it's a framing device that works very well and gave the collection a cohesion that many lack.
And there were some real gems in here too. "Three's a Cloud" was a touching tale of three strangers who stumble upon each other but find themselves inexplicably transformed into some kind of completed unit, a gestalt.
"Who Can Replace a Man?" was a superb story about a time when human kind appears to have finally become extinct, freeing all the service robots from lives of endless toil to attempt to form some kind of new society for themselves. There's definitely a few allegorical messages to be found here as they do very badly at organising themselves, especially when they find out that humans are not quite as extinct as they thought they were...
"Incentive" completely blew me away in how ahead of its time it seemed to be as it took a left turn and slipped into Ligottian horror as human kind is forced to come to terms with a new way of viewing its place in the cosmos.
The following story "Gene Hive" goes in the opposite direction, moving from a horror story to become SF after all as it explores a possibility for Man's next evolutionary leap. This theme is explored again in a different way in the final story of the collection "Visiting Amoeba".
Not all of the stories were top quality but all in all a very strong collection. Highly recommended if you can find it.
May 23, 2024
Much as I like them, there's more than a whiff of horn-rimmed glasses and white lab coat about Asimov and Clarke. Not so much with Aldiss.
This is the second collection of short stories I've read by him, and though they're held together by a 'mankind through time' narrative, and some themes recur, they're each effective stand-alone stories.
There's variety, satire, wry humour and plenty science for the purists and whether he was a fan of Aldiss or not, I can see a little of Iain M Banks in here too, and at it's most bizarre, a dash of Moorcock as well.
This is the second collection of short stories I've read by him, and though they're held together by a 'mankind through time' narrative, and some themes recur, they're each effective stand-alone stories.
There's variety, satire, wry humour and plenty science for the purists and whether he was a fan of Aldiss or not, I can see a little of Iain M Banks in here too, and at it's most bizarre, a dash of Moorcock as well.
November 27, 2017
I had read the Helliconia trilogy many years ago and liked it in general but felt it was a little too long and moved a little too slow. I decided to try this short story collection. Didn't like it very much although I was surprised at depth of ideas it contained for being written in 1959. But the writing style left me a little cold and while the stories spanned millions of years into the future the people, in general, hadn't changed very much until they sort of melted away to be replaced by a new species in the last story.
January 28, 2024
An interesting collection of science fiction short stories given its publication date. The main issue with The Canopy of Time falls with the range of quality in the stories. Some were clearly inspirations of future classic sci-fi and have some excellent lines, while others are poorly concieved. The main conceit of 'concious cells' and theme of evolution mixed with thoughtlessly names places and names to sound futuristic is sometimes jarring.
Rankings:
1. Who Can Replace Man? - Easily the best, funny robots but dark undertone
2. They Shall Inherit - From debate about forced evolution to a really creepy ending that stays with you
3. Gene Hive - Seems like inspiration for The Thing
4. O Ishrail! - Best connective story but bit odd
5. Judas Danced - Odd Protagonist, cool concept
6. Visiting Amoeba - interesting idea, strange execution
7. Secrets of a Mighty City - Bit boring, man shows film reels to room of people
8. Blighted Profile - Ends better than it starts but pretty forgettable
9. All the Worlds Tears - Starts off as a bit of a Blade Runner meets Orwell but bad ending that doesnt stick it ending
10. Three's a Cloud - Strange start to the book and written in a way thats less clever and more annoying than anything else
Rankings:
1. Who Can Replace Man? - Easily the best, funny robots but dark undertone
2. They Shall Inherit - From debate about forced evolution to a really creepy ending that stays with you
3. Gene Hive - Seems like inspiration for The Thing
4. O Ishrail! - Best connective story but bit odd
5. Judas Danced - Odd Protagonist, cool concept
6. Visiting Amoeba - interesting idea, strange execution
7. Secrets of a Mighty City - Bit boring, man shows film reels to room of people
8. Blighted Profile - Ends better than it starts but pretty forgettable
9. All the Worlds Tears - Starts off as a bit of a Blade Runner meets Orwell but bad ending that doesnt stick it ending
10. Three's a Cloud - Strange start to the book and written in a way thats less clever and more annoying than anything else
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2023
I spent most of my time reading this being enthralled within the musty, tatty pages of my 1972 vintage New English Library, Pennington-painted cover edition.
These eleven exceptional, impactful, at times poignantly ending, semi-linked stories dealing with the passage of time, technology and existential teleology on a post-apocalyptic, futuristic dying Earth — chronologically interspersed by centuries and millenia across 40 million years, leading up to the end of the galaxy — kept me engrossed. The eschatological atmosphere and speculatively stretched imagination of Aldiss' awesome writing evoked traditional, pulp SF dystopian/dying-earth depictions, plots, and characterisations (not to mention the names!), which, for some reason, hit the right spot in my current nostalgic/nihilistic, mid-life funk.
4 stars were given only because of one, first person narrative story (Judas Danced) which was particularly trippy and slightly disappointing; and a space battle scene in the concluding, second person narrative story, whose blurred details and descriptions I boringly scanned through to get to the intriguing, apocalyptic finale at last.
These eleven exceptional, impactful, at times poignantly ending, semi-linked stories dealing with the passage of time, technology and existential teleology on a post-apocalyptic, futuristic dying Earth — chronologically interspersed by centuries and millenia across 40 million years, leading up to the end of the galaxy — kept me engrossed. The eschatological atmosphere and speculatively stretched imagination of Aldiss' awesome writing evoked traditional, pulp SF dystopian/dying-earth depictions, plots, and characterisations (not to mention the names!), which, for some reason, hit the right spot in my current nostalgic/nihilistic, mid-life funk.
4 stars were given only because of one, first person narrative story (Judas Danced) which was particularly trippy and slightly disappointing; and a space battle scene in the concluding, second person narrative story, whose blurred details and descriptions I boringly scanned through to get to the intriguing, apocalyptic finale at last.
December 6, 2018
The book is a collection of short stories previously written (in magazines, I think). Aldiss says he arranged these stories, making minor changes to make connections more explicit, and bundled them in this aptly titled volume.
Overall the result is quite convincing and enjoyable. I am torn on the reading experience, though.
The book story spans over eons, and the different tones, points of views, topics make for a real cosmic adventure. On the other hand, the same different tones make reading at times difficult (where am I? what was that?). I am torn right here, as it was sometimes very enjoyable to search for the thinking, correlations, incongruities; it was also at times leaking different quality levels in the writing.
I did hesitate between 3 and 4 stars. And here is the spoiler: The story exposes the loss of quite a few stars. And so causes this review, just as an allegory.
Overall the result is quite convincing and enjoyable. I am torn on the reading experience, though.
The book story spans over eons, and the different tones, points of views, topics make for a real cosmic adventure. On the other hand, the same different tones make reading at times difficult (where am I? what was that?). I am torn right here, as it was sometimes very enjoyable to search for the thinking, correlations, incongruities; it was also at times leaking different quality levels in the writing.
I did hesitate between 3 and 4 stars. And here is the spoiler: The story exposes the loss of quite a few stars. And so causes this review, just as an allegory.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2019
A collection of previously separate short stories written by Brian Aldiss in the 1950s, assembled into what's intended as a single narrative going into the distant future. It doesn't quite work, as most of the connections between the stories only amount to name-dropping, but it isn't really a problem and does add some verisimilitude here and there. (It only completely fails with the very first story, "Three's a Cloud", which also barely qualifies as SF.)
The stories themselves are a mixed bag. Some had interesting (if generally no longer scientifically plausible) ideas, but others were just odd, or felt more like art pieces interested in clever imagery over story. Still, a handful were standouts in my view:
- "Who Can Replace a Man?", about farm robots after the disappearance of humanity
- "Gene-Hive", where an attempt to heal a radiation sickness patient on the cellular level goes horribly wrong
- "Secret of a Mighty City," which shows that even in the future, movie studios are terrible
- "They Shall Inherit", which grapples with human genetic modification
- "Visiting Amoeba", where an extragalactic visitor rallies some of the last warlike humans into invading a galactic federation that long ago renounced war
Overall, a collection worth reading, but likely not to everyone's tastes. (B)
The stories themselves are a mixed bag. Some had interesting (if generally no longer scientifically plausible) ideas, but others were just odd, or felt more like art pieces interested in clever imagery over story. Still, a handful were standouts in my view:
- "Who Can Replace a Man?", about farm robots after the disappearance of humanity
- "Gene-Hive", where an attempt to heal a radiation sickness patient on the cellular level goes horribly wrong
- "Secret of a Mighty City," which shows that even in the future, movie studios are terrible
- "They Shall Inherit", which grapples with human genetic modification
- "Visiting Amoeba", where an extragalactic visitor rallies some of the last warlike humans into invading a galactic federation that long ago renounced war
Overall, a collection worth reading, but likely not to everyone's tastes. (B)
February 25, 2021
10 short stories and one short novel with a theme of civilization theory and time axes from near future to the eternal future. Not related directly each other, but similar aspect such as "the way where the future and the human being who are not welcomed too much should advance". The psychological description of the character or the explanation of the background of the story are not clear and mostly are one to one discussion between one opposing one another and feel theatrical. Even if this was written in the '50s, there is a sophisticated feeling of poetic quietness in the whole so I don't feel this is outdated.
February 23, 2023
No sé cómo determinar o calificar este libro, a mi juicio, alguna historia es buena ,pero la mayoria son insufribles y sin sentido, por mucha ciencia ficción que sea. La mejor historia es la que se titula ¿Quién puede reemplazar al hombre ?. Es original, chistosa y curiosa. Me compré está colección pensando que era interesante, pero o tengo mala suerte para elegir y seleccione un libro malo por casualidad o todos son así... no sé qué pensar
November 18, 2020
Essentially the same book as Galaxies Like Grains of Sand, however, featuring three distinct stories which slightly diminish the whole. Still, it's a great collection.
December 21, 2024
There were certainly some good ideas in these short stories but I found the prose to be too much of its time and that the often ponderous, round-the-houses way of telling made it difficult to sustain my interest. It always feels odd reading future-SF in old language and no doubt I'm fifty years too late for this book. A struggle with little enjoyment, unfortunately.
December 21, 2020
Se supone que todos los relatos tienen cierta relación y llevan a uno hasta la conclusión (en La visita de la ameba, que fue el que más me gustó con el asunto del universo nuevo y el desgaste de este), pero fue esa idea global la que no me convenció del todo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2024
Intelligent sci-fi that imagines a distant future. First and last stories my favourites: one about a man who 'wakes up'; the other about the end of humanity. The story about robots trying to take over is refreshingly funny. Some stories are a bit opaque for me.
July 18, 2025
Great stories by a great writer. I especially loved Who Can Replace A Man? A brilliantly comical tale
about robots that find themselves obsolete when humanity has pretty much died out and they have
no one left to serve. All his short stories are well worth reading.
about robots that find themselves obsolete when humanity has pretty much died out and they have
no one left to serve. All his short stories are well worth reading.
February 2, 2026
Not what I usually read! Some parts were a bit tricky but I really enjoyed the different fragments of future history from each chapter. The highlight for me was ‘Who Can Replace a Man?’ Which I think holds up especially well at this time where AI is rapidly becoming household.
March 7, 2023
Es asombrosa la imaginación de algunas personas. Me encanta la ciencia ficción.
December 25, 2013
Cuentos cortos con una ilación que se va haciendo más consistente hacia el final, pero nunca termina de cerrar del todo. El libro tiene sus años y no ha envejecido bien. Hay licencias poéticas tan grandes con la ciencia que a veces parece un libro de los años 1920. En otros casos evidentemente a Aldiss no le interesó mantener la verosimilitud científica. Lo mismo pasa en Invernáculo, pero con muchos mejores resultados.
Lo peor de todo es la audacia de plantear un marco temporal que va desde el presente del autor hasta el fin de la Galaxia dentro de eones, y luego mostrar cambios apenas menores en la sociedad y la biología humanas. Cuando uno lee sobre esta característica del libro, se imagina que se encontrará con algo similar a Last and First Men de Stapledon, pero no. Aldiss sólo imagina guerras con armas cada vez más grandes, tímidos intentos de ingeniería genética dentro de millones de años, poderes mentales abandonados a poco de descubiertos y un Imperio Galáctico bastante aburrido.
El libro podría ser peor. Está bien escrito y sus cuentos, aisladamente o en ciertos grupos de dos o tres, cuentan historias interesantes, aunque a veces algo convencionales. No es un libro para dejarlo de lado; tampoco para recomendarlo como primera lectura de Aldiss a alguien que no lo conoce.
Lo peor de todo es la audacia de plantear un marco temporal que va desde el presente del autor hasta el fin de la Galaxia dentro de eones, y luego mostrar cambios apenas menores en la sociedad y la biología humanas. Cuando uno lee sobre esta característica del libro, se imagina que se encontrará con algo similar a Last and First Men de Stapledon, pero no. Aldiss sólo imagina guerras con armas cada vez más grandes, tímidos intentos de ingeniería genética dentro de millones de años, poderes mentales abandonados a poco de descubiertos y un Imperio Galáctico bastante aburrido.
El libro podría ser peor. Está bien escrito y sus cuentos, aisladamente o en ciertos grupos de dos o tres, cuentan historias interesantes, aunque a veces algo convencionales. No es un libro para dejarlo de lado; tampoco para recomendarlo como primera lectura de Aldiss a alguien que no lo conoce.
December 8, 2015
I found this book in a second-hand bookshop. Published in 1959, it is a series of short stories all connected with a paragraph at the beginning of each one. It is a fascinating book taking in the life of humans for "10 million times 10 million years". (That's a figure I can't even get my head around!) The only thing that I felt was a discrepancy which shows the book's age, was the idea that Earth is near the centre of the galaxy. I'm not sure when we found out it is out on the edge, but that was the only jarring note. A good read.
November 28, 2015
Brian Aldiss wrote 'But Who Can Replace a Man', which is one of my favourite short stories ever. I found it included in this collection of some of Aldiss' other work, and so couldn't resist reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although none of the other stories managed to displace my original favourite.
July 25, 2016
This book would have been amazing... if it was written by someone else.
There is scope of vision, and interesting scenarios, and the universe is somewhat fascinating, and gorgeous scenes at times, but the actual writing and stories leave me utterly cold.
There is scope of vision, and interesting scenarios, and the universe is somewhat fascinating, and gorgeous scenes at times, but the actual writing and stories leave me utterly cold.
June 19, 2015
No es un mal libro, pero tampoco es especialmente bueno. O quizás se me haya pasado la edad para este tipo de ciencia ficción. Creo que con las ideas de este libro se podría haber hecho una obra mejor.
March 20, 2010
I kinda liked some of the stories,was bored with others. On the whole it was ok with some forward thinking ideas from a book written in the late 50s!
Read
August 25, 2010(PB)
May 13, 2012
Short story collection - some better than others
October 21, 2015
Future history taking things from the near future to eons from now in separate stories.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews