The title of this book appealed to the Biologist in me and I read this with half a thought on the Voyage of the Beagle. The book tells the story of the spaceship Space Beagle on its journey to explore the galaxy but it was not really about finding new lifeforms but more about the idea of a new science labelled Nexialism by van Vogt.
Nexialism is the science of 'applied whole-ism', of knowing enough about each branch of Science so as to have an understanding sufficient to apply knowledge from them to any given problem. The detailed understanding needed to achieve this is carried out through advanced teaching tools and use of hypnosis and subliminal teaching.
The story relates around one man, Grosvenor, the only Nexialist on the ship and how he uses his skills to overcome not only external alien threats but also internal rivalry that is common amongst scientists.
Campaign notes
The underlying idea of this genre is the power of one individual to shape the events of the story. Beyond this, the book would be difficult to translate into a setting but was an interesting (although stilted and slow paced) read.
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