Book 3: "The Dreaming Earth" by John Brunner
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 18:13![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kittiwake"Mister, we just want you to know, that's all. You robbed us blind! You took the kicks out of life - no Coke, no candy, no cars any more. An' we just want you to know - we don't care."
Written in the 1960s, this book is set in the 21st Century when overpopulation has lead to the collapse of national governments. The UN are now in charge and distribute the earth's increasingly scarce resources, ensuring that everyone has just about enough, but no-one has luxuries. This doesn’t go down well in formerly rich countries like the USA, whose teenagers resent the fact that they don't have the same things their parents did when they were young.
Greville is a narcotics officer with the UN, who is investigating a new drug called happy dreams, which doesn't follow the pattern of other illegal drugs. The price is strangely stable, being $5 for your first hit and $2 thereafter, so addicts don’t need to steal to fund their habit. After a year or so on the drug addicts lose interest in life, spending most of their time dozing, and rumour has it that eventually they just disappear, although the narcotics squad believes that they just lose contact with their family and friends.
Interesting, but slightly spoilt for me by the grumpy bad-tempered protagonist.
Written in the 1960s, this book is set in the 21st Century when overpopulation has lead to the collapse of national governments. The UN are now in charge and distribute the earth's increasingly scarce resources, ensuring that everyone has just about enough, but no-one has luxuries. This doesn’t go down well in formerly rich countries like the USA, whose teenagers resent the fact that they don't have the same things their parents did when they were young.
Greville is a narcotics officer with the UN, who is investigating a new drug called happy dreams, which doesn't follow the pattern of other illegal drugs. The price is strangely stable, being $5 for your first hit and $2 thereafter, so addicts don’t need to steal to fund their habit. After a year or so on the drug addicts lose interest in life, spending most of their time dozing, and rumour has it that eventually they just disappear, although the narcotics squad believes that they just lose contact with their family and friends.
Interesting, but slightly spoilt for me by the grumpy bad-tempered protagonist.
