Walttriznastories's Blog

THE GREEN BRAIN by FRANK HERBERT

March 9, 2014 at 6:31 pm Leave a comment

The Green Brain another science fiction novel by one of the giants of the genre.

This novel deals with a subject overly used today, many times in the guise of making a profit.  Right or wrong, that is my opinion.  The subject Herbert deals with long before it was in vogue is the environment.

My paperback copy was published in 1966, with part of the story appearing in 1965 in Amazing Stories as a novelette, Greenslaves.

The story begins with the world wanting to protect the production of food from destruction by insects.  Countries begin to eliminate all insects in farm areas and then populate the land with genetically altered bees.  China is at the forefront of this effort and one of its scientists, Chen Lhu, travels to Brazil to assist in insect elimination.  What he doesn’t reveal until far into the story is that the process does not work.  This revelation only comes to light after he and other scientists are trapped in the jungle by strange insect populations.  These insects, along with other bizarre occurrences are put into play by the green brain.  This intelligence has the ability to manipulate insects and much more.

Herbert’s novel predates real world efforts to manipulate the environment with nonnative plant and animal species in order to control some condition in the habitat that man finds troublesome.  More times than not the cure is worse than the problem.

One interesting sideline not pursued to a great extent but mentioned is the existence of a group of environmentalists called Carsonites.

Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962.

Entry filed under: OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS, READER'S OPPORTUNITIES, Walt Trizna, WALT'S OPINIONS. Tags: Chen Lhu, classic science fiction, environment, Frank Herbert, insects, novel deals, Rachael Carson, science fiction, science fiction novel, Silent Spring, The Green Brain.