A Time of Changes

First edition, 183 pages

English language

Published June 1971 by Nelson Doubleday.

OCLC Number:
150304
ISFDB ID:
1004

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2 stars (1 review)

In the far future, Earth is a worn-out backwater and humanity is spread across the galaxy on worlds that began as colonies, but now feel like home, each with its own long history of a thousand years or more, and each with its own unique culture. One of the strangest is on Borthan, where the founding settlers established the Covenant, which teaches that the self is to be despised, and forbids anyone to reveal his innermost thoughts or feelings to another. On Borthan, the filthiest obscenities imaginable are the words “I” and “me.” For the heinous crime of “self-baring,” apostates have always paid with exile or death, but after his eyes are opened by a visitor from Earth, Kinnall Darival, prince of Salla, risks everything to teach his people the real meaning of being human.

12 editions

reviewed A time of changes by Robert Silverberg (Panther science fiction)

Review of 'A time of changes' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

For me, the repetitive objectification of women was infuriating with little payoff. Perhaps it is true that his inability to evaluate women by any measure other than their attractiveness is symptomatic of the general lack of self-expression and open communication in the society, but this doesn't change at all after he experiences the souls of women through psychedelic use (even as his understanding of others in general grows.) The second half of the book was more interesting than the first as he starts to explore psychedelics, but there are probably better books out there if a fictional representation of 60s/70s drug culture is what you're looking for.

Full review: specual.me/posts/timeofchanges/