From back cover Orb Trade paperback May 2011:
Earth is in crisis. There simply isn't enough water and arable land to support the burgeoning population. As the threat of nuclear war looms, the United States looks to Mars for the precious resources that could save humanity. But somebody must actually journey to the Red Planet to effect a solution, and it would be far too difficult and costly to change Mars to suit man; therefore man must be changed to suit Mars.
Roger Torraway didn't plan to be Man Plus, the man who must undergo the surgeries and shaping necessary to enable someone to survive the hostile Martian environment. When he volunteered to serve as an understudy to astronaut Willy Hartnett, Roger never thought he'd actually be called upon. But when Willy dies in a freak accident, Roger becomes humanity's last hope.
With every new step toward becoming Man Plus, Roger becomes less and less the man he was to those around him, and more and more something new, something strange and alien. Nothing about him is spared, not even his mind, which must adapt to being... different... if he is to survive. All the while, he is constantly reminded that he must succeed in surviving on Mars -- there's no time to start over before war breaks out -- because the fate of humanity rests on his increasingly nonhuman shoulders.
Years after it won the Nebula Award, Man Plus is now, more than ever, a powerful, affecting novel about the worldwide environmental crisis that approaches, and the timeless questions of what makes us human.
From back cover Orb Trade paperback May 2011:
Earth is in crisis. There simply isn't enough water and arable land to support the burgeoning population. As the threat of nuclear war looms, the United States looks to Mars for the precious resources that could save humanity. But somebody must actually journey to the Red Planet to effect a solution, and it would be far too difficult and costly to change Mars to suit man; therefore man must be changed to suit Mars.
Roger Torraway didn't plan to be Man Plus, the man who must undergo the surgeries and shaping necessary to enable someone to survive the hostile Martian environment. When he volunteered to serve as an understudy to astronaut Willy Hartnett, Roger never thought he'd actually be called upon. But when Willy dies in a freak accident, Roger becomes humanity's last hope.
With every new step toward becoming Man Plus, Roger becomes less and less the man he was to those around him, and more and more something new, something strange and alien. Nothing about him is spared, not even his mind, which must adapt to being... different... if he is to survive. All the while, he is constantly reminded that he must succeed in surviving on Mars -- there's no time to start over before war breaks out -- because the fate of humanity rests on his increasingly nonhuman shoulders.
Years after it won the Nebula Award, Man Plus is now, more than ever, a powerful, affecting novel about the worldwide environmental crisis that approaches, and the timeless questions of what makes us human.
Add to your library to track progress and write reviews
Add to your library to track progress and write reviews
Find Man Plus Frederik Pohl in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find Man Plus Frederik Pohl in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
7 books in catalog
Spanning nearly three-quarters of a century as an editor, literary agent, fan advocate, and novelist, American speculative fiction contributed foundational satirical and social science fiction to the genre, most notably the award-winning Heechee Saga beginning with Gateway. Frederik Pohl stood among the central architects of twentieth-century science fiction, crafting trenchant critiques that examined commercialism, technology, and humanity's place in the cosmos.
From his foundational leadership in fan communities to his decades spent shaping major magazines and paperback lines, Pohl maintained an enduring presence in American science fiction from the late 1930s into the early 2010s. His legacy encompasses milestone novels such as The Space Merchants (co-authored with C. M. Kornbluth), Man Plus, and Jem, alongside influential editorial tenures that brought pioneering authors to public attention.
Frederik George Pohl Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 26, 1919. His father held a number of jobs, causing the family to move many times in his early childhood before settling in Brooklyn when he was about seven years old. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School, but dropped out and took a job to help support his family. As a teenager in the late 1930s, he founded the New York science fiction writers' group The Futurians. In 1936, he joined the Young Communist League and became President of the Brooklyn branch, leaving the organization in 1939 after the Stalin-Hitler pact. His first publication, the poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", appeared in Amazing Stories in 1937 under the pseudonym Elton V. Andrews when he was 18 years old. In 1939, at the age of 21, he became the editor of both Super Science Stories and Astonishing Stories, regularly publishing his own stories in both magazines.
Pohl married his first wife in 1940. In 1943, both of the magazines he was editing folded, and he began working as a literary agent. During World War II, he served with the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945. He divorced his first wife during this period and married his second wife in 1945. In 1948, he married his third wife, author and editor Judith Merril, whom he divorced in 1953, the same year he married his fourth wife, Carol Metcal Ulf. In the early 1950s, his literary agency business failed, prompting his return to editing as an assistant editor at Galaxy Science Fiction and later If magazine. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy and If; under his leadership, If won three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Professional Magazine in 1966, 1967, and 1968. In the 1970s, he acquired and edited novels for the "Frederik Pohl Selections" series at Bantam Books and contributed to major anthologies like Foundation's Friends.
Pohl emerged as an award-winning novelist in the late 1970s, winning Nebula Awards for fiction in 1976 for Man Plus and in 1977 for Gateway. His 1977 novel Gateway achieved remarkable acclaim, winning four major year's best novel honors: the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978, the Locus Award, the Nebula Award, and the juried John W. Campbell Memorial Award. For his 1979 novel Jem, Pohl won a U.S. National Book Award for Science Fiction while being named a finalist for three other best-novel awards. He married science fiction editor and academic Elizabeth Anne Hull, PhD, in 1984, maintaining his residence in Palatine, Illinois. In 1984, he won his second Campbell Memorial Award for his novella collection Years of the City. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him its 12th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master in 1993, and he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2010, he won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer for his blog, "The Way the Future Blogs". His active career spanned nearly 75 years, concluding with the 2011 novel All the Lives He Led and essays published in 2012.
Pohl's signature writing style combined sharp sociological satire with realistic economic extrapolation. Writing during eras that often praised unchecked technological progress, he examined the absurdities of consumer culture, corporate dominance, and government overreach. In collaborations like The Space Merchants, co-written with C. M. Kornbluth, he depicted dystopias ruled by advertising agencies where consumer behavior was methodically manipulated. His prose remained pragmatic, grounded, and focused on working-class struggles, reflecting his early years during the Great Depression and his acute observation of political systems.
In addition to economic satire, Pohl explored psychological vulnerability and the human response to technological trauma. In Man Plus, he detailed the horrific physical and emotional sacrifices required to cyborgize an astronaut for Martian survival. In Gateway and its sequel Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, he paired high-concept alien archaeology with deep psychological introspection, focusing on guilt, trauma, and survivor anxiety. Whether analyzing Cold War invasion fears in Not This August or planetary imperialism in Jem, Pohl examined how flawed human institutions react to overwhelming power and cosmic discovery.
7 books in catalog
Spanning nearly three-quarters of a century as an editor, literary agent, fan advocate, and novelist, American speculative fiction contributed foundational satirical and social science fiction to the genre, most notably the award-winning Heechee Saga beginning with Gateway. Frederik Pohl stood among the central architects of twentieth-century science fiction, crafting trenchant critiques that examined commercialism, technology, and humanity's place in the cosmos.
From his foundational leadership in fan communities to his decades spent shaping major magazines and paperback lines, Pohl maintained an enduring presence in American science fiction from the late 1930s into the early 2010s. His legacy encompasses milestone novels such as The Space Merchants (co-authored with C. M. Kornbluth), Man Plus, and Jem, alongside influential editorial tenures that brought pioneering authors to public attention.
Frederik George Pohl Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 26, 1919. His father held a number of jobs, causing the family to move many times in his early childhood before settling in Brooklyn when he was about seven years old. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School, but dropped out and took a job to help support his family. As a teenager in the late 1930s, he founded the New York science fiction writers' group The Futurians. In 1936, he joined the Young Communist League and became President of the Brooklyn branch, leaving the organization in 1939 after the Stalin-Hitler pact. His first publication, the poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", appeared in Amazing Stories in 1937 under the pseudonym Elton V. Andrews when he was 18 years old. In 1939, at the age of 21, he became the editor of both Super Science Stories and Astonishing Stories, regularly publishing his own stories in both magazines.
Pohl married his first wife in 1940. In 1943, both of the magazines he was editing folded, and he began working as a literary agent. During World War II, he served with the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945. He divorced his first wife during this period and married his second wife in 1945. In 1948, he married his third wife, author and editor Judith Merril, whom he divorced in 1953, the same year he married his fourth wife, Carol Metcal Ulf. In the early 1950s, his literary agency business failed, prompting his return to editing as an assistant editor at Galaxy Science Fiction and later If magazine. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy and If; under his leadership, If won three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Professional Magazine in 1966, 1967, and 1968. In the 1970s, he acquired and edited novels for the "Frederik Pohl Selections" series at Bantam Books and contributed to major anthologies like Foundation's Friends.
Pohl emerged as an award-winning novelist in the late 1970s, winning Nebula Awards for fiction in 1976 for Man Plus and in 1977 for Gateway. His 1977 novel Gateway achieved remarkable acclaim, winning four major year's best novel honors: the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978, the Locus Award, the Nebula Award, and the juried John W. Campbell Memorial Award. For his 1979 novel Jem, Pohl won a U.S. National Book Award for Science Fiction while being named a finalist for three other best-novel awards. He married science fiction editor and academic Elizabeth Anne Hull, PhD, in 1984, maintaining his residence in Palatine, Illinois. In 1984, he won his second Campbell Memorial Award for his novella collection Years of the City. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him its 12th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master in 1993, and he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2010, he won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer for his blog, "The Way the Future Blogs". His active career spanned nearly 75 years, concluding with the 2011 novel All the Lives He Led and essays published in 2012.
Pohl's signature writing style combined sharp sociological satire with realistic economic extrapolation. Writing during eras that often praised unchecked technological progress, he examined the absurdities of consumer culture, corporate dominance, and government overreach. In collaborations like The Space Merchants, co-written with C. M. Kornbluth, he depicted dystopias ruled by advertising agencies where consumer behavior was methodically manipulated. His prose remained pragmatic, grounded, and focused on working-class struggles, reflecting his early years during the Great Depression and his acute observation of political systems.
In addition to economic satire, Pohl explored psychological vulnerability and the human response to technological trauma. In Man Plus, he detailed the horrific physical and emotional sacrifices required to cyborgize an astronaut for Martian survival. In Gateway and its sequel Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, he paired high-concept alien archaeology with deep psychological introspection, focusing on guilt, trauma, and survivor anxiety. Whether analyzing Cold War invasion fears in Not This August or planetary imperialism in Jem, Pohl examined how flawed human institutions react to overwhelming power and cosmic discovery.
Man Plus
Man Plus
