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The Outward Urge

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The Outward Urge

By: John Wyndham
Narrated by: Felipe Pacheco, Theo Solomon, Dorje Swallow
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About this listen

The 'outward urge' was a factor in the Troon inheritance. Successive generations of Troons, looking up at the stars, heard the siren voices that called them out into Space. And, as the frontiers of Space receded, there was usually one Troon, if not more, out there, helping to push them back.

The four exciting episodes related here deal with the parts they played in the building of the Space Station, the occupation of the Moon, the first landing on Mars and the trouble about Venus.

John Wyndham, author of The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes, stays strictly on the tram-lines of future possibility in this book, which he has written in collaboration with Lucas Parkes as technical adviser. In an age in which what goes up need not necessarily come down, the likely adventures of the conquistadors of Space are every bit as exciting as any world menaced by triffids.

©1959 John Wyndham (P)2022 Audible, Ltd Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Space Exploration Fiction Interstellar Solar System
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Basically, enjoyable but nothing like his more famous novels. I enjoyed each short story, but they reminded me of retro comic #scifi stories. I think I may have been expecting too much. 😃👍

Very Different from other Wyndham stories.

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In this elegant story there are more questions than answers. They challenge the reader to think, to explore and to step into the adventure of life. The Outward Urge is a great book and a great challenge to lift ourselves to more.

More questions than answers.

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This is a classic, as in the technology is laughably out of date. Also some of the olden day attitudes can be a bit eyebrow raising. Yet, it is worthy of a read. The concept of expansion off planet is a rich place to mine decent stories.

A compendium of linked stories.

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As usual interesting story love John Wyndham but the narrators style or reading especially the one trying to do an odd Australian accent was annoying and life less like a computer program voice disjointed. It spoils an otherwise great book

Interesting love John Wyndham but

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I listened to two of the five linked stories and might come back to the rest at some point, but with so much else to read this is doubtful.

The Cold War, pre-moon landing speculation here is palpable and inspired. I can't imagine just how mind blowing this would have been at the time of publishing. But reading it today, despite the clear quality of the writing and ideas, it's difficult to get over just how dense, drawn out, and dry the writing is.

I generally like to dive into books without reviews, which now I have checked out, and, like so many Audible Included titles from famous authors, it appears that this is a long way from the best and most typical work of this author. This makes it a much better read for a fan or completionist, rather than as an introduction, so I'll be sure to read more of their classics before I return.

Decent performance, if a rather bizarre use of America accent that sounds a bit like Suzy Izzard (stand up comedian)doing an impression of Michael Shannon or Broden Kelly (Aunty Donna) as one of the many Craig Mazins.

Wonderfully Speculative, But Exceedingly Dry

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