THE MAN WHO LIVED IN INNER SPACE

by Arnold Federbush ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 8, 1973

Don't let the superficial premise of a man who invents a mini-submarine so he can join his pet seal in the great blue deep mislead you into thinking this is a Disney preview for some adolescent spectacular. In fact it is a too-deadly-serious parable of a man (crippled by an explosion in his chemical pollutant-producing factory) who tries to return to his saline beginnings (there is a fascinating if unconvincing explanation of how he eventually learns to breathe enormously condensed oxygen from the water at intense depths) only to he undone by man's technological expertise after he vainly blows up a few pernicious offshore oil wells. Though the book is somewhat plainly written, one cannot help being entranced by the bizarrely beautiful life-forms of our unknown underwater universe, plus lots of seemingly sound info on outwitting sharks and steering beneath the brine (fins that catch the underwater currents), beyond which is the sorrow of what man is doing to his not-so-limitless 7/8 of the earth. A strange and often fascinating book.

Pub Date: Feb. 8, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1973

Categories: FICTION