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I have just finished Brain Wave (1954) by Poul Anderson. I first read this as the first part of a serialised novel in the magazine,,Space Science Fiction at the age of 13! It was then titled "The Escape". However, I was never able to get the next issue--I didn't know it then, but the magazine had collapsed. A few years later, I got the ful novel and read it with delight.
Reading it now it doesn't seem quite as good though it still has some quite effective moments.Towards the end there is a tendency to social sermonizing (which as a teen-ager I probably found inspiring). Now those passages seem rather naive and boring. The main plot is well developed but the sub-plot with Archie Brock is much more engaging.
Overall, I am glad that the novel holds up as well as it does.
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