Review of Operation: Outer Space by Murray Leinster

SFFaudio Review

LIBRIVOX - Operation: Outer Space by Murray LeinsterOperation: Outer Space
By Murray Leinster; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 6 Hours 48 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 25, 2011
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Jed Cochrane is about to take off on man’s first interstellar voyage. His mission: Make sure it’s good television!

Prompted by my enjoyment of the Murray Leinster Collection, I went searching for another likely Leinster book to try. I vaguely recalled Mark Douglas Nelson running Operation: Outer Space at SciPodCast before it went to live at LibriVox.

“A fast-paced, sardonic job that is primarily a satire on the future of mass communications… a jolly tale indeed.” – Groff Conklin

I agree with P. Schuyler Miller who said, “It’s no classic, but it’s good reading.”

As someone who works in advertising I found much to enjoy in Murray Leinster’s tale of an unlikely space expedition financed by television show sponsors. I also appreciated the fact that Jed Cochrane has a loftier ambition fueled by his own unhappiness at the overcrowding on Earth and lack of hope among the population. He is pursuing a solution the only way that he has been trained to do, through business opportunity. In this way the book is also a left-handed compliment to capitalism, albeit tongue-in-cheek.

Mark Douglas Nelson’s narration, as always, is spot on. I always enjoy his reading and he lets the story shine through.

Posted by Julie D.

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