Learning From Lithia

By Andersonian criteria, James Blish's A Case Of Conscience gives us far too little - almost nothing - by way of physical description of the planet Lithia. What it does give us is a four-sided argument between the commissioners about whether to open up or close off Lithia. This is worth reading in itself and as an interesting comparison and contrast to Anderson's works. I realise that I did not appreciate Case fully when I first read it in the 1960s. Because of my upbringing, I focused far too closely on Ruiz-Sanchez's theological arguments about the Lithians. Of the four commissioners, I now identify most closely with Michaelis who thinks that human beings can learn from the Lithians' social equilibrium. The least sympathetic, of course, is Cleaver who wants to use Lithia and indeed the Lithians to manufacture fusion bombs for the UN. Yet the slamming door symbolism at the beginning and end of BOOK ONE suggests that Cleaver's viewpoint will win.

I have not finished rereading BOOK ONE but it is getting late here. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? I did not know that today would bring Sudanese food and Simon Peter the Jehovah's Witness.

Onward and upward.