susanvoss18

Brain Wave was my first Poul Anderson book, and it was quite good. Poul Anderson did a masterful job of capturing the issues that could arise if everyone, humans and animals, all had a sudden increase in intelligence. How would governments and societies reform themselves? How would we learn to cohabitate with other intelligent species, like cows, horses, and pigs? How would we convince people to take care of menial, laborious tasks, such as garbage collection? How soon would we populate the stars? And the book ends with a sweet and hopeful scene.

Tom Weiner was our audio artist for this novel, and he raised the bar for single-person audiobook performances. His range of voices was impressive, capturing nuances of the moment. There was a plethora of accents called for in this novel, since it involved the whole planet. In addition, a few animal voices were required. I look forward to more of his performances.