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David Zindell's Neverness, A Requiem for Homo Sapiens and all things Science Fiction and Fantasy
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 Post subject: James White ~ Sector General
PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 5:00 pm 
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Lady Scryer
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Location: Michigan, USA
Since there are at least three people here who enjoy James White's Sector General books, I thought that I would start a thread for the series.

I managed to get my hands on an omnibus with the first three novels ~ Hospital Station, Star Surgeon, and Major Operation. I was delighted with all three.

It is really hard for me to believe that these books are so old. The first short story that became a part of Hospital Station was written in the 1950's. With the exception of two things (doctors are male - nurses are female; and an outdated notion of the physiology of dinosaurs), the books could easily be written today.

Sector General is a huge space station which serves its area of the galaxy. It has nearly 400 levels and 10,000 staff members of dozens of species. The patients come from all over and are in so many different forms it nearly makes you dizzy with wonder. The hospital has many different environments for the various sorts of patients - of various atmospheres, gravities, temperatures, etc.

I will certainly get more books in the series, provided I can find them.

Hospital Station (1962)
Star Surgeon (1963)
Major Operation (1971)
Ambulance Ship (1979)
Sector General (1983)
Star Healer (1985)
Code Blue - Emergency (1987)
The Genocidal Healer (1992)
The Galactic Gourmet (1996)
Final Diagnosis (1997)
Mind Changer (1998)
Double Contact (1999)

******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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 Post subject: Re: James White ~ Sector General
PostPosted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:15 am 
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The UnTitled
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Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
They are good. And I see from your list that there are more of them than I realised.

I have:

Hospital Station (1962)
Star Surgeon (1963)
Ambulance Ship (1979)
Sector General (1983)
Star Healer (1985)

I've made my only dissappointment with them clear, and I can't imagine that it changes, but they're such fun, easy books to read that I re-read them regularly. Do you know...I never noticed that the nurses were all female. :

I did notice a few antiquated notions about females though, being unable to be Diagnosticians because they couldn't carry the tapes.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: James White ~ Sector General
PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:26 am 
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Lady Scryer
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Location: Michigan, USA
They really are fun and quick reads.

I especially enjoy the doctor who is pretty much a giant spider - and an empath. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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 Post subject: Re: James White ~ Sector General
PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 5:12 am 
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The UnTitled
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Prccla (or something) the Cinrusskian? Yeah, funny, I never thing of her as a spider...(hey...she...is it a she? )...I think of her as more dragonfly like, despite the fact that he clearly mentions her affect on people with Arachnophbia or something.

I think my favourite people are O'Mara the shrink and Thornastor, the diagnostician.

What I like the most though are all the different environments...how you have to put on an environment suit just to get from level 25 to 24, because it runs through the water wards and stuff.

His aliens really are marvellously varied.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: James White ~ Sector General
PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:53 am 
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Lady Scryer
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Location: Michigan, USA
She is a she.

Perhaps I should clarify that Earth-human women are nurses and Earth-human men are doctors.

After all, each and every intelligent life form refers to its race as humans.

Yes, the medical staff have to use environmental suits and things like that to get from one level to another due to some water environmets and different atmospheric mixes in the gasses and different temperatures (there is one race that sounds like poisonous ice crytals) and different gravities.

The spider doctor (whose name I will not even try to spell) has to wear bouyancy devices and body armor, as she is so fragile, as she comes from a low gravity world. Earth gravity would crush her.



******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: James White ~ Sector General
PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:35 am 
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The UnTitled
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Haha, yeah. It sorta reminds me of Prostho Plus, but on a much grander scale. (Remember the Dental University?)

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: James White ~ Sector General
PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:04 am 
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Lady Scryer
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I also love Prostho Plus. I know people like to complain about Piers Anthony sometimes, but that book is well written and hilarious.

Yes, it has some of the light heartedness of Prostho Plus and its amazing sense of aliens, but it has some pretty serious moments as well, as when the hospital comes under attack by the fleet of a largely unknown star empire. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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 Post subject: Re: James White ~ Sector General
PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:14 am 
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The UnTitled
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Yeah, I don't usually like his stuff, but I have a truly ancient copy of Protho Plus that I reread every now and then.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>


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