7 /10 1 Votes7
Originally published 1964 Genre Science Fiction | 3.5/5 Goodreads OCLC 1222334 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher Faber & Faber (UK)Harcourt, Brace and World (cloth) (US)Signet (mass market) Publication date 1964 (cloth)1965 (mass market paperback) Pages 237 (UK)245 (US)207 (US paperback) Similar Brian Aldiss books, Science Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greybeard is a science fiction novel by British author Brian Aldiss, published in 1964.
Contents
Plot summary
Set decades after the Earth's population has been sterilised as a result of nuclear bomb tests conducted in Earth's orbit, the book shows a world emptying of humans, with only an ageing, childless population left. The story is mainly told through the eyes of Algernon "Algy" Timberlane (the title giving Greybeard) and his wife, Martha.
Publishing history
Since its first publication by Faber & Faber and Harcourt, Brace and World in 1964, it has had numerous reprints and translations, including Romanian, Norwegian, Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, Slovenian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Spanish, German and French. It was included in the Gollancz science fiction reprint series, SF Masterworks.
Critical response
The book is included in Interzone editor David Pringle's Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels (1985).