First Contract

by Greg Costikyan

Book Overview

Johnson Mukerjii is a happy man; hes the CEO of a successful high-tech company about to unveil a newer and better technology. His beautiful wife greets him poolside every night with a drink and a sexy smile. Hes got it made. The alien landing changes everything. Suddenly, the company is worthless, and the lovely wife has become the lovely ex-wife, taking every single penny of liquid assets with her. His only hope to reclaim his life is to rebuild...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312873964
• ISBN13: 9780312873967
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Entrepreneurs LOVE this book

As a member of the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization (affiliated with YPO), I come into contact with people like the main character of this book all the time. It's a true and valid beating of the whole dot-com concept, and proves that businesses that actually sell something do much better. Truly excellent.My only problem with it was what seemed like a mild latent antisemetism for about 10 pages. But maybe I'm reading into it too much.Regardless, I've given it to all my business-owner friends and they've passed it around to theirs...

an economic fantasy

What happens when an advanced culture finds and "primitive" one and suddenly realises they can make a fortune from them through trade?We've seen it many times in the past like when beads were traded to Indians for land rights etc. In this case it happens to the whole world when Aliens come to earth. They land on the white house lawn, according to script - then say "hi" to the US president and "where's the leader of the world?" and it's not the US president we are talking about, rather it's the UN. That is NOT in most save the world scripts.This follows the story of Johnson Mukerjii's descent into poverty and his bounce back through the risk all or die approch to capitalism. Apparently a universal law. This book is funny and in many ways orginal. It shows the excesses of current economic theory and highlights how slim is the gap sometimes between the haves and have-nots.A book that makes you laugh and think at the same time. Quite an achievment.

Behold the universal language: CAPITALISM!

This is by far the least far-fetched SF novel I've read in a long time. It's got great ideas, great characters, excellent writing and even some action thrown in. When Aliens arrive, this is what we can look forward to. Wonderful products, extraterrestrial tourists, and a Dollar that ain't worth bupkis. Read it; you'll learn something and open your mind along the way.

Funniest Sci Fi I've read in ages!

I definitely recommend it. Basically the idea isn't that the aliens come here to bring peace, knowledge and prosperity, (in spite of their marketing spiel) rather they put earth in its proper place in the galaxy - an incredibly backward planet, ready to be exploited. Compared to the galaxy, we are a third world ... um, world. How do you make a place for yourself in the galaxy in a situation like this? The analogy the author uses is that Earth must become a "Taiwan", using our incredibly cheap labour as our only viable asset. Well that, plus a bit of ingenuity.Needless to say this isn't 'hard' science fiction. There are plenty of gaping holes in logic, not to mention physics. And there was a time or two when our hero's characterization was a bit off, though those could be explained as the difference between him being the narrator, and what he's really like. Finally, the second last sentence of the book is a bit sobering if you understand what he's getting at, but it leaves the book open to a good sequel. I hope he writes it!

i love it!

i am not a great fan of the sci-fi/fanatsy genre but i agreed to give this book a fair try when a friend gave me a copy. and withing moments of finishing it i was online looking for more books by the author. apart from being a great story, it is also a hilarious sendup of all sci-fi cliches about utopian alien civilizations who have transcended all selfish ambitions. these aliens do not say live long and prosper. rather, earth is just another market for them to download their goods and all they want in exchange is Jupiter. so most tech-industries on earth are facing bankruptcy since nothing they produce can possibly match the alien gizmos but the genius of johnson mukherji comes with an earth-saving solution. why not turn earth into the taiwan of the galalxy? make tacky stuff incredibly cheap and peddle it at the inflated galactic rate to the visitors? of course there is that little matter of the zdegs who not only control the walmart of the galaxy but also have a unique way of seizing the assets of defaulters. no it does not pretend to be great lit, but i could not wipe te goofy grin off my face for a long time after i finished the last page.