The Dosadi Experiment

by Frank Herbert

Book Overview

From author Frank Herbert, creator of the Dune series, comes this classic science fiction of a sadistic experiment created by a interstellar civilization ... THE DOSADI EXPERIMENT Beyond the God Wall... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425038343
• ISBN13: 9780425038345
• Release Date: October 1978
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 343 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.

Customer Reviews

One of his best

Herbert is a little too smart for the average. What you have in this book is forced Darwinism and it rocks. Dosadis would give fremen a run for their money.

One of my favorite "non-Dune" Herbert novels

Yes, Frank Herbert wrote other novels than the "Dune" series. Of these, "The Dosadi Experiment" is by far one of the best.Dosadi is an artificially populated planet with a dark, dark secret. Jorg X. McKie, who was introduced in a companion novel "Whipping Star" is sent to investigate the goings-on on Dosadi, an assignment that could very well lead to his destruction. Dosadi is a toxic planet, where survivors live either in an overpopulated fortress of a city and survive on their wits, or struggle to live on the poisonous Rim, where the very soil and plants are enemies. The people of Dosadi are tough indeed, but they are a lot more than just tough survivors. They hold a desperate secret that could upset the balance of the rest of the galaxy.McKie's struggle to survive and to discover Dosadi's secrets make for a really exciting tale. The characters are vivid, creative (all kinds of sentient species) and very interesting. If you love good science fiction, this is a must-read.

Herbert's Best, which says a whole lot

Frank Herbert deserves his rep as one of the greatest science fiction writers. Dune, his most popular book (with 2 film adaptations) is an incredible epic. This book, however, is something that has stuck with me and improved with every reading. It a superior work in a lot of ways.Some spoiler-free background:Like a James Bond in the future, 500-year-old Jorge McKie is an agent for the government. The government in question is the ConSentiency: an amalgam of all sentient races in the galaxy worknig to keep the peace. This alone is an incredibly difficult prospect, for surly a race with a different biology and a different culture would come up with a different set of laws. How could such a thing as a ConSentiency exist? Making things more difficult are two relatively new uphevals: 1> that stars are sentent beings, and 2> stars themselves allow instant travel from place to place in the galaxy.<p>And now, as our story starts, the uneasy peace is threatened by an experiment: 200 years previously, a race of aliens has created Dosadi: a poison planet inhabited with kidnapped humans and aliens who have had their memories erased and been dumped on the planet to fend for themselves. How will they survive when cut off from the rest of the galaxy and not given enough resources? <p>The makers of Dosadi hope to learn how to improve their own race, but their creation becomes something else entirely. It is horror enough that this world exists, but what to do with the experiment? McKie, with the fate of the entire planet in his hands, is ordered to visit the planet and discover for himself.<p>All of this is revealed in the first few chapters, and I won't go into any more plot detail. The beauty of this book, though, is the extremes of the ConSentiency and Dosadi; and the truly alien nature of the aliens. Herbert fills the ConSentiency and Dosadi with many layers of meaning that unpeel before the readers eyes. McKie is a character who has dedicated his life to reaching for the alien shore (his expertise is in alien law and ethics). When McKie travels to Dosadi, he will find how life-altering his vocation can be.<p>I'd also like to add that few authors could write a book that includes a courtroom drama so completly alien and so compelling.<p>This is a wonderful book. Some passages ring so piercingly that you just have to put the book down and absorb them. Dosadi is an unpleasant world, to be sure, but it works as a nice stand-in for our own. And there are a ton of ethical questions abounding in this book, not that Frank is one to hit you over the head with them. For in addition to all of the philosophy and metaphysics, it is a ripping good yarn. <p>Note: "The Dosadi Experiment" takes place in the same universe as "The Whipping Star" and "The Artful Saboteaur", but it is NOT a sequal and it can be read on its own.<p>Enjoy!

more of Herbert's mastery of the closed society topic

If you read Dune (or almost any other Herbert book) you know that one of his favourite themes is that of the sequestered/closed society in a harsh environment. No one ever did it as well._Dosadi_ offers a lot. It offers a very interesting alien race (well, more than one, but one that gets the most attention) that is truly alien, with a fascinating legal system that questions the basic assumptions we start with. The plot unfolds like a sunrise, letting out bits of information gradually until the reader comes to understand just what a monstrous timebomb has been created by shortsighted beings. The protagonist and other main characters are well-described and interesting, as is the interplay among them.This is not light reading, but if you like fiction that inspires you to question your assumptions, this is one of the best examples of same. Especially recommended to those with an interest in the topic of law and legal proceedings, or to anyone who has already decided they like Herbert's style.

The Experiment Behind the God Wall

The Dosadi Experiment is a brilliant, and complicated book. The concepts Herbert indulges in here will keep you pondering for weeks, months and years after you read it. Essentially an experiment is conducted on a planet enclosed behind a created protective barrier called the 'God Wall' to keep the inhabitants from leaving. A series of hostile conditions are created complete with toxic waste, hunger and war. The inhabitants are all unknowing 'test subjects' in a grand experiment, and develop into the most dangerous people in the universe, frightening their creators with their abilities. As events unfold, the inhabitants of Dosadi actually learn how to pass through the 'God Wall' unleashing themselves on the universe and the culmination of the tale winds up in the most unusual trial you will ever read. All in all quite a facinating exploration into a broad new territory for Herbert, marking him as one of the great pioneers of the genre of Science Fiction. This book is currently out of print and the copy I have is very old, but it is well worth searching used books stores to read this one. It is actually Herbert's sequel to 'Whipping Star'.

The ultimate distilation of the power politic

There are books you go back to read because they grow foggy in your memory and you yearn to rebuild the experience you that you recall. Then there is a book like the Dosadi Experiment that you read once a year to re-learn the hard lessons and to expose life to but another facetted mirror. Nothing you can read, including the other works of Herbert, will prepare for you for this work. It will overwhelm and draw you away from this place to fully judge all the lies before you. Nothing is above questioning.Expect to read some pages twice or three times, to fully savor the twist in your mind. The last 6 chapters are as good as anything written in any genre, expect to re-read those to find the real meaning: That to be innocent is to be but a pawn.Scour used bookstores, cause it's out-of-print. My copy is at least 15 years old and I'm here shopping for a dozen to give away. Shame I have to do it now one store at a time.