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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9781585676026
ISBN number: 1585676020
Label: Overlook TP
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 608
Printing Date: January 04, 2005
Publishing house: Overlook TP
Release Date: October 26, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 226747
Studio: Overlook TP
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Long out of print, the science fiction masterpiece by Hugo Award winning writer James Blish
Originally published as four volumes nearly fifty years ago, Cities in Flight brings together the famed 'Okie novels' of science fiction master James Blish. Named after the migrant workers of America's Dust Bowl, these novels convey Blish's 'history of the future,' a brilliant and bleak look at a world where cities roam the Galaxy looking for work and a sustainable way of life.
In the very first novel, They Shall Have Stars, man has thoroughly explored the Solar System, yet the dream of going even further seems to have died in all but one man. His battle to realize his dream results in two momentous discoveries-- anti-gravity and the secret of immortality. In A Life for the Stars, it is centuries later and antigravity generations have enabled whole cities to lift off the surface of the earth to become galactic wanderers. In Earthman, Come Home, the nomadic cities revert to barbarism and marauding rogue cities begin to pose a threat to all civilized worlds. An armada of renegade cities attempts to destroy Earth, their ancient birthplace. In the final novel, The Triumph of Time, history repeats itself as the cities once again journey back in to space making a terrifying discovery which could destroy the entire Universe. A serious and haunting vision of our world and its limits, Cities in Flight marks the return to print of one of science fiction's masterpieces.
Amazon.com Review:
Cities in Flight is an omnibus volume of four novels, originally published between 1955 and 1962, two of which are fix-ups of pieces that very first appeared in various magazines in the early '50s. Despite having been conceived more than 50 years ago, and produced in episodic fashion, they stand head and shoulders above most SF available today.
In They Shall Have Stars, humankind's will to explore space is renewed with the advent of two discoveries: anti-gravity (the 'spindizzy' machines) and the key to almost eternal life (anti-agathic drugs). By A Life for the Stars, centuries have passed and most of the major cities have built spindizzies into their bedrock and left earth, cruising the galaxy looking for work, much like the hobos of the Depression Era. Earthman, Come Home, told from the perspective of John Amalfi, the major of New York, was the first-written of the novels and--although not as tightly woven as the other segments--is still a masterly work. Blish gives the same weight and authority both to the sweeping cultural change wrought and suffered by the cities, and to the emotional growth of a man who is several hundred years old. We stay with Amalfi for the final episode, The Triumph of Time. New York is now planet-bound in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, but when Amalfi learns of the impending destruction of time itself, he is forced into space one more time, to take a last, desperate chance. The novel ends, literally, with a bang.
Despite the occasional, inevitable anachronism, such as vacuum tubes, Cities in Flight stands up remarkably well to modern reading. The novel's political and literary sophistication was unmatched in its time; there is very little to rival it even today. For most readers of a certain age, this was probably the very first SF they encountered that was written from a mature standpoint and adult sensibility. The fact that Blish also manages to tell a fabulous, galaxy-spanning adventure tale makes this essential reading. --Luc Duplessis
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I very first read many of the "Cities in Flight" stories in the 1950s and 1960s. The series is terrific! I gave it only four stars because one or two of the stories are not as good as the rest of the book.
In my own case, I had to root for the City Manager from Scranton, PA, because I am from the Wilkes-Barre part of PA.
This is a good read and good, hard, science fiction. I recommend this book.
Rated by buyers -
It is something to think about.
Science fiction, by its very nature, blends science and fiction together to develop "what if" stories. What if humans possessed a faster-than-light propulsion system? What if aliens were intent on eradicating humans? What if we came into contact with God?
James Blish brings in two "what ifs": the "spindizzy" anti-gravitational device that allows entire cities the size of New York to depart from their home planet and roam the galaxy, and beyond,; and medical procedures and drugs that allow people to live, frankly, forever.
Cities in Flight is a collection of four novels originally published in the mid-twentieth century. Their age is obvious from certain references: "Hazleton had left his slide rule upon the table" (p. 380), and notes about vacuum tubes.
This really is the tale of New York over the span of 1000 years as it rips itself from Earth and finally plants itself on a new home. It's mayor, Amalfi, demonstrates the wisdom of a person who literally has been there, done that, as he deals with discovery and crisis.
Blish brings forth his interest in science as a guiding force on multiple occasions:
"Remember, Bliss, that scientific method is not a natural law. It doesn't exist in nature, but only in our heads; in short, it's a way of thinking about things - a way of sifting evidence" (p.9).
"I am convinced that we must be much slower, in the future, to ignore the fringe notion and the marginal theorist. One of the virtues of these crackpots - if that is what they are - is that they tend to cling to ideas which can be tested. That's worth hanging on to, in a world where scientific ideas have become so abstract that even their originators can't suggest ways to test them" (p. 94-95).
And I caught one mistake: "But it was good for learning things like 1 x 1 = 10..." (p. 506).
Although this collection of books (They Shall Have Stars, A Life For The Stars, Earthman Come Home, and The Triumph Of Time) began to get tedious toward the end, the very first two books and a good portion of the third carried the day.
Rated by buyers -
I very first ran across novels by James when I was in high school back in the 60's. I read all kinds of science fiction and watched whatever I could find on TV which included some pretty bad movies with pitiful special effects but I didn't care. I loved it all. After all those years, I saw the opportunity to reread something from a writer whose name I still remembered from those golden days. I'm not finished reading it yet, but it is a great read that doesn't seem dated even though we have become so much more "sophisticated" lately. If you want to read something by one of the original masters of science fiction, you won't be disappointed by this one!
Rated by buyers 
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This really is a good buy at the Amazon price, considering
you're getting 4 books in one. This is a good summer
vacation reading book, it'll keep you dug in for a while.
Blish is very economical with words, somehow he missed the
concept of being paid by the word, his normal paragraph
would have taken any other author 6 pages to relate.
You'll find yourself happily rereading sections just to
understand everything that's happened, and be amazed at
how simply the most earth shattering events can be told
with little or no build up, and be left with little
patience for other author than stretch things out.
You'll find in Cities in Flight more astounding events,
wonders of science, amazing concepts on each page than
you'd get after reading a whole novel by current writers.
You could pick most any page here, tear it out, and spin
off a whole book around what just happen there.
What this is all about is the idea of a field device.
You turn it on and anything within the field is a unit
which can be moved, essentially by repelling gravity.
Therefore, it becomes possible to move, easily, whole
communities. If you want to go for the ride, you stay
put, if not leave before we lift. Thus is born Cities in
Flight. This is the story of those cites which are mobile
units that move about the known universe picking up the
resources they need as they go, much like the hobos of the
the early 20th century. These are honest working cities,
only looking to improve their economic well being by
moving to where the work is, sort of a mobile work force.
Thus we get to see the breath of the known universe,
multiple cultures, many levels of technology and stunning
natural wonders out the windows of this mobile city.
I'd recommend starting this one in the middle, with Earthman,
Come home. It was written very first and the others came later.
Once you see the cities in action you'll be more interested
to know the details laid out in the very first two books as to
how the technology came about.
I rate this a college level read.
Rated by buyers 
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I've got to admit to being a real fan of classic SF but find that, while some bears up very well with the passage of time, some fares much less well. This has dated very badly and while there a few excellent underlying notions it is impossible to ignore the clunky technology and out-moded social ideas that inform the work.
This is almost certainly a work of 'historical importance' within the SF field and it is that alone, I feel, which explains why it was placed so highly in the 'SF Masterworks' series(one of the things that nudged me into reading it) but I can't recommend it as a reading experience.
Whatever you do don't make this your very first journey into 'Classic SF' try Dick(The Man in the High Castle), Bester(The Stars My Destination), Asimov(Foundation),Clarke(The City and the Stars)...
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