I have read this book every year since it first came out in paperback. Many of those reviewing this book here have not quite cottoned to the fact that it is indeed a Fantasy book and not Science Fiction. I enjoyed this fantasy for what it was and not for what it wasn't, which is to say, Science Fiction.

As a practicing musician I also am intrigued by the premise of practice changing something other than the practicer. So reversing entropy is not a deal breaker for me. I wish I could practice my guitar into a better instrument or practice my apartment clean. That would be a useful trick. when I first read Glory Road I think I got sucked into enjoying the improbable life of a Fantasy hero, pure wish fulfillment.

Plus, every time I read it Dennis gets the girl and lives happily ever after. Every time. He never fails. Apparently I need this message repeated annually. Sorry some of you didn't get it, as I see by your , but it probably wasn't made for your reading needs. Oddly, this is my favorite book to read to make me feel human again. (Sometimes, when I'm feeling a little alien.)fantasy favorites science-fiction27 s BradleyAuthor 5 books4,414

Back when I was a wee kid and I was getting my hands on as many SF books as I could, I came across this wonderful author named David Brin who took the 80's by storm and won a few Hugos and Locus awards and I devoured everything of his that I could get my hands on. I was a major fanboy.

Well, it turns out I still am. This is, despite the fact that I originally kinda dismissed this particular book as one of his lesser novels with a somewhat meh execution with a cool-as-hell idea as a foundation. It took me this long to re-read it to see if I still felt the same way.

So. I came to a little realization: I'm a dickhead.

Not only was this still as awesome on the idea front, but it's also wild, self-consistent, thoroughly fun, and quite funny.

It came out in '84 and pretty much coincides with the idea of leveling up in the gaming world. Excluding living things, the practice effect is pretty simple. The more you use a tool, the more effective it gets. A pair of worn-out boots will eventually keep getting better until they perfect themselves. The same goes for any kind of tool.

Enter in an actual scientist (btw, Brin is an actual Astrophysicist) who soon discovers that he's stuck in this new world with altered laws that appear to be anti-entropic, and have an adventure that gets steadily more wild when you consider that ANY tool you "practice" with becomes more impressive with use. The better your starting materials, the better the effect.

I laughed myself silly with the kinds of Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court antics we eventually go through.

This is SO much better than I remember. Consider, though, I had read Brin's Startide Rising, Uplift War, and Earth before this, so I thought I was just comparing to .

In actual effect, however, I really should have been comparing this to some of the very best SF out there. Yes, it reads an SF that behaves a Fantasy novel, but it's subversive even in that way. The Fantasy eventually gets dressed up as an SF novel that then flips itself again, becoming a HARD SF novel.

In the final analysis, it would work REALLY well as a favorite modern SF novel published TODAY, genre-bending and making us have a wild-ass time all the way through.


This one should not be forgotten.2022-shelf fantasy sci-fi22 s Mike199 26

Later on in his career, Brin will learn how to fashion together a plot, to make characters that have depth and to understand how to blend science in with a believable world. This novel was written in 1984 and does not have any of those elements.

There is one intriguing plot twist and I will reveal it right here: What happens if we reverse the Second Law of Thermodynamics? This book is a lame attempt at trying to explain what would take place if nothing falls apart but actually improves over time (except people).

This is obviously the work of a young David Brin. The dialogue is contrived. No one talks this way. The two primary characters fall in love but there is no explanation of why. The girl is good looking and this is the extent of the attraction between them. Yet, they are willing to be in a relationship with an alien based on a few passing glances and an improbable ride on a glider turned single-engine aircraft. The battles have no drama in them. The main character knows all about all of science and almost never follows a wrong hunch. The primary foil character is almost as able as the main guy and the evil villain gets thwarted way too easily. There is no quest, no self-discovery and very little suspense to hold the story together.

To top all of that off, the ending makes no sense at all. Even if it did make sense, it has no point to it. The only point I could conjure was wondering if the hero becomes his own ancestor.

There is so much Deus Ex Machina that I wonder if Brin himself believed his book would improve over time. All this book proves is that the second Law of Thermodynamics applies to this novel. It looks very weak, even after all these years.scifi-fantasy10 s Cathy 1,957 51

It started off feeling a lot John Carter from A Princess of Mars meets A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. By the end I added a good dose of the movie Speed to the mix. That pretty much sums it up. Except for one thing that made it exceptional - the practice effect. I love when an author comes up with a really original idea that would deeply influence how things turned out in the world and follows it through. It turned a really basic and frequently used idea, that of the modern man or scientist who finds himself in a society that has little or no technology, and turned it into something interesting. Overall the story was unoriginal. The characters generally lacked depth, although I d that the Baron wasn't the typical monster bad guy; he was ruthless and ambitious, but he did care about the loss of his men in battle and was actually the most well-developed character in the book. I didn't care about the big conflict, felt no investment in the people who were supposed to be the good guys, and the romance was dry. And the big answers at the end for how it was all possible were, frankly, lame. It was clear to me throughout that this was one of Brin's earliest works. But I really enjoyed seeing how the idea of the practice effect played out. animals ebook-owned magic-users ...more9 s Moonlight16 14

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? ?????????????, ?? ?? ???? ?????????, ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????, ?? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ??????? (?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??????), ?? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ????????... ??????? "???? ??? ??? ???????? ? ?? ?????" ?? ?????? ??????, ?? ??? ?? ? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ? ??????? :)

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???? ?? ????????? ??????, ?? ?? ?? ???????? ????????????? ?? ??????????-????????, ?????? ???? ?? ??????, ?? ??????? ?? ??????!!read-in-bulgarian6 s Jim1,243 78

David Brin has long been one of my favorite SF authors, but this may not be considered SF, but fantasy. Dennis Nuel finds himself in an alternate universe where the laws of science have been changed. The effect is magic, and so this comes across as more fantasy.
I am not a big fantasy fan, but this is an enjoyable read which might even give you something to think about.6 s ??? ????897 79

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???????????? ???????????? ??????? ?? ???? ?? ???????????? ?? ?????? – ????? ???? ????????? ?? ????????????? ?? ???, ????? ?????????????? ?? ???? ?? ????????? ?????? - ???????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ???? ??????? ?????? ???????????? ??????? ?? ????, ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ???? ?????????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ???????????? – ???? ? ??????? ?? ?????????? ?????? ?? ???? ??????? ???????, ?????? ????????? ?? ??????, ?????? – ????? ????????, ? ???????? ???????? ? ??????????? ??????????? ?? ????????? ? ????????????? ?? ???????? ? ?????????????? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ?????. ??????? ? ??? ??? ??????? ?????????????. ???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ??????.

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5 s Chrisl607 87

The only Brin I've read multiple times.
His work doesn't normally appeal, but this one intrigued. The twisted "newest is best behavior." 1980s sff4 s Got My Book136 38

Also posted (with Bonus Author Interview) on my blog Got My Book.

Real Rating = 4.5*

SciFi Novel that achieves the author's objective of "mixing rapid fire fun with challenging ideas"

BOOK DETAILS:
The Practice Effect by David Brin, read by Andy Caploe, published by Audible Studios (2012) / Length: 12 hrs 16 min

SERIES INFO: This book is standalone and not part of any series.

SUMMARY:
I own an old paperback copy of this book. It was something that I kept hoping would be made into audio. And yet I was also afraid that it would be, but would be done badly. The tone of the protagonist's "voice" is so central, that even just a passably decent narrator could have ruined what I love about it. Thankfully that isn't the case.

I am not a fan of prankster characters nor of cruel sarcasm & snark, but I do love a character who makes snarky observations about the world. Dennis is a perfect example of this.

When I read this book for the first time, I though I might end up being a bit disappointed and maybe even offended as a female reader. The only woman mentioned at Sahara Tech is pushy and obnoxious, and then part way through we are introduced to a "beautiful princess" from a mystic tribe. It seemed to be setting us up for a male fantasy romance (gorgeous, blond & ethereal, adoring female). Thankfully it turned out to be a bit deeper than that.

Along with the tone, another thing I love is how the author explored the cultural & sociological ramifications of differences in physical laws. The world felt complete and complex.

I didn't give it a full 5 stars, because I often skip most of the stuff that doesn't focus on our central characters when I'm re-reading/listening.

Note: Neither the cover nor the publisher's description are very compelling. I would to see both get an upgrade.

CHARACTERS:
Our Hero (Dennis Nuel):  A reality physicist with a sharp wit.

DennisÂ’s face sometimes took on that dreamy expression often associated either with genius or an inspired aptitude for practical jokes. In reality he was just a little too lazy to qualify for the former, and just a bit too goodhearted for the latter.

The Princess (Linnora): Not just here to adore the hero. Her opinion about him see saws quite a bit, and she is clearly able to think for herself. She is weak enough to faint when confronted by something overwhelming, and strong enough to walk for a full day on blistered feet and a twisted ankle; foolish enough to go off without a guard, and wise enough to realize her beliefs might need re-examining.

Dennis & Linnora: This is NOT a romance, but does include one. There is no InstaLove, but neither is there a lot of time spent on developing the relationship.

WORLDBUILDING:
The actual nature of the world Dennis enters is one of the central mysteries he is trying to unravel, so I can't say much without giving something away. I will say that I especially enjoyed the description of the city that included not just what it looked , but how it sounded and smelled as well.

A favorite bit of Earth tech is the exploratory robot.

PLOT:
The author could have chosen to begin with Dennis stepping into the new world and told how he got there in flashbacks, but instead he chose to begin by establishing Dennis' character and background which are central to the story being told.

"The lecture was really boring.
At the front of the dimly lit conference room, the portly, gray-haired director of the Sahara Institute of Technology paced back and forth - staring at the ceiling with his hands clasped behind his back - while he pontificated ponderously on a subject he clearly barely understood."

The book has a clear yet open ending. I would love to read a sequel to see what becomes of Dennis & Linnora, how do the artifacts introduced from earth impact this world & vice versa, do certain people ever get what's coming to them?

HIGHLIGHTS / CAUTIONS:
Dennis's hesitation to hunt, since:
What if the “rabbits” here were philosophers? Could he be so sure anything he aimed at wasn’t intelligent?
Dennis' genre savviness
He acted confident, but he was less than entirely certain. In a science-fiction story he had read as a boy, another Earthling had, just himself, been transported to another world where the physical laws were also different. In the story, magic had worked, but the heroÂ’s gunpowder and matches had all failed!
I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT: Mild swearing
OTHER CAUTIONS : A song with innuendo / A scene in which our villain is not taking no for an answer, and our hero believes that interfering will only get him killed.

NARRATION:
I don't feel that the narration perfectly captures Dennis, but Mr. Caploe clearly understands and does a really good job / He uses different voices & accents to distinguish the various characters / Was more than a bit slow. I listen on 1.5 speed (instead of my usual 1.25)

3 s Alles Allerlei189 102 Read

Abgebrochen auf Seite 41

leider fehlte Brin zum Zeitpunkt da er dies schreib noch die Fähigkeit tolle Charaktere zu erschaffen die durch ihre Tiefe überzeugen...
tattdessen reiht sich ier ein klitschee ans nächste
abgebrochen3 s Rallorien5

I have absolutely loved this book since I first read it at least a good 10 years ago (not entirely sure of the year). I loved the way it made me think about things and how a simple (or not so simple) rule change made everything so different. Was the actual plot the strongest? No. But it was an enjoyable, fun read and it forcing me to think has stayed with me and made this one of my most favorite sci-fi books ever. After reading it, I kept thinking of more and more ideas that could work in that universe, and it was just a total blast.fiction sci-fi3 s Mitchell Friedman5,022 202

A re-read of an old favorite. A silly book but not quite as silly as I remembered. And a memorable book. The main idea of this book is one that became part of our parenting language, even if it was a misuse of the concept. There are some abrupt changes. And this one has one of Brin's best endings which is damning with faint praise - I don't think I appreciated the ending as much up front. Basically this book is a wish-fulfilling science fantasy with almost there somewhat interesting side characters. But I remembered this book way to well to give it a fair review. It was an enjoyable re-read.fiction four-star-science-fiction d- ...more3 s Peter Tillman3,746 415

2020 reread of this entertaining early Brin science-fantasy novel, his third. Not quite as good as I remembered, but still a worthwhile read. The Practice Effect itself, that made items get better with use, is silly but memorable. The climactic battle scenes are pulpy but good. And hey, the scientist-hero gets the Princess!
award-win-nom fantasy not-at-pa ...more3 s Sarah Sammis7,455 242

One of my favorite alternate world books.pc read-in-1992 scifi3 s Printable Tire781 115

A bookstore opened in downtown Pawtucket and I wanted to support it at the grand opening so I bought a copy of this and a copy of Games Criminals Play And How You Can Profit From Knowing Them . Always one to buy a book and never read it (or read it a decade later, long after whatever had drawn me to it has passed) I decided to read this book immediately , during a Nor'easter the next day in which I was stuck inside. And I did manage to read 200 pages that day, and enjoy them, though the rest took me another couple of days to slog through.

The premise is at least interesting: a world in which objects aren't invented but used so much that they improve on their own, i.e., a toaster becomes a better toaster on its own because of how much it is used, not because a person improves upon the design of a toaster. The philosophical ramifications of this are sketched out (the slaves of royalty dress better than the royalty themselves, as it is their job to keep the fine clothes "in practice") but not to any really insightful extent, the author, a nerd, being more interested in the pseudo-scientific explanation (or really needless exposition) of the premise.

What the book amounts to is yet another corny engineering fan fiction adventure yarn (which sadly much too much of science fiction paperbacks amounts to) complete with Latin puns, ass kicking princesses, horny/irreverent mythical creatures, and a wisecracking nerd hero caught in an "ironically" mundane fantasy world in which only his slapdash inventions have any hope of staving off the bloodthirsty (but practical!) barbarians. I've read this story a million times before, and Robert Asprin always did it better. I'm just glad the sequel obviously set up at the end of this book never came to fruition or I'd feel some nagging, impotent urge to read it.

SO, in other words: a pleasant enough diversion, but nothing to differentiate it from a million it. Rent The Postman instead.2 s Steve998 166

Not my favorite Brin effort, but still a relatively quick, mostly fun read because, well, Brin has a creative, imaginative, and open mind, chock full of new and different and interesting and thought-provoking ideas.

This alternative reality/time travel mash up, interspersed with lost of running and chasing and good versus evil, kept the pages turning. Thematically, on the one hand, this has shades of Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, but, of course, Brin isn't Twain (neither as eloquent nor as funny or sardonic), and Brin (clearly) has read Twain, and Brin's ambition for this work appeared to have been grander, but ... at least for the me, the grandiosity (or the audaciousness of the enterprise) simply wasn't there.

To the extent that I never bought into the underlying premise (see below), I found the book amusing primarily because almost every action sequence (of which there were many, albeit some much larger than others) fell squarely into the somewhere-between-fun-and-hugely-entertaining range. Everything else, alas, for me ... was not so much.

Quibbles: Brin's romantic vision and presentation underwhelms. (Look, Audrey Niffenegger proved you can mix romance in SciFi, and she's not alone.) I found most of the romance-and-relationship angle strained and distracting. The summary explanation-of-the-world-and-the-future-and-how-we-got-here at the end felt rushed and, for the same reason, not just unpersuasive but half-hearted. Brin may have thought he was onto something with his alternative future theory, but he never convinced me. Ultimately, the book - even as short as it was - felt inconsistent and, at time, almost unfinished or hurriedly edited.

But, hey, it is what it is, and it was a fun story.sci-fi-and-fantasy2 s MargaretDH1,091 19

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

This is a light and fluffy portal scifi, in which an engineer/physicist ends up in a world where the laws of physics are not quite the same. The premise is reasonably inventive, and there's lots of adventure here, and the plot moves along at a good clip. This draws on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and our hero charges along inventing and perfecting things to save the day (and, unfortunately, the princess). Since there's basically no character development of anyone but our hero (and even his is pretty shallow), the romance falls flat. Fortunately, it's brief, and there are a lot more jokes than longing sighs. And the adventure never really slows down enough for things to bog down.

This was fun and passed the time, but I can't see myself specifically recommending this to anyone. It's the kind of thing that you might pick up at one of those leave a book take a book things or a garage sale and and enjoy for a day or two before passing it on to the next person.chips-and-chocolate-bars fluffy other-worlds ...more2 s Jim77

Well, this is one of the most ridiculous premises I've ever seen for a science fiction book. If it were a fantasy book, Brin could explain all this in some mystical way and get away with it.

If this were the first book I'd read by Brin, I'd have given up without finishing it. Instead I'm merely disappointed that I've wasted my time. Oh, there are some mildly clever bits, but they're outweighed by the silly premise. And his "scientific" explanation at the end is wholly unsatisfying.



2 s Sara193 3

I finally got around to reading this entertaining Brin book. It is somewhere between fantasy and science fiction. Pretty classic characters (NOTE: SLIGHT SPOILERS HERE), including: reluctant, intellectual, but becomes-more-manly male protagonist; beautiful princess-though she is intellectual too; crasser but funny human sidekick; robot and live creature sidekicks; different degrees of bad bad guys, etc. Not very sexist, though. I got a kick out of it, and it was an easy read. I am finding I will read pretty much anything David Brin writes, including tweets!2 s Charlotte1,177 32

my 1980s paperback is reread almost to the point of falling apart....but has been un-re-read for at least 24 years (which, not coincidently is about when on-line book buying and browsing started becoming a thing, and I didn't have to read the same books over and over again). I enjoyed revisiting this old friend, the most purely entertaining of Brin's books, but strangely the size of the print has decreased in the past few decades. It still holds together, so maybe in thirty more years it will give me pleasure again....back on the shelf it goes.20231 Markos41 1 follower

Great romp, with romance, and an interesting twist on physicssci-fi1 Philip42

Four stars as YA sci-fi. The premise is fun, and the story is light & a fast read.1 Selina381

Quite an oldfashioned story with an interesting premise.1 DavidAuthor 4 books30

The Goodreads book description is lame. The one on Amazon is better:

Physicist Dennis Nuel is the first human to probe the strange realms called anomaly worlds: alternate universes where the laws of science are unpredictably changed. But the world Dennis discovers seems almost our own—with one perplexing difference. To his astonishment, he’s hailed as a wizard, meets a beautiful woman with strange powers, and finds himself fighting a mysterious warlord as he struggles to solve the riddle of this baffling world.

While this novel is couched as sci-fi, it reads fantasy. Sure, the beginning of the novel takes place in a near future Earth, and there's the zievatron thingee that allows Nuel to travel to another world, but it ends there. The rest of the novel is spent in a medieval world, and Nuel must put his wits to use inventing things to gain favor and the upper hand in his struggles with the denizens of this world. There's a princess who needs rescuing, castles and dungeons, and superstitious peasants.

So what is "the practice effect?" Well, you know how you have to practice playing the clarinet to learn a song or get on the ice and skate to improve your hockey skills (maybe not the best examples, but you should get my point)? On this world, that's how you make objects better. The more you use them as they're intended, the better they get. Got a pair of ripped jeans? Wear them a lot and let them practice being jeans and those rips will go away. Got a crude stone axe? Go chop some wood with it, and it'll slowly sharpen on its own accord.

If you remember physics class, you'll know which law has been turned on its head to make worn out things magically new. Just another element to bolster the case for this being a fantasy novel.

90+% of the story is told from Nuel's POV. Fortunately that 10% exists as it affords the reader a chance to learn that the villainous Baron and Princess Linnora aren't two-dimensional stock characters. The Baron is greedy and lusts for power, but he does have a few principles. It was especially nice to see that, while the princess was in need of rescuing, she carried her own weight as the novel wore on.

None of this is said to infer that this is a bad book. It's definitely not. I enjoyed it. The pacing is good, and the story is entertaining. The characters are fine, though they could've used a little more depth. They're likable, you still root for them to succeed. The story could've devolved into one of those stereotypical square-jawed male heroic fantasy tropes that were so popular decades ago, but it didn't. Not Brin's best work, but still fun.fantasy1 SciFiOne2,017 33

Mar 23, 2024
The Practice Effect
by David Brin

1986 Grade A+
2024 Grade A-

A grade A story with grade B prose. A man steps through a portal and ends up on another world where crude tools get better with use, the opposite of good tools wearing out - reverse entropy as another reviewer said. The first two thirds is very good as the protagonist explores the world, how it works, and the social structure. The last third is mostly journey and war which got boring in all its details. I speed read much of that, especially the fighting in the war. Otherwise, quite good.

Recommended.scifi1 Angel B.A.129 15

Un tipo cae en un mundo donde la segunda ley de la termodinámica está invertida... con esta premisa empieza esta juguetona novela de Brin que tiene mucho de lo que me gusta en una buena obra de ciencia ficción: humor, ritmo, personajes bastante bien construidos... y originalidad. Completa además el cuadro un protagonista que acaba como héroe y con la chica :-)
La fantasía masturbatoria perfecta, pero inteligente porque no lo niega en ningún momento, sino que la construye a propósito con bastante gracia.

Ideal para frikis que sabemos que lo somos.1 Meh17 15

Heh, this book was pleasantly ridiculous. It had such a weird premise that everything that happened was almost a surprise. And I just had to laugh every time they go into a trance and practice up some primitive thing into something crazy, an airplane. Yes, the plot and characters were so predictable, but still, it's a nice bit of fluff.1 Sean Randall1,952 44

I totally enjoyed this book. Of course, people popping off into alternate worlds are two a penny on my bookshelf but this had charisma, science and talent going for it. I'll read more of this author and totally recommend this book to any sci-fi reader.1 Jacqueline34

This is a pretty fun book. I think it could have used some more depth; some of the characters are only sketched in. Brin is a very fine writer, but this is not his best effort. Nonetheless, it'll do for a rainy day.1 Louis233 2

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