Planet Buyer Mass Market Paperback – 6 Feb. 1975

I borrowed "The Planet Buyer" many years ago from the library, and loved it. Many years on I finally bought a copy in a second hand bookshop, and loved it again. I then lent it someone, and that was the last I saw of it. Hence this purchase. Thank you Amazon for the second hand listings of your associates.The combination of a handicapped boy and a fantastic military computer on the far away planet of Norstrillia bringing the Galaxy's financial markets to chaos, then buying the Earth, with the profits made in the aftermath, is so well done. It has obviously inspired similar themes from many writers and film makers over the years, not least the movie, Trading Places.When reading the novella, it does help to have read other stories by Cordwainer Smith. It's not essential, but well advised, you will not be disappointed.

I am reviewing the 1975 Sphere paperback.You probably already know this: the text of this book is just about 147 pages long and is essentially the first half of the full length novel “Norstrilia” with five or six pages added at the end to help it stand on its own. A version of this first appeared as the novella “The Boy Who Bought Old Earth” in Galaxy magazine in 1964.The second half of Norstrilia titled “The Underpeople” was also published as a Sphere paperback in 1975. This has around eighteen pages added at the beginning, again to assist the book to stand on its own.Personally I think the reader is advised to read the full length Norstrilia first, and only read these if you have a significant interest in all things Cordwainer Smith. The insertions added at the end of the first book and at the beginning of the second do not, in my opinion, add significantly to the story.