Psyearth Quest: A Prophetic Novel

This environmental sermon thinly disguised as a novel takes place in the first third of the 21st century, when the Earth faces total environmental collapse. It uses the venerable device (at least as old as More's Utopia) of a naive observer (an environmental reporter, in this case) who has the horrors of the present and the wonder of the future explained to him by stick figures (the author's mouthpieces). Some interesting speculation on a hydrogen-based economy, global environmental monitoring and universal telecommunications are presented in large expository lumps. The combination of these lumps and the various non-characters, however, plus the absence of genuine conflict or emotion, as well as an overdose of New Age cliches, make the book a snooze for anyone not already committed to the choir to which Bensinger is preaching. (Sept.)