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Science-fiction is there to question the unknowable and the imponderables. What would happen if we discovered life on another planet? What would happen if the world faced an apocalypse? What would happen if technology were to become so advanced that it would eliminate the need for humans? What if the world we see around us is not the world as it truly is? Many of these question arise in Edmund Cooper's work as a science-fiction writer, and you could find quite a few of these questions raised and dealt with in a thoughtful manner in his 1971 novel, The Overman Culture . Even though he is only really a child, Michael Faraday is the person asking such questions in The Overman Culture . He is a smart child though, he knows some things are strange and don't make sense to him, but finds it difficult to get answers from parents, teachers and other adults. "Strange ideas make people unhappy" he is told. Still things refuse to add up. He is worried about one child in his class...