Why Is 'Blade Runner' the Title of 'Blade Runner'? (vulture.com) 221
Why is Blade Runner called Blade Runner? Though the viewer is told in the opening text of Ridley Scott's 1982 original that "special Blade Runner units" hunt renegade replicants -- and though the term "Blade Runner" is applied to Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard a few times in the film -- we're never given an explanation of where the proper noun comes from. The novel upon which Blade Runner was based, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, offers no clues either.
Readers share a report: Our story begins with a mysterious writer by the name of Alan E. Nourse. According to the Des Moines Register, he was born in that city in 1928 to Bell Telephone Company engineer Benjamin Nourse and a woman named Grace Ogg. Young Alan moved to Long Island with his family at age 15, attended Rutgers, served for a couple of years in the Navy as a hospital corpsman, and was awarded a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955 before moving to Washington state to practice medicine. Whatever Nourse's skills as a doctor may have been, they were outweighed in the scales of history by his other passion: writing about the medical profession and fantastical worlds of the future. Before he was even done with medical school, he was publishing sci-fi on the side: first came short pieces in anthology magazines like Astounding Science Fiction and Galaxy Science Fiction, then he started publishing novels with titles like Trouble on Titan (1954), Rocket to Limbo (1957), and Scavengers in Space (1959). In 1963, he retired from medicine to focus on his writing, but wrote about learning the healing arts in a 1965 nonfiction book called Intern, published under the intimidating pseudonym "Dr. X." Sci-fi author-editor Robert Silverberg, who knew Nourse, tells me the latter book "brought him much repute and fortune," but in general, he just "wrote a lot of very good science fiction that no one seemed to notice." That changed on October 28, 1974. Sort of. On that day, publishing house David McKay released a Nourse novel that combined the author's two areas of expertise into a single magnum opus: The Bladerunner. It follows the adventures of a young man known as Billy Gimp and his partner in crime, Doc, as they navigate a health-care dystopia. It's the near future, and eugenics has become a guiding American philosophy. Universal health care has been enacted, but in order to cull the herd of the weak, the "Health Control laws" -- enforced by the office of a draconian "Secretary of Health Control" -- dictate that anyone who wants medical care must undergo sterilization first. As a result, a system of black-market health care has emerged in which suppliers obtain medical equipment, doctors use it to illegally heal those who don't want to be sterilized, and there are people who covertly transport the equipment to the doctors. Since that equipment often includes scalpels and other instruments of incision, the transporters are known as "bladerunners." Et voila, the origin of a term that went on to change sci-fi.
Obligatory Star Trek (Score:5, Funny)
Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a transporter!
No! Damnit Jim, not that kind of transporter!
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe OP was complaining about those little bugs in his hair.
Sure he was spelling it wrong, but that doesn't make him a moron.
Well... (Score:2)
Detailed Explanation at StackExchange (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Detailed Explanation at StackExchange (Score:5, Informative)
Why not just link what stack links to? The ACTUAL explanation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Quote:
Blade Runner (a movie) is a science fiction novella by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs, first published in 1979.[1]
The novella began as a story treatment for a proposed film adaptation of Alan E. Nourse's novel The Bladerunner. (Some sources describe Burroughs' work as a closet screenplay.) A later edition published in the 1980s changed the formatting of the title to Blade Runner, a movie.
Burroughs' treatment is set in early 21st century and involves mutated viruses and "a medical-care apocalypse". The term "blade runner" referred to a smuggler of medical supplies, e.g. scalpels.
No film was ever made; the title Blade Runner was later bought for use in Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction film, Blade Runner.[1] The plot of that film was based on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and not the Nourse, Burroughs source material, although the film does incorporate the term "blade runner" into dialogue.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't get why this would be the trait of a Democrap. Isn't it the Repugnicans that are all about enriching the already wealthy and thus would be against giving something away that could alternatively be sold?
Money grab (Score:2, Troll)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
As in, worth to go see or wait until Blade Runner 2364?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I thoroughly enjoyed it, loved the deafening soundtrack, and can see the premise for the third installment, making more sense than another Star Trek reboot.
It doesn't take much to make me happy with a movie, and this has such cinematography that I'm pleased. The lousy opening weekend ticket sales are as much the overstatement of Blade Runner fandom as anything, but patience - this is at least as good as anything from Marvel.
Oh, and Flame On!
Re: (Score:2)
It wasn't bad, and it has its moments.
But everything is relative. There have been a bunch of sequels or reboots to classic movies from the '80s and '90s recently, of which Harrison Ford has starred in two.
I would say that, what sets Blade Runner 2049 apart the most from the others is that it does not insult its audience, which is primarily the fans of the original movie.
Too bad that it took this long for Hollywood to finally realise that if you are going to reinvigorate an old franchise - and to successfull
Re: (Score:2)
>if you are going to reinvigorate an old franchise - and to successfully play on nostalgia to sell it - you will have to respect the original.
I've never understood why you wouldn't. When you don't, you're essentially starting a new franchise, while simultaneously limiting your creative scope AND pissing off the previous incarnation's fans.
Either make something new (which can often mean nothing more than a new title and switching the character names if you're not particularly inspired), or make something
Alan Nourse, Man of Mystery? (Score:5, Informative)
I'm baffled that Alan Nourse is refered to as "a mysterious writer by the name of Alan E. Nourse"-- mysterious? Nourse?
There's nothing mysterious about Alan Nourse, [sf-encyclopedia.com] who is pretty well documented. He was a quite popular writer mostly of juveniles (*) back in the 50s and 60s.
The only mysterious thing was how his name was pronounced: "nurse." Which was apparently amusing, since he interned with a doctor whose family name was "doctor", leading to paging over the intercom of "Paging Doctor Doctor, Doctor Nurse."
--
footnote: a classification that no longer exists. "Juveniles" has now become either "young adult" or "middle grade".
Re: (Score:2)
I'm baffled that Alan Nourse is refered to as "a mysterious writer by the name of Alan E. Nourse"-- mysterious? Nourse?
There's nothing mysterious about Alan Nourse, [sf-encyclopedia.com] who is pretty well documented. He was a quite popular writer mostly of juveniles (*) back in the 50s and 60s.
Ah, I'd forgotten that he wrote "A Tiger by the Tail"... Cool story, that.
He also at one time wrote a medical column for one of the glossy magazines. One of the "Womens' Magazines", I think.
(Paging Doctor Google....) Yep. "Good Housekeeping."
Re: (Score:2)
Asian stereotyping of course (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
An Asian, you mean like someone from India, or Pakistan? [youtu.be]
The stereotype is that a Japanese person in the future living in a cosmopolitan city like Los Angeles would have any sort of accent.
Ooh, my mistake, see I thought you were trying to play on the "they can't pronounce this letter, so they pronounce this one instead" stereotype except you got it wrong.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
except you got it wrong.
No I did not. Japanese people have issues pronouncing "L"s [youtube.com]. Chinese people have issues with pronouncing "R"s. The character in Blade Runner is wearing an outfit that is closer to Japanese than Chinese.
Re: (Score:2)
Nor do Belgians.
Nourse, "mysterious"? (Score:3)
Is the author of the article A. Idiot? What's "mysterious" about Nourse? Don't think I ever met him at a con, but... oh, right, maybe what's "mysterious" is that the author doesn't actually know diddly-squat about SF, and hasn't actually read anything that doesn't tie to a movie or tv show.
The comic tried to explain it (Score:2)
I just read this bit (http://www.cbr.com/marvel-solved-blade-runner-title/) on CBR. The comic book tried to put in an explanation for the phrase (and did a pretty good job of it), but of course that doesn't make it canon.
Based on old saying? (Score:5, Interesting)
I always thought it was an updated term for 'walking on a razor's edge.' - Someone who is precariously balanced between safety and danger. And between being human or a replicant.
Re: (Score:3)
I also had always inferred a similar concept with the title. It might not have been THE reason, but, to me, IMHO, it bespeaks a certain "tell" of the morality of the story. Excepting for the discussion the nonsense of Ridley Scott saying Deckard was a replicant, the role of a "blade runner" was effectively that of a stone-cold killer operating under the color of law. Even in the opening crawl that moral quandary is pretty directly alluded to: "This was not called execution. It was called retirement."
I alway
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting sidebar (Score:2)
Genius was Crazy (Score:2)
Philip K Dick was a certifiable genius, but he was also certifiably insane.
Trying to comprehend his world is a lot of fun, but trying to understand his naming convention is to a certain extent an exercise in futility.
Re: (Score:2)
Can you certify someone as insane when they're tripping balls? If not, he wasn't certifiable :-P
Re: (Score:2)
Many people with mental issues self-medicate to varying degrees of success.
Re: (Score:2)
Substance induced psychosis is a thing, so yes.
Duh. Because it sounds cool. (Score:2)
This question is straight from the Captain Obvious department IMHO.
Besides, the "Blade Runners" are mentioned in a dialog in the opening scene.
Sand Spider... (Score:2)
The short version of the explanation:
From the movie "True Lies"
Faisil: [in a conference room in their counter terrorism sector] They call him the Sand Spider.
Spencer Trilby: Why?
Faisil: Probably because it sounds scary.
i.e. because it sounds cool.
Because it sounds cool. (Score:2)
Seriously, not everything has to have a detailed backstory.
Hollywood titles (Score:2, Interesting)
The work that goes into a title is huge. They engineer it like an OCD tweeker re-arranges toothpicks, or a rocket scientist tests his system for failure.
They have to be poetic. They have to have no less than 3 meanings relevant to different takes on the plot. It has to work in with key-phrases in the dialog, and imaging. They have to sell, and appeal to the right demographic. There are copyright and marketing issues.
A blade runner runs on the edge of a blade. Madness and genius. The razors edge. Wha
Wait, this is a question? (Score:5, Interesting)
I had always assumed (I suppose without justification) that this was a direct reference to all of the sci-fi/horror (e.g. the Thing) in which the humans run a blade across their hand or body to show that they have flesh and bleed, and are thus truly human and not a robot.
This was probably a reasonable tactic for early replicants that may have used more artificial components or a blood-like substance that was less like blood. Later replicants were "more human than human", but the name would stick for the group that was meant to ferret out replicants amongst the human population.
I always liked that origin as it implied some very interesting, untold replicant horror stories.
the one who makes the blade to run (on the skin) (Score:2)
I always assumed that name as a synonym of 'assassin'. (blade runner = making the blade to run on someone's skin)
DERP! (Score:2)
My assumption (Score:2)
I'd assumed "blade runner" was a reference to that act, trying to run along a sharp edge, being extremely difficult and dangerous, as was identifying and terminating replications.
Alan E. Nourse (Score:2)
I remember Alan E. Nourse's medicine-centric science fiction as uniformly excellent. The man could write, and, being an M.D., he knew medicine, too. His novel The Bladefunner was first published as a series of short stories and novelettes in Analog that were later reworked into a novel.
I also read his non-fiction book The Intern (although, because it was published under a pseudonym, I had no idea it was by Alan Nourse). As I recall it was something of a bestseller. I found it engrossing. It was really the f
SKIN JOBS (Score:2)
I've never read the book. From the book title I assumed the androids were mechanical robots with rubbery skins. In the film, Deckard refers to them as "skin jobs", and this reinforced my original assumption.
Hence, running a blade meaning to (obviously metaphorically) slice off their skins, and thus reveal their true nature.
Interestingly, in "The Terminator II", Arnold slices open his organic skin with a large knife, to prove that he's a robot underneath.
I figure that the idea was so compelling that Scott ke
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, I stand corrected, it was Deckard's *commander* that used the term "skin jobs", and Deckard was clearly disgusted by the term. That's an important distinction, since Deckard may have been a replicant himself, among many other reasons.
Am I the only one who read Jeter's sequel? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
it was much more loosely based. The big scandal in the book was that replicants were treated differently, but one of their big radio Icons was revealed to be a replicant and it was part of an underground movement for acceptance. What happened in Blade Runner is basically a story that takes place during the universe created by Philip K Dick. The protagonist ends up sleeping with one of the replicants (they used relationships and sex as tools to gain equal status). The 'electric sheep' actually appears in th
Re: (Score:2)
The protagonist ends up sleeping with one of the replicants (they used relationships and sex as tools to gain equal status)
This event happens in both, but in the book it makes more sense because Rachel and Pris are the same model of replicant. Rachel sleeps with Deckard to try to make him feel empathy towards Pris, so that he'll hesitate before shooting her.
Re: (Score:2)
You didn't even READ the summary!!!
Re:I can't even remember now... (Score:4)
That is actually a screenplay version of the earlier novel. In any event, "blade runner" refers to smugglers of medical supplies (like, scalpels). I have to admit, it is a cool name.
Re: (Score:3)
In any event, "blade runner" refers to smugglers of medical supplies (like, scalpels). I have to admit, it is a cool name.
Or, now, people who smuggle servers (computers, not waiters).
Re: (Score:3)
(computers, not waiters).
Hey, when I tell a waiter that "this knife is dirty, I want another", I sure as heck expect him to be snappy in getting me a clean one. That makes him a blade runner, too.
Re: (Score:2)
Hey, when I tell a waiter that "this knife is dirty, I want another", I sure as heck expect him to be snappy in getting me a clean one. That makes him a blade runner
In that case Podrick Payne is a blade runner too...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
"this knife is dirty, I want another"
I will not buy this record, it is scratched. Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Ah. You read the write-up.
Or not.
Re: (Score:3)
No, Blade Runner does not occur in the original book. I think Ridley Scott or whoever titled the movie got it from a completely unrelated book and used it just because they liked the name. Ok, found it. Author of unrelated book is William S. Burroughs.
Uh, why are you repeating information that is in the summary, instead of just scrolling up to read it (or better yet, actually reading TFA)?
Summarizing the summary: The title came from the book The Bladerunner [kirkusreviews.com] by Alan Nourse, as adapted into an unproduced screenplay by William S. Burroughs.
And Nourse's _Blade Runer_ was excellent. (Score:5, Interesting)
The author was actually Alan E. Nourse, and Burroughs wrote a film adaptation from it.
And Nourse's _Blade Runer_ was excellent.
Setting: Dystopia with eugenics gone wrong: If you want to get medical treatment (from the official sources) you have to get sterilized, too. So there's an underground of illegal doctors, surgeons, etc. (A "Blade runner" is a courier for a supplier of loaner surgical kits.)
Along comes a really nasty flu - with essentially 100% lethaltity if you don't get an immunization. Oops! Complications ensue.
(This is becoming topical again, with the government taking control of medical care and both parties using it for social policy implementation. Though the original Eugenics craze went away when the NAZIs ran it into the ground, some of its ideas are resurfacing.)
Re: And Nourse's _Blade Runer_ was excellent. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
In my primary care practice in the US, we’ve been asking about firearms since I started (in the Clinton administration). Not by government mandate or guideline, but suggestions from specialty societies, like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians. We sit around in meetings and discuss this sort of stuff a couple of times a month and it gets added to the (ever lengthening) questionnaire.
This, in turn, is based on . Here’s your top 10 for 2014: [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:3)
[2014 numbers]... 33,594 [deaths] by firearms, most of that accidental. (Out of 15.872 homicides, 11,008 were by firearms, so two thirds of firearms deaths are accidents.)
the 2013 numbers on wikipedia have almost ALL the non-homicide deaths due to suicide, a small fraction due to accident:
Re: (Score:2)
Police usually report a suicide as an accident, both to save the feelings of the family members and to help them avoid difficulty collecting on any life insurance. (Suicide voids a life insurance policy, so the family may both lose a loved one and be impoverished if the police or coroner's report mentions the "s" word in the cause-of-death slot.)
You should stop pretending like you know what you're talking about. [ct.gov]
The federal 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prohibits discrimination against a person covered by a group health insurance policy based on health factors (29 USC 1182). Interim final regulations interpreting the law specifies that a health insurance plan cannot exclude coverage for an injury resulting from a medical condition, whether physical or mental, if it is an injury the policy would otherwise cover (26 C.F.R. 54.9802-1T(b)(2)(iii)).
Self-inflicted injuries, such as injuries resulting from attempted suicide, are presumed to be the result of a mental illness, such as depression, and therefore coverage for treatment of self-inflicted injuries cannot be excluded, according to Insurance Department staff. The only exception is if the person is covered by an individual policy that excludes coverage for pre-existing conditions and the person had a prior history of mental illness. (For more information on HIPAA and prior medical conditions, see the enclosed OLR report, 2003-R-0778.)
Re: (Score:2)
What does health insurance have to do with anything? After a successful suicide your health insurance coverage isn't going to matter anymore.
What will matter is the caveats in your *life insurance* policy. And I'm willing to bet there's no regulations preventing such limitations there - "buy expensive life insurance policy and off yourself" would otherwise be an *excellent* way for conscientious folks at the end of their rope to help their families immensely while relieving their own suffering. In fact, I
Re: (Score:2)
whether they're above board or not, I've also been asked that. And felt that my refusal to reply was probably marked as a "yes".
Thus the Seattle-Vancouver study was repudiated (Score:2)
the solution is to just say 'nope - never seen a gun in my life'.
And in the gun culture it's considered moral to lie in that way to such an improper question, even by people who consider lying to be improper in essentially every other context. (If somebody is asking that, the assumption is the information may be used for is to enable confiscating the gun(s), leaving the family defenceless. So telling the truth is enabling crime and/or tyranny.)
This, by the way, is why Kellerman's Seattle-Vancouver study w
Re: (Score:2)
even by people who consider lying to be improper in essentially every other context.
I'm sorry, I am having a really hard time.. having observed this country first-hand for all of my adult life... believing there is any significant number of Americans who value honesty so highly. Plenty who give it lip service, plenty who scream invectives about something that was dishonest only when it suits them, but I've found even the more "law-abiding and decent" people have no qualms, for example, about returning the latest gadget which they dropped on the floor days after purchasing it as a DOA. Mo
Re: And Nourse's _Blade Runer_ was excellent. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Does fear matter more than human life? (Score:3)
And guess what, your doctor is very likely to ask you about your alcohol intake too. According to a medical friend of mine they also tend to double what the patient says
Re:And Nourse's _Blade Runer_ was excellent. (Score:5, Funny)
If you want to get medical treatment (from the official sources) you have to get sterilized, too.
I think that's also in the recent Republican ACA repeal and replace plans.
Re: (Score:3)
Our Government set up a programme for voluntary sterlisation for benficaries however the take up rate has been very, very low. 10's of people over a number of years in a country with a pop of 5M+.
You really need to get out more.
Re: (Score:3)
Setting: Dystopia with eugenics gone wrong:
Still waiting for a "eugenics gone right" story..
Re: (Score:2)
Still waiting for a "eugenics gone right" story..
Aren't we all? B-b
Re: (Score:2)
You're confusing "genetics" (the overall science of genes and their manipulation) with "eugenics" (the attempt to "improve" human populations by such means as selective breeding and culling of "defectives".)
Gattaca once the patent expires (Score:2)
Still waiting for a "eugenics gone right" story..
It'd probably take place 20 years after a Gattaca-like scenario, once the patent on editing deleterious alleles out of germline chromosomes has expired, and the procedure becomes affordable to the working class.
Re: (Score:2)
editing deleterious alleles out of germline chromosomes
I don't think that will be that popular (on humans). Embyro selection - which is what they actually appear to use in Gattaca - on the other hand will probably be common place.
I do think gene editing in agricultural plants and animals will be common, but it's pretty risky and expensive compared to just sequencing a bunch of embryos and picking the good ones (in most cases).
Re: (Score:2)
Embryo selection though runs afoul of all the same objections as early-term abortion - a choice that's usually emotionally fraught even for most of those who completely support it's legality. Basically it's parallel abortion on a massive scale. From the movie "you could conceive naturally a thousand times, and never get such a result", which of course implies that more than a thousand fertilizations occurred, and all but the chosen one were terminated.
An alternative hypothetical option is gamete selection
Re: (Score:2)
In my Head Canon I've always assumed he had a heart attack from the rocket launch.
Re: (Score:2)
Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is arguably that. Not to the extent of breeding supermen, but her showcase liberal utopia (Beta Colony) does prescreen for and fix genetic defects, and people can get a "certified clean genes" certificate if they want to. It's implied that the same technology is broadly used on other developed worlds in the universe.
Furthermore, there's a case of an "eugenics done wrong" transitioning to "eugenics done right" in the books, as well. The primary setting - a backwards planet of Barraya
Re: (Score:2)
Why deal with hypotheticals and FUD. Move to one of the many developed countries that has universal healthcare and experience it yourself. Heathcare actually works in a lot of places once freed from the shackles of the market.
Re: (Score:3)
We have government run health care in the United States. Its called the VA and a review of the headlines of the operation of the VA over the last decade or so shows why Americans are suspicious about government run healthcare.
Reviewing headlines about anything is a terrible way to learn anything of substance.
You can also see how many Canadians seek treatment abroad. That bastion of the alt-right, the Huffington Post claims 50,000 Canadians crossed the border to seek treatment in the U.S. even though they had to pay for it themselves. They claim patients are waiting up to 20 weeks for medically necessary procedures.
Actually, that number comes from the Fraser institute, and I'm not sure if it's trustworthy because I've caught them telling lies to further their right-wing political goals before. The Chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare has inidcated that she believes there are a lot of flaws in teh way the Fraser Institute reached it numbers. Additionally, the number may be misleading because it's measured from the time from when you
Re: (Score:2)
But Nourse wrote an entirely different story. Why would the title of Nouse's story be used in the movie?
Re: (Score:2)
Blade runner is a noun and a verb.
No. Both are nouns.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Proper Noun? (Score:4, Informative)
You and https://slashdot.org/~Tale+Sur... [slashdot.org] may both be right from different points of view. It seems you may have intended a different context from the actual context of the person to whom you replied.
"Bladerunner" is a noun.
"Blade runner" is a noun phrase.
However, the grandparent post to yours was saying that "blade" is a noun and "runner" is a verb. Tale Surovi quoted that and said "No. Both are nouns.".
Both "blade" and "runner" are in fact nouns. The root "run" would commonly be a verb (although it can be a noun in "going for a run"). The form "runner", being defined as "one who runs" is a noun.
I know this is "THE INTERNET" and people don't like to take the time to be thorough. However, if you're taking enough time to be pedantic in the comments try to take enough time to read two whole comments consisting of a total of four short lines of text before correcting someone who is already correct.
HTH. HAND.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
And backups.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
purely a guess, but perhaps Ridley Scott drew a parallel between this dystopia of a dying world painted by Philip K Dick, and its off world colonies, and the dying world in the book about universal healthcare where everyone is being culled via sterilization?
Re: (Score:2)
No. I'm happy with my non-blade legs and feet. Is he really better off than you?
Re: (Score:2)
The assistant's name is Paging. The office manager is named Stat.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I am serious... and don't call me Shirley.
Re: (Score:2)
Who's the doctor attending today?
Re: (Score:3)
"No, he's the doctor. Doctor Nourse."
No, me doctor, you Mr. Bertenshaw.
Re: (Score:2)
I think the cop retiring androids was merely a sub plot for android acceptance and people have really screwed our planet up to the point the animals are all dying
Re: (Score:2)
with only a couple exceptions, damn near _every_ Philip K Dick story has been renamed and often changed to only be loosely based in the real story.
Some exceptions:
A scanner darkly - damn near the exact same story. Also a really fucked up thing to do to a cop just to figure out where the drug was being grown.
Imposter - very close to the same, then again it was a pretty short story
Radio Free Albemuth - I didnt get to see this one but the summary sounds nearly the same as my memory of the book
Im still waiting