Unfortunately for them they haven't progressed much beyond a technology level of our middle ages. Well, it actually works. Besides the above mentioned factors Code of the Lifemaker is actually a quite ordinary story about greed and oppression, but it's very well told and has a good mix of humour and dark satire. Written in 1978 and taking place a few of years from now, The Geneses Machine pretty much read as an alternative history story, even if it wasn't intended as such. I wouldn't say that Hogan predicts the fall of the Soviet Empire, but it's a rather daring prediction that I wouldn't have expected from a book from the 1970.
Basic research has nearly no founding unless it can show direct application to the war effort.
In steps Clifford, brilliant young math-wiz with a theory that not only explains all the problems with the old theories, but also shows that the world as we know it, is only a part of something bigger. Better characters than I had expected from Hogan and worth reading for the techno babble alone. I guess it didn't work. I've decided to review these three novels together, simply for the reason that they should be read that way together, and preferably back to back. Oh, and for one other reason it's very hard to review the second and third book in a trilogy without spoiling something in the first book and it's even harder with the third book.