They Walked Like Men

De: Clifford D. Simak

Narrado por: Josh Innerst

A reporter uncovers a terrifying conspiracy, in this thrilling classic from a Science Fiction Grand Master.

After a night out on the town, Parker Graves returns home to life-threatening danger. The science reporter for the local newspaper barely misses a bear trap sitting on his doorstep. Then, the object transforms into what looks like a bowling ball and rolls off into the night all by itself. He begins to obsess over the question—Who put the trap there? And why?

The following day, there is strange news floating around at the newspaper office. Someone with limitless funds is buying up hundreds of homes and businesses, only to close them up and tear them down. People are running out of places to live and to work. Suddenly, Parker finds himself in the middle of a story nobody will believe . . .

Aliens? Dolls that walk like people? Talking dogs? With a little help from a fellow reporter and an unusual visitor, Parker just might be able to put a stop to this mess—if he survives.

©1962 Clifford D. Simak (P)2024 Tantor

A lesser known SciFi classic

Simak was a genius and ahead of his time. Enjoyed the narration. Hope to hear more of these lesser known (to modern readers anyway) SciFi classics.

Old Favorite

Corny hokey science fiction and I love it. Clifford D Simak was a reporter. His writing shows his craft. A fun read.

Dark whimsy and pre-psychedelic farce

I read this book decades ago, when I and the world alike were younger. Many tales don't age well; I can only hope I've aged half as well as this story. In retrospect, I'm reminded of the writing of Gaiman and some of Scalzi's lighter work, written over a Bradbury landscape: and that's no small praise.

An unusual alien invasions which is impossible to fight

What if aliens decided to invade and take over by simple buying the Earth. A reporter discovers that the people who seemingly buying the entire town are alien who resemble bowling balls. The aliens are not using weapons which humans can not resist. They are using their wealth to purchase everything in town. The twists and turns keep you guessing how will it end, will the aliens succeed and the humanity is doomed. The resolution is interesting and clever.

Best thing about this book is the title.

I hated this book.
Super shallow characters. No emotion. Reveals were not exciting. Things got really goofy really quickly while trying to still be creepy.
The title of this book is super cool, but only relates to what happens in the story a little bit. It should be called They Rolled like Balls. The title is completely wasted on this book.
l'm glad the author is dead so he doesn't have to see how much I hated this book. RIP
No disrespect to the narrator, but he sounds really similar to Travis Baldree, and I hate that guy's narration.

Possibly decent but killed by narration

This follows a trend that really bugs me - classic sci-fi being trivialized by modern narrators who read it like a children’s book using cartoonish voices. Yes, it’s quaint by today’s standards, but it’s not silly. And that’s what that treatment makes it. If it had been read in a serious more noir style this book may have even been chilling. But when it sounds like Mel Blanc narrating it’s hard for that to come across.