"...of all Servis' novels, 'A Columbus of Space' is probably the most uncannily prophetic. Here the woodshed scientist unleashes nuclear energy from a substance derived from Uranium. He builds a spaceship powered by the new form of energy and travels to the planet Venus at a rate of twenty miles per second. The work does not limit itself merely to interplanetary travel, however. Servis describes two intelligent civilizations on Venus, one on the planet's light side, the other on its dark side, which are permanently separated by storm swept mountains of ice. Each culture, unaware of the other's existence, has adapted successfully to its environment."
                                               - from the introduction by A. Langley Searles