The S in SF stands at least as much for social as for science when it comes to this book. There’s a science part in that a scientist discovers an eternity serum. But more importantly, The Great Secret is about the social implications of such an eternity serum. Obviously, it hinges upon the issue of overpopulation which eternity would cause and its consequences of humanity ultimately fighting for survival in a world where too many humans fight for not enough resources.
The twist here is that the scientist discovers this early enough and approaches the world leaders of the time (it is set from the 1950’s to the 1970’s) who surprisingly act long-sighted enough to take action and either isolate or eliminate everybody who took this serum. Because eternity is infectious. A very interesting twist in times of Corona when I read this. The first half of the book is a slow burn. You basically know what has been discovered but Barjavel doesn’t tell us explicitly and you are slogging through many many pages, hoping that finally you are getting told what’s going on and come to the interesting part. Once this happens, the social utopia starts. How could an isolated world look like where nobody dies and nothing degenerates. Quickly, the utopia falls apart and we are rather talking about a dystopia.
This setup is original and I like that Barjavel’s social science fiction that resulted. It has a 70’s vibe of liberalism and free love as well as a macho male slant which might turn off modern readers. This and the slow start hinder it from being an exceptional experience but still one of the more interesting SF stories worth a read.