Preferred Risk

Preferred Risk is a dystopian science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey, written under the joint pseudonym Edson McCann. Set in a future society governed by insurance principles, the novel imagines a world in which human lives are evaluated strictly by actuarial risk. Individuals with incurable illnesses are placed in deep-freeze vaults, not as an act of mercy, but as a cost-effective deferral of responsibility. Blending social satire with speculative adventure, the novel offers a sharp critique of a culture that reduces human value to financial probability.

Hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, cloth-backed boards. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1955. #10673.
Near fine in near fine dust jacket.