Read it in about 2010. It was sort of fun if I remember. ( )

Terrific start to the series, fast funny and thought provoking all at once ( )

Harrison, Harry. The Stainless Steel Rat. Stainless Steel Rat No. 1 (Publication order). 1961. Orion, 1998.
The Stainless Steel Rat, which began life in 1957 as a story in Analog, was a breakout novel for Harry Harrison. It added a level of wit and satire to the heroic science fiction adventure narrative. He had done a little of the same for the planetary adventure in Deathworld (1960) and in Bill the Galactic Hero (1965), he would have even more fun with military science fiction just months after the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. The Stainless Steel Rat, a.k.a., Slippery Jim diGriz, is not an urbane spy in the matter of Ian Fleming; rather, he is a career criminal recruited by an intelligence agency for his criminal skills. Harrison was a good storyteller and always added something extra to the pulp science fiction tropes. Still fun after all these years. 4 stars. ( )

Despite being written over 50 years ago, was still a current and interesting story. Classic SF never goes out of date. Essentially the story of a criminal mastermind in a post scarcity galactic culture, lots of interesting tech, interpersonal, and organizational politics. ( )

Great story. It moves along at a good pace. There is a lot of "and then something magically appears or is aquired", but it doesn't detract from the story. The main character is a combination of Simon Templar and James Bond set in a science fiction universe. ( )