The first adult novel by Poul Anderson, Brain Wave. His first book was Vault of the Ages - a "Winston Juvenile" the year before (in 1953.) Part one of a serial version titled "The Escape" was published in Space Science Fiction September 1953, but the magazine folded before any more parts came out. This is one of Anderson's novels that you should not miss.

Plot summary excerpted from a review in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction September 1954: "That one wholly satisfactory novel is Poul Anderson's Brain Wave... - and it is good enough to stand beside earlier entries by Asimov, Clement, and Pangborn as a serious candidate for Novel of the Year. The premise, fantastic enough but plausibly presented, is the removal of an inhibitory field which has restricted neuronic response on this earth, so that I.Q.'s zoom suddenly to a norm of around 500, while morons reach an easy 150 and the brighter animals begin to attain the lower levels of former humanity. Anderson has worked out in wonderfully logical detail the consequences of this assumption, never falling into the trap of thinking that I.Q. alone is the answer to everything; and he has - as F&SF readers would inevitably expect of him - advanced his speculations with exciting storytelling and moving characterization. This is Mr. Anderson's debut in the adult novel..., and as welcome a debut as I've witnessed in several years. [-Anthony Boucher]