Forgot the name of a book I read 20 years ago!

[eon31337]

Only bit I recall was a solo space pilot rummaging through ancient space war debris in orbit around a planet. He had some kind of mental ability to zone into certain pieces, like rare metals? Not too sure.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help pinpoint this book! Cheers

 

[dannymcg]

I'm getting faint memories of a short story by Vernon Vinge

 

[Cicero]

Sounds a bit like a David Brin story.

 

[eon31337]

Could be either of those. Any idea of a specific story? From memory the bit I remember from the story was at the beginning, no recollection of what happened after that.

 

[Cicero]

Could be either of those. Any idea of a specific story? From memory the bit I remember from the story was at the beginning, no recollection of what happened after that.

It's like trying to identify a symphony from a single bar.

 

[Westy]

Not Gateway by Frederik Pohl ?

 

[eon31337]

Cheers Westly, I had a look through the summary on Wiki, the story sounds very interesting but has bits like "they have to resort first to cannibalism, and if that is not enough, to suicide", definitely would have remembered that. And also the one I'm looking for is from a single persons perspective (from memory anyway).