Editing They'd Rather Be Right (section)

==Reception and significance==

''They'd Rather Be Right'' somewhat controversially won the [[Hugo Award]] for best novel in 1955, the second Hugo ever presented for a novel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1955-hugo-awards/|title=1955 Hugo Awards|date=26 July 2007|publisher=|accessdate=8 August 2016}}</ref>

In a brief 1982 review of a contemporary reprint of the novel, author [[David Langford]] wrote that "though it contains an interesting idea, the book seems an implausible award-winner. It's fine (...) to postulate a machine giving immortality, youth and a perfect complexion to those and only those who can cast aside preconceptions and prejudices (...) The idea, though, is flattened into the ground by the authors' reluctance to do the work which would make it convincing."<ref>{{cite web|last=Langford|first=David|title=Mark Clifton and Frank Riley: They'd Rather Be Right|url=http://ansible.co.uk/writing/ratherbe.html|publisher=Ansible}}</ref>

Langford has also addressed [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] attributing ''They'd Rather Be Right''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s win to [[Scientology]], saying it is more likely that Clifton was popular for his short stories.<ref name=RottenApple/>

''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'' reviewer Floyd C. Gale faulted the novel, saying, "although a passably workmanlike job, loose ends outnumber neat knits in this yarn."<ref name="glxsf58">{{cite news |first=Floyd C. |last=Gale |title=Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf |work=[[Galaxy Science Fiction]] |url=https://archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1958-07/Galaxy_1958_07#page/n107/mode/2up |date=July 1958 |page=107}}</ref>

In 2008 [[Sam Jordison]] described the novel as "appalling," the "worst ever winner [of the Hugo Award]," and "a basic creative writing 'how not to,'" saying that its win "by public vote (...) raises serious questions about the value of a universal franchise."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/jan/29/aliteraryargumentagainstde |title=A literary argument against democracy |first=Sam |last=Jordison |authorlink=Sam Jordison |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=29 January 2008}}</ref> Similarly, [[Lawrence Watt-Evans]] has noted that ''They'd Rather Be Right'' is "the usual [book] cited" as the "worst book ever to win [the Hugo Award]",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.arts.sf.written/msg/5fe7e3c8698a1d05?hl=en&dmode=source|title=Google Groups|publisher=|accessdate=8 August 2016}}</ref> and [[Rick Cook (writer)|Rick Cook]] responded to the question of "Is the book any good?" with "No," going on to explain that it originated as "one of those tailored-to-order serials for the old ''[[Astounding]]''. Sometimes those things worked and sometimes they didn't. This one didn't."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.arts.sf.written/msg/83991e83e92b0ad6?hl=en&dmode=source|title=Google Groups|publisher=|accessdate=8 August 2016}}</ref>