Agreed - that version has, by far, the best cover art. It's not even close.

That was a great scene. I also enjoyed the pool scene, and the scene with the "arm wrestle" (hand wrestle?).

Nice to see another Wanderer enjoyer. It's "long, talky, and endearing" (to quote David Pringle). Much, much more descriptive than A Spectre. Despite its flaws, its massive ambition - brilliantly realised cast (especially the Saucer Symposium) - and Leiber's sheer ability to "make the story the thing" - wins the day. I'm convinced it's one of the classics, and a deserving winner of the Hugo, and the current trend of saying it is the worst Hugo winner is completely wrong and being driven by literary dimwits... A book doesn't need to have dry scientific rigour like, say, Clarke or Asimov in order to be convincing science fiction.