The Survival Game

This is an amiable old-fashioned sf novel, vaguely reminiscent of Asimov's Foundation trilogy in its overall scenario, in which the upstart Terrans take on the role of the Foundation and outsmart the old-fashioned star kings who dominate the galaxy. In the survival game of the title, a resourceful Terran is tricked and dumped on a hostile planet, where his struggle for survival is described in some detail.

The book makes quite a pleasant read if you like old-fashioned sf and don't expect too much.

The galaxy as described is populated entirely with humans, despite Terrans being upstart newcomers. There was a long-gone galactic civilization with a higher technology than anyone has now, so presumably everyone (including the Terrans) is descended from its people, but the author doesn't say so explicitly.

The hero of this story does some incidental tricks with chemistry that are beyond my understanding—which doesn't take much doing. I studied chemistry at school for only two years, long ago, and never gained much understanding of it. Don't worry, tricks with chemistry are only a small part of the story.