Author: James Blish
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Science fiction
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ISBNs:
9780879970949
0879970944 |
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This strange book isn't well known but it's one of the most interesting & mind boggling novels ever written. It mixes the paranormal with sf & stretches the limits of the imagination without becoming implausible or scientifically unacceptable. The Swedish title was "World of the Birds".
An accident propels the mind of the young astrophysicist John Martels 23,000 years into the future, the midsummer century. Note that according to this novel the mind is a complex self aware electromagnetic field. His mind emerges in the brain-case of a future being with a powerful mind, the so called Qvant.
Human civilization has fallen & repeatedly risen. Both humans & birds have evolved. Birds have evolved into telepathic beings seeking to exterminate their main rivals: humans. Human descendents of the 250th century have paranormal powers but are death oriented & haven't developed an advanced civilization. They're not even interested in organized resistance. John Martel is thrust into a fight for the continued existence of his own mind as well as a fight for the existence of humanity & that without being able to use his own physical body. In an odd way this novel also succeeds to fuse the reincarnation of the mind with the rebirth of civilization.
The book is full of sharp & unusual visualizations & descriptions. If someone would attempt to illustrate this novel it would make some quite interesting art. If the art of Boris Vallejo could be added we would get a very interesting item. If you're not into otherworldly & strange stories you may want to pick a more typical sf novel.
An objection to this book is that Martel being captive in a brain case for so many years with no sensory input except a mostly static scene, should've gone crazy. To that I say that he was captive in a brain designed for this purpose & the chemical imbalances or neurological adaptations that would cause insanity weren't necessarily there. If we swallow all the implausible stuff in other sf novels, why not this? The mother of all implausibilities, the totally implausible & also illogical concept of time travel backwards in time & place wasn't allowed in this book. Note also that Martels wasn't stuck in the brain case the whole time.--Thomas Wikman (edited)
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