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astroneatly's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
It’s fair to say that homo sapien is more than animal. Right? We’ve crossed that boundary between the primitive ingenuity and the supersonic coagulation of antimatter… half world bender. You live inside your head. I have one too. Peering out of my eyes is kinda like molten metal. It’s malleable reality. Some defy logic, and I explain it away as a thaumaturgical bend. Theodore Sturgeon explains that, Yes, it’s like that for all of us. 🧐
“I said logic, mind; I didn’t say ‘correctness’ or ‘rightness’ or ‘justice’ or anything of the sort. Logic and truth are two very different things, but they often look the same to the mind that’s performing the logic.”
But we have a new Being. It’s nonbinary, facilitating the dualities. They are Homo Gestalt, they share a group of bodies, a group of memories. They embody multiples, they aren’t singular. They can teleport, they can read minds, they have telekinetic power. They can do all this and more. They can predict. They can ascertain. They can’t obey the ethics of the human… because they are the only one of their kind. They live alone, so isolated in fact they are a lab experiment. Can they even trust the psychiatrist, the only one who is anything like they are?
“Psychiatry attacks the onion of the self, removing layer after layer until it gets down to the little sliver of unsullied ego.”
This was a weird book. It won a Hugo award apparently, which is pretty impressive! It WAS thought provoking, with a creepy stranger things vibe going on… not a lot to say though I just think some people are way more than they admit they are. I’m very human, and I sense the dumbing down of reality. I walk in the city street and it reeks of shit, the people are always telling you what to do, you can’t just live free, you can’t follow your own rules because somebody with more authority than you can just as easily shut you up. The people I prefer to be around are the rebels, and especially the ones with imagination… they think far bigger, far brighter, than the fate decreed them. That’s why I choose to believe, if you oscillate time just a hair, a fraction of it changes. Everything depends on time. And time is pretty much relative. 😐
“I said logic, mind; I didn’t say ‘correctness’ or ‘rightness’ or ‘justice’ or anything of the sort. Logic and truth are two very different things, but they often look the same to the mind that’s performing the logic.”
But we have a new Being. It’s nonbinary, facilitating the dualities. They are Homo Gestalt, they share a group of bodies, a group of memories. They embody multiples, they aren’t singular. They can teleport, they can read minds, they have telekinetic power. They can do all this and more. They can predict. They can ascertain. They can’t obey the ethics of the human… because they are the only one of their kind. They live alone, so isolated in fact they are a lab experiment. Can they even trust the psychiatrist, the only one who is anything like they are?
“Psychiatry attacks the onion of the self, removing layer after layer until it gets down to the little sliver of unsullied ego.”
This was a weird book. It won a Hugo award apparently, which is pretty impressive! It WAS thought provoking, with a creepy stranger things vibe going on… not a lot to say though I just think some people are way more than they admit they are. I’m very human, and I sense the dumbing down of reality. I walk in the city street and it reeks of shit, the people are always telling you what to do, you can’t just live free, you can’t follow your own rules because somebody with more authority than you can just as easily shut you up. The people I prefer to be around are the rebels, and especially the ones with imagination… they think far bigger, far brighter, than the fate decreed them. That’s why I choose to believe, if you oscillate time just a hair, a fraction of it changes. Everything depends on time. And time is pretty much relative. 😐
panycanela's review against another edition
5.0
Lo mejor es leer este libro sin saber nada.
Hacía muchísimo que no me metía tanto en un libro, leyendo y leyendo sin cansarme.
Es increíble como combina de una manera tan hermosa una historia dónde la trama nunca te deja separarte de las página, donde siempre ocurre algo, y tantas reflexiones e indagamientos filosoficos sobre el ser humano, sobre la vida, la soledad....
Es un libro que voy a releer mil veces, tanto por sus personajes tan entrañables, como por el sentimiento de que cada página te deja con un nuevo pensamiento sobre o modo de ver la vida(no se explicarme)
Amé este libro, definitivamente mi favorito.
Hacía muchísimo que no me metía tanto en un libro, leyendo y leyendo sin cansarme.
Es increíble como combina de una manera tan hermosa una historia dónde la trama nunca te deja separarte de las página, donde siempre ocurre algo, y tantas reflexiones e indagamientos filosoficos sobre el ser humano, sobre la vida, la soledad....
Es un libro que voy a releer mil veces, tanto por sus personajes tan entrañables, como por el sentimiento de que cada página te deja con un nuevo pensamiento sobre o modo de ver la vida(no se explicarme)
Amé este libro, definitivamente mi favorito.
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
2.0
Moments of interesting storytelling and other moments of terrible storytelling. This is a “fix up” novel done in three parts and you can definitely tell where the original story began and then other filler was added on. The addition of the nonsensical and frankly ridiculous beginning called The Idiot was completely unnecessary in my opinion. Not one of my favorite classics (or Masterworks) by any means.
ranforingus's review against another edition
5.0
Wow!
After two days of just letting the story sink in, that's still the only thing I can come up with.
I have definitely found a new favourite author!
At first, the story was a little difficult to get into, but if you persevere.... Mind = blown.
There's not a lot that I can say about this book without spoiling it, but one thing that it does extraordinarily well is make you think... Long and hard. About topics you wouldn't normally give too much thought to.
I couldn't read this book in one sitting, there were too many implications, too many pieces of this gigantic puzzle that kept slotting into place that it was impossible NOT to ponder over it like a philosopher and bask in the awesome feeling that there's more to come and that things will get even MORE complicated.
While the actual content of the book was a lot different than what I'd expected at first, it didn't bother me at all. Instead, this story and these characters grow on you. The mystery clings to you until you finally uncover exactly what happened over the course of the story, the order in which it happened, and what the implications are for all of the characters.
I may sound like a blabbering fool, but this book tickled all the right places in my brain so I don't care. I truly hope to find more stories like these!
Over and Out!
After two days of just letting the story sink in, that's still the only thing I can come up with.
I have definitely found a new favourite author!
At first, the story was a little difficult to get into, but if you persevere.... Mind = blown.
There's not a lot that I can say about this book without spoiling it, but one thing that it does extraordinarily well is make you think... Long and hard. About topics you wouldn't normally give too much thought to.
I couldn't read this book in one sitting, there were too many implications, too many pieces of this gigantic puzzle that kept slotting into place that it was impossible NOT to ponder over it like a philosopher and bask in the awesome feeling that there's more to come and that things will get even MORE complicated.
While the actual content of the book was a lot different than what I'd expected at first, it didn't bother me at all. Instead, this story and these characters grow on you. The mystery clings to you until you finally uncover exactly what happened over the course of the story, the order in which it happened, and what the implications are for all of the characters.
I may sound like a blabbering fool, but this book tickled all the right places in my brain so I don't care. I truly hope to find more stories like these!
Over and Out!
squaternutbosch's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jmcook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
tstevens3's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
benchedforairbud's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
badseedgirl's review against another edition
4.0
Like the "gestalt man" in this novel, each part of this book would be incomplete without the other parts. I'm not sure if I agree with the authors beliefs on morality, but I greatly enjoyed this novel. More Than Human would almost be timeless, except for the some of the terms, which date it, "mongoloid" and "negroid" being the most obvious examples. But for a novel written 62 years ago, it holds up exceedingly well.
shalini_gunnasan's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing!! I really couldn't put down this book. What an interesting theory, and such a hopeful ending.