Books I Like...

I don't read nearly as much as I should.  But I do read some.  I thought I might share a few of my favorites and why I like them.  You may agree or disagree with my assessments and that's OK.  I'll be posting them from time to time and they represent my opinions, and not necessarily those of my library or other staff members here.  Although they might want to post some recommendations of their own and I will put them up if they ask!

Recommendation #1:

New Cover

Title:                     More Than Human (originally published – 1953)

Author:                 Theodore Sturgeon

Catalog:               HPL does not own

Synopsis:

My copy has this cover

This is a 3 part short novel expanded from a couple of short stories.  (Sturgeon was primarily known for his short story writing.)  The novel is comprised of 3 parts: The Fabulous Idiot, Baby is Three, and Morality.  Over the course of the story, six extraordinary characters come together and “blesh” (a combination of “blend” and “mesh”) into homo gestalt – Sturgeon’s view of the next step in human evolution.

The book begins following the character “Lone” who has the telepathic ability to make people do what he wants.  He suffers various trials and ends up living in a shelter in the forest with 3 runaway children – one a telekinetic and a set of twins who possess the ability to teleport.  Over the course of the 3 sections of the novel, the characters gradually become aware that they have “bleshed” into a new form of human being – homo gestalt becomes self-aware, a new type of organism.  It isn’t until the final section however that homo gestalt is complete, receiving the final portion of its consciousness in the form a character that provides it with a conscience.

Why I like this novel:

First off, I am a fan of Science Fiction.  Sturgeon comes from that “Silver Age” of SF writers when unconventional themes were explored to the extreme and, to me at least, the real potential of science fiction was beginning to be realized.  No longer was an SF story simply a space opera with burly heroes, rockets and lasers, and oozing, evil alien beings.

Sturgeon had a fabulous way of writing – a gift for turning a phrase that I have found in precious few other writers.   In many ways, to me at least, he is more of a poet than anything else.   More Than Human stands out to me as a masterpiece in his body of work simply because he takes a story fitting his interests and writing style and expands it fully into one of his few attempts at novel-length fiction.   The idea that the next step in human evolution would be a mental one instead of a physical one appeals to me as well.