Another oldie from my engineering undergraduate period (1980-85). This was the time I was really getting hooked on SF, but still was not fully able to capture all the unspoken nuances of the genre. The Public Library at Thrissur had a fantastic collection of old books - SF, mystery, almost all of Wodehouse and Agatha Christie, books on mathematics by Martin Gardner: all old, musty, almost-falling-apart books. The library itself is located in the Town Hall, a colonial building with cavernous room...

review of John Brunner's The Whole Man by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - February 22, 2012 John Brunner is growing on me.. like that mildew on the dragon in Choong's fantasy.. not like a disease but like a thorough level of detail.. This is the 3rd bk I've read by him. In the beginning there was The World Swappers ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... ), wch I thought was pretty good but I wasn't exactly overwhelmed or anything; then there was Times Without Number ( http://www.goodreads.com/b...

A Good Read. My only quibble It was originally three short stories. Although it was supposedly greatly revised, it still seems like three stories strung together. But don't let that get in the way of enjoying it.

Mind moves Matter (Mens agitat Golem). But what happens when one has to start backwards? That is the story of this book!The inner struggles of a powerfull projective telepathic man. Born deformed and crippled: “pretty much of a mess”, according to the doctor. His talent and his deformity will define his life. We follow him on his life’s journey to happiness: to become “a whole man”. Fascinating descriptions of Howson’s mind probing sessions when he tries to help people.It’s like being in a compu...

There were a lot of interesting things going on in this world besides having telepaths, but very little of it is SF. There isn't much tech at all & most of that is what would have been found in the 1970s. - The UN has response teams that go all over the world battling terrorism & it happens in 'Our Town, USA'.- Unwed mothers are still looked down upon & use pregnancy as a trap for men.- The poverty, inequity, & grim, daily grind of this typical US city.- Ulan Bator (Mongolia) is now the headquar...

1960s era telepathy science fiction.There were way too many science fiction novels about telepathy in the 1950s and 1960s but a few stand out as unique and interesting even today, such as Gordon R. Dickson's "The Pritcher Mass". I think Brunner's "The Whole Man" can be added to that list as well. It made me think about the idea of telepathy in a new light.The novel is composed of two short stories and a novella that together tell a sequential story about Gerald Howson; born poor, deformed, and s...

At some places, this is too heavy and too introspective. Other sections are intense and gripping. The main issue with the novel is its inconsistency - I do remember it being a fix-up novel of sorts, which may account for some of the scattered quality. Brunner's tossing Freud all around is a little too obnoxious for me. But I did enjoy the very telepath-and-society sort of relationship that is constantly explored throughout this novel.I have a little reservation about this being four-stars becaus...

Excellent. But I think I read this as another story somewhere before.

Three and a half stars.A good science fiction novel to add to the podium of great telepathy novels, along with "The Demolished Man" and "Dying inside".

#shortreview for Instagram: I finished reading the Telepathist this morning. It was a sad and rather brutal novel, about a man whose physical deformities enable him to develop powerful mental capabilities (telepathy, in this case). There's some dystopian-esque spy stuff going on in the background but the story is heavily character centric, with an unflinching examination of the ways in which society simultaneously exploits and abandons disabled individuals. Some of the language would likely be c...

Akin to Sturgeon's More Than Human with its telepathic themes, and brimming with the seeds of Brunner's future masterpiece Zanzibar, The Whole Man promises much, but too straggly to deliver.

Brunner has always been one of those British authors who has been a bit Marmite for me.There have been highbrow and detailed dystopian futures (Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up), predictive futures (the internet, computer viruses in 'The Shockwave Rider') and considerable other work of space opera and poorly received works like 'Children of the Tunder'.'The Telepathist' came before the magnum opus of 'Zanzibar' and 'Sheep' and feels like an author trying to make his way with something new.Th...

I usually shy away from telepathy in sci-fi as, well, the notion just seems too fantastic. This book is the first I've read that offers an explanation (of sorts) of why some people are telepathic, but also looks at the social consequences of all involved (like good sci-fi is supposed to). Some of it is rather dated and the ending is rather abrupt but the book remains a refreshing take on the subject.

Grade B+.

A book with incredible ideas born of an amazing imagination. John Brunner's mind is so big on the inside, it's like a cavernous Hall full of different displays of all different sorts from all different fields. Here he has taken on writing about telepaths, but not the ordinary ideas about telepathy, where the telepath is horrified with the thoughts of the humans around. This story takes the subject of telepathy further steps.I wonder at the thinking processes of our pets when I read this paragrap...

Storyline: 2/5Characters: 3/5Writing Style: 4/5World: 3/5Brunner starts this off with focus. The writing is vivid and tight, conveying an aura as much as a story. The picture of the world is closely guarded; grudging glimpses are permitted only sporadically and under close supervision. A grey fog of angst, deprivation, uncertainty pervades the telling - is the story. This was supposed to be a character-driven work, and there were some valid attempts to peer deeply into personal ambitions and fea...

The British science-fiction author John Brunner is best known for writing quite a few stories that were basically cyberpunk avant la lettre. I can definitely see the inspiration here in his "Telepathist" published in 1965. The plot takes place in a future where the UN employs a corps of psychics as problem-solvers that are the only thing holding the corrupt and war-ridden world together. The storyline follows a deformed young man named Gerry Howson who is discovered to be the most powerful telep...

Not one of Brunner's best, partly because it hasn't aged as well as novels like The Sheep Look Up and Stand on Zanzibar. Telepathist explores one man's life as he discovers his latent telepathic power, in a future depression after some sort of terrorist event. Hawson, disabled from birth, has one of the strongest powers found, but can he develop it for good?Brunner's characterisation and way of looking at telepathy is more interesting than many novels, but I just wasn't taken by this as much as

A solid effort from Brunner, a uniformly intelligent and engaging story of a deformed telepath. As depressing some of the material is, the book has an unusually positive (if melancholy) vibe to it. Quick, fine read.

A pulpier, more straightforward read than Stand on Zanzibar. Not bad, but not as rewarding, especially on rereading.