Un Silverberg minore. Bella l'idea della trasmissibilità della personalità (con relativi conflitti) solo per ricconi in una società ipercapitalistica: troppo sesso inutile - ma siamo alla fine degli anni Sessanta - e vicende secondarie poco interessanti relegano però il libro a passatempo estivo con passaggi da Dynasty futuribile. ( )

Read in my quest to read as much by writers who are guests at LonCon3 before attending said convention.

In the future it is relatively easy (but expensive) to make a copy of your mind. Rich people make these copies every 6 months or so. When they die, their back-up minds can be implanted in a living person. This second mind lives next to the already present mind(s), enhancing it with more experience and a different out look on things. A good collection of minds can really enhance a person, so it is no wonder that when financial wizard Paul Kaufmann dies, several people want his mind, including his rival in business, John Roditis.
The story follows John's quest for the mind of Paul, but also Mark Kaufmann, Paul's nephew and heir, who tries to prevent Roditis from getting Paul's mind, and maybe try to get it (illegally, for he is family) for himself. And then there is Risa, Mark's daughter, 16 and begging to get an extra mind of her own. When she gets it, she gets dragged into a murder investigation that also has implications for John, Mark and Paul's mind.

This novel mixes a game of power, a murder mystery and science fiction together, and does it quite enjoyably. The story never goes very deep, but I have a feeling I'm saying that just because I'm used to longer novels written nowadays, that have the space to go more in-depth into their characters and story lines. This novel from 1978 (my edition) holds up pretty well if you keep in mind the state of technology back then (no mobile phones, no internet etc.). A nice science fiction novel with a twist on a (for me, as a reader +35 years after this edition was published) familiar idea of downloading/uploading minds. Four out of five stars. ( )

This is another Silverberg book that that was first published in 1969 and has been sitting on my shelves for many years, which turned out to be a very interesting and enjoyable read. Eighty million personae from the one percent of humanity who are wealthy enough to take advantage of the Scheffing process are stored and available for transplant into those who can pay the price. Those lucky enough to receive the transplants, again only the extremely wealthy, can increase their wealth and status with the knowledge and skills of their additional personae. Transplanted personae are carnate within their hosts and communicate with them as well as with other transplanted personae that the host may have received. Strong personae can even take over the bodies of hosts who are not strong enough to maintain control. The story focuses on the greed and power-seeking behavior of already rich and powerful people who scheme and even use criminal actions to receive the powerful personae of the recently deceased. The story also proposed that the wealthy class, who have their personae recorded and deposited in the Scheffing Institute soul bank every six months, are comforted by the knowledge that they have achieved a kind of immortality through the almost certainty that their personae will be reincarnated through successive transplants in the future. It’s an interesting premise, which makes one wonder about the makeup of the human soul. Do thoughts and memories, including the values, ambitions and emotions, i.e., the personality, equal the soul? Silverberg’s book is thought provoking, but also keeps the reader interested though character development and action. I liked it very much. ( )

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