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The Simultaneous Man: A Novel
Vintage paperback
- GenresScience FictionFiction
182 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
7 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Ralph H. Blum
34 books37 followersRalph Blum (5/1932-) is a writer and cultural anthropologist who has been working with the Runes as a tool for self-counselling since 1977.
One of three children born to silent film star, Carmel Myers, during her second marriage to husband Ralph Henriques Blum, Sr. (1893-1950) (Her first marriage was to Isidore Kornblum, which ended in divorce in 1923). Ralph Blum (Jr.), was also the nephew of Hollywood writer and director, Zion Myers, Carmel's older brother.
Blum studied at Harvard University (1950-1957). During this time, he also spent a period of time in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar, returned to Harvard, where he did graduate work in anthropology with grants from the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation, and finally earning a BA in Russian Studies and Anthropology, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.
He later studied Soviet Cinema at Leningrad University from 1961-1963. His reporting from the Soviet Union, the first of its kind for The New Yorker (1961-1965), included two three-part series on Russian cultural life.
In 1982, the modern usage of the runes for answering life's questions was apparently originated by Ralph Blum in his divination book The Book of Runes: A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle, which was marketed with a small bag of round tiles with runes stamped on them. This book has remained in print since its first publication. The sources for Blum's divinatory interpretations, as he explained in The Book of Runes itself, drew heavily on then-current books describing the ancient I Ching divination system of China.
Each of Blum's seven books on runic divination deals with a specialized area of life or a varied technique for reading runes:
The Book of Runes: A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle: The Viking Runes (1982); revised 10th Anniversary Edition (1992); revised 25th Anniversary Edition (2007).
The Rune Cards: Sacred Play for Self Discovery (1989); reissued as The Rune Cards: Ancient Wisdom For the New Millennium (1997). Rather than rune stones, this book uses images of the runes printed on card stock, much like a set of trading cards or tarot cards.
The Healing Runes with co-author Susan Loughan (1995) teaches methods for using runic divination in the context of health and personal integration.
Rune Play: A Method of Self Counseling and a Year-Round Rune Casting Recordbook (1996)
The Serenity Runes: Five Keys to the Serenity Prayer with co-author Susan Loughan (1998); reissued as The Serenity Runes: Five Keys to Spiritual Recovery (2005) utilizes runic divination as a method for assisting self-help and recovery from addictions; the title is a reference to the well-known serenity prayer widely used in the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Ralph H. Blum's Little Book of Runic Wisdom (2002).
The Relationship Runes: A Compass for the Heart with co-author Bronwyn Jones (2003) shows how to use runic divination in matters of love and friendship.
Blum has also written books on the Tao Te Ching, Zen Buddhism, and UFOs. His work has also been published in Readers Digest, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Saturday Evening Post, and Western Horseman. Blum also published three novels: The Simultaneous Man (1970), Old Glory and the Real-Time Freaks (1972), and The Foreigner. Both The Simultaneous Man and Old Glory... reflect his involvement in early drug research.
Recently, Blum won the Nautilus Book Award Medal for Investigative Reporting for his latest book, written in collaboration with oncologist Mark Scholz, MD, Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers. He has been living with prostate cancer, without radical intervention, for twenty years.
Ralph Blum currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and on Ikaria Island, Greece with his wife Jeanne Elizabeth Blum, an author in her own right, best known for her book Woman
One of three children born to silent film star, Carmel Myers, during her second marriage to husband Ralph Henriques Blum, Sr. (1893-1950) (Her first marriage was to Isidore Kornblum, which ended in divorce in 1923). Ralph Blum (Jr.), was also the nephew of Hollywood writer and director, Zion Myers, Carmel's older brother.
Blum studied at Harvard University (1950-1957). During this time, he also spent a period of time in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar, returned to Harvard, where he did graduate work in anthropology with grants from the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation, and finally earning a BA in Russian Studies and Anthropology, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.
He later studied Soviet Cinema at Leningrad University from 1961-1963. His reporting from the Soviet Union, the first of its kind for The New Yorker (1961-1965), included two three-part series on Russian cultural life.
In 1982, the modern usage of the runes for answering life's questions was apparently originated by Ralph Blum in his divination book The Book of Runes: A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle, which was marketed with a small bag of round tiles with runes stamped on them. This book has remained in print since its first publication. The sources for Blum's divinatory interpretations, as he explained in The Book of Runes itself, drew heavily on then-current books describing the ancient I Ching divination system of China.
Each of Blum's seven books on runic divination deals with a specialized area of life or a varied technique for reading runes:
The Book of Runes: A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle: The Viking Runes (1982); revised 10th Anniversary Edition (1992); revised 25th Anniversary Edition (2007).
The Rune Cards: Sacred Play for Self Discovery (1989); reissued as The Rune Cards: Ancient Wisdom For the New Millennium (1997). Rather than rune stones, this book uses images of the runes printed on card stock, much like a set of trading cards or tarot cards.
The Healing Runes with co-author Susan Loughan (1995) teaches methods for using runic divination in the context of health and personal integration.
Rune Play: A Method of Self Counseling and a Year-Round Rune Casting Recordbook (1996)
The Serenity Runes: Five Keys to the Serenity Prayer with co-author Susan Loughan (1998); reissued as The Serenity Runes: Five Keys to Spiritual Recovery (2005) utilizes runic divination as a method for assisting self-help and recovery from addictions; the title is a reference to the well-known serenity prayer widely used in the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Ralph H. Blum's Little Book of Runic Wisdom (2002).
The Relationship Runes: A Compass for the Heart with co-author Bronwyn Jones (2003) shows how to use runic divination in matters of love and friendship.
Blum has also written books on the Tao Te Ching, Zen Buddhism, and UFOs. His work has also been published in Readers Digest, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Saturday Evening Post, and Western Horseman. Blum also published three novels: The Simultaneous Man (1970), Old Glory and the Real-Time Freaks (1972), and The Foreigner. Both The Simultaneous Man and Old Glory... reflect his involvement in early drug research.
Recently, Blum won the Nautilus Book Award Medal for Investigative Reporting for his latest book, written in collaboration with oncologist Mark Scholz, MD, Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers. He has been living with prostate cancer, without radical intervention, for twenty years.
Ralph Blum currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and on Ikaria Island, Greece with his wife Jeanne Elizabeth Blum, an author in her own right, best known for her book Woman
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 28, 2021
Although the cover blurb for this 1970 novel states that TSM is "A book Orwell or Huxley might have written," I beg to differ. Blum does take us on a 'mind trip' that is for sure, but this is hardly a dystopian vision of the future. While billed as science fiction, this could just as easily been touted as a cold-war thriller.
Deep in the black budget for the US army is the Agency, a research facility that specializes in the mind, or rather, memories in the brain. Scientists have discovered a way to selectively edit memories, write new memories, and even create an entire new memory/persona. Our main protagonist, 'Bear', is a Russian-American scientist at the heart of the Agency. The book starts off when a 'volunteer' arrives at the agency; his mind will be wiped and Bear's memories will be 'uploaded' if you will, creating a 'copy' of Bear (only the volunteer is black, so he becomes 'black bear', get it?). The experiment has been tried before, but the 'copy' only lasted six months before total breakdown. It looks, however, like black bear will be a winner. It also seems the Soviets have a similar agency doing similar things, and when black bear 'defects' to the Russians, things get interesting...
TSM is difficult at parts due to the incessant flashbacks of Bear-- his memories, reenacted, edited and such are feed into black bear and we for the first part of the book go back and forth between now and Bear's past. This may have made a big splash when it came out, but it seems rather tame today. Three cold-war stars.
Deep in the black budget for the US army is the Agency, a research facility that specializes in the mind, or rather, memories in the brain. Scientists have discovered a way to selectively edit memories, write new memories, and even create an entire new memory/persona. Our main protagonist, 'Bear', is a Russian-American scientist at the heart of the Agency. The book starts off when a 'volunteer' arrives at the agency; his mind will be wiped and Bear's memories will be 'uploaded' if you will, creating a 'copy' of Bear (only the volunteer is black, so he becomes 'black bear', get it?). The experiment has been tried before, but the 'copy' only lasted six months before total breakdown. It looks, however, like black bear will be a winner. It also seems the Soviets have a similar agency doing similar things, and when black bear 'defects' to the Russians, things get interesting...
TSM is difficult at parts due to the incessant flashbacks of Bear-- his memories, reenacted, edited and such are feed into black bear and we for the first part of the book go back and forth between now and Bear's past. This may have made a big splash when it came out, but it seems rather tame today. Three cold-war stars.
August 12, 2015
Rather interesting cold war sci-fi novella/short novel. The topic is a literal identity crisis when a scientist and a condemned prisoner blend minds in a science experiment gone wrong. Lots of soul searching and flash-backs ensue with a surprise "twist" at the end of the book's 3 parts which eventually takes the story on a sympathetic trip to the Soviet Union.
Would make a good episode of the Twilight Zone and the writing is brusque and trim. However, Blum is not well versed in the idiom of SF. Imo, the result is a book that is too grounded in the reality of the cold war in the 1970s and too focused on characterization to feel like real Science Fiction, and the "mind-swap" aspect is sure to alienate mainstream readers.
Noam Chomsky apparently enjoyed it though (probably because a character defects to the Soviets, screw America!).
The hardcore SF enthusiasts should give it a skim if they see it in a second hand bookshop. Perhaps this is an unfairly neglected piece of Soft-SF, but it is no classic.
Would make a good episode of the Twilight Zone and the writing is brusque and trim. However, Blum is not well versed in the idiom of SF. Imo, the result is a book that is too grounded in the reality of the cold war in the 1970s and too focused on characterization to feel like real Science Fiction, and the "mind-swap" aspect is sure to alienate mainstream readers.
Noam Chomsky apparently enjoyed it though (probably because a character defects to the Soviets, screw America!).
The hardcore SF enthusiasts should give it a skim if they see it in a second hand bookshop. Perhaps this is an unfairly neglected piece of Soft-SF, but it is no classic.
April 27, 2024
I don't read much SF but I was lead to this book by reading TRIPPING ON UTOPIA, a nonfiction history of early research into psychoactive drugs. Ralph Blum, the author of THE SIMULTANEOUS MAN, was an early volunteer for experiments with hallucinogens and later worked on top secret projects to weaponize LSD and other chemicals for brainwashing and similar sinister purposes.
His novel is a story of a researcher in a government program aimed at erasing a human personality and replacing it with one supplied by a living donor. Complicating this is the protagonist's Russian ancestry and a conscience. Suffice to say that things don't go well, especially after the test subject defects to Russia. The writing style is more mainstream than genre, like early Michael Crichton, and the book isn't very good. It's historically interesting though and saturated with a sense of tragic guilt.
His novel is a story of a researcher in a government program aimed at erasing a human personality and replacing it with one supplied by a living donor. Complicating this is the protagonist's Russian ancestry and a conscience. Suffice to say that things don't go well, especially after the test subject defects to Russia. The writing style is more mainstream than genre, like early Michael Crichton, and the book isn't very good. It's historically interesting though and saturated with a sense of tragic guilt.
April 1, 2021
Een aangename verassing was deze roman van Blum, nummer 30 in de serie Bruna SF. De gelijktijdige man. Blum was nooit een high profile SF schrijver, drie romans heeft hij geschreven die met enige fantasie het label SF kunnen dragen. Grounded SF dan wel, want ik zie onder de weinige reviewers wat geklaag dat het meer weg heeft van een koude oorlog thriller dan een SF roman. Ik kan mij in dat perspectief indenken, maar vind het vaak toch een grijs gebied, dus we pakken hem hier lekker mee.
Wat onmiddellijk opvalt tussen de collectie van Bruna SF is dat deze roman zeer trefzeker is geschreven, logisch goed is uitgewerkt en een geloofwaardige hoofdpersoon heeft. Daarnaast is Blum zelf betrokken geweest (volgens vage bronnen) bij het drugsonderzoek van de jaren 50 en 60 door de Amerikaanse overheid, al kan het natuurlijk ook zijn dat hij gewoon veel drugs heeft uitgeprobeerd. Hoe dan ook, de beschrijving van het onderzoek klinkt als.. onderzoek. En niet als de standaard maffe professor die een uitvinding uit zijn mouw schudt.
Het overschrijven van een persoonlijkheid met een donor-persoonlijkheid is overigens niet zo vergezocht als het klinkt. Modern onderzoek toont aan dat herinneringen teruggeschreven worden terwijl ze worden opgehaald en dat is ook waarom herinneringen door de jaren steeds verder veranderen. Goed en slecht van een hel naar een arcadische jeugd in een paar jaar en andersom. Dat is ook de verklaring waarom sommige therapieën die gebruik maken van dit verschijnsel, zo succesvol zijn. Jawel lieve lezers ook U kunt uw verleden mooier maken, Philip K. Dick’s fantasie over ingeprente vakanties zijn werkelijkheid als je maar stevig de realiteit blijft ontkennen. Al dan niet geholpen door modieuze neurale hulpmiddelen. Terug naar Blum.
Het basis verhaal gaat over het overschrijven van een persoonlijkheid, maar onderliggend is de discussie over de betrouwbaarheid van het geheugen en de impact van nieuwe herinneringen op het lichaam waarin ze niet beleefd zijn. Wat gebeurt er als je zoals de hoofpersoon ooit een separate persoonlijkheid hebt moeten bedenken om Koreaanse ondervragers om de tuin te kunnen leiden. Een beetje zoals het verhaal van “the usual suspects”. Wat betekent dat voor de ontvanger van die dubbele persoonlijkheid? Welke keuzen zal die maken? Waarom loopt hij over naar de Russen?
Een goede roman houdt je aan het denken en dit is een goede roman. SF of niet, het is een verademing tussen alle kartonnen decors en houterige helden die de Bruna-SF serie bevolken. Jammer dat Ralph Blum daarna overgeschakeld is op zelfhulp boeken over runen. Die overigens naar verluidt ook zeer goed geschreven zijn, maar momenteel niet echt mijn interesse hebben. Ik hoop nog de twee andere romans te vinden, ergens, ooit… en anders maak ik gewoon een herinnering aan dat ik ze al eens gelezen heb. We can remember it Wholesale 😊
Wat onmiddellijk opvalt tussen de collectie van Bruna SF is dat deze roman zeer trefzeker is geschreven, logisch goed is uitgewerkt en een geloofwaardige hoofdpersoon heeft. Daarnaast is Blum zelf betrokken geweest (volgens vage bronnen) bij het drugsonderzoek van de jaren 50 en 60 door de Amerikaanse overheid, al kan het natuurlijk ook zijn dat hij gewoon veel drugs heeft uitgeprobeerd. Hoe dan ook, de beschrijving van het onderzoek klinkt als.. onderzoek. En niet als de standaard maffe professor die een uitvinding uit zijn mouw schudt.
Het overschrijven van een persoonlijkheid met een donor-persoonlijkheid is overigens niet zo vergezocht als het klinkt. Modern onderzoek toont aan dat herinneringen teruggeschreven worden terwijl ze worden opgehaald en dat is ook waarom herinneringen door de jaren steeds verder veranderen. Goed en slecht van een hel naar een arcadische jeugd in een paar jaar en andersom. Dat is ook de verklaring waarom sommige therapieën die gebruik maken van dit verschijnsel, zo succesvol zijn. Jawel lieve lezers ook U kunt uw verleden mooier maken, Philip K. Dick’s fantasie over ingeprente vakanties zijn werkelijkheid als je maar stevig de realiteit blijft ontkennen. Al dan niet geholpen door modieuze neurale hulpmiddelen. Terug naar Blum.
Het basis verhaal gaat over het overschrijven van een persoonlijkheid, maar onderliggend is de discussie over de betrouwbaarheid van het geheugen en de impact van nieuwe herinneringen op het lichaam waarin ze niet beleefd zijn. Wat gebeurt er als je zoals de hoofpersoon ooit een separate persoonlijkheid hebt moeten bedenken om Koreaanse ondervragers om de tuin te kunnen leiden. Een beetje zoals het verhaal van “the usual suspects”. Wat betekent dat voor de ontvanger van die dubbele persoonlijkheid? Welke keuzen zal die maken? Waarom loopt hij over naar de Russen?
Een goede roman houdt je aan het denken en dit is een goede roman. SF of niet, het is een verademing tussen alle kartonnen decors en houterige helden die de Bruna-SF serie bevolken. Jammer dat Ralph Blum daarna overgeschakeld is op zelfhulp boeken over runen. Die overigens naar verluidt ook zeer goed geschreven zijn, maar momenteel niet echt mijn interesse hebben. Ik hoop nog de twee andere romans te vinden, ergens, ooit… en anders maak ik gewoon een herinnering aan dat ik ze al eens gelezen heb. We can remember it Wholesale 😊
December 29, 2020
This book is bloody boring and I have better things to read.
October 24, 2017
A bit dated and it felt more like an episode of Night Gallery (Rod Serling’s series after Twilight Zone) than a novel. The characters were never really developed enough to care too much. But, I read it to the end because I wanted to know how it turned out.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews