The Mind Behind the Eye

by Joseph Green

In the fairly near future, genetic engineering has produced two super-intelligent men: Gold in the U.S.A. and Petrovna in the U.S.S.R. Meanwhile the solar system has been visited by aliens who seem to want to eliminate homo sapiens. An alien ship comes to grief, but its occupant survives with extensive brain damage. He is—wait for it—a 300 foot humanoid giant. Petrovna has a good idea: scoop the damaged brain section out, install computer control of muscles plus a chamber to contain a human being, then return said giant to his own planet so that the spy in his head can find out what's cooking. Petrovna is killed, but Gold and Petrovna's female assistant carry out the mission...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

191 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1972

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Updated 06/16/ 2020

DAW Collectors #2


Cover Illustration By Josh Kirby.

Name: Green, Joseph Lee, Birthplace: Compass Lake, Florida, USA, 14 January 1931

Green brings in sex without a giggle or a blush.
Originally published in England as: "Gold the Man" ([Gollancz SF]) in 1971

Joseph Green worked for 37 years in the American space program, building missile bases throughout the USA and later supporting the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs at the Kennedy Space Center. As a part-time freelancer he published five novels.

I first ran across him in "new worlds" magazine

[Mara Ismine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as a young teenager and it was the first book I read where sex was more than kiss-and-fade. The fact that it was definitely non-con did not disturb me then as much as it would now. The three stars are more for nostalgia than the plot.

[Charles Sheard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of the back-story about Gold isn't really necessary, and is thrown out there like Green is creating a character he intends to use for a lot of sequels (though if so, he needn't have thrown it all in this particular book), and yes, what happens between him and Marina is simply wrong, and didn't need to be written that way, though in all honesty I don't think Green was going for the typical misogyny line so prevalent in classic SciFi. Gold even acknowledges it as a 'rape', and I think Green was really trying to show how messed up Gold's upbringing had been and his lack of social maturity, as opposed to excusing it or heroizing it. And Marina's after-reactions might also be a nod to her own odd desire to be the mother (the Christian "Mary") of the new race of home superior. Gold even ponders that very thought. Did Green really need to go down that path? No, he didn't. But in comparison to the typical attitudes in pulp SciFi, I actually find this less offensive (compare a line Gérard Klein offered in The Overlords of War: "He knew women like her. He had found favor in her eyes because he had used violence against her". At least Green seems to be trying to put the actions in the context of character, and not seemingly approving of them.

But as to the purely SciFi elements, they are interesting, amusing, light-hearted at times, and despite the far-fetched scenario, hold their own from a purely SciFi point of view (with adequate suspension of disbelief), and even touching when it comes to the other species and certain inter-species relations. I couldn't help myself - I liked those elements. The beginning seems almost like a variation on a James Bond cold-war scenario, and when Marina shouts "Speed up the erection!" as an innocent line, fraught with double-entendre, you can't help but think of Frau Farbissina in the Austin Powers films, channeling Rosa Klebb of From Russia with Love.

[Andrew Ceyton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rape culture trying to pass as Science fiction.

[Matthew Smonskey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the part where the giant had to take a crap. The rape scene that made the woman fall in love with the rapist? Not so much.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was wondering how I would like this book and was pleasantly surprised. Gold, one of two genetically enhanced humans, ends up leading a two person mission to an alien planet to save the world, enclosed inside the head of a 300 foot tall man of who's body he controls. First thing that came to my mind was a twisted sci-fi version of Gulliver's Travels where the lilliputians did strange things to Gulliver. But with that to the side the story plays out with Gold and Marina's mission getting to the aliens home planet where they find out the reasons why they are attacking the earth. I won't go into any more detail of the story, but I will comment on a few things I found interesting. The Hilt-Sil culture is rather fascinating. I see it as the author's possible vision of an Utopia perhaps. I could honestly think of it as my own. Everybody self contained to a degree but interconnected in what is needed. The planet a park rather than an industrial wasteland where Hilt-Sil had learned to develop their life in balance with the planet. Another thing that I was wondering why the author was going there and how it would tie into the story was the sex scenes. By the end of the story it makes sense and it isn't trivial, which I was glad of.
I am definitely going to be looking around for some more of this authors works.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is something i read as a boy of 11 or 12, i think. Not particularly good, if i recall, but i was a voracious reader of scifi at the time and it was one of those books on near-perpetual display in a wire rack near the circ counter at my public library.

What attracted me to it was an intriguing, Fantastic voyage-esque story where humans installed a control capsule in the body of a brain-dead alien giant to learn about them through direct observation and interaction. Like the Arquillians in the first Men in black movie.

What i found was a treasure trove of sex scenes. The first i had come across in my readings that weren’t glossed over or relegated to “clothes on” action. It affected my adolescent brain greatly.

I read it a couple of times, certain parts many times.

Interestingly, i see that there are a lot of other Goodreads reviewers that had the same experience. I haven’t read it in many years but i recall it being fairly well written with a memorable premise and content.

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some books do the hard work for you. This is one of them. I picked up Joseph Green’s The Mind Behind the Eye because the back cover promised a war between two genetically-engineered super-intelligent men, one in the USA, and one in the USSR. But the book itself has nothing to do with Cold War politics and a whole lot to do with freaky giant sex.

The main character is Albert Aaron Golderson, known as Gold, a product of the American genetics program who has an extra 12 ounces of brain mass which makes him the second-smartest man in the world, after Petrovna, a Communist mutant with stunted limbs and a big ol’ brain.

Read the rest of my review here.

[Robert Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cool little story! Almost two stories in one. The first, and main, plot concerns the efforts of Gold, the main character, and his assistant Marina to infiltrate an alien society of 300-foot giants to determine why the appear to be trying to wipe out humanity, while the second story concerns Gold's life as a man with genetically enhanced intellect.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was as much a history lession as it was science fiction. an interesting read.

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1987 grade B-

aka Gold The Man

[Arjen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is written for my insane and impossible quest to read all DAW books.

Previous book: Spell of the Witch World
Next book: The Probability Man

For a book written in 1972 (that takes place somewhere in the 1980s) this was way ahead of its time. An interesting book with some pretty nice ideas. I just wish it was a bit longer.