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Doppelgangers
A spiritual sequel to Brave New World, this dystopian novel of psychological horror is a landmark early work of hard science fiction.
In the years since the psychological revolution unlocked man’s consciousness, civilization has split into two halves. The people of the surface bow at the foot of Alpha, an all-powerful dictator who satisfies their every whim and uses his limitless might to keep his subjects as docile as children. But beneath the earth, in the shadowy kingdom of the Mole, revolt is brewing. And when the Mole launches his final assault upon the world above, new meaning will be given to the term psychological warfare.
The first wave of the attack is a single man, a deep-cover agent who has been rigorously trained and surgically sculpted to be a perfect double for Alpha. The fate of humanity rests in his hands, but his hands are no longer his own. When this revolution begins anew, the battleground will be the soul of mankind.
Before 1984 or The Hunger Games, there was Doppelgangers. Hailed as “a blend of Wells, Poe, and Graham Greene” by the New York Times, this thrilling piece of speculative fiction was decades ahead of its time, and remains one of the most original science fiction novels ever published.
In the years since the psychological revolution unlocked man’s consciousness, civilization has split into two halves. The people of the surface bow at the foot of Alpha, an all-powerful dictator who satisfies their every whim and uses his limitless might to keep his subjects as docile as children. But beneath the earth, in the shadowy kingdom of the Mole, revolt is brewing. And when the Mole launches his final assault upon the world above, new meaning will be given to the term psychological warfare.
The first wave of the attack is a single man, a deep-cover agent who has been rigorously trained and surgically sculpted to be a perfect double for Alpha. The fate of humanity rests in his hands, but his hands are no longer his own. When this revolution begins anew, the battleground will be the soul of mankind.
Before 1984 or The Hunger Games, there was Doppelgangers. Hailed as “a blend of Wells, Poe, and Graham Greene” by the New York Times, this thrilling piece of speculative fiction was decades ahead of its time, and remains one of the most original science fiction novels ever published.
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First published January 1, 1947
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 27, 2008
I picked this up while browsing in a 2nd hand bookshop in Rosebank ... Gerald Heard was into LSD and the idea that mankind was evolving into an age of consciousness.
This book is an unbelievably long and tedious monologue (256 pages) disguised as a poorly plotted novel. If you are interested in his ideas, read the non-fiction.
as for this book,
avoid!
avoid!
avoid!
This book is an unbelievably long and tedious monologue (256 pages) disguised as a poorly plotted novel. If you are interested in his ideas, read the non-fiction.
as for this book,
avoid!
avoid!
avoid!
July 4, 2013
Quite long and tedious; would be an interesting thought experiment, was not an interesting novel.
April 18, 2014
Couldn't finish it! Slow and boring.
May 18, 2025
sweet
March 1, 2023
Profound book.
February 6, 2024
Hm
Did not meet my expectations. More a philosophical or sociopolitical treatment than a story, Interesting but not a science fiction story.
Did not meet my expectations. More a philosophical or sociopolitical treatment than a story, Interesting but not a science fiction story.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews