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Dr. Patrick Cory #1
Donovan's Brain
Curt Siodmak was a writer who was always ahead of his time. Today there are many writers who are comfortable in both print and film; there is also frequent overlap between science fiction and horror. But Siodmak was doing all this -- and doing it well -- before anyone else.He helped bring real science fiction to the movies (The Magnetic Monster, Riders to the Stars) and television (with scripts for Men into Space and Science Fiction Theatre). But his greatest fame as a scriptwriter was in the field of horror, with his creation of the character forever linked with Lon Chaney, Jr., The Wolf Man.How appropriate that his greatest novel should be the basis of three legitimate film versions and endless variations in other movies and television shows. Donovan's Brain is one of the most influential novels of our times.Dr. Patrick Cory is a scientist who, unable to save the life of W.H. Donovan after a plane crash, keeps his brain alive through an illegal experiment.The story provid
234 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1942
38 people are currently reading
1353 people want to read
About the author
Curt Siodmak
62 books21 followersCurt Siodmak (1902–2000) was a novelist and screenwriter, author of the novel Donovan's Brain, which was made into a number of films. He also wrote the novels Hauser's Memory and Gabriel's Body.
Born Kurt Siodmak in Dresden, Germany, Curt Siodmak acquired a degree in mathematics before beginning to write novels. He invested early royalties earned by his first books in the movie Menschen am Sonntag (1929), a documentary-style chronicle of the lives of four Berliners on a Sunday based on their own lives. The movie was co-directed by Curt Siodmak's older brother Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer, with a script by Billy Wilder.
In the following years Curt Siodmak wrote many novels, screenplays and short stories including the novel F.P.1 Antwortet Nicht (F.P.1 Doesn't Answer) (1933) which became a popular movie starring Hans Albers and Peter Lorre.
Siodmak decided to emigrate after hearing an anti-semitic tirade by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and departed for England where he made a living as a screenwriter before travelling to the USA in 1937.
His big break came with the screenplay for The Wolf Man (1941) which established this fictional creature as the most popular movie monster after Dracula and Frankenstein's monster.
In The Wolf Man Siodmak made reference to many werewolf legends: being marked by a pentagram; being practically immortal apart from being struck/shot by silver implements/bullets; and the famous verse:
"Even a man who is pure in heart, And says his prayers by night May become a Wolf when the Wolfbane blooms And the autumn Moon is bright" (the last line was changed in the sequels to The Moon is full and bright).
Siodmak's science-fiction novel Donovan's Brain (1942) was a bestseller and was adapted for the cinema several times. Other notable films he wrote include Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, I Walked With a Zombie and The Beast With Five Fingers.
Born Kurt Siodmak in Dresden, Germany, Curt Siodmak acquired a degree in mathematics before beginning to write novels. He invested early royalties earned by his first books in the movie Menschen am Sonntag (1929), a documentary-style chronicle of the lives of four Berliners on a Sunday based on their own lives. The movie was co-directed by Curt Siodmak's older brother Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer, with a script by Billy Wilder.
In the following years Curt Siodmak wrote many novels, screenplays and short stories including the novel F.P.1 Antwortet Nicht (F.P.1 Doesn't Answer) (1933) which became a popular movie starring Hans Albers and Peter Lorre.
Siodmak decided to emigrate after hearing an anti-semitic tirade by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and departed for England where he made a living as a screenwriter before travelling to the USA in 1937.
His big break came with the screenplay for The Wolf Man (1941) which established this fictional creature as the most popular movie monster after Dracula and Frankenstein's monster.
In The Wolf Man Siodmak made reference to many werewolf legends: being marked by a pentagram; being practically immortal apart from being struck/shot by silver implements/bullets; and the famous verse:
"Even a man who is pure in heart, And says his prayers by night May become a Wolf when the Wolfbane blooms And the autumn Moon is bright" (the last line was changed in the sequels to The Moon is full and bright).
Siodmak's science-fiction novel Donovan's Brain (1942) was a bestseller and was adapted for the cinema several times. Other notable films he wrote include Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, I Walked With a Zombie and The Beast With Five Fingers.
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August 19, 2023
Donovan’s Brain, first published in 1942 in three issues of Black Mask magazine, is perhaps best known for its three movie adaptations in 1944, 1953, and 1962. It is a classic science fiction movie, particularly the 1953 version.
It is a twist, of course, on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein legend, where a mad scientist took a brain and put it into a giant-sized corpse, be bringing it to life. Here, a wealthy industrialist, Donovan, is a plane crash victim. The body could not be saved, but mad scientist, Dr. Patrick Cory, secretly cuts out the brain, puts it in a solution, and keeps it alive. Lo and behold, it grows and communicates with Dr. Cory telepathically through electrical waves, taking over his consciousness at times, eventually becoming more and more dominant as Cory tries to keep it secret.
Although the beginning is a bit awkward, the story gets stronger as it goes on. As does the brain, which increases in size and power till it can control Dr. Cory no matter where he is, righting things left unfinished. And, no one can approach the brain with malevolent intent. No one can get close.
Meanwhile, Donovan’s children get suspicious as Dr. Cory at times acts like Donovan and knows things only Donovan could know.
A classic story and movie that has captivated generations.
It is a twist, of course, on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein legend, where a mad scientist took a brain and put it into a giant-sized corpse, be bringing it to life. Here, a wealthy industrialist, Donovan, is a plane crash victim. The body could not be saved, but mad scientist, Dr. Patrick Cory, secretly cuts out the brain, puts it in a solution, and keeps it alive. Lo and behold, it grows and communicates with Dr. Cory telepathically through electrical waves, taking over his consciousness at times, eventually becoming more and more dominant as Cory tries to keep it secret.
Although the beginning is a bit awkward, the story gets stronger as it goes on. As does the brain, which increases in size and power till it can control Dr. Cory no matter where he is, righting things left unfinished. And, no one can approach the brain with malevolent intent. No one can get close.
Meanwhile, Donovan’s children get suspicious as Dr. Cory at times acts like Donovan and knows things only Donovan could know.
A classic story and movie that has captivated generations.
April 30, 2017
Curt Siodak 1902-2000 is a German/American scifi/horror screen writer and novelist. “Donavan’s Brain (1942)” is his most notorious novel. This book was brought to my attention while listening to a Margaret Atwood interview on Youtube. She went at length to describe Donovan's plot while it just so happened that I was halfway through reading a more recent Siodak novel “City in the Sky” (1974) at the time.
'Well', I thought, 'I must get to that one sooner than later.'
"Donovan's Brain" is an early “Brain in a Jar” type story. I only found two previous examples of these: “The World, The Flesh, and the Devil” (1929) by J.D. Berna, which is, I believe, a non-fiction speculative book of what is to come and “The Whisperer in Darkness” (Weird Tales Aug 31) by H.P. Lovecraft, where an extraterrestrial race has the ability to surgically extracts a human brain and store it into a ‘canister’ in order for it to withstand the rigors of outer space travel.
In "Donovan's Brain", this idea is fully exploited in a novel: A megalomaniac millionaire (W. H. Donovan) crashes his private plane in the desert near the home of Dr. Cory, a physician who is unable to save him, seizes the opportunity of stealing his brain to continue experiments he happen to be doing with animal brains by placing them in an electrically charged, oxygenated saline solution within a glass tank.
The brain grows as it is fed and eventually develops psi powers, enabling it to control the bodies and minds of others on the outside. You may have seen one of a few movies versions based on this novel "The Lady and the Monster" (1944), "Donovan's Brain" (1953), and "The Brain" (1962). I've only seen the latter version as of yet, however, the novel did not come off as a cheesy scifi B-movie. It was very well written, and could be appreciated on many levels such as:
-Should mad scientist be allowed to use themselves as their own guinea pigs?
-Is scientific pursuits above morality?
-Are certain (evil) people better off left to die, even if they can be saved?
A must read for those who dig this sort of thing.
'Well', I thought, 'I must get to that one sooner than later.'
"Donovan's Brain" is an early “Brain in a Jar” type story. I only found two previous examples of these: “The World, The Flesh, and the Devil” (1929) by J.D. Berna, which is, I believe, a non-fiction speculative book of what is to come and “The Whisperer in Darkness” (Weird Tales Aug 31) by H.P. Lovecraft, where an extraterrestrial race has the ability to surgically extracts a human brain and store it into a ‘canister’ in order for it to withstand the rigors of outer space travel.
In "Donovan's Brain", this idea is fully exploited in a novel: A megalomaniac millionaire (W. H. Donovan) crashes his private plane in the desert near the home of Dr. Cory, a physician who is unable to save him, seizes the opportunity of stealing his brain to continue experiments he happen to be doing with animal brains by placing them in an electrically charged, oxygenated saline solution within a glass tank.
The brain grows as it is fed and eventually develops psi powers, enabling it to control the bodies and minds of others on the outside. You may have seen one of a few movies versions based on this novel "The Lady and the Monster" (1944), "Donovan's Brain" (1953), and "The Brain" (1962). I've only seen the latter version as of yet, however, the novel did not come off as a cheesy scifi B-movie. It was very well written, and could be appreciated on many levels such as:
-Should mad scientist be allowed to use themselves as their own guinea pigs?
-Is scientific pursuits above morality?
-Are certain (evil) people better off left to die, even if they can be saved?
A must read for those who dig this sort of thing.
September 9, 2023
Curt Siodmak, screenwriter for such classic horror movies as The Wolf Man and I Walked with a Zombie, was no slouch when it came to atmosphere, and this, his best-known book, is no exception. That said, he was also the man responsible for such adorably ridiculous shit as Creature with the Atom Brain, and you’ll find a similar vibe here too. I just wish this book had been handled in the same manner as the 1944 film adaptation, The Lady and the Monster, a B movie which treated the subject matter with the campiness it deserved.
The book, on the other hand, often suffered from taking itself too seriously. A telepathic brain that can see the damn future and spends its free time slowly going insane and honing its murdering skills while living in an aquarium-type tank in the lab of a mad scientist may be capable of many things, but taking itself excessively seriously should NOT be one of them.
The book, on the other hand, often suffered from taking itself too seriously. A telepathic brain that can see the damn future and spends its free time slowly going insane and honing its murdering skills while living in an aquarium-type tank in the lab of a mad scientist may be capable of many things, but taking itself excessively seriously should NOT be one of them.
August 8, 2023
After reading this, it makes sense why this was turned into three screenplays, even though in the forward Siodmak disowned all three. Donovan's Brain firmly established the 'mad doctor with a living brain in a jar' trope and the story still seems fresh even though it was first published in 1942. Our lead, Dr. Cory, graduated from Harvard medical school, practiced in L.A. for a bit, but starts the novel living in BFE Arizona where he can conduct his 'experiments' in his laboratory in his house. One day he gets an emergency call as there has been a plane crash in the nearby mountains and the doctor on call at the nearest airstrip cannot be located; can he assist? Rushing off, Cory arrives at the wreck to find two people still alive; one is patched up and taken to Phoenix, but the other is in too bad of shape to travel. After a rushed amputation of the survivor's legs (they were crushed), Cory takes the man back to his laboratory, but it is a hopeless case. Nonetheless, Cory knows he can (from other experiments) keep his brain alive, so yeah, classic cut out the brain and rig up some stuff to keep it alive.
Cory finds out that the man is one Donovan, a rich tycoon, and starts to read up about him:
Now, while the brain is alive, how to communicate with it? Cory first starts with attempting morse code, tapping on the jar, but eventually realizes that only telepathy will really work. He and his 'assistant', another doctor, rig up some electrical devices to the brain and start feeding it some interesting cocktails, and shortly thereafter, contact is made...
Siodmak presented the story here as a set of journal entries from Dr. Cory so this reads like a diary. I will not go into the plot to avoid spoilers, but I will say that the telepathy gets a lot stronger! What makes this seem so fresh revolves around the philosophical musings interlaced in the text concerning the mysteries of the mind; in the 80 years since this was published, specialists are still working on such mysteries! I also liked the idea identified in the block quote above. Donovan is obviously a shady character with little conscience or empathy toward humanity at large and this also gets explored in some detail. Overall, pretty easy to see why this is a classic work of science fiction and I believe it even won a retro Hugo. 4 jars of brains!
Cory finds out that the man is one Donovan, a rich tycoon, and starts to read up about him:
"The more I read about him, the more his character darkens. He, like all the great money-makers, was unscrupulous to a criminal degree. Only a limited amount of money can be honestly earned. To amass millions in the short course of a life one must be ruthless and untroubled by a conscience."
Now, while the brain is alive, how to communicate with it? Cory first starts with attempting morse code, tapping on the jar, but eventually realizes that only telepathy will really work. He and his 'assistant', another doctor, rig up some electrical devices to the brain and start feeding it some interesting cocktails, and shortly thereafter, contact is made...
Siodmak presented the story here as a set of journal entries from Dr. Cory so this reads like a diary. I will not go into the plot to avoid spoilers, but I will say that the telepathy gets a lot stronger! What makes this seem so fresh revolves around the philosophical musings interlaced in the text concerning the mysteries of the mind; in the 80 years since this was published, specialists are still working on such mysteries! I also liked the idea identified in the block quote above. Donovan is obviously a shady character with little conscience or empathy toward humanity at large and this also gets explored in some detail. Overall, pretty easy to see why this is a classic work of science fiction and I believe it even won a retro Hugo. 4 jars of brains!
December 13, 2025
Check out my full, spoiler free, video review HERE.
This is a classic science fiction horror novel from 1942. A mad scientist experiments with getting a brain to survive outside the body, when he succeeds, he then works on how to communicate with it. The brain ends up belonging to a very rich and powerful businessman named Donovan, who’s family and associates are very interested in his estate. The setup in this one is awesome, it started off leaning into science but turns supernatural. A very fun, fast, engaging, enjoyable read with some interesting themes and some twists and turns along the way.
This is a classic science fiction horror novel from 1942. A mad scientist experiments with getting a brain to survive outside the body, when he succeeds, he then works on how to communicate with it. The brain ends up belonging to a very rich and powerful businessman named Donovan, who’s family and associates are very interested in his estate. The setup in this one is awesome, it started off leaning into science but turns supernatural. A very fun, fast, engaging, enjoyable read with some interesting themes and some twists and turns along the way.
May 11, 2025
squanders a bit of its momentum in the last half, but otherwise, and especially after some recent reads, a reminder of pulp's ability to do precisely what its LitFic imitators — in those moments they deign to take on the vulgar subject matter of genre, all the while fortifying it (and their audience, no doubt) with the power of their thought and beauty of their language — claim they don't. in short, it’s all mindjunk.
August 23, 2016
Curt Siodmak was the father of modern werewolves as Stoker was to vampires, but he also wrote some excellent other stories, Donovan's Brain being among the most prominent. It's a classic medical horror/mad scientist tale; the original brain-in-a-jar novel. It was filmed several times, as well as being dramatized on radio, the most notable that I've encountered being the 1944 Orson Welles version on Suspense. Welles' repetitious catch-phrase of "Sure, sure, sure!" was a real chiller! It's a great old classic, well worth revisiting.
February 16, 2019
210318: you want pulp? you get pulp! fun, fantastic, quick, darkly comic... perhaps because i know it has been made into a movie (3 times, seen none), i read it like a movie script, that is, not much intense psychology, only everything visual, close-up, tracking, lighting, montage- this short book could be black and white 'b' feature, you could make it lurid, dramatic, crazy, made for drive-in theatres. in any form this could make a fun movie... so i am hesitant to see how the movies actually do it...!
March 22, 2024
A fun read about a scientist and his experiments on brains. Of course this backfired big time. Siodmak's writing style was easy to read. The story had a shaky start but got way better as it went on. Enjoyed the ending. 3.5*
April 25, 2021
Dr. Patrick Cory is unable to save the life of Warren Horace Donovan whose plane has crashed near his home and laboratory in Arizona, but does salvage his brain and keeps it alive by hooking it up and feeding it. As he does, it grows powerful and what began as a scientific experiment becomes a terrifying experience, taking over Cory's own body. Donovan in life had been a ruthless self-made tycoon with no particular ethics and with shady business dealings, whose own children - a son and daughter - hated him. A fast-paced story I recommend to anyone who likes psychological/scifi thrillers.
January 3, 2024
I recently watched The Last Drive in with Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder which featured The Brain (1988). Joe Bob mentioned the B-horror movie was based on a novel, so I decided to pick it up. It's kind of crazy how this book seems to not be as well known these days since there have been quite a few movies based on this book, and this book is mentioned in Stephen King's Danse Macabre. The writing style and mad scientist portrayal reminded me of Robert Louis Stevenson and his Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as well as movie portrayals of Frankenstein. It's a fun short read.
September 21, 2021
What a great, surprising, weird little book. I saw the movie (on TV, of course) as a kid, but the book (obviously) goes a lot deeper into not only the weirdness of the situation but the (wildly fictional) science behind it. I'll write a longer look at it on my blog next week, but if you can find a copy, Donovan's Brain is a can't-miss mini-classic.
August 22, 2022
This is an underrated work of really good science fiction. Though its premise may at first seem familiar or cliche, it is anything but. A truly unique story with substance, psychological intrigue, and fascinating ideas, from the midst of the golden age of scifi.
Dr. Cory finds the body of a wealthy criminal, Donovan, crashed not far from his home. Although the body has died, Dr. Cory takes the brain and attempts to keep it alive in his lab. He succeeds and soon develops a telepathic link with Donovan that grows stronger over time. Donovan’s control over Cory increases, until he is able to begin living out his evil through the scientist. The sinister and self-interested Donovan causes chaos and suffering in the world around him, as Cory’s own consciousness begins to recede into the far cavities of his mind, almost fully taken over by the mind of a psychopath.
Dr. Cory finds the body of a wealthy criminal, Donovan, crashed not far from his home. Although the body has died, Dr. Cory takes the brain and attempts to keep it alive in his lab. He succeeds and soon develops a telepathic link with Donovan that grows stronger over time. Donovan’s control over Cory increases, until he is able to begin living out his evil through the scientist. The sinister and self-interested Donovan causes chaos and suffering in the world around him, as Cory’s own consciousness begins to recede into the far cavities of his mind, almost fully taken over by the mind of a psychopath.
March 19, 2023
This book is from the screenwriter for The Wolf Man (1941) starring Lon Chaney Jr., which cemented in our minds how Werewolves work. It's a book I've wanted to read for a long time, and I am glad I did. I found an old paperback in a half-priced bookstore and bought it immediately. It is written in the form of a diary and is about a scientist who encounters a dying victim of a plane crash and removes his brain, keeping it alive. The brain eventually develops powers and can control people and horrible things begin to happen.
It was a quick read and quite fun. I've since learned there are three movies made from this book that I've never seen, so I need to see them (The Lady and the Monster (1944), Donovan's Brain (1953), and The Brain (1962)). Note, the 1953 adaptation stars Nancy Davis - later known as Nancy Reagan.
I also found out Curt Siodmak wrote two sequels, so now I need to seek them out.
Stephen King is a fan of the book and I can see why.
It's plotted well and the suspense keeps going up and up.
It was a quick read and quite fun. I've since learned there are three movies made from this book that I've never seen, so I need to see them (The Lady and the Monster (1944), Donovan's Brain (1953), and The Brain (1962)). Note, the 1953 adaptation stars Nancy Davis - later known as Nancy Reagan.
I also found out Curt Siodmak wrote two sequels, so now I need to seek them out.
Stephen King is a fan of the book and I can see why.
It's plotted well and the suspense keeps going up and up.
August 31, 2025
A doctor harvests the brain of a dying man with the hope of studying it, but the brain, given a chance at more time, decides to make use of this time to finish what it had started in life.
This fantastic 1942 sci-fi illustrates that what lies beyond the limitation of our understanding and knowledge can be terrifying in a very real way.
This fantastic 1942 sci-fi illustrates that what lies beyond the limitation of our understanding and knowledge can be terrifying in a very real way.
Read
February 14, 2025It’s a love story, specifically a “growing from morbidity into love” story, in which the contrast between true and false love / understanding / faith is living life instead of trying to control it. The contrast is necessary to reveal the truth.
This was so good. It swerved between evil science lab schlock to supernatural horror to psychological thriller to mystery to romance, eschewing exclusivity to one genre, as any excellent speculative fiction does, while grasping in the dark for the true shape of God. The whole book feels like it’s an argument of faith, which is an interesting premise for a science fiction but becoming a less and less unexpected one as I read more of it.
The argument itself feels like it’s between an instinctual, intuitive faith and one that comes as a last resort when there are no other answers available. Or I guess rather than an argument between these two, it’s a case for the fact that they’re one in the same, and it’s ultimately only yourself who can convince you of that faith through your own unique means. A trillion paths to follow that all have the same ultimate destination.
Towards the end of the book Schratt says: “I have always groped for life’s hidden meaning, and I know now! Life trained me for this task. I am thinking clearly, as I never did before. My tears have not been wasted. I believe in no one religion, I believe in them all, for the search for God is a personal undertaking.”
Schratt and Cory exemplify this argument-non-argument in that when it comes down to it they’re ultimately looking for (and find) the same thing through different methods. Compare Schratt’s “Do not try to find God in your test tubes, Patrick. Look among people and you will meet Him there!” with Cory’s big fat monologue on page 37:
"Great mathematicians and physiologists inevitably arrive at a point where their minds
meet something beyond human comprehension, something divine. They can only face it by believing in God, Most scientists become religious when they reach that stage of research. However, to come to this point of submission to the great holy unknown, man first must travel through the sphere he is capable of exploring.
Somewhere where our intelligence has its limits the road of our research ends. We juggle the incomprehensible to arrive at the concrete. We use a symbol for the infinite, dividing concrete figures with it, adding a plus, a minus to it, as if we could visualize the shape of the boundless. We use the infinite to count with, as if it were tangible. But nobody comprehends its nature. We penetrate regions beyond our intelligence and return with solutions to our problems. Whom do we hurt? Not even ourselves! I cannot give up my research because fear prompts me not to go on. At the end of the road I am traveling stands God, who speaks not in formulas but in monosyllables. I want to stand close enough to Him to hear His yes or no!"
The only difference when it really comes down to it, though, is a different vehicle of torture to deliver you into the truth. Schratt’s “tears over hidden meaning” are the passive version of Cory’s more active travel to the unknown through the “sphere we are capable of exploring.” But it requires a reversal of these roles in order for them both to gain the understanding that they’re looking for: Cory gives up control, first willingly and then unwillingly, and must submit to his faith in others to get him to where he needed to be in order to accept the answer he ultimately received. Schratt, meanwhile, goes from toiling in absent misery to playing the most active role in facilitating that for Cory, with his hands (literally) around the means of procuring that final understanding, and with the knowledge of what it would take in order for it to happen.
Combined with Janice, who oscillates between the two, there seems to a precise point of effort and control at which life and faith stabilize, or maybe rather than stability it’s the perfect point of paradox where the two overlap.
“I did prove that under certain conditions the tissues of a human brain can be kept alive. What else did I gain by the experiment except to demonstrate that the most important achievement, the synthetic creation of mental improvement, is beyond our reach? Nature has set limits which we cannot pass.
The brain's constructive imagination for mechanical devices and chemical exploitations is limitless, but to create kindness, honesty, love, humanity itself must first grow into that shape. Man can engender what he is himself. Nothing more.”
Esoteric bullshit aside I think stories narrated by and about neurotic freaks are awesome, especially when they’re about using an evil man’s excised brain to make yourself realize that you’re in love with your wife.
This was so good. It swerved between evil science lab schlock to supernatural horror to psychological thriller to mystery to romance, eschewing exclusivity to one genre, as any excellent speculative fiction does, while grasping in the dark for the true shape of God. The whole book feels like it’s an argument of faith, which is an interesting premise for a science fiction but becoming a less and less unexpected one as I read more of it.
The argument itself feels like it’s between an instinctual, intuitive faith and one that comes as a last resort when there are no other answers available. Or I guess rather than an argument between these two, it’s a case for the fact that they’re one in the same, and it’s ultimately only yourself who can convince you of that faith through your own unique means. A trillion paths to follow that all have the same ultimate destination.
Towards the end of the book Schratt says: “I have always groped for life’s hidden meaning, and I know now! Life trained me for this task. I am thinking clearly, as I never did before. My tears have not been wasted. I believe in no one religion, I believe in them all, for the search for God is a personal undertaking.”
Schratt and Cory exemplify this argument-non-argument in that when it comes down to it they’re ultimately looking for (and find) the same thing through different methods. Compare Schratt’s “Do not try to find God in your test tubes, Patrick. Look among people and you will meet Him there!” with Cory’s big fat monologue on page 37:
"Great mathematicians and physiologists inevitably arrive at a point where their minds
meet something beyond human comprehension, something divine. They can only face it by believing in God, Most scientists become religious when they reach that stage of research. However, to come to this point of submission to the great holy unknown, man first must travel through the sphere he is capable of exploring.
Somewhere where our intelligence has its limits the road of our research ends. We juggle the incomprehensible to arrive at the concrete. We use a symbol for the infinite, dividing concrete figures with it, adding a plus, a minus to it, as if we could visualize the shape of the boundless. We use the infinite to count with, as if it were tangible. But nobody comprehends its nature. We penetrate regions beyond our intelligence and return with solutions to our problems. Whom do we hurt? Not even ourselves! I cannot give up my research because fear prompts me not to go on. At the end of the road I am traveling stands God, who speaks not in formulas but in monosyllables. I want to stand close enough to Him to hear His yes or no!"
The only difference when it really comes down to it, though, is a different vehicle of torture to deliver you into the truth. Schratt’s “tears over hidden meaning” are the passive version of Cory’s more active travel to the unknown through the “sphere we are capable of exploring.” But it requires a reversal of these roles in order for them both to gain the understanding that they’re looking for: Cory gives up control, first willingly and then unwillingly, and must submit to his faith in others to get him to where he needed to be in order to accept the answer he ultimately received. Schratt, meanwhile, goes from toiling in absent misery to playing the most active role in facilitating that for Cory, with his hands (literally) around the means of procuring that final understanding, and with the knowledge of what it would take in order for it to happen.
Combined with Janice, who oscillates between the two, there seems to a precise point of effort and control at which life and faith stabilize, or maybe rather than stability it’s the perfect point of paradox where the two overlap.
“I did prove that under certain conditions the tissues of a human brain can be kept alive. What else did I gain by the experiment except to demonstrate that the most important achievement, the synthetic creation of mental improvement, is beyond our reach? Nature has set limits which we cannot pass.
The brain's constructive imagination for mechanical devices and chemical exploitations is limitless, but to create kindness, honesty, love, humanity itself must first grow into that shape. Man can engender what he is himself. Nothing more.”
Esoteric bullshit aside I think stories narrated by and about neurotic freaks are awesome, especially when they’re about using an evil man’s excised brain to make yourself realize that you’re in love with your wife.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2024
page 68
"The phrase made no sense to me, but all the time it echoed in my sleep, a terror gripped me as if the words were a threat of mortal danger. “Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghost.”
Unmistakably it was Schratt’s voice that spoke again and again: It followed me into the day."
"The phrase made no sense to me, but all the time it echoed in my sleep, a terror gripped me as if the words were a threat of mortal danger. “Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghost.”
Unmistakably it was Schratt’s voice that spoke again and again: It followed me into the day."
December 21, 2023
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Donovan's Brain is a terrific science thriller by Curt Siodmak. He was a prolific writer and Hollywood film director in the 1940's and 50's.
He collaborated with fellow filmmakers Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann and his brother, director Robert Siodmak, on films in the early thirties before moving to England from Germany, and then on to Hollywood. His twentieth screenplay was for The Invisible Man Returns (1941), which lead to his breakthrough story for The Wolf Man (1941) starring Lon Chaney Jr. His original story produced countless sequels and introduced many of the werewolf legends we now believe ~ pentagrams, dying from a silver bullet, and transforming with the silver moon. Along with a dozen other books, his screenplays include the great I Walked With A Zombie, Bride of the Gorilla and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.
"A new species of creature is building here, which never before existed in this mortal world!"
Written in 1941, Donovan's Brain was a bestseller, translated in several languages and made into a film three times over the years. More than a medical thriller, it turns into a complex mystery at the halfway mark.
We are introduced to Dr. Patrick Cory's cold scientific determination in the first chapter, where he buys an ailing monkey, carefully nurses it back to health and gains its trust, only to kill it for an experiment in brain waves. So focused on his work, his wife and assistant Janice silently works around him and makes sure he fed while he resents and rudely ignores her.
After a small plane crashes in the mountains near their home, he finds one passenger still alive and brings him to the lab. As the patient is dying, he sees his opportunity to covertly remove a human brain and continue his experiments. Fed blood serum in a glass jar, the brain of millionaire WH Donovan is kept alive while wires and probes send pulses to an electrical print out of its brain waves. Patrick manages to bypass an investigation, and continually increases the microvolts to the brain in hopes of communication.
When he manages to connect mentally with the brain through telepathy, it is the beginning of a nightmare. Overpowered by thoughts not his own, he succumbs to the increasing will of Donovan, who begins to control his body and lead him on a cryptic path of revenge. He begins to write with his left hand, walk with a limp, and smoke cigars as Donovan once did ~ as the brain becomes omnipresent. Nothing Patrick can do, including killing the brain, will stop the dead man's desire!
Filled at first with medical experiments and brain surgery surprisingly gruesome for a book written in 1941(!) Patrick's forceful obstinance soon turns into a silent cry for help as he is betrayed by a body he cannot command. He becomes involved with the Donovan family and discovers the secret that will drive Donovan (and Patrick) to blackmail, arson and murderous ends.
Tightly written in the form of Patrick's medical journal, the mystery that unfolds is engaging and hard to guess at until the final pages. A real treat to read from a director of many old monster classics I enjoyed watching. Original and suspenseful - Recommended!
As I read this one night, a small piece of paper fell out, containing a few lines of fine cursive writing from previous owner Doris Bustad. On one side: "magnesia tablets - small cards 1 doz."
And on the other: "A bright change, your goal nears, news you want", and "try me".
I hope you got your wish Doris.
Donovan's Brain is a terrific science thriller by Curt Siodmak. He was a prolific writer and Hollywood film director in the 1940's and 50's.
He collaborated with fellow filmmakers Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann and his brother, director Robert Siodmak, on films in the early thirties before moving to England from Germany, and then on to Hollywood. His twentieth screenplay was for The Invisible Man Returns (1941), which lead to his breakthrough story for The Wolf Man (1941) starring Lon Chaney Jr. His original story produced countless sequels and introduced many of the werewolf legends we now believe ~ pentagrams, dying from a silver bullet, and transforming with the silver moon. Along with a dozen other books, his screenplays include the great I Walked With A Zombie, Bride of the Gorilla and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.
"A new species of creature is building here, which never before existed in this mortal world!"
Written in 1941, Donovan's Brain was a bestseller, translated in several languages and made into a film three times over the years. More than a medical thriller, it turns into a complex mystery at the halfway mark.
We are introduced to Dr. Patrick Cory's cold scientific determination in the first chapter, where he buys an ailing monkey, carefully nurses it back to health and gains its trust, only to kill it for an experiment in brain waves. So focused on his work, his wife and assistant Janice silently works around him and makes sure he fed while he resents and rudely ignores her.
After a small plane crashes in the mountains near their home, he finds one passenger still alive and brings him to the lab. As the patient is dying, he sees his opportunity to covertly remove a human brain and continue his experiments. Fed blood serum in a glass jar, the brain of millionaire WH Donovan is kept alive while wires and probes send pulses to an electrical print out of its brain waves. Patrick manages to bypass an investigation, and continually increases the microvolts to the brain in hopes of communication.
When he manages to connect mentally with the brain through telepathy, it is the beginning of a nightmare. Overpowered by thoughts not his own, he succumbs to the increasing will of Donovan, who begins to control his body and lead him on a cryptic path of revenge. He begins to write with his left hand, walk with a limp, and smoke cigars as Donovan once did ~ as the brain becomes omnipresent. Nothing Patrick can do, including killing the brain, will stop the dead man's desire!
Filled at first with medical experiments and brain surgery surprisingly gruesome for a book written in 1941(!) Patrick's forceful obstinance soon turns into a silent cry for help as he is betrayed by a body he cannot command. He becomes involved with the Donovan family and discovers the secret that will drive Donovan (and Patrick) to blackmail, arson and murderous ends.
Tightly written in the form of Patrick's medical journal, the mystery that unfolds is engaging and hard to guess at until the final pages. A real treat to read from a director of many old monster classics I enjoyed watching. Original and suspenseful - Recommended!
As I read this one night, a small piece of paper fell out, containing a few lines of fine cursive writing from previous owner Doris Bustad. On one side: "magnesia tablets - small cards 1 doz."
And on the other: "A bright change, your goal nears, news you want", and "try me".
I hope you got your wish Doris.
July 18, 2017
A very enjoyable novel, a classic of sorts. A good story solidly written, with no small talk or useless musings so dear to psychological fiction.
March 12, 2015
I like a sci-fi novel that does not overdo the sci-fi. This is basically a study of a sociopathic personality and the conscienceless havoc he inflicts on the lives of others. As such it is quite a good study, in some ways reminding me of the do-anything sociopaths in Jim Thompson. The sci-fi side allows us to see this personality both in life (through discovery, Donovan dies at the start of the book) and after death as his brain eventually controls the doctor who preserves it. At first, Dr. Cory seems as obsessive as Donovan, but Donovan's is the stronger will. This sci-fi conceit allows us to see the sociopath in control of another person's body in many ways and to see how far he could go. This is the strength of the book.
Its weakness, of course, is the rank implausibility of it all. The science makes no sense, though you have to credit Siodmak for doing everything he can to make it seem credible. As with everything, you either fall under its spell, or you don't. I could not fall under the spell of that part of the book.
TWILIGHT ZONE fans may enjoy this book. Not only is the story similar to the type of story people like in the ZONE, it even ends with a Serlingesque sermon to tell you what it all means.
Its weakness, of course, is the rank implausibility of it all. The science makes no sense, though you have to credit Siodmak for doing everything he can to make it seem credible. As with everything, you either fall under its spell, or you don't. I could not fall under the spell of that part of the book.
TWILIGHT ZONE fans may enjoy this book. Not only is the story similar to the type of story people like in the ZONE, it even ends with a Serlingesque sermon to tell you what it all means.
December 21, 2016
Spooky stuff, although not really very deep or meaningful. Very interesting treatment of women, too.
May 5, 2018
The 1942 novel - another Retro Hugo finalist - Donovan’s Brain, by Curt Siodmak, is a complex exploration of obsession and consequence. The protagonist, Dr. Patrick Cory, is a brilliant medical researcher, deeply fascinated with the idea of understanding brain function. In the tradition of the obsessed “mad” scientist, he works virtually alone out of his basement lab in a remote rural area, with his wife Janice, a nurse, as lab assistant when necessary and the local county doctor and coroner, the aging and alcoholic Dr. Schratt, as a sounding board.
Cory has allowed his research to take over the whole of his life. He barely has any relationship remaining with his wife, whise support - domestic and financial - he takes for granted. He sees Schratt only in terms of his usefulness to his own goals, he has no other human relationships - in fact he seems emotionally dead, interested only in his research.
When Cory is called to the scene of a plane crash - Schratt is incapacitated and the locals know him to be a doctor, albeit a non-practicing one - he finds one of the two survivors is severely injured and near death. Emergency surgery on location does little to improve the man’s condition, and it becomes obvious that the man - whom Cory has identified as millionaire Warren Horace Donovan - will not survive the journey to the nearest hospital. Instead, Cory has Donovan taken to his lab, where, as he is dying, Cory harvests his brain and, using the equipment he has developed through animal experimentation, preserves the brain, alive.
Cory’s obsession to understand what the brain is capable of leads him to discover a means of augmenting the brain’s power to the point where Donovan can communicate with him telepathically, at first through automatic writing, later directly. In fact, Donovan’s vastly increased will eventually overpowers Cory’s autonomy, forcing him to carry out Donovan’s own obsession, allowing nothing to stand in his way.
In their different ways, both men are obsessed with their goals and will stop at nothing, even murder, to achieve them. Siodmak explores the impact of obsession on relationships, first through the empty shell of Cory’s marriage, then through observation of the effects Donovan in life had on his family and close associates.
As the novel is presented as a series of entries in Cory’s journal, there is an element of the unreliable narrator here, but this is offset by that narrator’s devotion to a scientific worldview - he records his events, thoughts, actions, emotions, with a certain level of detachment and self-honesty. And it is through the changes in his entries that we see him slowly regaining his humanity as he experiences what it is to be sacrificed to another’s obsession. It’s a stripped-down narrative, creating a fast-paced story that generates both mystery and suspense - why is Donovan forcing Cory to do these things, and whose will will prevail in the end.
At its core, Donovan’s Brain is a case study of the damage done by closing out one’s humanity to focus on a single goal, be it scientific truth, or the accumulation of wealth, or any of the other obsessions humans are prone to pursuing.
Cory has allowed his research to take over the whole of his life. He barely has any relationship remaining with his wife, whise support - domestic and financial - he takes for granted. He sees Schratt only in terms of his usefulness to his own goals, he has no other human relationships - in fact he seems emotionally dead, interested only in his research.
When Cory is called to the scene of a plane crash - Schratt is incapacitated and the locals know him to be a doctor, albeit a non-practicing one - he finds one of the two survivors is severely injured and near death. Emergency surgery on location does little to improve the man’s condition, and it becomes obvious that the man - whom Cory has identified as millionaire Warren Horace Donovan - will not survive the journey to the nearest hospital. Instead, Cory has Donovan taken to his lab, where, as he is dying, Cory harvests his brain and, using the equipment he has developed through animal experimentation, preserves the brain, alive.
Cory’s obsession to understand what the brain is capable of leads him to discover a means of augmenting the brain’s power to the point where Donovan can communicate with him telepathically, at first through automatic writing, later directly. In fact, Donovan’s vastly increased will eventually overpowers Cory’s autonomy, forcing him to carry out Donovan’s own obsession, allowing nothing to stand in his way.
In their different ways, both men are obsessed with their goals and will stop at nothing, even murder, to achieve them. Siodmak explores the impact of obsession on relationships, first through the empty shell of Cory’s marriage, then through observation of the effects Donovan in life had on his family and close associates.
As the novel is presented as a series of entries in Cory’s journal, there is an element of the unreliable narrator here, but this is offset by that narrator’s devotion to a scientific worldview - he records his events, thoughts, actions, emotions, with a certain level of detachment and self-honesty. And it is through the changes in his entries that we see him slowly regaining his humanity as he experiences what it is to be sacrificed to another’s obsession. It’s a stripped-down narrative, creating a fast-paced story that generates both mystery and suspense - why is Donovan forcing Cory to do these things, and whose will will prevail in the end.
At its core, Donovan’s Brain is a case study of the damage done by closing out one’s humanity to focus on a single goal, be it scientific truth, or the accumulation of wealth, or any of the other obsessions humans are prone to pursuing.
January 11, 2023
Often credited with inventing the "brain in a vat" trope, "Donovan's Brain" was a best-seller upon its release. While the trope had been aired in one form or another at least for 50 years prior to the book's publication, German author, screenwriter and director Curt (Kurt) Siodmak undoubtedly helped popularise it, and "Donovan's Brain" became the starting point for a slew of literature and films on the theme. The novel itself has had at least three straight-up adaptations and a host of screen imitations.
The novel follows Dr. Patrick Cory who in his secluded countryside lab tries to save millionaire D.W. Donovan after his small plane has crashed in the vicinity. Failing to do so, he secretly cuts out Donovan's Brain in order to use it for his lifelong attempts at keeping a human brain alive after death. He succeeds and tries to communicate with it through electrical impulses, but hasn't counted on megalomaniac Donovan's mental strength. Donovan starts telepathically controlling Cory, continuing his mysterious business, which somehow includes his offspring who seem to have conspired against him, the blackmail of bank and tax officials and helping a condemned murderer.
Despite his success with "Donovan's Brain" and his fame from writing the script for Universal's "The Wolf Man" and other horror classics, Siodmak was a competently mediocre writer at best. "Donovan's Brain" starts off as a taut psychological SF thriller, but as soon as Donovan has seized the mind of Cory, the book, as well as the 1953 film adaptation, degrade into a rather clichéd and pulpy crime story. The central premise is never probed beyond its superficial trappings and exactly how the telepathy works is never made quite clear, leaving Siodmak free to turn the telepathy on and off as the plot demands.
Siodmak's ideas were often better than his actual writing, but "Donovan's Brain" is well worth reading, if for no other reason than its historical pedigree.
The novel follows Dr. Patrick Cory who in his secluded countryside lab tries to save millionaire D.W. Donovan after his small plane has crashed in the vicinity. Failing to do so, he secretly cuts out Donovan's Brain in order to use it for his lifelong attempts at keeping a human brain alive after death. He succeeds and tries to communicate with it through electrical impulses, but hasn't counted on megalomaniac Donovan's mental strength. Donovan starts telepathically controlling Cory, continuing his mysterious business, which somehow includes his offspring who seem to have conspired against him, the blackmail of bank and tax officials and helping a condemned murderer.
Despite his success with "Donovan's Brain" and his fame from writing the script for Universal's "The Wolf Man" and other horror classics, Siodmak was a competently mediocre writer at best. "Donovan's Brain" starts off as a taut psychological SF thriller, but as soon as Donovan has seized the mind of Cory, the book, as well as the 1953 film adaptation, degrade into a rather clichéd and pulpy crime story. The central premise is never probed beyond its superficial trappings and exactly how the telepathy works is never made quite clear, leaving Siodmak free to turn the telepathy on and off as the plot demands.
Siodmak's ideas were often better than his actual writing, but "Donovan's Brain" is well worth reading, if for no other reason than its historical pedigree.
December 27, 2025
Curt Siodmak continues the imagination and energy he showed in his many Universal horror and sci-fi movies with this wonderful 'brain in a jar' tale of psychic domination.
Told in a journal style that recalls classic mad scientist tales like Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, this short, pacy read follows the obsessed (and not very likabke) Patrick Cory as he saves the brain of millionaire controlling sociopath WH Donovan. what follows is a wonderful little take of man vs brain! Donovan's brain is far from passive and starts to imprint his will on others as it starts to grow and mutate.
Really fun stuff that goes to some dark places but never too far. I'll admit the timeline at the end threw me somewhat as the diary entries don't seem to make sense but not enough to ruin my enjoyment. Also I'd like more of an explanation of what happened with Fuller, Hinds and the trial, this gets wrapped up a little too quickly (although the execution story was a delightful little 'but what if...' from Siodmak.
Footnote: I've noticed a couple of Good Reads reviews comment that the science in this is not very well explained. That's because its 'science fiction'! Good Lord if we had to realistically explain everything hapoening in novels there would be no sci-fi genre at all! Honestly people...
Told in a journal style that recalls classic mad scientist tales like Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, this short, pacy read follows the obsessed (and not very likabke) Patrick Cory as he saves the brain of millionaire controlling sociopath WH Donovan. what follows is a wonderful little take of man vs brain! Donovan's brain is far from passive and starts to imprint his will on others as it starts to grow and mutate.
Really fun stuff that goes to some dark places but never too far. I'll admit the timeline at the end threw me somewhat as the diary entries don't seem to make sense but not enough to ruin my enjoyment. Also I'd like more of an explanation of what happened with Fuller, Hinds and the trial, this gets wrapped up a little too quickly (although the execution story was a delightful little 'but what if...' from Siodmak.
Footnote: I've noticed a couple of Good Reads reviews comment that the science in this is not very well explained. That's because its 'science fiction'! Good Lord if we had to realistically explain everything hapoening in novels there would be no sci-fi genre at all! Honestly people...
August 8, 2017
Curt Siodmak's 1942 book "Donovan's Brain" apparently was the basis of three B movies:
- Lady and The Monster (1944)
- Donovan's Brain (1953)
- The Brain (1962)
I'm pretty sure I foolishly watched at least one of those movies in my youth. Now, I can say the same for the book. Unfortunately, in terms of literary merit, this book is in the same mold as those movies: bad and cheesy. Essentially, it's the story of one shallow, cardboard cutout of a psychopath who does something bad to another cardboard cutout of a psychopath. When the tables turn, we get to watch some of the entirely empty cardboard cutouts around them react. The science (as expected) is bad, and the writing is bad. I'm giving it an extra star because it's supposedly a cult classic and because the dribs and drabs we collect on one of the psychopaths are somewhat interesting. I'm rating the book at a Pretty Bad 2 stars out of 5.
- Lady and The Monster (1944)
- Donovan's Brain (1953)
- The Brain (1962)
I'm pretty sure I foolishly watched at least one of those movies in my youth. Now, I can say the same for the book. Unfortunately, in terms of literary merit, this book is in the same mold as those movies: bad and cheesy. Essentially, it's the story of one shallow, cardboard cutout of a psychopath who does something bad to another cardboard cutout of a psychopath. When the tables turn, we get to watch some of the entirely empty cardboard cutouts around them react. The science (as expected) is bad, and the writing is bad. I'm giving it an extra star because it's supposedly a cult classic and because the dribs and drabs we collect on one of the psychopaths are somewhat interesting. I'm rating the book at a Pretty Bad 2 stars out of 5.
July 6, 2025
From the screenwriter of such horror and sci-fi film classics as "the wolf man" (1941) and "Frankenstein meets the wolf man" (1943) comes what is probably his most well known piece of prose fiction, "Donovan's Brain"!
Curt Siodmak as a screenwriter is a guy I have a lot of time and love for his 1940s output at universal studios on their monster movies! The ones he wrote tends to be the more well thought of/beloved entries in the 1940s monster cycle from that studio and I am glad to see that his prose fiction is no different!
"Donovan's Brain" takes the always fun pulpy central concept of a evil brain kept alive in a jar and REALLY runs with it delivering a pulpy yet thought provoking ride of a narrative!
The feeling of reading this book is very much the same feeling one gets when watching a hidden gem of a 1940s classic horror film that you have never seen for the first time and I love it for that!
P.S. Curt Siodmak as an screenwriting auteurist case when?
Curt Siodmak as a screenwriter is a guy I have a lot of time and love for his 1940s output at universal studios on their monster movies! The ones he wrote tends to be the more well thought of/beloved entries in the 1940s monster cycle from that studio and I am glad to see that his prose fiction is no different!
"Donovan's Brain" takes the always fun pulpy central concept of a evil brain kept alive in a jar and REALLY runs with it delivering a pulpy yet thought provoking ride of a narrative!
The feeling of reading this book is very much the same feeling one gets when watching a hidden gem of a 1940s classic horror film that you have never seen for the first time and I love it for that!
P.S. Curt Siodmak as an screenwriting auteurist case when?
May 21, 2018
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3011851.html
A short novel which was the basis of several memorable films. Our protagonist, a mildly corrupt doctor in a desert town in the Western USA, rescues the brain of evil millionaire Donovan, who is fatally injured in a plane crash, and finds a way of keeping it alive; but the brain is stronger than its human minders, and manipulates them to continue its original owner's evil plans of various kinds (notably perverting the course of justice). It's a basic horror plot of possession, but there's a tremendously convincing air of despairing degeneracy about the entire story (the narrator is disgusted with himself) and nods to the latest technology as of 1942.
A short novel which was the basis of several memorable films. Our protagonist, a mildly corrupt doctor in a desert town in the Western USA, rescues the brain of evil millionaire Donovan, who is fatally injured in a plane crash, and finds a way of keeping it alive; but the brain is stronger than its human minders, and manipulates them to continue its original owner's evil plans of various kinds (notably perverting the course of justice). It's a basic horror plot of possession, but there's a tremendously convincing air of despairing degeneracy about the entire story (the narrator is disgusted with himself) and nods to the latest technology as of 1942.
May 25, 2018
Lets put a brain in a jar. What could go wrong?
Donovan's Brain reminded me a lot of Frankenstein. It wasn't nearly as good but it focused a lot on the you really shouldn't do, as wells as the possibly mad science or at least driven scientist.
Well what can go wrong? apparently it was insane before and got psychic powers to control people. This will not end well...
is it good? well it was entertaining in a watching the train wreck way, but the characters were not sympathetic, sometimes a little flat, and their was some sexism and racism. So it needs to be judged against other books of its time. I would recommend it if the primary premise sounds interesting that part is worth it (i almost gave it the fourth star).
Donovan's Brain reminded me a lot of Frankenstein. It wasn't nearly as good but it focused a lot on the you really shouldn't do, as wells as the possibly mad science or at least driven scientist.
Well what can go wrong? apparently it was insane before and got psychic powers to control people. This will not end well...
is it good? well it was entertaining in a watching the train wreck way, but the characters were not sympathetic, sometimes a little flat, and their was some sexism and racism. So it needs to be judged against other books of its time. I would recommend it if the primary premise sounds interesting that part is worth it (i almost gave it the fourth star).
February 14, 2025
The descriptions in this book of WH Donovan remind me so much of descriptions I’ve read of Fred Trump Sr, it’s uncanny.
As someone who finds radical behaviorism rather sinister, of course I’m going to love this story, which ends with the line: “Man can engender what he is himself. Nothing more.”
It’s hard to justify the thesis that Siodmak was writing about behaviorism specifically, but he was certainly writing about medical science of the mind, influenced by the eugenicist ideals of the early 20th century as behaviorism was. A Jew who fled from Germany in the 30s, Siodmak wrote this at the height of WWII—hard not to take that as significant.
It’s a shame this novel has found such limited readership. Siodmak clearly understands human nature well, and this book is worth reading.
As someone who finds radical behaviorism rather sinister, of course I’m going to love this story, which ends with the line: “Man can engender what he is himself. Nothing more.”
It’s hard to justify the thesis that Siodmak was writing about behaviorism specifically, but he was certainly writing about medical science of the mind, influenced by the eugenicist ideals of the early 20th century as behaviorism was. A Jew who fled from Germany in the 30s, Siodmak wrote this at the height of WWII—hard not to take that as significant.
It’s a shame this novel has found such limited readership. Siodmak clearly understands human nature well, and this book is worth reading.
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