The Mind Parasites

by Colin Wilson, Dean Ellis (Illustrator)

Wilson has blended H. P. Lovecraft's dark vision with his own revolutionary philosophy and unique narrative powers to produce a stunning, high-tension story of vaulting imagination. A professor makes a horrifying discovery while excavating a sinister archeological site. For over 200 years, mind parasites have been lurking in the deepest layers of human consciousness, feeding on human life force and steadily gaining a foothold on the planet. Now they threaten humanity's extinction. They can be fought with one weapon only: the mind, pushed to--and beyond--its limits. Pushed so far that humans can read each other's thoughts, that the moon can be shifted from its orbit by thought alone. Pushed so that man can at last join battle with the loathsome parasites on equal terms.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction, Novels, Philosophy, Fantasy, Cthulhu Mythos

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.

Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colin Wilson uses the Lovecraft mythos as an entry point into his own interests and concerns. The author often writes of a world - our world - full of people willing to just let things happen, filled with members of a disappointing species that need to wake up if they ever want to evolve:

"It's strange, but all these people strike me as being asleep. They're all somnambulists."

Colin Wilson champions the mind. Even though the "villains" of the novel are its titular mind parasites that exist to create complacency and ignorance, the true villains and the true victims are one and the same: namely, those people who cannot explore within and who create their own boxes to live in, who chain themselves to farcical patterns of behavior and who lose their independence through their reliance on hierarchies. People who have no ability or interest in exploring the world of the imagination:

A man who can withdraw into himself on a long train journey has escaped time and space, while the man who stares out of the window and yawns with boredom has to live through every minute and every mile.

Colin Wilson is a dry and deliberate author, disinterested in providing cheap thrills or easy answers, quietly passionate about his ideas, a writer whose prose is calm, studied... polite. The book is an intellectual novel set in a sometimes prescient, sometimes absurdly unrealistic future. Its plot is basically about how a group of people become aware of a threat, begin to quickly evolve (which includes powers!), eventually travel through space, and in a fantastic scene, finally get around to eliminating that threat when the world is on the verge of total nuclear annihilation. It has a positive feeling to it because the author truly believed that humans can become better if they literally put their minds to it. But sometimes he does let his scabrous opinions on the current state of the un-evolved human race surface:

...the human beings who greeted us seemed alien and repulsive, little better than apes. It was suddenly incredible that these morons could inhabit this infinitely beautiful world and yet remain so blind and stupid.

Colin Wilson is one of my favorite authors! I really get him.

[Sawsan · Rating 3 out of 5]

رواية خيال علمي نُشرت عام 1967, عن غزو الطفيليات لعقول البشر والسيطرة عليهم
تدفعهم لتدمير أنفسهم والعالم, وتُفقدهم القدرة على تطوير الحياة
ويبدأ العلماء في وضع الخطط للقضاء عليها
كل التخيلات في الرواية تُصور واقع الحياة والناس في أطوار مختلفة
إعلان الحروب, الانتحار, الاحساس بالعدمية, سُلطة العادات على أفعال الناس, استنزاف الطاقات والقوى العقلية
ويلسون يُركز على قدرة الانسان على رفع مستوى الوعي والفكر
والتأكيد انه العقل قادر على إدهاشنا والقيام بالكثير مما لا نستطيع تصوره
مزيج بين الفلسفة والخيال, وفكر مثير للاهتمام

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mind Parasites was written in response to a challenge proffered Colin Wilson by August Derlith, founder of Arkham House, friend and devotee of H.P. Lovecraft. Wilson, famous since publication of his series of brief biographies of exceptional persons entitled The Outsider, had savaged Lovecraft in a widely read review. Derlith suggested Wilson write a Lovecraftean novel the way it ought be done. The result was The Mind Parasites followed by Space Vampires (originally entitled Life Force in Britain) and, eventually, a movie version of the latter.

Wilson, like Lovecraft, is not a good stylist. His characterizations are wooden, his dialogues unnatural. Most of his novels reflect the sexism of his generation. But he is worth reading.

I have often compared the real Colin Wilson to Vonnegut's fictional Kilgore Trout. Both were geniuses of a sort, driven by obsessional ideas to write and write and write, despite the fact that no respectable publisher would touch most of their material. Like Trout, you'll find a lot of Wilson in porn magazines--the serious fill punctuating the marketable photographs. Wilson squandered his early weath and has actually tried to make a living as a writer. Some of his products, like his coffee table books on crime or that big thing entitled The Occult, are clearly only tangent to his interests, quickly written with markets in mind, written to spec.

Wilson's obsession is with human potential. This is reflected in his products: several volumes and many essays of a biographical nature dealing with exceptional people, many of them not ones you'd want in your home--twisted geniuses if you will; a decent biography and review of the work of the American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, the man who brought "peak experience" into our vocabulary; a series of philosophical essays and books about existenialism, about Husserl; works on the occult and extra-sensory perception; fictional and nonfictional studies of criminal genius; innumberable reviews in papers and magazines, often literary reviews carrying philosophical baggage.

The Mind Parasites is ostensibly a science fiction novel set in the near future (a future which has already happened, the book having been around a while). Archaeologists studying buried Hittite structures discover much older ruins many strata below them, incredibly ancient, antediluvian structures. Thus the Great Old Ones, Chthulu and the whole Lovecraftean horror domain enters the picture.

Drawing on Freud and, particularly, Jung, these, the Old Ones, have been feeding on human libido for millenia. Their discovery explains all the unnecessary suffering and avoidable stupidities marking human history. Their discoverers are noticed. They strike back, attacking the autonomic nervous systems of our now partially self-actualized heroes of science.

You'll have to read the thing. Suffice it to say that Husserl and German phenomenology save the planet.

Who would write such a thing? Well, maybe a lot of people as a satire, a humorous excercise employing science fictional and horror themes. But Wilson isn't one of them. He's very serious, inspiringly so. No, not about Chthulu and that lot, but about mental vampirism certainly.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much what I imagine the thought process of a paranoid schizophrenic must be - invisible mind parasites that feed on our collective life force - 'their' only weakness: our minds pushed past the limits of individuality into a 'hive' like pattern. Dark and nihilistic - Nietzsche and Poe team up for existential horror.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably not as riveting as when I read it as an angst ridden teenager all those years ago, but still an interesting mix of science fiction and philosophy. An interesting story of mind parasites dulling the minds of the the brightest humans, blocking their mental development, and directing them towards suicide. I am reminded of it every time I realize I've just spent two hours scrolling down my Facebook page.

[Anete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zinātnieku grupa 20./21.gs. mijā cīnas ar cilvēku prātos mītošiem parazītiem, kas ir pie vainas cilvēku pašnāvību vilnim, kas Cilvēci piemeklējis. Interesants formāts - stāstījums ir 1 no zinātnieka notikumu izklāsta ieraksta transkripcija no arhīva, stāsts par pagātnes notikumiem no 21. gs skatupunkta, tātad nākontes pat man, 2025. g. Lasītājam… Bet diemžēl tas tikai rada sausa, vienlaidus teksta fenomenu, kurš man diezgan grūti lasījās. Galvenais varonis tik trenēja prātu, ieguva telekinēzes spējas un vēl nez ko, nenodarbojās ar savu pamatdarbu vispār, viņu ar kolēģi varētu kronēt par sūdīgākajiem arheologiem Cilvēces vēsturē un Lovekrafts šeit tik laikam pieminēts tik tāpēc, ka Vilsonam mīļš autors. Mācība - nav ko par daudz sacerēties, pirms lasa grāmatiņas.

[Alan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colin Wilson's is the classic romantic success story. A working class lad from the midlands of England who couldn't get on with his parents and who was subjected to bouts of boredom and existential angst he set out to educate himself by living on the streets, roaming around Britain. Whilst sleeping rough in London, he wrote a book in the writing room of the British Museum, about the struggles faced by creative free-thinkers unable to fit into the humdrum world, and called it "The Outsider."

Picked up on a whim by a publisher, the book went viral, and Wilson woke up and found that, to his shock and horror, he was famous, and classified as part of the "Angry Young men" movement - though what Wilson has in common with, say, John Osborne or Alan Sillitoe, neither I nor Wilson himself have ever been able to make out. As time went on, Wilson developed his philosophy into a kind of optimistic branch of existentialism, holding that the next move in human evolution is to develop the mind into being able to experience bouts of quasi-religious awe which he calls "peak experiences" The philosophy is a lot less facile than I'm making it sound - I really recommend readers check out his non-fiction, though it's outside the scope of this review.

"The Mind Parasites" came about when Wilson criticized the late H P Lovecraft in one of his works, and August Derleth, Lovecraft's posthumous publisher and apologist, made a challenge to Wilson - saying, essentially "If you think Lovecraft was such a crap writer, why don't you do better yourself?" Wilson relished the challenge and set out to do just that. This book is the result.

In fact, it can't really be regarded as part of the Lovecraftian cycle - it takes too many liberties with the canon for that - but in its own right it's an amazing work.

The novel takes as its premise that for many centuries, the human mind has been under attack by the "mind parasites" of the title, a conspiracy rather like David Icke's belief in lizards manipulating the world behind the scenes, and things like the romantic movement and the suicide epidemic among thinkers and artists are the results of this infection. The heroes of the story develop a way of developing the mind to fight back.

I guess, technically, this book should get the special "kid glove" treatment reserved for first novels, but really it doesn't need it. Apart from the rather subdued climax (a trait, unfortunately, of much of Wilson's fiction) this book is right up there with any classic work you can name. An idea that leaves you breathless, perfectly placed development, and with the didactic philosophical theme cleverly and entertainingly interlaced with a suspenseful story.

Simply read as a mindless sci-fi novel this work is entertaining enough to get four stars. Add in the gob-smacking idea behind it, and you start to wish that "Goodreads" allowed you to give six!

Go and read Colin Wilson. Now. Please!

[AL Rial · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the author had many things to say. So all those things got a bit tangled into the story that has a touch of Lovecraft type horror. It's a conspiracy with a dash of philosophy. It's a quality read.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 4 out of 5]

it starts like a jolly h.p.lovecraft fan fic yet the further it goes, the more topical it gets. the principal action takes place, er, right now, and to read about those "brain slugs" in the climes of rabid russian jingoism is mildly educational, to say the least. it all reads like a newscast, actually.

however. the best part ends with the studies of human component (human empowerment, the necessity of awakening and awareness), and i wish the author could stay in this philosophical vein. yet the novel dissolves into a bright but shallow carnival of dated sf, including moon theories, bodiless aliens, and space police a la Space Odyssey, and you feel betrayed by him: he seems to not have thought it through, and played possum from some really good revelation about this rather revolting human condition that only poets have courage and power to transcend, for very brief periods of time.

the soviet edition is supplemented with idiotically thoughtful afterword where our "plainclothed literary critics" pretend that the novel is a great specimen of progressive and anti-bourgeois current british literature (although it was published 20 years later than the original), and no less idiotic comments on names and language remarks for those who wish to perfect their english. those diversionary tactics are pardonable, however, for publishing a novel with mind-bending drugs in it, only two years after brezhnev kicked the bucket, well, that was a feat in itself. and i wonder if they guessed at the time that this work was actually undermining the regime itself.

[حنين محمد حيال · Rating 4 out of 5]

دومًا أقول أن أفضل طريقة لإيصال فكرة غريبة ولعلها بعيدة عن الواقع هي وضعها في إطار حكاية ومن ثم لو أمكن في فلم سينمائي عندها ستصل لأكبر عدد ممكن من المتلقين وقد تجد من يطوّرها أو يتم التصديق عليها عن طريق التجارب العملية لهذه الفكرة
هذا ما ينطبق فعلًا في رواية "طفيليات العقل"
عندما كنت اقرأ هذا العنوان في مكتبة والدي كان كل ظني أنه كتاب يعني الجانب النفسي وهذا ما ظنه أخي أيضًا لاكتشف فيما بعد ومن خلال تجوالي في إحدى المكتبات أنها رواية بعد أن اقتنيتها وجدت مماثلتها في المكتبة وأن الأولى هي رواية أيضًا لكن بطبعة أقدم.
المهم ... الرواية وبصدق تمتعت بها لآخر صفحة فيها خاصة وأن الكاتب يشعرك بأنها رواية وثائقية لأحداث حقيقية حتى أن بداية الرواية عبارة عن مقدمة تمهيدية كتبها اج.اس/دبليو بي من جامعة سانت هنري/ كمبريدج عام 2014 والرواية كتبت في الثمانينات، لولا التاريخ لظننت انه حقا هناك من كتب هذه المقدمة التمهيدية لا شخصيات من خيال الكاتب.. وهكذا تتسلسل الأحداث
تبدأ الأحداث مع الدكتور أوستن وهو عالم آثار يروي لنا ما حصل في تسجيلات وجدوها قبل اختفائه، تدور الأحداث بداية عن اكتشاف كتلة آبوذ التي يُعتقد أن العمالقة قد بنوها سابقًا ثم تستمر الأحداث لتتحول شيئًا فشيء إلى اكتشافات عالم آخر انتحر بسبب ما يسميه سرطان العقل وهي طفيليات العقل
إن الممتع هو اجتماع العلماء ومحاوراتهم الجميلة العلمية وتجاربهم على أنفسهم ليصلوا إلى حقيقة اعترافات العالم الذي انتحر.. والأجمل أن حديثهم يقنعك
ان الكاتب ذكي جدًا في اختيار الكلمات وترتيب المناقشات إضافة إلى انه بعد شرحه العلمي يقرّب الفكرة لك بمثال بسيط من الحياة كمدرّسة الرياضيات التي تقرب لنا عملية الجمع حين تسألنا "تفاحتين وبرتقالة كم يصبح عددها؟" هكذا يبسط لعقولنا البسيطة الأمثلة المعقدة.. وسأقرب لك فكرة كيف يجعلك هذا الكتاب تقتنع بكلامه وبوجود تلك الطفيليات.. ابسط مثال عندما تكون أنت فقير المعلومات الدينية وتسمع بحديث شريف تصدقه مباشرة ولربما تنشره أيضًا وقد يكون هو حديث ضعيف الاسناد وقد يكون ايضا حديث مكذوب عن الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام..
هنا يستخدم الكاتب _برأيي_ هذه الطريقة في اسلوب الإقناع وهي العلم الذي نجهله في فسيولوجية العقل وعلم الظواهر وما الى ذلك حتى انه يضع اسماء كتب وكتاب بعضهم حقيقيين والبعض الآخر من خياله ليختلط عليك الأمر.. إلا ان الحصيلة _برأيي أيضًا_ أنه أوصل فكرة تستحق الدراسة وتستحق النظر فيها وتأملها
ان الرواية جعلتني اود تجربة ما جربه الدكتور اوستن في الدخول الى اعماق عقله ومحاربة تلك الطفيليات ولازالت الرغبة تتملكني _هذا للعلم_ خاصة وان في الامر فوائد جمّة وبالأخص ايضًا (ولعلكم لن تصدقوا) انه حصل بعد ان اتممت الرواية في احد الايام التي كنت فيها مرهقة للغاية وبين اغفاءة وصحو ودون نيّة مني او تفكير طلّ عليّ كائنان غريبان من بؤبؤ عينيّ وفي لحظتها رنّ هاتفي الغبي فذهب كل شيء وهذا بالضبط بالضبط ما حصل للدكتور اوستن في اول الأمر، لعلّي اتخيل فقط أو أنها اضغاث احلام
لكن دعوني اخبركم بشيء مثير وأيضًا مرعب وقريب كل القرب من ما جاء في الكتاب .. من سمع منكم عن نظرية "الاسقاط النجمي" ؟ أو ما يسمى بـ " خروج الروح من الجسد" وهي نظرية البعض يجزم أنه جربها والبعض الآخر يقول أنها محض خيال.. إلا انك ما ان تبحث عنها في الانترنيت حتى تجد الكثير عنها وحلقات تعليمية لتطبيقها .. في الحقيقة ان هذه النظرية مثيرة جدا وملخصها أنها حالة الوعي اثناء النوم أي أنك جسدك يكون نائما بينما عقلك في حالة يقظة كاملة
هذا ما حصل مع العالم اوستن بطل الرواية حين جرّب محاربة طفيليات العقل اضافة إلى ان من صفات هذه النظرية انك تستطيع السفر الى اي مكان ومن فروعها التخاطر، وهذا ما شرحه ايضا العالم اوستن على ان يكون الشخص الآخر يجيد تطبيق هذه النظرية، وكذلك يفسر لك الصوفية وخيال الشعراء وما الى ذلك ..
يصف لك ايضا سبب ازدياد حالة السرطان سوء عند الاحباط او سماع خبر سيء وما الى ذلك بطريقة مقنعة، انه حتى يعزي سبب الحروب الى طفيليات العقل
الكتاب رائع رائع بصدق .. مع كل صفحة تشعر انك عشت مغامرة جميلة في بحور العلم

سأقتبس لكم بعض ما جاء فيه
"انصب اهتمامي على رمز الليل البهيم للروح والمخاطر التي تواجهها بعد خروجها من الجسد..... وقد اصر كارل عليّ في ذلك الوقت أن اطلع على كتاب الموتى لأهالي التيبت"
" أن العقل يتوسع الى ما لا نهاية في اعماقنا وان العقل عالمًا قائمًا بذاته تمامًا كالعالم الذي نعيش فيه، كوكبًا له غاباته وصحاريه ومحيطاته. وفي هذا الكوكب تعيش جميع المخلوقات الغريبة، وهو أمر من شأن الفرد أن يتوقعه"
"ومن اكثر الأمور اثارة هو ان تلك المدن الضخمة للعظماء القدامى كانت تشبه ما نعرفه اليوم عن مدينتنا القائمة تحت الارض. وهذه المدن بحسب لافكرافت لم تكن مجهزة بسلالم بل الواح مائلة، لأن سكانها عمالقة يشبهون المخلوقات المخروطية ولها مجسات"
"ان سلاح طفيليات العقل الاساس عبارة عن جهاز تشويش للعقل يشبه الى حد ما جهاز التشويش في الرادار"
"اعلن ان الافراد يلعبون دورا ضئيلا في التاريخ وأنهم كانوا يسيرون سيرا اليا فجميع ابطال الحرب النابليونية كانوا يتحركون بآلية اذ كانوا مجرد رقع شطرنج في ايدي طفيليات العقل"
"ان الطفيليات كانت ظلا من ظلال جبن الانسان وسلبيته وتزداد قوة الطفيليات في جو الرعب والهزيمة اذ انها تتغذى من مخاوف الانسان وفي تلك الحالة فان افضل طريقة لمكافحتها تحويل هذا الجو الى جو يملؤه الامل والقوة"

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Man is a continent, but his conscious mind is no larger than a back garden".

"I came to realize how much of "success" in the world is due to a mere habit of agressiveness and hard work, and not at all to intelligence".

"Man is lazy by nature, and laziness is by no means to be condemned. It means he dislikes inconvenience, and he has created civilization to escape inconvinience; so his laziness has been an important factor in his evolution. But this also means that he prefers to evolve at his own slow and deliberate rate".

[Viola · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐ drīzāk. Interesanta ideja - jau 200 gadus cilvēku smadzenēs ir iemitinājušies parazīti, kas izraisa apātiju, neracionālu uzvedību utt. Vienīgais veids, kā tos uzvarēt - atklāt katra cilvēka iekšējo potenciālu.
Kopumā grāmata pilna ar sava laika (1960.-to gadu) reālijām - ideja par cilvēka potenciāla sasniegšanu, seksuālā revolūcija, LSD un citi apziņu paplašinoši līdzekļi. Nedaudz saraustīta valoda, bet jāņem vērā, ka šī ir autora 1.grāmata. Patika atsauce uz Lavkraftu, kas bijusi liela autoritāte Vilsonam.
Domāju, ka grāmatas ideja daudz ko izskadrotu mūsdienu atsevišķu cilvēku grupu uzvedībā. Varbūt arī tur pa smadzenēm dzīvojas parazīti? Spilgti iztēlojos iepēju, ka kāds smadzenes meklējošs parazīts ierāpies viena otra ietekmeļa/ politiķa galvā un tagad mirst bada nāvē.
"Nothing could be more dangerous for the human race than to believe that its affairs had fallen into the hands of supermen."

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read The Mind Parasites in the early 1970s, long before I had ever encountered Lovecraft or knew of the Lovecraft mythos. I found this book enthralling as an angst ridden teen and have read it a few more times in the ensuing decades, this despite finding it borderline frustrating for having no chapters or other handy spots to hang a bookmark, and despite its author's unfortunate grasp of cosmology, laughably improbable even in 1967 when it was written.

I have just finished "re-reading" it in a very well performed audiobook format. From the perspective of a fully grown jaded human looking back, I can see now why it so held my interest through the years. Haven't we all felt that something we can't control is holding us back from reaching our full potential? That if only we could be clear headed we could finally achieve what we need and deserve? It's everyone's dream come true, everyone's wish fulfillment. But the novel is also a decently creepy horror tale in the first half or so, and many others things as well. I can think of no other novel that attempts to combine invisible Lovecraftian monsters, self help, optimistic existentialism and outrageous Fortean woo-woo pseudo-science in a single cohesive volume. Wilson must have been a strange individual indeed.

I'm keeping my earlier four star rating, but adding a grain or two of salt.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book of its time - 1960s sci-fi where men were men and women were non-existent or completely unimportant. It was an interesting read but grew irritating.

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colin Wilson is very skilled at writing intellectual thrillers and this is no exception. It's his riff on a Lovecraftian tale and involves vampiric mind parasites that have been draining the intellectual vitality of humanity for ages. But as Wilson is an inveterate optimist he posits a way out of this vampirism via inner mind work. Very compelling.

[Lee Foust · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick leisurely pulp paperback read, I thought.

Turned out to be a lot more theoretical and interesting (and consequently more challenging to read) than most sci fi or horror. Although the cover tries to sell this as a Lovecraftian work it's actually more anti-Lovecraftian in nature, written by Wilson after he attacked Lovecraft for bad writing and H. P.'s friend and lionizing posthumous publisher, August Derleth, challenged him to do it better. Wilson therefore took his beliefs in the untapped powers of the human mind and, I assume, his distaste for post-Romantic pessimism and De Sadian sexual perversion--and the hip '60s offshoots of both--and concocted this tale of parasites that live in our brains like cancer born of frustrated hopes and keep us all from becoming the poet-gods that existential phenomenology could otherwise train us to be.

Well, that was interesting indeed.

It did remind me a bit of Harlan Ellison's pithy comment that Star Trek had only one plot line: the crew of the Enterprise encounter God. The Mind Parasites is also quite similar to Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 insomuch as it charts humankind's evolution from befuddled man to a much more powerful and clear-thinking level--what Ellison means by "god" in his critique of Star Trek. So the real interest here is the novel's specific concentration on the vast unexplored inner world of the mind and why humankind doesn't exploit the mind's power more.

The Mind Parasites is also quite talky for a novel, like a father patiently explaining complex issues to a child--which is true to the narrator's character as a scientist and his enlightened state beyond what we, his readers, can really understand. So, not bad, per se, just what it is. Not as fun to read as a story that happens outside the mind rather than in with scenes and dialogue etc. The first quarter of the book is a kind of Lovecraftian ruse that turns out to be, as the novel twice reminds us, a "red herring." Yeah, you guessed it, that was pretty much the most enjoyable part of the narrative to read. So I guess H. P. was a better writer than Wilson thought--even if better and worse are purely subjective. Lovecraft does overwrite horrifically--but I always found that to be part of the fun. At least he doesn't talk down to his reader and he does have scenes and images to color his stories.

Anyway, I'm glad I read this because it got me to look up Wilson and to learn about him and he himself was quite a character. Apparently his book on the artist as outsider is still read and well respected and I'm keeping an eye out for it--sounds quite interesting and right up my alley.

PS As one other reviewer noted there is casual '60s sexism--sex is only ever mentioned as a thing men do to women, there's a single female character who's killed less than a page after she's introduced. And there's a race war between Africa and Europe with zero awareness that that might be a complex and touchy issue given 400 years of slavery, etc. It's all easy to ignore and just call the novel dated--but should we?

[ياسر · Rating 3 out of 5]

"كنت أفترض أنّ الإنسان محدود لأنّ عقله محدود. غير أنّ الأماكن الموجودة داخل العقل ليست إلا آفاقًا جديدة، وأنّ الجسد ما هو إلا جدارر بين مطلقين، المكان يمتد إلى المطلق للخارج، والعقل يمتد إلى المطلق نحو الداخل"

من آلاف السنين حتى اليوم، شغل التفكير في مشكلة "حرية الإرادة" حيزًا لا يستهان به من تفكير العلماء والفلاسفة، وحتى رجال الدين.
ما الذي يضمن لك أنّ ما تفعله هو رغبتك الفعلية؟ وما الذي يؤكد لك أن كل أفعالك ليست محكومة من قبل أي متحكم بدون وعي منك؟ ثم ما الذي يؤكد لك أنك لا تعيش حلما كبيرًا اسمه الحياة، وأنّ ما تراه من عناصر لتلك لحياة من أشخاص وجمادات، وما تشعر به من حب وفرح وكره وغيرها من المشاعر ما هي إلا أركان لذلك الحلم المنمق.
طفيليات العقل رواية خيال علمي من الستينيات تحاول الغوص في عمق تلك الأسئلة، من خلال مجموعة علماء يكتشفون أن البشر محكومون (بلا وعي منهم) من قبل طفيليات تتحكم في العقول، وتسوقها نحو ما تريده هي، وتبديه وكأن البشر هم من أرادوه. وفي السياق يحاول الكاتب توضيح كيف أثرت تلك الطفيليات على مدار البشرية تاريخيا من خلال الشخصيات المؤثرة أمثال بيتهوفن وجوته وغيرهم.
الرواية مخيفة، فيها الكثير من الفلسفة المرهقة خصوصًا حول مصطلح الوعي عند الإنسان والحيون، وكذلك يشير إلى شيء من فلسفة اللغة، وتتطلب مجهودد ذهني لملاحقة الأحداث. فاستطاع بذلك الكاتب توظيف معارفه الفلسفية والتاريخية والأسطورية (خصوصا فيما يتعلق بالقمر) في حبكة نص خيالي جيد جدا.

[Shhhhh Ahhhhh · Rating 4 out of 5]

For it's age, it's not bad sci fi/ fantasy. What creeps me out about this story, and what compelled me to google it afterwards, is that it sounds like just the kind of book that inspires a literal cult movement. The fantastic claims of the characters regarding their abilities and the dangers they face directly mirror the claims made by cult leaders to fleece unsuspecting gullible people. Like, 'look, I have psychic powers, just observe how I can make these pieces of paper move'. Even the discussion on how they recruited people and how they initiated them and how they were maligned in the press. Everything about this screams "cult but make it true". To be honest, I'm really rather glad we're past this era of sci fi/ fantasy/ horror (looking at you, Lovecraft).

[Laura (rose) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 'novel' is one of my all-time favorite books, and is one that i often recommend. I like to re-read it every couple of years, as it's insightful and thought-provoking, and reminds me that there's more beyond the mundane and trivial in life.

On the surface it is a novel, a sort of spoof of H.P. Lovecraft, and I do need to read more Lovecraft... but then it turns into a journey into the mind, opens into philosophy and phenomenology and study of the inner being of each of us.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is Colin Wilson's attempt to do an H.P. Lovecraft style tale about aliens and the "old ones" and how they have interfered with the human race for centuries. The protagonist figures out what is happening and comes up with a way to counter them. This science fiction/occult story held my interest and was a real page-turner. It is a good book to read on vacation.

[Icke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going into this, I expected a science fiction book with a take on reality; What I received was as the blurb says: "blended [with] H.P. Lovecraft’s dark vision." Reading through (especially after the mid-way point) it felt like a grotesque, romanticised narrative that easily could have been passed with a more grounded approach, with a greater emphasis on the psyche. Flying space ships with the collective kinetic power of the people onboard, moving the moon away from the earth's magnetic pull and battling the nazis and south africans using a metal bird (yet again, propelled by their minds), just made for an overall lackluster fiction book that easily could have been made for people to apply in today's day and age (especially in the situation we're currently in).

The. End.

[Arnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kad Gilberts Ostins padzird par sava 30 gadus ilgā kolēģa un drauga Karela Vilsmaņa pēkšņo nāvi, turklāt vēl pašnāvību, viņa dzīve sāk ceļu uz pārmaiņu takas, kas izmainīs ne tikai viņa, bet pat visu pārējo Zemes iedzīvotāju dzīves. Varbūt, ja vēl Gilberts pieņemto bēdīgo faktu pašu par sevi vai Karels nebūtu atstājis ziņu savam sekretāram, lai Ostins apciemo viņa īpašumu pēc traģsikā fakta, tad vēl visi zemieši turpinātu dzīvot svētlaimīgā neziņā. Nebūtu zinājuši, ka kopš 19.gadsimta cilvēces radošumu, kreativitāti un visu citu pozitīvo cenšas apspiest un no izraisītās negativitātes pārtikt kāda cita parazītiem pielīdzināma rase.

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202...

[Gracie Hodgin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book and would have given it a 3.5 stars rather than 3. This book does resemble the style of H.P. Lovecraft and is a science fiction book. The story was probably more accurate in ways our thoughts do take over our life in a comparison of those being as alien mind parasites. I really felt though the last section of the book unraveled what promised to be a great book causing one to speculate how mindful we need to be of the thoughts that occupy our minds.

[Sashko Liutyj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Прекрасна, чудова ідея і концепція. Але: нудно, сухо, публіцистично, беземоційно, зіжмакано, розмито, коряво, розкидано, офіційно. Дуже шкода.

[Ints Brunenieks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grāmata it kā no fantastikas plaukta, bet, iespējams, vairāk domāta psihoanalīzes cienītājiem. Grāmata stāsta par netālo nākotni, kas šobrīd jau sakrīt ar tagadni. Daži zinātnieki atklāj, ka jau 200 gadus cilvēces prātus inficē nemateriālas būtnes - apziņas parazīti, kas barojas no mūsu enerģijas un izraisa dažādus destruktīvus procesus cilvēces vēsturē. Patiesībā stāsts ir par būsu prāta apjomu, tā uzbūvi un darbības principiem. Grāmata par prāta tīrību, gribasspēku un ceļu uz augstāku prāta darbības līmeni.
Grāmatu ieteicams lasīt ar jau nelielām zināšanām psihoanalīzē vai neiroloģijā. :)

[Graham Robertson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter bunkum. A good idea that soon deteriorates into pure tedious twaddle.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I read this book, I thought Colin Wilson was a dick. Now I am convinced. The only reason I'm keeping it is because it will fit nicely amongst my other Lovecraftiana. Also I don't have the one pictured. I have the original printing from Oneiric Press. I got it for 50 cents. Poppin' Tags.

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

If ever a book should come with a trigger warning this is it. Should never be read by a moody youth — certainly not this one. Scariest book I ever read.

This moody youth was a big fan of Colin Wilson, back in the day. But I'd never read this book again.

[Temashana · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had read this book a while ago, I don't think I would have understood what it was really about. There are many layers to it. I found my way to it and found it very interesting.

[Jonathan Hockey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, nice flow to it. Though the plot seemed to expand a bit unrealistically and unnecessarily as the book developed. Still, contained a lot of interesting ideas.