The Big Front Yard discussion

I probably won't get started on this book for a couple of weeks. I know you've already started it and are enjoying it, Fred. I don't even know what it's about. Want to give a general introduction?

I'm about a sixth of the way through. Without spoiling anything, it starts with a telepathic space traveler who works for a company that uses telepaths in a sort of mind transplant process. The human bodies stay in a room on Earth while their minds inhabit machines out in deep space / on other planets. The protagonist "comes back" to Earth (think Cylon getting killed, instant relocation of mind) after an alien intelligence performs a funky mind-meld on him. Now the alien is inside his actual human brain along with his own consciousness and the two struggle for dominance.

That's the synopsis of what I've read. I can't tell where it could be going. At this point anything is possible. Other very cool things are in there, but I won't ruin the surprises. Suffice it to say that Mr. Simak's illustrative writing comes out in full splendor.