Mindbridge

Haldeman has a dedicated following for a reason, one of the big reasons is this book. I read Mindbridge after reading Worlds and Worlds Apart. Since then I've read most of Haldman's novels. My favorites are easily, Forever Peace, Forever War, Mindbridge, and Worlds Apart. This is a great place to start if you are new to Haldeman. My only complaint is it's a little short. More like a long novella. It does make for a nice quick read on a weekend when you want to relax with a good book.

As expected from Haldeman, technically excellent book.One way the tale may be described is as follows: Humanity discovers two 'techonologies', a 'translation' mechanism that makes possible the exploration & colonization of distant planets, and an alien organism that acts as a 'mindbridge' and pushes humanity onto the path of telepathic communication. Both discoveries are detailed out with numerous complications, each comes with its deadly and inconvenient caveats.As a result of the Levant-Meyer transition and the mindbridge, humanity is able to meet and communicate with an alien race, the L'vrai, of shocking capabilities and mentality, and this encounter is detailed in the later parts of the book.The description of the discovery of the Levant-Meyer translation, in terms of an accidental finding by a scientist doing a totally unrelated experiment, is a retelling of a story that has been true in many scientific discoveries. (Even has a name: Serendipitous.) The idea that humans went on using the effect, perfecting it by trial and error, but not having a theoretical grasp of why it works, is a bit harder to swallow but not totally implausible. (Being a theoretical physicist myself, I would imagine that the appearance of such an effect would lead to thousands of theorists pouncing on the problem like a pack of wolves.. of course it is totally possible that they might not be able to properly understand the effect for a long time.) The description of Lefavre's father's scientific rise and fall, with a refutation quickly disproved, is quite cute -- and realistic. Many talks at the American Physical Society have created fame and infamy for the speakers as they claim to refute, prove, disprove theories and conjectures.The description of the use of the Translation effect, its exploitation by money-making companies, and the highly inconvenient 'slingshot' caveat, are narrated well. The chapter detailing an advertisement is an unusual and quite effective narration style.The second technology, the "Mindbridge", is explained with some imagination -- to be a complete mystery for two centuries, until it is found that the bridges were built as part of an elaborate game by a godlike race that existed a million years ago, on some distant planet. This tale is told in an irregular chapter --- a flash-forward to the future. The hints in this chapter, of many wonders to come, of our descendents overcoming many barriers and possessing telepathic abilities, provides a feel-good optimistic vision. On the other hand, the flash-forward is too short -- it would be nice to know a little bit more about our future voyages to the stars!The social vision of Jacques Lefavre's own times are not quite so hunky-dory, and has its gloomy ominous aspects, which seems more typical Haldeman. The company which in principle you can leave any time you want, but in practice you are bound to by the threat of poverty, reminds us of the sinister multinationals of today -- these mul

I first read this book about 15 years ago and ever since I have kept a couple of copies around to share. It is a great story and I haven't read anything like it. The other reviewers discussed the plot pretty well (and to give the story justice would take too long), let me just add that there is a certain pace, style and tone that is Haldeman's finger print and it is in fine form here.Haldeman has a rare gift for making the strangest futures seem very real. There is a reason his books keep getting re-printed year after year, and this book is a prime example.

Tamers are people who travel to other planets and establish psychic links with the inhabitants or the plants. They do the work of explorers and try to determine whether or not the planet's suitable for colonization. The Tamers are people who tame the land. Their academy is in Colorado Springs. This is the story of Jaque Lafavre. From his time at the Tamers' academy, through his successive missions, he meets a classmate and marries her. His wife's killed on one mission and he throws himself into his work after that. He continues to do his job until he's an old man.

The development of an instantaneous method of temporary star travel brings a unique set of dangers and unforeseen consequences. This is great stuff, an imaginative and captivating page-turner I couldn't put down. It's been a while since I read a book this tense, and I enjoyed it immensely. Taut writing, and Haldeman heightens the interest by presenting a variety of different viewpoints on the story's focus. Buy this one and read it, you won't be disappointed. The only minor drawback I noted was that the characters are not particularly well-developed. But this is a cracking good story, grippingly told.