Transfigurations

I too am sad to see "Transfigurations" is out of print. Definitely one of the best book sI have ever read, the same caliber as Clark's "Rendezvous With Rama" or "Childhood's End". Superb.

I am distressed that this book is out of print and seems to have fallen into obscurity. It is one of the best of the anthropological science fictions novels (Left Hand of Darkness and others) that delve deeply into what it means to be human. It is the haunting and disturbing tale of an anthropologist who follows the footsteps of his brilliant former partner who disappeared into the alien jungle after totally immersing himself physically and psychologically in the life of another species. The Asadi are hominids that appear to have degenerated from a much more advanced society into the primitive daily reenacting of brutish, incomprehensible, almost hallucinatory rituals. The closer he comes to the intuitive leap that would let him understand them, the deeper he slips into the madness, which may be the fate of any member of a species that too deeply partakes in the nature of another. The aliens are some of the most convincing ever invented, the story is gripping and the conclusion (actually the whole story) is unforgettable.