To Live Again (1969)

NIL

This is another Silverberg book that that was first published in 1969 and has been sitting on my shelves for many years, which turned out to be a very interesting and enjoyable read. Eighty million personae from the one percent of humanity who are wealthy enough to take advantage of the Scheffing process are stored and available for transplant into those who can pay the price. Those lucky enough to receive the transplants, again only the extremely wealthy, can increase their wealth and status with the knowledge and skills of their additional personae. Transplanted personae are carnate within their hosts and communicate with them as well as with other transplanted personae that the host may have received. Strong personae can even take over the bodies of hosts who are not strong enough to maintain control. The story focuses on the greed and power-seeking behavior of already rich and powerful people who scheme and even use criminal actions to receive the powerful personae of the recently deceased. The story also proposed that the wealthy class, who have their personae recorded and deposited in the Scheffing Institute soul bank every six months, are comforted by the knowledge that they have achieved a kind of immortality through the almost certainty that their personae will be reincarnated through successive transplants in the future. It’s an interesting premise, which makes one wonder about the makeup of the human soul. Do thoughts and memories, including the values, ambitions and emotions, i.e., the personality, equal the soul? Silverberg’s book is thought provoking, but also keeps the reader interested though character development and action. I liked it very much. ( )