X-Message-Number: 9001 Date: Wed, 14 Jan 98 09:57:56 From: Fred Chamberlain <> Subject: Availability of THE FIRST IMMORTAL, by Jim Halperin Amazon.com is now accepting orders for "The First Immortal" by James Halperin. They're not shipping quite yet (1/13/97), but positive reviews are piling in the amazon.com website in a stupendous way. Hard Copy did some filming at the Alcor facility a day or two ago, and we got new insights about the three part mini-series, which has been optioned for production (hopefully) within the next year. I could go on and on about how great a book I think this is, but I've already placed a lengthy opinion on the amazon.com website review page, and that's just *one* opinion (by a cryonicist). I think you'll find it far more fascinating to see what *non-cryonicists* are saying about "The First Immortal", and they're saying some extremely positive things. It would be tempting to dribble specific tidbits from "The First Immortal" in the process of recommending it, but those of you who don't like to "read the ending first" would hate me for it. I *do* suggest that you check out the reviews for yourself at the amazon.com website (http://www.amazon.com), and then order copies of "The First Immortal" at a 30% discount off bookstore prices. Alcor placed a small "get started" order, and Jim Halperin was good enough to send one copy to us, just in case of an "emergency". How would this novel be useful in an emergency? Why would we want to have copies at Alcor not just for sale, but as part of our standby/transport kits? What's so special about this book? Why do I think that ten years from now, almost everyone signed up for suspension will say that *this* book is the one which finally did it for them? It's really simple: "The First Immortal" literally takes you on a trip through time, beginning at the "turn of the century" almost a hundred years ago. You follow a family which immigrated to the U.S. at about that time, as it grows and develops, until (some eighty years later) one of its members opts for cryonics. Out of the furor and conflict which then takes place comes a compellingly realistic picture of what it would be like to wake up in a future where you "know" many of the people already, and see them adapting to new ways of handling everything from terrorism to family squabbles, where they have to get used to the fact that some of them (all looking *very* young) are newbies, and others in the family have been around for many, many decades. Halperin's novel covers the full range of problems with getting frozen, staying frozen, coming back, and dealing with a vastly changed society. It keeps you entertained, but it also is a vision of how you could venture to the very fringe of uploading and still have a society of convincingly "human" people, some of them working out emotional problems of childhoods which are almost a century behind them. It has a solid continuity, a blend of action and philosophy, an integration of technology and human values, which is more than I had hoped to see (concerning cryonics) *any* time soon. It gave me a "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling I really needed. I think you'll feel the same way. Oh, back to the question of why we need this book in our emergency kits? Because if we were on standby and there were members of the family who were uncomfortable with cryonics, I wouldn't hesitate suggesting that they read "The First Immortal". It might not make them advocates, but it *could* give them a far higher level of understanding what we're all about; help them cope with the basic idea of cryonics. From that standpoint, I see "The First Immortal" as essential equipment on any standby/transport operation. The book is just flat out that good! Boundless Life, Fred Chamberlain, President/CEO Alcor Life Extension Foundation Non-profit cryonic suspension services since 1972. 7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale AZ 85260-6916 Phone (602) 922-9013 (800) 367-2228 FAX (602) 922-9027 , or for general requests website: http://www.alcor.org ps: After going to http://www.amazon.com on the web, you need to put THE FIRST IMMORTAL into the search box, and then click on the title once the search engine displays it in a short list. I know most of you do *not* need to know that; that's why it's down here, out of the way. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9001