Mindscan

As always, Robert Sawyer gives us more than an Sci-Fi tale when he brings us "Mindscan." Robotic bodies that are capable of handling a "photocopy" of our personality are designed, and while this means immortality (for the rich, of course) after a fashion, the original organic human still exists after the personality is transferred. The legal, social, and moral implications are where the meat of this story lies, and the main characters are a fantastic case study to enjoy. What would you do if you were dying, could copy your mind into a new body, but that meant basically locking your original organic form somewhere away, and taking over its life - could you do that, ultimately, to yourself?

The ideas brought up in this book are interesting, but the author does a poor job of expressing them without revealing his own (obvious) biases. There is so much that makes you wince while reading it, that it cannot be described as enjoyable.

First, the excessive anti-Americanism of the author is not only clear, but he is very juvenile about it. I imagine the subtitle could easily be "America SUX". Second, the amount of cultural references was too much to handle. As a Canadian from his generation, I was able to "get it", but good luck if you don't fit into that profile. I think good stories should stand on their own. Over the years this will become even more unreadable. Lastly, I felt no empathy or sympathy for the main characters. Right to the end I was hoping they would lose.

I could not reccomend this book to anyone, and I'm glad I did not waste money on it (it was a gift).