Mindswap

by Robert Sheckley

In the future, interstellar travel to alien worlds will be too expensive for most ordinary people. It certainly is for Marvin, a college student who wants to take a really good vacation. And so he signs up for what he can afford, a mindswap, in which your consciousness is swapped into the body of an alien lifeform. But Marvin is unlucky, and finds himself in the body of an interstellar criminal, a body that he has to vacate fast. But that criminal consciousness has stolen Marvin's earthly body, and Marvin has to find a body on the black market.
Travel from world to world with Marvin, each one crazier than the last, as he keeps finding far from ideal bodies in awful situations, just to stay alive.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Fantasy, Classics, Novels, American

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

One of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), was followed by The Status Civilization (1960), Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962), Mindswap (1966), and several others. Sheckley served as fiction editor for Omni magazine from January 1980 through September 1981, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems that Robert Sheckley singlehandedly managed to invent a new literary genre – the absurdist space opera. And in his brilliant books he cleverly mocks everything starting with space travel and ending with philosophy:

Bridges are receptacles of opposed ideas. Their horizontal distance speaks to us of our transcendence; their vertical declivity reminds us unalterably of the imminence of failure, the sureness of death. We push outwards across obstacles, but the primordial fall is forever beneath our feet. We build, construct, fabricate; but death is the supreme architect, who shapes heights only that there may be depths. blockquote>
In the universe things always go from bad to worse so his valiant heroes are happy to just exist and remain alive…

Analogy assures us that this is like that; it forms a bridge between the accepted known and the unacceptable unknown. It attaches the one to the other, imbuing the intolerable unknown with a desirable familiarity.

Mindswap is a reliable visionary bridge from the known to the great unknown…
The unknown seems to be dangerous but its call is impossible to resist.

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Original review, 2008]

A wonderfully zany SF romp, which you'd be tempted to dismiss as a rip-off of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy if it hadn't been written 15 years earlier. I see that some reviewers here object to Sheckley's style and dialogue, but to me it seemed clear that he was mostly parodying SF and other genre fiction - I found it very amusing.

In this book, you travel the Galaxy by swapping minds with alien beings on other planets. There are many brilliant throwaway ideas, but the clear standout is "panzaism". Sheckley defines this as as the opposite of quixotism - Don Quixote looks at a windmill, and sees a giant. Sancho Panza, on the other hand, looks at a giant, and sees a windmill. So the hero of the book may start a chapter with his mind suddenly occupying the body of a mole-like creature burrowing in pitch darkness miles under the surface of an alien planet; after a few pages, the panzaism has set in, and he just feels that he's a commuter on his way to work.

As artists are always reminding us, the world is far more bizarre, dramatic and interesting than we think. I think Sheckley found a great way here to present a real phenomenon, and once you're used to the concept of panzaism you'll notice it everywhere.
________________________
[Update, Jan 3 2023]

If you want a flagrant example of panzaism, look no further than ChatGPT. When it came out three weeks ago, our mouths were hanging open: this was a machine that could understand pretty much anything you said to it, in pretty much any language, and respond in a human-like way. But the panzaism has already arrived and now we're nitpicking its prose style and complaining about all the things it's still no good at. It's not yet smarter than everyone at everything, false alarm!
________________________
[Update, Jan 12 2023]

Having posted the above update, I felt impelled to reread Mindswap. The book is even funnier than I remember it being when I last read it at age 14: there were many jokes I remember being puzzled by then and which I now found hilarious.

If I lived to 200, I wonder if I would be able to get all the jokes in Dante?

[Glenn Russell]

A cross between Philip K. Dick New Wave SF and an episode from Looney Tunes Cartoons - if you don't like funny, don't read this book.

Mindswap, classic SF novel where author Robert Sheckley takes the time to explore a number of provocative ideas relating to mathematics, physics, psychology, sociology and philosophy but the whole madcap tale of Marvin Flynn inhabiting a string of cartoonish bodies from other planets is right up there with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Marvin the Martian. Come to think of it, maybe Sheckley hit on the name for his main character after watching a few of those Marvin the Martian cartoons.

Marvin Flynn's true love is travel. But, alas, thirty-one year old, dirt poor Marvin lacks the big bucks necessary to take advantage of trips to other planets. Oh, how Marvin dreads the prospect of being stuck in his job as engineer for a toy manufacturer all his life. Damn! Even with his college education, coming from a small town in upstate New York and from a family one notch above poverty-stricken, Marvin's extraterrestrial travel prospects appear to be doomed.

Then one day Marvin reads his local paper: a Martian wishes to swap minds with a mentally and physically sound Earthling. Zounds! Marvin's big chance to travel to Mars to experience the Red Planet the way it should be experienced, through the body of an actual inhabitant.

After discussing his mindswapping prospect with best friend Billy Hake at the local soda fountain while Billy sips his LSD-frappé (the affordable, socially acceptable way poor people zoom off to other worlds), Marvin meets up with a Mr Blanders, the lawyer/broker in charge of making arrangements for swapping minds.

Mr. Blanders shows Marvin a photograph of a male Martian with a barrel chest, thin legs, slightly thicker arms, and a small head with an extremely long nose. No problem for Marvin. Following several preparatory remarks and the signing of papers, Marvin is taken to a special room, the Transfer Room, where he sits in a chair that looks eerily like an old electric chair. Straps fastened, knockout drops administered and the next thing Marvin Flynn knows he's a long-nosed Martian on Mars who speaks with a lisp.

Can Marvin now enjoy a leisurely tour of Mars? Unfortunately not since Kraggash the mindswapping Martian pulled a swindle, taking money from more than one non-Martian for the use of his body. The consequence: Martian law demands Marvin surrender his Martian body, long nose, lisp and all, in six hours. Six hours! To avoid death, Marvin must act fast to get himself another body via another mindswap.

Marvin does a second mindswap but our mild-mannered hero is not exactly a lucky kind of guy - there's problems aplenty with his next body on the next far-distant planet. And Robert Sheckley's Loony Tunes story soars on from there.

Recall I mentioned Mindswap is New Wave SF complete with its share of tantalizing ideas. Here's a bunch you can ponder:

Panzaism - Here's one of Mr Blanders' remarks to prepare Marvin for his mindswap: "'However, under the continued and unremitting impact of the unknown, even the analogizing faculty can become distorted. Unable to handle the flood of data by the normal process of conceptual analogizing, the subject becomes victim to perceptual analogizing. This state is what we call "metaphoric deformation". The process is also known as "Panzaism". Does that make it clear?'
'No,' Marvin said. 'Why is it called "Panzaism"?'
'The concept is self-explanatory,' Blanders said. 'Don Quijote thinks the windmill is a giant, whereas Panza thinks the giant is a windmill. Quijotism may be defined as the perception of everyday things as rare entities. The reverse of that is Panzaism, which is the perception of rare entities as everyday things.'"

Sidebar: I think the majority of people are prone to Panzaism, reducing the richness and sumptuousness of life down to digestible little bite-sized bits. Reflect on all the times you've heard people say "just" - as in "it's just this or it's just that." Also, how easily many people become bored.

Automatic Education - One advantage of mindswapping - you not only take on the body of another but you also receive the benefit of the personal memories of the other - thus you are empowered to easily navigate your new extraterrestrial world.

Mind in Cold Storage - One way to delay delay death - put your mind in deep freeze. Any takers?

Thought-to-Print - One advantage of this future world is a writer need only think of what she/he wishes to write and the words will be instantly converted to print. If nothing else, this method surely saves time.

Paradox - One would-be helper tells Marvin: 'You see, any displacement of bodies during an artificial induced temporal stoppage (which is what this is) could result in a Paradox, which is forbidden since it might result in a temporal implosion which might conceivably have the result of warping the structure-lines of our continuum and thus destroy the universe. Because of this, any displacement is punishable by a prison sentence of one year and a fine of one thousand credits." This is but one of the many paradoxes poor Marvin must wrestle with.

Mindswap #3 - Marvin takes on yet another body. He settles down in a chair to read a novel but decides to look in the mirror. What he sees staring back at him is the face pictured above. By the way, that nose ring contains a ticking time bomb that can blow his head off at any moment. Is it any wonder when Marvin returns to his book, he has difficulty concentrating?

Theory of Searches - Marvin meets up with a detective who uses a mathematical theory as a way to find Marvin's lost lover. Would you trust a detective who's more Johnny von Neumann than Philip Marlowe?

The Twisted World, One - "The Twisted World may conveniently, (but incorrectly) be thought of as a reversed world of Maya, of illusion. You may find that the shapes around you are real, while You, the examining consciousness, are illusion. Such a discovery is enlightening, albeit mortifying." Whoa, baby! So much for any conventional notions of enlightenment.

The Twisted World, Two - "A wise man once asked, 'What would happen if I could enter the Twisted World without preconceptions?' A final answer to his question is impossible; but we would hazard that he would have some preconceptions by the time he came out. Lack of opinion is not armour." Ha! So even if we humans could enter The Twisted World with a tabula rasa, once inside, the Twisted World would exert its twisted power. Would anyone care to hazard a guess what direction our minds would take?

Robert Sheckley offers another twenty (20!) ways the Twisted World twists. I encourage you to read Mindswap for yourself to discover the details of this and the many other Chinese box puzzles the author conjures up throughout his Looney Tunes novel.

Special thanks to Goodreads friend Manny Rayner for bringing this overlooked SF classic to my attention.


American SF author Robert Sheckley, 1928-2005

[Paul Weiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

The absolutely incomprehensible destruction of a great idea!

It would be quite unreasonable to give Robert Sheckley less than top marks for putting together a wild and woolly imaginative premise to build a sci-fi novel around. Consider a world in which interstellar travel is possible but, not surprisingly, it's a long, arduous and crushingly expensive process. For those that can't afford the time or the money for the real thing, science has also developed the technology for a "mindswap" - a way for two consenting people to simply switch consciousness, even over galactic distances, and effectively trade bodies instantaneously for an agreed upon period of time.

The possibilities for a novel built on such an idea are virtually limitless - anthropological and social comment, moral, social and cultural study, recreation and adventure travel in off-world settings, sexual adventure and comic misadventure, criminal skulduggery and much, much more. Sheckley chose to take his novel down the road of comic misadventure and criminal activity but I believe that somewhere along the way, he lost his mind and got waylaid on the sideroads of the 1960s hippie and drug sub-culture.

Marvin, a college student who wanted nothing more than to visit Mars, swapped minds and discovered that he had been scammed by a Martian criminal who has found a way to abscond with Marvins's body. Marvin now has no way home and it seems his only option is to indulge in a series of every more complex mindswaps and body trades to track down and recover his dearly beloved earth body.

I'm grateful that MINDSWAP was a blissfully short novel because the reading, quite frankly, was tedious to the point of pain. Give Sheckly his due. His efforts at humour occasionally rose to the status of laugh-out-loud hilarity but, for the most part, they fell flat and resembled nothing more than overblown, pretentious, philosophical doublespeak pouring from the mouth of a 1960s flower child in the grasp of a bad batch of LSD mindblowers!

It might have seemed appealing to a young adult reading crowd at the time of its publication but it certainly aged poorly and I'm afraid I can't recommend it to any potential reader even out of purely historical interest.


Paul Weiss

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rollicking, absurd intergalactic comic adventure similar in many regards to Sheckley's masterpiece, Dimension of Miracles. While it starts out quite promising, it goes too far off the rails at some point. Still, very amusing and an excellent contribution to the sci-fi / comedy genre. I highly recommend Dimension of Miracles to sci-fi readers, especially fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which many consider as having borrowed heavily from it, despite denials from Douglas Adams.

[Laura L. Van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una novela de ciencia ficción humorística, que me recordó mucho a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy de Douglas Adams, si no fuera porque este libro se escribió mucho antes. Estas extrañísimas aventuras de Marvin Flynn por la galaxia son divertidas, delirantes y muy amenas de leer.
Este es mi primer encuentro con Robert Sheckley, curiosamente un libro que encontré por casualidad en la biblioteca de la escuela donde trabajo (Parafraseando al libro, de acuerdo a la famosa Teoría de la Búsqueda, todas las búsquedas tendrán éxito, incluso cuando no se está buscando nada)
La historia tiene algunas inconsistencias pero dado el tono de la novela, no molestan demasiado.

[Karl]

This hardcover copy is signed by Robert Sheckley.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shorter version of Mindswap was published in the June 1965 issue of Galaxy magazine, which was edited by Frederik Pohl. The exaggerated social satire of the story is quite reminiscent of much of Pohl's work. He expanded it to novel length, and it appeared in hardback a year later from Delacorte Press, and it was a main selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, which was a major publishing enterprise of the field at the time. (It cost a dollar and twenty cents... for a new hardback novel... those were the days!) It's a kind of confused farce of a book, and I found it quite entertaining and amusing. (I've noticed that most of the reviewers here have either loved it or hated it.) The story starts with Marvin, a college student who can't afford the vacation he wants, so he signs up for a mindswap; his consciousness will be traded with an alien's, who unfortunately turns out to be a very wanted criminal, and it takes quite a few absurd trials and tribulations as he tries to get back where he belongs. It's quite similar to Ron Goulart's themes and styles. It's a loose plot that never resolves entirely, but it's still fun.

[The Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting story about a boy with a dream to travel the worlds and an opportunity that presented itself. Things don't go fully as planned and he has quite the adventure with some conversations reminding me of Alice in Wonderland.

I would recommend this if you are into some trippy space travel of the mind.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10 en 2006.

No está mal la historia (los personajes, como todos los clásicos, flojitos).

Eso de irte de vacaciones intercambiando el cuerpo con uno de otro planeta (trueque mental) es de lo mas evocador, me apunto!

[Paul Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

In “Mindswap,” Robert Sheckley plays with his favourite theme of man versus bureaucracy. Whether you are human, or some other form of intelligent life, there will always be obstacles to clog up your path to happiness. In the future, a popular form of recreation is to switch bodies with aliens from other planets. Sounds like a simple and fun thing to do, right? Well, maybe not. It’s a very funny premise that remains fresh and quirky since the novel’s first release in 1966.

Sheckley’s humour is not only unique in science fiction but it is unique, period. It is baroque, erudite, and absurd. At times, it rises to the level of poetry. Like a slam dance, you have assorted titles, rules, and terms fly in the air to demonstrate a world gone mad.

Mel Brooks used to love to claim that, when naming a funny character, the letter K was the funniest. Sheckley proves that wrong as his funny characters end up with the funniest names, K or otherwise. Consider Tom Carmody from “Dimensions of Miracles.” And consider this novel’s main character, Marvin Flynn. It’s both funny and memorable. And the name is stretched to its very limits as it is used in various wordplay throughout our story.

The very notion of reality is opened up for all it’s worth when you’ve got your main character literally leaving behind all he knows, including his own body. What could possibly be worth it? Nothing. But Marvin Flynn needs to see for himself.

The big joke here is that Marvin Flynn ends up engaging in a poor man’s alternative to a vacation to a truly exotic locale. He simply can’t afford to fly over and visit Mars. However, for a reasonable fee, he can temporarily swap his body with that of a Martian who seeks similar thrills on Earth. You know, it’s sort of like apartment swapping but on a metaphysical scale. What could possibly go wrong?

You know those vacations from hell? When everything goes wrong? Imagine you lose your luggage and need to make do. Now, imagine you lose your body. Puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? So, sit back and enjoy Flynn’s troubles. He does go on an adventure but it’s not what the travel agency had promised. If he’s lucky, he may learn to take better care of the things that matter most, like his very own mortal coil.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robert Sheckley is apparently a fairly acclaimed author in the realm of science fiction, but not one I'm too familiar with. Sad to say, this first foray left me a little bit cold. The plot went all over the place - it seemed to lead us on a journey to reclaim the main character's body, only for said character to hitch off completely elsewhere to some random and loosely-if-at-all-tied adventures. The plot and the hero torn off to different places, the same way the hero's mind and body were... I wonder if that was on purpose?

Well, regardless, I get that it tried to be all random and weird, especially towards the end - but it never came across all too well for me. It just felt like stuff happening for no reason.

But I also feel like I may not have gotten into the mindset of this author yet, and that perhaps it will go down better once I'm more in tune with the guy. I intend to pick up something else of his at some point down the line. We'll see how it goes.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

an interesting, and outrageously imaginative book, that i must admit i didn't find funny. i know that i'm supposed to find it funny, and a great many other people will no doubt double over with laughter, but i just don't laugh at this kind of book. as others have noted, it is in the same vein hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, and sort of reminded me of the one terry pratchett book i read. if you are mad for these authors, mindswap would more than suit your tastes, and should definitely be sought out.

[Corinne · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a quote from Douglas Adams on the front that reads, "Robert Sheckley is one of the great funny writers". I've read all of Douglas Adams' books, and this is like a teenage fan-fic of Hitchhiker's. The first few chapters were great, but from chapter 16 onwards - about halfway through the book - it was like being stuck in the Improbability Drive; before the last chapter, the Drive turned up to Infinity, and the book lost any claims it had to making sense. My favourite sci-fi satirises modernity, and this made barely any effort to do that. Nor did it attempt to explain its basic premise - that minds can be swapped between bodies - with even the basest pseudo-science. It didn't even explain how the bodies were obtained for the protagonist's mind to constantly swap between. I was unsatisfied. But I suppose I was entertained.

[Nikola Pavlovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odlicna ideja i mogao bih reci jos bolji humor. Sekli se malo gubi na momente ali i to je cak zanimljvo. Mada imao sam osecaj dok sam citao da je ovu knjigu pisao iz nekoliko puta, praveci vece vremenske razmake. To apsolutno ne mora biti tacno, ali non stop sam imao osecaj da je kako bi se vratio pisanju tako i menjao cilj, tok i nacin pisanja ove knjige. Krenula je kao fenomenalno sf delo da bi se zavrsila humorom koji bi se mogao uporediti sa onim iz Autostoperskog Vodica kroz Galaksiju. Samo zbog toga cetiri a ne pet zvezdica.

[Marva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book three or four times. It still holds up as funny and acerbic. I keep seeing phrases and sections that'd I'd plagiarize if I thought I could get away with it.

[Manu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empezar un libro de Robert Sheckley es como entrar en un bar y descubrir que, aunque tus amigos aún no han llegado, el tipo que está dándote conversación en la barra es de esos con los que te quedarías charlando entre cervezas. Desde el anuncio clasificado que abre la novela, en el que un marciano «tranquilo, estudioso y culto desea intercambiar su cuerpo con un respetable habitante de la tierra», entran ganas de quedarse sentado en el taburete y pedir otra ronda.

La premisa la novela es sencilla: en un futuro que el escritor imaginó en 1966, la forma más barata de viajar por el universo es intercambiar el cuerpo con un habitante de otro planeta. Marvin Flynn, un terrícola que quiere escapar de su tediosa vida, responde a un anuncio en el periódico y transfiere su mente al cuerpo de un marciano. Para su desgracia, pronto averigua que (1) el marciano es un estafador que se ha forrado ofreciendo su cuerpo a varios huéspedes a la vez, (2) está utilizando el cuerpo de Marvin para huir de las autoridades y, para colmo, (3) Marvin ni siquiera tiene derecho legal a seguir empleando su cuerpo adoptivo… y las mentes sin cuerpo no tardan mucho en morir. Así empieza la epopeya de Marvin Flynn, entre absurda y trascendente, a lo largo y ancho del universo.

Trueque mental es un libro de los de ceja en estado de alerta, media sonrisa y consultar bibliografía al final, porque quieres otro libro que te lo haga pasar tan bien. Esta Guía del autoestopista del País de las Maravillas se lee en cuatro ratos y deja con ganas de más.

(Reseña más larga, con fotitos y tal, en Fantífica.)

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Humor surrealista de ritmo endiablado.-

Género. Ciencia ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. Marvin Flinn desea viajar fuera de la Tierra pero sus ingresos no lo permiten, por lo que decide aceptar una oferta de trueque mental con un marciano que desea hacer turismo en nuestro planeta. Tras firmar los correspondientes documentos, la transferencia se lleva a cabo y Marvin se encuentra en Marte con un nuevo cuerpo alienígena, pero las cosas no saldrán como estaban previstas.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Ruby Rue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Չգիտեմ՝ Շեքլին ոնց ա համարվում լավագույն դասական ֆանտաստներից, բայց ժողովածուն մեծամասամբ շատ վատն էր։ Մի երկու պատմվածք գինով ուտվում էին, բայց «Գիտակցափոխություն» վիպակը ոնց որ հայկական հեռուստասերիալ լիներ, ուղղակի տեղակայված տիեզերքի տարբեր լոկացիաներում։ Բայց վերջին երկու գլուխը հաճելիորեն զարմացրին․ եթե նախորդ տասնյակ էջերը չլինեին, կարող ա ավելի լավ լիներ։
Իսկ հայերեն թարգմանությունը շատ վատն էր։

Կներես Շեքլի, բայց ընդհանրապես չսիրվեցիր դու։

[notgettingenough · Rating 3 out of 5]

To cut to the chase, read this if you like sci fi and/or humour, but it isn't as good as Hitchhiker. It's a very long time since I read Adams, but if I get around to a rereading, I'll be surprised if I want to retract that statement.

I read that he is best at short stories, and perhaps that's the nub of my criticism. Even though it's a short novel, it feels too long.

[Dalibor Dado Ivanovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Odlicna knjiga, iako me na pocetku onako nije nesto zainteresirala, bojao sam se da ce bit detektivska prica, no u trenu kad susretne Gancerovo Jaje radnja se odlicno razvija. Pa Pustinjak koji govori u stihovima, pa Lutalica ali definitivno meni omiljeno Mjesto za cekanje ( na zalost pre kratko traje, kao i njegov odnos sa Keti).
Sheckleya sam prvi put citao davno u kombinaciji sa Zelaznyem, i sta god sam od njega uzeo citat imalo je dosta humora, pa mi je bio onako ne bas omiljeni, sve dok nisam procitao njegovu kratku pricu Trgovina Svjetovima, koja me bas dojmila.
Ova knjiga ima i doze humora, i poprilicnu dozu filozofije i stvarno mi se svidjela.
"Nista u zivotu nije trajno, osim mojih iluzija"

[Alexander Páez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le doy un 3,5/5. Tengo que reconocer que la deformación metafórica ha estado a punto de poder conmigo. Hay un momento que te quedas con cara de tonto y cuando terminas el libro te das cuenta de como el autor ha jugado contigo. Pronto reseña en el blog con sus pros y sus contras.

[M.D. Backes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Douglas Adams once told me that Sheckley was his favorite science fiction humorist. Mine, too. Hilarious tale of interstellar comedic mishaps.

[Jacqui Cauldwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of the book was imaginative, light-hearted despite the seemingly horrible situation the protagonist got into, and insanely hilarious. And this is the only reason why the amount of stars I give this glorified stream of sick consciousness is even positive.
The second half quickly turned into something as comprehensible to a sober mind as an acid trip. I admit it raised some questions in my head, "what the hell is going on?", "who are all these people?" and "when will this end?" being the most prominent of them. I honestly had to google the summary to figure out what happened in this book (and it didn't help at all). Sorry.

[Rog Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Move over, Candide, Step down Dr. Lao, travel fast, Gulliver- this one tops you all!” the hyperbolic back cover blurb of Mindswap cries not incorrectly but not accurately.
This tale of outer space body hopping is not a metaphor or analogy or fable. It’s not a joke. You don’t give it as a joke gift. It IS legit real-time bonkers. The perfect pairing with a bottle of NyQuil.

[Martin Doychinov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Мечтата на младеж от пасторално градче в щатите, е да пътува. Не по земното кълбо, а из многото населени планети. Междузвездните пътувания са много скъпи, но има и по-широко разпространен начин, от който се възползват повечето разумни същества във вселената.
Обменът на разуми е точно това, което описва - сключва се двустранен договор и се разменят съзнанията между два индивида, намиращи се на огромно разстояние. Това позволява да видиш и усетиш красотата на марсианските пустини през очите на марсианец, примерно.
С точно последното започва приключението на Марвин, който впоследствие се оказва измамен, с реална вероятност да остане без тяло, което да приюти съзнанието му. Следва пътуване из цялата галактика, а сюжетната нишка е тотално скъсана, за да се появи нова и нова и нова, заедно с нови светове и персонажи, разбира се... Към края нещата се подреждат за гранд-финале, а след това отиват в съвсем друга посока... Реалната развръзка е почти скучновата, а структурата на произведението е подобна на модернистична скулптура, т.е. няма такава, а от консуматора се очаква да приеме, че има.
Това, че "Обмен на разуми" е писан през 60-те, когато ЛСД-то беше долар, определено си личи. Не, мерси.
П.П. Ако адамсовият "Пътеводител..." имаше фенфик от по-лош писател, но по-добър наркоман, съществуването на "Обмен на разуми" щеше да има по-добро обяснение.

[CJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was unlike anything I've ever read. There is no genre or cliché that is safe from being stretched beyond anything it ever should have become. You should be able to look up "absurdism" and see "Read Mindswap by Robert Sheckley." The only way this could be a film is if you brought Gene Wilder, Mark Strong, Humphrey Bogart, and Mel Brooks to the 1970's and have Paul Bartel direct. Spider Robinson said that Mindswap would turn your mind into chunky peanut butter.

"Hi, my name is Peter Pan. Do you know of a decent plastic jar for rent?"

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before Arthur Dent had to worry about the destruction of the Earth, Marvin Flynn found himself missing his body.

Marvin, bored with his life on Earth, decides to travel and see the Universe through mind transfer. Things don't go well. But they go strange.

Including a very fun Dumas parody. I expected Daffy Duck to arrive as the Scarlet Pumpernickel.

(Listening to Audible.com version, and the narrator is very good as well. He has many accents to keep up with.)

[Andrew Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really hope Sheckley stays in print for decades to come. Douglas Adams gets all the credit for sci-fi satire, but Sheckley did it before and did it better.

This book might be very loosely compared to a grail-quest - or maybe Kerouac's On The Road - but with brain transplants. Hilarious and wonderful.

[Stephen Goldin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the funniest books I've ever read.