The Mind Benders

by James Kennaway

The experiments were carried out in a university laboratory. The controls were rigidly exact and purely scientific; the results, too incalculable, too inhuman, too monstrous to comprehend. Based on actual isolation experiment now underway in space-flight research, The Mind Benders is a novel that comes too close to the truth - a work of fiction echoing with the horrors that may come.

Genres: Science Fiction

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

James Kennaway was born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1928 and went to public school at Trinity College, Glenalmond. After serving as an officer with the Cameron Highlanders, he attended Trinity College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in economics and politics. After graduating, he worked as an editor for a London publishing firm and married his wife Susan in 1951; their sometimes turbulent relationship is documented in The Kennaway Papers (1981), which she published after his death.

His first novel, Tunes of Glory (1956), earned critical acclaim and was adapted by Kennaway for an Oscar-nominated motion picture starring Alec Guinness. His other novels include Household Ghosts (1961), The Mind Benders (1963), The Bells of Shoreditch (1963) and Some Gorgeous Accident (1967). Two books, The Cost of Living Like This (1969) and Silence (1972), a novella, appeared posthumously. Kennaway was also an accomplished screenwriter, writing several screenplays, three of them based on his own novels. At the age of 40, James Kennaway suffered a massive heart attack while driving home and died in a car crash just before Christmas in 1968.

Reviews

[Creolecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always been fascinated by isolation tanks (aka sensory deprivation tanks), ever since seeing the movie Altered States years ago. The idea that the brain, deprived of normal input, will turn inward and do weird things intrigues me. In this novel, the tanks are being investigated as a method of rendering people highly suggestible, which of course the military anticipates being able to use on spies or what have you. The suggestion they choose to implant for their trial run is a bit weird (surely they could have chosen something better?), the novel veers into excruciatingly slow motion in the middle, and the resolution is only mildly satisfying, but it did keep me reading. I liked it enough to try something else by Kennaway.

For another, arguably better, novel that incorporates the use of isolation tanks, I'd suggest The Far Side of Evil.

[Chris Gager · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it! I read this before I saw the movie and both are good. It anticipates the interest in isolation tank work that sprang up in the 60's. Where did it go? And what was the name of that American movie with William Hurt and Blair Brown? "Altered States" ... Date read is a guess.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, quirky little book. Now that I've read it, I know I enjoyed the story and the plot, just not sure where it was going and why. lol. The premise is that a member of MI-5, Maj Hall is investigating whether a scientest, Mr Sharpey is selling secrets to the Russians. This same scientist decides to jump off a moving train and with his body is discovered a briefcase with lots of money inside. Hall is now off to Oxford to find out what Sharpey was working on. It turns out that the work involves sensory deprivation... can it be used for interrogation? or for mind bending (note the clever use of the title here)... It's not really a mystery, although there are mystery elements to it, it's a bit science fiction (sensory deprivation/ mind bending, etc). It's all in all a nice quick read and an interesting concept that brings to mind Paddy Chayefsky's Altered Images movie. This book was made into a movie as well, one I hope someday to see to compare to the book. If you wish a quick, interesting story and would like to see some of the ideas being covered in the '60s, give this a shot.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a fan of the movie Altered States, I’ve been fascinated with sensory deprivation ever since. This book made it less fascinating for me. I did not like any of the characters one bit.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mind Benders blends actual scientific research of the day with a good story. Sensory deprivation in a total immersion tank - no sight, sound- for extended periods of time and the permanent effects on the characters.