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Telepathist

John Brunner,

Peter Goodfellow (Illustrator)

3.70 · Rating details · 476 ratings · 46 reviews

Gerald Howson didn't look powerful. His body was deformed at birth, leaving him with a face so ugly people didn't want to look at him, and crippled legs that would never let him be as other men. But his mind was one in a billion - gifted with the ability to send and receive thoughts more powerfully than any other person on the face of the globe.

At first Howson thought his ...more

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Paperback, 190 pages

Published 1978 by Fontana (first published 1964)

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Sep 09, 2016 Jim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1paper, scifi, 2fiction

There were a lot of interesting things going on in this world besides having telepaths, but very little of it is SF. There isn't much tech at all & most of that is what would have been found in the 1970s.
- The UN has response teams that go all over the world battling terrorism & it happens in 'Our Town, USA'.
- Unwed mothers are still looked down upon & use pregnancy as a trap for men.
- The poverty, inequity, & grim, daily grind of this typical US city.
- Ulan Bator (Mongolia) is now the headquar ...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Nandakishore Varma rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Another oldie from my engineering undergraduate period (1980-85). This was the time I was really getting hooked on SF, but still was not fully able to capture all the unspoken nuances of the genre. The Public Library at Thrissur had a fantastic collection of old books - SF, mystery, almost all of Wodehouse and Agatha Christie, books on mathematics by Martin Gardner: all old, musty, almost-falling-apart books. The library itself is located in the Town Hall, a colonial building with cavernous room ...more

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Oct 30, 2020 Carlex rated it liked it · review of another edition

Three and a half stars.

A good science fiction novel to add to the podium of great telepathy novels, along with "The Demolished Man" and "Dying inside". ...more

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Aug 19, 2019 Sunyi Dean rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fantasy

#shortreview for Instagram:

I finished reading the Telepathist this morning. It was a sad and rather brutal novel, about a man whose physical deformities enable him to develop powerful mental capabilities (telepathy, in this case). There's some dystopian-esque spy stuff going on in the background but the story is heavily character centric, with an unflinching examination of the ways in which society simultaneously exploits and abandons disabled individuals. Some of the language would likely be c ...more

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Jan 03, 2018 prcardi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hugo-finalist, science-fiction, pg-13, paranormal, new-wave

Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 4/5
World: 3/5

Brunner starts this off with focus. The writing is vivid and tight, conveying an aura as much as a story. The picture of the world is closely guarded; grudging glimpses are permitted only sporadically and under close supervision. A grey fog of angst, deprivation, uncertainty pervades the telling - is the story. This was supposed to be a character-driven work, and there were some valid attempts to peer deeply into personal ambitions and fea ...more

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Feb 28, 2015 fromcouchtomoon rated it liked it · review of another edition

Akin to Sturgeon's More Than Human with its telepathic themes, and brimming with the seeds of Brunner's future masterpiece Zanzibar, The Whole Man promises much, but too straggly to deliver. ...more

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Jul 24, 2019 Simon rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, reviewed, britain-and-ireland, dystopia, 1960s

The British science-fiction author John Brunner is best known for writing quite a few stories that were basically cyberpunk avant la lettre. I can definitely see the inspiration here in his "Telepathist" published in 1965. The plot takes place in a future where the UN employs a corps of psychics as problem-solvers that are the only thing holding the corrupt and war-ridden world together. The storyline follows a deformed young man named Gerry Howson who is discovered to be the most powerful telep The British science-fiction author John Brunner is best known for writing quite a few stories that were basically cyberpunk avant la lettre. I can definitely see the inspiration here in his "Telepathist" published in 1965. The plot takes place in a future where the UN employs a corps of psychics as problem-solvers that are the only thing holding the corrupt and war-ridden world together. The storyline follows a deformed young man named Gerry Howson who is discovered to be the most powerful telepath ever recorded and goes on to undergo training in the UN's corps of psychics.

The psychic power research and the premise of disabled prodigies with immense psychic powers I can already imagine might have been an inspiration for certain parts in Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira". The early chapters are also set in futuristic slums (where our hero grows up) that have a perfect neon-lit crime-ridden future noir atmosphere. Brunner nails that mood perfectly a couple decades before those images would be represented on film in quite that form. There is even among the characters a criminal who is referred to by the nickname "Snake", just like Kurt Russell's anti-hero in "Escape from New York"!

The plot later goes some odd places, with a good deal of it revolving around psychic duels taking place inside elaborate fantasy worlds constructed by the feuding telepaths. Not quite what I expected, but it gives a peek into how Brunner could have become a quite able author of swords-and-sandals heroic fantasy. The overall concept and universe I quite dig, with Brunner having put a surprising amount of thought into creating a "UN as world government" future that doesn't fall into the typical utopian or dystopian clichés. The plot on the other hand has a bunch of memorable and vivid scenes but is extremely episodic with not much of a central conflict going through, nor several conflicts that start out disparate but end up converging later on like William Gibson would become a master of in his Sprawl Trilogy. There is also a quite large cast of characters but their motivations and personalities remain very thinly drawn out, to the point that most of them I can remember only their names.

I very often think science-fiction novels tend to be too long as they draw out the plot for longer than there is substance to, or spend too much time on infodumping and exposition of things that readers could probably figure out on their own. "Telepathist" I actually think is too short, because the author tries to do too much in too little page space. Had the book been 50 or even 100 pages longer I wager the issues I complained about above could have been worked out. ...more

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Mar 11, 2016 Nawfal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, 1960s

At some places, this is too heavy and too introspective. Other sections are intense and gripping. The main issue with the novel is its inconsistency - I do remember it being a fix-up novel of sorts, which may account for some of the scattered quality.

Brunner's tossing Freud all around is a little too obnoxious for me. But I did enjoy the very telepath-and-society sort of relationship that is constantly explored throughout this novel.

I have a little reservation about this being four-stars becaus ...more

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Feb 22, 2013 tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

review of
John Brunner's The Whole Man
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - February 22, 2012

John Brunner is growing on me.. like that mildew on the dragon in Choong's fantasy.. not like a disease but like a thorough level of detail.. This is the 3rd bk I've read by him. In the beginning there was The World Swappers ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... ), wch I thought was pretty good but I wasn't exactly overwhelmed or anything; then there was Times Without Number ( http://www.goodreads.com/b ...more

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Mar 31, 2019 Stuart McMillan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Brunner has always been one of those British authors who has been a bit Marmite for me.

There have been highbrow and detailed dystopian futures (Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up), predictive futures (the internet, computer viruses in 'The Shockwave Rider') and considerable other work of space opera and poorly received works like 'Children of the Tunder'.

'The Telepathist' came before the magnum opus of 'Zanzibar' and 'Sheep' and feels like an author trying to make his way with something new.

Th Brunner has always been one of those British authors who has been a bit Marmite for me.

There have been highbrow and detailed dystopian futures (Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up), predictive futures (the internet, computer viruses in 'The Shockwave Rider') and considerable other work of space opera and poorly received works like 'Children of the Tunder'.

'The Telepathist' came before the magnum opus of 'Zanzibar' and 'Sheep' and feels like an author trying to make his way with something new.

The protagonist (Gerry) is deeply physically flawed from the outset. Disadvantaged by this disability and his background in the unspecified crisis of a decayed Britain, he muddles his way through the world before a new crisis in early adulthood awakens his latent telepathic abilities.

Always destined to be an outsider, he nonetheless carves a worthy niche in his new world, before returning to his home town and a re-connection with those who made him.

Brunner's portrayal of Gerry is, I think of its' time - almost pitying, but there's no real malice in it and there's no real feeling that Brunner is properly inside Gerry's head. This is a shame as Gerry's meant to know what's inside other people's heads, so it would be good to know!

One of the interesting things about reading this from more than 50 years in the future, is that Brunner has managed to keep technology almost completely absent from his depictions of ordinary life. With the exception of a few phone calls, nothing technological really intrudes into the workings of the characters - this in itself is quite an achievement.

I would like to have enjoyed this a bit more, but the characters don't have depth and it all ends just too pat for me. Nonetheless, it doesn't feel tropey, probably because there weren't that many Psi characters around at that time, and it's good to see Brunner exploring these ideas, feeling his way without 50 years of convention to shape it - in fact, he was shaping some of the conventions when this was written and, if nothing else, the book is worth reading for that alone. ...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Paul Silver rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Not one of Brunner's best, partly because it hasn't aged as well as novels like The Sheep Look Up and Stand on Zanzibar.

Telepathist explores one man's life as he discovers his latent telepathic power, in a future depression after some sort of terrorist event. Hawson, disabled from birth, has one of the strongest powers found, but can he develop it for good?

Brunner's characterisation and way of looking at telepathy is more interesting than many novels, but I just wasn't taken by this as much as ...more

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Jan 22, 2017 Steph Bennion rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

I usually shy away from telepathy in sci-fi as, well, the notion just seems too fantastic. This book is the first I've read that offers an explanation (of sorts) of why some people are telepathic, but also looks at the social consequences of all involved (like good sci-fi is supposed to). Some of it is rather dated and the ending is rather abrupt but the book remains a refreshing take on the subject. ...more

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Jan 28, 2015 J.T. rated it really liked it

A solid effort from Brunner, a uniformly intelligent and engaging story of a deformed telepath. As depressing some of the material is, the book has an unusually positive (if melancholy) vibe to it. Quick, fine read.

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Jun 13, 2016 Steve rated it liked it · review of another edition

A Good Read. My only quibble It was originally three short stories. Although it was supposedly greatly revised, it still seems like three stories strung together. But don't let that get in the way of enjoying it. ...more

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Jan 10, 2012 SciFiOne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Grade B+.

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Feb 01, 2014 Keary Birch rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014

Excellent. But I think I read this as another story somewhere before.

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Dec 04, 2016 Carlos Servellon rated it it was ok · review of another edition

A pulpier, more straightforward read than Stand on Zanzibar. Not bad, but not as rewarding, especially on rereading.

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Aug 13, 2019 Rita rated it liked it · review of another edition

A book with incredible ideas born of an amazing imagination. John Brunner's mind is so big on the inside, it's like a cavernous Hall full of different displays of all different sorts from all different fields. Here he has taken on writing about telepaths, but not the ordinary ideas about telepathy, where the telepath is horrified with the thoughts of the humans around. This story takes the subject of telepathy further steps.
I wonder at the thinking processes of our pets when I read this paragrap A book with incredible ideas born of an amazing imagination. John Brunner's mind is so big on the inside, it's like a cavernous Hall full of different displays of all different sorts from all different fields. Here he has taken on writing about telepaths, but not the ordinary ideas about telepathy, where the telepath is horrified with the thoughts of the humans around. This story takes the subject of telepathy further steps.
I wonder at the thinking processes of our pets when I read this paragraph about a deaf/mute girl that the protagonist befriended:
P.44
"At first he could make no sense of The impressions he took from her mind, because she had never developed verbal thinking; she used kinesthetic and visual data in huge intermingled blocks, like a sour porridge with stones in it. While he struggled to achieve more than the first broad halting concepts of reassurance, she sat gazing at him and weeping silently released from loneliness after intolerable years, too overcome to question the mode of their communication."

Here's how Brunner explained an organ of telepathy in the brain:
P.59
" 'Now, here's a typical average brain - like mine or Christine's. The red arrow points to a group of cells called the organ of Funck. It's so small it's very existence was overlooked until the first telepathists were discovered. In my brain for instance, it consists of about 100 cells, not much different from their neighbors. You'll note its location.'
Again he extracted a fresh item from the folder. This one was a large x-ray transparency, the whitish outline of a skull with jaw and neck vertebrae.
'You'll remember we took x-rays of your head, Gerry, after giving you a radio - opaque substance which selectively...ah..."stains" cells in the organ of Funck. Take a look at the result.
'That whitish mass at the base of the brain,' Singh said. 'It's your organ of Funck. It's the largest, by almost 20%, that I've ever seen. Potentially you have the most powerful telepathic faculty in the world, because that's the organ which resonates with impulses in other nervous systems. You are capable of coping with any amount of information that staggers the mind.' "

...more

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Jan 10, 2021 Steve Rainwater rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: the-x-man

1960s era telepathy science fiction.

There were way too many science fiction novels about telepathy in the 1950s and 1960s but a few stand out as unique and interesting even today, such as Gordon R. Dickson's "The Pritcher Mass". I think Brunner's "The Whole Man" can be added to that list as well. It made me think about the idea of telepathy in a new light.

The novel is composed of two short stories and a novella that together tell a sequential story about Gerald Howson; born poor, deformed, and s ...more

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Feb 11, 2019 James Garman rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: people that like to explode what makes a human being human

John Brunner paints a beautiful picture of a man born in a deformed body, but gifted with the ability to send and receive thoughts. He finds what he thinks might be a way to get some recognition and a bit of money leads to him being a wildly respected healing. What's more is that he becomes a whole man...secure in ways he never imagined.

A very well written short novel (only 188 pages) that left me on the edge of my seat. A wonderful list of characters, some with gifts that are unrecognized witho ...more

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Dec 17, 2020 Kent rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Another good story from the Brunner Collection. He's been one of my favorite authors for a few years now. They always seem to maintain their relevance of the state of the world.
This particular story deals with Gerry, a man with a disfigurement who turns out to have very strong telepathic powers. He works for an agency that helps in matters of mental health and even bigger dangers. Overall it's a cool plot, though my biggest qualm is that there isn't all that much conflict other than his own int ...more

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Mar 04, 2019 Adam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Not having any idea what to expect left me following along with the story with interest as the turns kept me guessing at the overall plot of the book. I found it quite satisfying to read the various story fragments that were tied together. The various introspective narratives left a great base for comtemplation on the body, mind and the human condition.

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Nov 06, 2020 Bill rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 18, 2020 Christina Sullivan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-science-fiction, fiction, 2020-bookshelf

Even though this was a science fiction novel the message is more about acceptance and finding a place in the world. The main character started out with self loathing due to his handicaps. As the story progress he ends up helping others while on a quest of searching for a place to belong.

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Jul 27, 2020 Sean Randall rated it really liked it · review of another edition

With parallels in my mind to Anthony's Macroscope, I found myself enjoying this book. Society is hardly given glowing recommendations but there's some interesting quandaries put forth and the imagery is particularly satisfying. ...more

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Nov 30, 2019 Abraham Goldblatt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Intriguing depictions of mental combat and the idea of using telepathy as a therapy tool is amazing!

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Nov 23, 2020 Perry Middlemiss rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Gerald Howson is born crippled in body to a broken family – absent father, disinterested mother – which becomes more broken when his mother dies young. He wanders the streets of an unnamed American city until an encounter with a deaf-mute girl brings to the fore his latent telepathic ability. He is discovered by the authorities and is rated as one of the most powerful telepaths ever. His attempts to heal both his body and his mind continue through the book until he discovers someone with a major ...more

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Oct 02, 2015 Josh rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sf-f, fiction-about-giftedness

Published in the US as The Whole Man.

I picked this and another Brunner - The Long Result - up in a bookstore in London in 1973. I think I must have read the two of them 2 or 3 times during that summer, as I traveled hither and thither across Europe.

Very thought-provoking for me, mostly in a good way.

What I learned from this book:
Things that happen to us have long term impact - emotional/mental, not just physical. Letting others in to help us is as important as helping them is - even if/though it ...more

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Sep 29, 2014 LindaJ^ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Gerald Howson was born deformed and fatherless. His mother thought that getting pregnant might keep Gerald's father from carrying out his self-destructive act of terrorism. It did not. But Gerald has a hidden power that makes its appearance with he is in his late teens: Gerald can read and control other people's minds. The "telepaths" are feared but are responsible for stopping terrorism and war. This is a short but powerful book, properly considered a sci fi classic. ...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Antony Castellano added it · review of another edition

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About John Brunner

John Brunner

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John Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Ro John Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958

At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.

"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.

Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.

Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]

Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there

aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott

Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist".. ...more