I promise you that you if you read "The Man Who Folded Himself", you won't be disappointed. It may be the best science fiction novel of all-time, even though it was written decades ago and modern novels draw on it and it can't draw on them.
I'm not even grading on a curve. I've taken to rereading it about once a year or so lately. If nothing else, it's short, so if you don't like it for some reason (Which I very much doubt), it's over quickly. ;)
I'm actually shocked to learn that you haven't read it- I thought it was one of those de rigueur novels that anyone writing anything to do with time travel or alternate timelines gets told to read by his or her editor.
I think maybe, having first been published in 1973, homophobia prevented it from getting the popular recognition it deserved in it's time, but that shouldn't be an issue for most modern readers of science fiction.
As an aside: For anyone thinking of reading it for the first time, there is a 2003 edition that is mildly edited. It's so mildly edited that I wouldn't worry about which edition you read. The 2003 edition inserts quick mentions of some world events that happened in the intervening years, changes a few dates and monetary figures (inflation), and actually replaces records with CDs (In retrospect, that's the one edit that doesn't hold up). So, essentially, either edition is fine. Don't get hung up looking for one version or the other. Just read whatever you can find.
I'm not even grading on a curve. I've taken to rereading it about once a year or so lately. If nothing else, it's short, so if you don't like it for some reason (Which I very much doubt), it's over quickly. ;)
I'm actually shocked to learn that you haven't read it- I thought it was one of those de rigueur novels that anyone writing anything to do with time travel or alternate timelines gets told to read by his or her editor.
I think maybe, having first been published in 1973, homophobia prevented it from getting the popular recognition it deserved in it's time, but that shouldn't be an issue for most modern readers of science fiction.
As an aside: For anyone thinking of reading it for the first time, there is a 2003 edition that is mildly edited. It's so mildly edited that I wouldn't worry about which edition you read. The 2003 edition inserts quick mentions of some world events that happened in the intervening years, changes a few dates and monetary figures (inflation), and actually replaces records with CDs (In retrospect, that's the one edit that doesn't hold up). So, essentially, either edition is fine. Don't get hung up looking for one version or the other. Just read whatever you can find.