An early work by Sheckler. I believe his works get more sophisticated as time goes on. For this one, the premise and characterization is just not that believable. ( )

This humorous SF novel from 1959 is notable for its cavalier attitude to death. Of course, it makes a pretty standard case that society would naturally break down it there was no POINT to living, especially if you had set up your life insurance... :)

Yes. Life insurance is actually AFTERLIFE insurance. If you can afford the process, you too can live on and get yourself a new body.

Sound familiar, fans of Altered Carbon?

Of course, Sheckley goes into some of the more interesting aspects of this world, including hunting parties to give yourself a proper send-off, to insurance scams, to the whole fish-out-of-water storyline so commonplace in older SF, where we also must go through our own culture shock.

The novel may not be as sophisticated as many modern novels, but it IS a lightly humorous adventure, not an all-out social commentary that skewers everything it touches. And that's just fine. :) I still had a good time even if I rolled my eyes at some of the assumptions and story cliches. After all, it WAS 1959. Dames and Gents always seemed to always find those super-standard roles. lol ( )

Once again I have discovered an author that I missed in my first years of consuming SF. Some of his 1950s short stories were weak but he got better with time. I have a collection of his best short stories called "Store of the Worlds" by New York Review Books 2012. It contains some real gems.

This is an interesting story with heavy ideas about revival after death. I will read any of his books that I find. ( )

It was a great audio book for gym listening. Fast paced, with a good dose of mid-20th century futuristic charm, cheesy but sweet, without too many literary descriptive adages (which work for books but not for audio books). Not sure if I would have liked it as much if I was reading it, but it served the purpose wonderfully. ( )

Interesting novel about a scientific (sort of) afterlife and the impacts it could have on society. I feel like mind-body dichotomy, gendered body image issues and societal impact could all have been handled more thoroughly. Still an enjoyable read but a little too 50s for my taste. ( )