The Modular Man (The Next Wave, No 4)

by Roger MacBride Allen and Roger MacBride Allen w/ and Essay By Isaac Asimov

His body badly injured in an accident, robotics expert David Bailey mindloads his own consciousness into Herbert, his home maintenance robot, only to see Herbert arrested for Bailey's presumed murder. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553295594
• Release Date: May 1992
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Shows What It Means To Be Human

This is a standard philosophical sci-fi novel with little action and lots of digression. The central issue is the very meaning of humanity. Should you look concentrate on the physical 'human being' when defining a human being? How much of your body should be original before you are a legal cyborg? A wealthy man and his wife were hurt severely in a vehicle accident and barely cling to life. The man, David, realizes he is going to die very soon and sets up a mindload into a modified cleaning robot. His robot shell is prosecuted for murder because he survived 'his' own suicide. His wife Suzanne, a trial lawyer rendered quadriplegic by the accident, takes up her husband's case using a remotely controlled body. Personally I thought this particular science fiction novel rose above the normal space opera and speculative futures so common in the genre. Without a science fiction backdrop, it could easily be called modern literature. The characterization of the supporting cast is a bit rigid, but 'Modular Man,' as the story of David and Suzanne, is an excellent novel. The middle may be a little slow, but the end makes the entire experience worth it.

Excellent, highly entertaining book

I thouroughly enjoyed this book. It wasn't just science fiction, it discussed some pressing moral issues such as euthanasia and the right to die with dignity.It discusses the social implications of immortality and the associated hoarding of wealth (which applies today to inheritance).It had a very positive outlook on life...my favourite quote in the whole book after a crippled woman is asked why she chooses to go on was "because it feels good to be alive" and that about sums it up for me.