What would happen if the next stage of human evolution appeared-not centuries in the future, but among us today?
From childhood, Edmond Hall knows that he is different. His strange physical characteristics are only the outward signs of a far greater transformation: a mind capable of abilities ordinary human beings cannot comprehend. As Edmond matures, his extraordinary intelligence places him increasingly apart from the people around him, until he begins to recognize a disturbing possibility-he may represent not merely an exceptional man, but an entirely new kind of human being.
Knowledge comes easily to him. Wealth can be acquired almost effortlessly. Power lies within his reach. Yet none provides the purpose he seeks. Turning instead toward pleasure, friendship, and love, Edmond discovers that superior intelligence cannot overcome the profound loneliness of living among people whose thoughts and emotions he experiences from an almost alien perspective. His search becomes a deeply personal exploration of happiness, ambition, desire, evolution, and what it truly means to be human.
Blending speculative science with psychological and philosophical fiction, Stanley G. Weinbaum's The New Adam presents the remarkable life of a man standing one step beyond humanity-and asks whether a being capable of surpassing mankind could ever find happiness in the human world.