Heads [Paperback]

Greg Bear (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 1991

Set two hundred years in the future, a science fiction novel in which William Pearce is searching for the elusive absolute zero, and his wife has brought many cryogenically frozen heads in the hope of reading them for information, unaware of the danger of their actions. From the author of DARWIN'S RADIO, EON and THE FORCE OF GOD.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hard-science-fiction master Bear's ( Queen of Angels ) gem of a novella shines with provocative scientific speculation, well-drawn characters and powerful prose. Mickey Sandoval is a minor administrator in his family's moon-based corporation, supervising accounts on his brother-in-law William's project--an attempt to reach absolute zero, 0 on the Kelvin scale. His mostly routine job becomes rapidly complicated when his sister Rho, William's wife, brings a load of 410 cryogenically frozen heads back with her from earth. Mickey finds her interest in tapping the memories of the long-dead bizarre yet harmless, but suddenly the other industrial families on the moon grow hostile to the project, led by Council President Fiona Task-Felder, a member of the cult of Logology (which bears an unmistakable resemblance to a certain contemporary pseudo-religious movement). Mickey is plunged into high-level political conflicts he cannot handle, stumbling from error to error before Rho's examination of the heads unveils a monumental secret--and explains the Logologists' stake in her project. Readers hungry for the intellectual thrills of traditional science fiction with the literary merits of the best of the genre need look no further.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-- The concept of a future society purchasing 410 cryogenically frozen heads and then probing their minds is the basis of this short novel. Mickey Sandoval, the administrator of a lunar farm station, finds himself involved in a political struggle against a religious group because one of the heads was that of their founder. This is a lean, hard-core science-fiction novel that can be booktalked with success and used by the next-day assignment completion seekers.
- Nora Jane Natke, Riverside City and County Public Library, CA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Orbit (November 7, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857238508
• ISBN-13: 978-1857238501
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,926,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Greg Bear is the author of more than thirty books, spanning thrillers, science fiction, and fantasy, including Blood Music, Eon, The Forge of God, Darwin's Radio, City at the End of Time, and Hull Zero Three. His books have won numerous international prizes, have been translated into more than twenty-two languages, and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Over the last twenty-eight years, he has also served as a consultant for NASA, the U.S. Army, the State Department, the International Food Protection Association, and Homeland Security on matters ranging from privatizing space to food safety, the frontiers of microbiology and genetics, and biological security.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too short, July 30, 2000

By 

Robert Ketchum - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heads (Mass Market Paperback)

I finished reading this book just over a week ago, and I must say the work is lacking. Bear has developed an interesting storyline with wonderful potential that is too rich to be smashed into 151 pages.There is only a superficial attempt at character development which makes the characters one dimensional. This is all very discouraging to the reader, becuase the premise is good sci-fi. In the future there is an independent moon colony originally developed by entrepreneurs. Our heros are a part of the moon elite syndicate of families. They are attempting two aspiring projects. 1)An experiment trying to create absolute zero, purportably able to freeze space-time itself (I'm not sure if this sounds very safe, although the characters seem only moderately concerned). 2)410 cryogenically frozen "Heads" from the 20th century, which will be scanned for memories still intact in their lifeless brains (wierd, but an interesting idea). If this work was stretched into a full length novel, Bear could have created some classic sci-fi, unfortunately he didn't.

I would recommend this book only to die-hard Greg Bear fans.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It had a lot of promise..., April 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Heads (Mass Market Paperback)

Don't get me wrong. This book had a very good and original premise that could have had a great story made out of it. However, the writing in it is (in my opinion) pretty weak. Besides some fairly interesting history behind it, there is not much else. Also, a lot of the characters seemed pretty one-sided, but I can imagine that's hard to avoid in writing a relatively short story such as this.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Something Different from Greg Bear, January 8, 2005

By 

Dr. Christopher Coleman (HONG KONG) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heads (Mass Market Paperback)

I've become quite a Greg Bear fan lately--for Christmas I got both The Forge Of God and Anvil of Stars, and I'd finished both of them by Jan. 5. Delighted with them, I picked up Heads at a local bookstore, although I admit having some doubts about the book after looking at the blurb. It seemed an awful lot to juggle in such a small space--410 cryogenically stored disembodied heads, along with Moon colony politics and an attempt to reach absolute zero which might change the nature of matter and of time itself, all within about 150 pages. At the same time, I've ocasionally thought Bear was a bit too drawn-out, so I decided I'd give it a try.

Curiously enough, spacetime was indeed apparently affected by Heads, because I must have seen the future--I was right, and it was all a bit much to handle in such a short book. By necessity, Bear's writing was much more expository than usual, and I didn't find that very satisfying. The story was promisingly offbeat, but behind the story was a blatant parody of Scientology--now, I'm not a Scientologist, nor do I know any Scientologists and I have a healthy skepticism of any religion founded by a science fiction writer, especially one that espouses Body Thetans--ghosts of an alien civilization--as the source of physical illness. It's a valid target, but somehow I'd like a touch more subtlety, a soupcon of sophistication about it...perhaps that's a bit much to ask of a book titled after decapitated noggins...

At any rate, it's a good story, with an effective and creepy climax...it's merely the baldness of Heads that detracts.