Customer Reviews

Joshua, Son of None

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I read this book when I was in high school...I remember back then my teacher telling us that the Kennedy family wanted this book out of print for fear that John John would be upset by the idea that a clone was killed before his time and with John John being the closest thing to a JFK clone that he would be killed b4 his time also...I have been waiting for someone to say this on tv and to make some kind of analogy to this book....yet no one has....This book ahs stayed with me all of my life...I found it amazing and the best book I ever read....I am now a Biology Teacher and I tell my students about this book every year...I try to keep it alive in my own way...

In the early 1970's a question going around in academia "was Kennedy and/or Hitler's cells frozen" and/or "was a child created from "frozen cells" of these two historical figures? An interesting theory for it's time! When I was processing this book for the library shelves, back then, and read the summary on the book, I just HAD TO READ THIS BOOK, as it contained what was queried years before. It brought to "light" the interesting concept that in order for replication, a true clone would have to have similar experiences and be brought up in a like manner as the "original" from which it was cloned, all of which would pose problems. Around the time this book appeared, so did the movie THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL dealing with the re-establishment of The Third Reich. I also liked the title which the author chose, "a kick-off" from the Biblical JOSHUA, SON OF NUN. Just recently I suggested the book to another librarian, who never heard of the book. An interesting read!

For an excellent summary:

http://www.24hourforums.com/forum61/16805.html

What if John F. Kennedy were cloned shortly after his assassination? How would a scientist carry it off and under what rationale?

Who would raise him? Better still HOW would he be raised so that when grown the "clonee" had the same environmental influences? Could he change the world yet again?

Nancy Mars Freedman explores all of this in this remarkable work. Explored with scientific fact, speculation on future events and most especially with humility and feeling. A remarkable book.

It has been a few years since I have read this novel; however, I remember its message as though I read it today. This novel not only explores what the life of a clone would be like (in this case, the clone is made from tissue from John F. Kennedy), but it also explores the moral issues our society is just now starting to deal with. Is it right to clone; can the clone live up to the success of the original; can we expect the clone to behave the same as the original; can our society accept clones into its ranks? I found myself turning page after page to find out of the new JFK would meet the same standards as the original.
As a psychology teacher I wish I could have a class set and make my students read this. What we are really talking about here is the whole nature vs. nurture debate. Is who we are programmed in our genetics and chemical processes or are we just a product of our environment? Maybe a mixture of both? I could also see how this would be helpful in philosophy classes. I can't believe this is out of print!

I read this book the first time in the 7th grade, when the book first came out, as a class project. We were all captivated at the time, but the thought of cloning was so "23rd Century" that I thought it would never be reality. Now we're routinely cloning cats. The story is good, but the real value in this story is to explore the feelings of the clone itself. It's one thing to clone a cat who cannot feel and experience the same as a human - although I don't agree morally with that either - but it's another thing entirely to clone a human. Experiences make us what we are, and a copy is never exactly like the original. Very interesting read.

I was given a copy of this book in a nonchalant manner, about 15 years ago. It looked small and quite unimpressive. I took it mostly to be polite. But the giver was a rare person, so I knew the book would be too - even if it were not something I would usually read for myself. Once I began reading it, however, I COULD NOT put it down! It was fast-moving, expertly presented, and the idea was TOTALLY unheard of then. Just as we now look at early science fiction about the moon, Mars, and robots and exclaim about how true it all became, so I now see this book taking its place as one of those "predictors of the future." For sure, cloning has been a science fiction dream for quite awhile. And "Joshua, Son of None" was the first book I've ever seen on the subject. Now, with the reality of cloning hitting the world over, this book is finding its own place just as "The Martian Chronicles" did........

Lost my original copy and this is out of print but still able to get it via Amazon 3rd party. Great price.

I read this book 30+ yrs ago-it left quite an impression! It has always stayed with me. Over the years I've told friends about it & searched high & low for another copy to no avail... . I'd just about given up on ever getting my hands on one. So glad I now have a copy! This book she be put back on the sheles! I will treasure this.

This book was suggested at my "book club".

When we met again to discuss the book, we talked more about JFK than about the book. This is not a good book to read in 2009, when we know so much about cloning.

In 1963, the President of the United States (a never mentioned John F. Kennedy) is assassinated. A young intern at the hospital where the president is taken is overwrought with emotion over the loss of this man and manages to procure some cells from his wound. Preserving the cells, Dr. Thor Bitterbaum goes on a search for a sponsor for his plan to clone the president. He finds wealthy insurance magnate, Gerald Kellogg and they conspire to recreate Kennedy's life in order to groom the `clonee' for the presidency. What follows is a riveting story of how the `clonee,' Joshua F. Kellogg, is brought up and his dawning awareness of what he actually is. `Uncle Thor,' who is now the Kellogg family doctor, his emotions tempered by conscience, raises the question of what right does Gerald Kellogg have to manipulate the `clonee's' life? To Kellogg, however, the `clonee' is not his adopted son, but an investment and he demand's a return on it.

The book was written back in 1973 when cloning was still science fiction. We now know that cloning is far from being perfect, thanks to Dolly the sheep, yet this story is still a page turner. While Ms. Freedman does not get deep into debate, her book raises questions of nature vs. nurture, rights of the `clonee' and the morality of messing with Nature. If Adolph Hitler were cloned today and brought up in New Jersey, would he still grow up to be the man he was, or would he be someone completely different? Just because we have the power to do certain things, should we be doing them? My only criticism, and it is a minor one, is that I was a little dissatisfied with how the book ended. I am sure that the debate over whether or not we are playing God in regards to cloning will rage on for at least another generation. I do not know if this book will have any impact on that debate, but you will be intrigued.