Transfigurations [Hardcover]

Michael Bishop (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1979

Transfigurations by Michael Bishop First Edition 1979 Published by Berkley Publishing Company. This is a haunting story of a driven man's attempt to understand an Alien culture. This novel was a Nebula Award finalist. Mesmerizing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 362 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Pub. Corp. : distributed by Putnam (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399123792
• ISBN-13: 978-0399123795
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,940,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing...., October 15, 2008

By 

C. Hoffman "Rushian" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transfigurations (Paperback)

I too am sad to see "Transfigurations" is out of print. Definitely one of the best book sI have ever read, the same caliber as Clark's "Rendezvous With Rama" or "Childhood's End". Superb.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, haunting study of the human and subtly inhuman, July 15, 2007

By 

Taos Reader (taos, nm) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transfigurations (Paperback)

I am distressed that this book is out of print and seems to have fallen into obscurity. It is one of the best of the anthropological science fictions novels (Left Hand of Darkness and others) that delve deeply into what it means to be human. It is the haunting and disturbing tale of an anthropologist who follows the footsteps of his brilliant former partner who disappeared into the alien jungle after totally immersing himself physically and psychologically in the life of another species. The Asadi are hominids that appear to have degenerated from a much more advanced society into the primitive daily reenacting of brutish, incomprehensible, almost hallucinatory rituals. The closer he comes to the intuitive leap that would let him understand them, the deeper he slips into the madness, which may be the fate of any member of a species that too deeply partakes in the nature of another. The aliens are some of the most convincing ever invented, the story is gripping and the conclusion (actually the whole story) is unforgettable.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great SciFi - One Of The Best IMO, September 12, 2009

By 

Robert Evans (Dallas, TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transfigurations (Paperback)

I discovered this book on a top shelf, and read it a second time. I could not put it down the first time I read it many years ago. Ditto for my second reading. I agree with the first reviewer, placing it the same category as "Rama". It is one of the best, if not the best, novels I have ever read. The writing is spellbinding. You feel you are really "there" on the planet BoskVeld. The mysteries surrounding the totally alien Asadi presented in the first part of the book will force you to read the rest. You will HAVE to know the answers: the mysteries of the Asadi society (if you can call it that), the role of the bat-like creatures they interact with, the fate of the missing scientist who went to live among them. This book should be "rediscovered", reprinted, and placed on lists of great SciFi novels (or simply lists of great novels).