The Consciousness Plague - Softcover

Levinson, Paul

3.21

110 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0765307545 ISBN 13: 9780765307545

Publisher: Tor Books, 2003

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“At last we get Paul Levinson's superb forensic sleuth, Phil D'Amato, in a full-length novel. If you know Phil from his previous appearances, I need say no more. If you don't, kick back and enjoy a mystery that spans the ages,” said Jack McDevitt of The Silk Code, the first Phil D'Amato novel. Now, D'Amato, hero of a number of stories published in Analog, is back.

The Consciousness Plague is about memory -- more particularly, how the loss of memory, in slivers of time deducted from a growing number of individuals, can subtly undermine and play havoc with everything from the investigation of serial stranglings to candlelight dinners. Dr. D'Amato, NYPD forensic detective, investigates a spate of unusual cases of memory loss and finds evidence of a bacteria-like organism that has lived in our brains since our origin as a species and may be responsible for our very consciousness. There's evidence for this consciousness bug in the ancient Phoenician and Viking cultures and everywhere he looks in our world.

A new antibiotic crosses the blood-brain barrier and inadvertently kills this essential bug. Phil himself is a victim of the memory drain, and must struggle to get the proper authorities to pay attention before everyone loses so much memory that they forget that they forgot in the first place.

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About the Author:

Paul Levinson's eight nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), and Cellphone (2004), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into ten languages. New New Media will be published in the summer of 2009. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel)., Borrowed Tides (2001), The Consciousness Plague (2002), The Pixel Eye (2003), and The Plot To Save Socrates (2006). His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards. Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News," "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS), "Nightline" (ABC), and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s "Top 10 Academic Twitterers" in 2009. Paul Levinson is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.

From AudioFile:

A new antibiotic that cures a nasty flu but causes severe memory lapses is a great concept for a novel. Sadly, this title is weakened by the author's attempt to jam a murder mystery into the mix. On top of that, reader Mark Shanahan is pure vanilla. His delivery is lightweight, lacking passion or authenticity. Cheesy sound effects do not help. Sirens, car engines, and similar noises will seriously annoy commuters trying to negotiate traffic and listen at the same time. M.S. � AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright � AudioFile, Portland, Maine

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