Every day you survive increases your odds of a hyperextended life. Cryonic preservation techniques will no doubt continue to improve, so the longer you live before being frozen (assuming your mind and memory remain sound), the more likely your revival with identity intact. Thus, the importance of maintaining your health takes on a new dimension.
Finally, the spread of information, even in the face of the uninformed ridicule that inevitably accompanies any attempt to shift societal attitudes, is a key to fruitful change. If you enjoyed The First Immortal , or found its ideas stimulating, try to get every person you care about to read it, too. Then you can discuss it with them from common ground. They might even thank you a century or more from now. In our unbounded future, anything is possible.
Best wishes and long life, Jim Halperin
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THE FIRST IMMORTAL
by James L. Halperin
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James L. Halperinis the author of The Truth Machine . Born and raised in Massachusetts, he attended Harvard, and now lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and two young sons. He also co-owns the world’s largest rare coin company. All of his royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to health- and education-related charities.
“An entertaining read… intriguing… Keeps the reader riveted… Halperin’s characters are multidimensional, and he excellently sets up their emotional conflict and psychological motivations.… A real page turner, and a most recommended read.”
—The California Aggie
“Fascinating and often has the ring of genuine prediction. As in Halperin’s first novel, The Truth Machine, the technology is always front and center, but this is ultimately a story of people and the political and sociological implications of near immortality.”
—www.amazon.com
“True science fiction projects logical extensions of what mankind already knows scientifically. A shining example is The First Immortal … Layman readers can follow the scientific terminology and complex story lines without the hocus-pocus that often beclouds science fiction.”
—United Press International
“The first novel to capture in realistic fashion the inexorable march of spirit and technology that will almost certainly transform us in the twenty-first century from mortals to immortals.”
—Life Extension
“Halperin’s future is so detailed and plausible that you find yourself expecting to wake to it the next day.”
—Ernest Lilly,
SF Revu
“Halperin zeroes in on issues that could make a big difference in how we and our children live in the next century. His novels combine the immediacy of realistic fiction with the verve and boldness of science fiction. Here is a writer for any reader who likes to explore big ideas.”
—David Brin
Published by Del Rey® Books:
THE TRUTH MACHINE
THE FIRST IMMORTAL
Books published by The Ballantine Publishing Group are available at quantity discounts on bulk purchases for premium, educational, fund-raising, and special sales use. For details, please call 1-800-733-3000.
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A Del Rey® Book
Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group
Copyright © 1998 by James L. Halperin
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in slightly different form in hardcover in January 1998.
www.randomhouse.com/delrey/
Visit Del Rey’s Web site for The First Immortal : www.firstimmortal.com
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-96406
ISBN 0-345-42182-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Hardcover Edition: January 1998
First Mass Market Edition: December 1998
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