Kiln People By David Brin Book Review

Kiln People 

By: David Brin






Kiln people is a Science fiction/Mystery novel set in a world where people can cheaply and easily make copies of their bodies and minds for specific purposes.  The main character is a private investigator specializing in the sort of trouble this technology lends itself to.  The author uses this to explore the nooks and cranny's of what this sort of thing would do to a society.  He even gets into some of the effects a users mental health could have with it.  In my opinion this is good because I feel the day is coming that we will be able to copy our minds to computers, and this book seems like a primer for that day.  There is not really anything about this book that I did not like.  It was a very fun read and provides a lot of interesting things to think about.



The duplicate technology in this book is very interesting because not only can the original download their mind into a clay doll, but that clay doll can then upload that information back to the original.  What is important about this is that the duplicates only have about a day of life in them before they become inert and must be remade.  So while duplicates are cheap they all want to survive to get back to their original mind otherwise their branch of consciousness is lost.  An Important thing to remember when reading this book is that unless a duplicate dies, or otherwise diverges, you don't need to keep up with what duplicate it is because in the end they all get merged.  The book also uses the technology in many inventive and creative ways including the practice of freezing a duplicates head as a way to keep it viable for download, and creating special purpose duplicates optimized for a specific task.

The technology in this book is explored by following Albert Morris in various incarnations as he investigates the disappearance of a prominent researcher in duplicate technology named Yosil Maharal. The CEO of the company that manufactures the duplicates gives Morris access to all of the companies practically unlimited resources in order to find his lost employee.  As the investigation continues it turns out that the researcher was on the brink of a scientific breakthrough, and everyone Morris knows is willing to do whatever they must to get their hands on either him or his research.  Up to this point the book is a pretty straightforward mystery novel with a neat gimmick, but when he uncovers just who is behind all of this Morris pulls back the covers on just what can go wrong with this sort of technology.  It turns out that when Maharal's daughter creates a duplicate the mind that runs it is not always hers.  Most of the time her split personality takes control of the duplicate body, and as it turns out that personality is the main villain of the book.  Ultimately what was being researched was the very nature of the mind and the soul, and Morris ends up finding out the results first hand.

This book will appeal to both people who love mysteries, and science fiction fans alike.  It explores some near future concepts in an interesting way and gives you a good feel for the way a society might change with this radical disruptive technology.

You can purchase this book at www.amazon.com as an ebook or in print.