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    The Eyes of Heisenberg
    The Eyes of Heisenberg
    The Eyes of Heisenberg
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Eyes of Heisenberg

    Written by Frank Herbert

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Public Law 10927 was clear and direct. Parents were permitted to watch the genetic alterations of their gametes by skilled surgeons...only no one ever requested it.

    When Lizbeth and Harvey Durant decided to invoke the Law, when Dr. Potter did not rearrange the most unusual genetic structure of their future son, barely an embryo growing in the State's special vat-the consequences of these decisions threatened to be catastrophic.

    For never before had anyone dared defy the Rulers' decrees...and if They found out, it was well known that the price of disobedience was the extermination of the human race.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateAug 17, 2010
    ISBN9781400184873
    The Eyes of Heisenberg
    Author

    Frank Herbert

    Frank Herbert (1920-1986) created the most beloved novel in the annals of science fiction, Dune.  He was a man of many facets, of countless passageways that ran through an intricate mind.  His magnum opus is a reflection of this, a classic work that stands as one of the most complex, multi-layered novels ever written in any genre.  Today the novel is more popular than ever, with new readers continually discovering it and telling their friends to pick up a copy.  It has been translated into dozens of languages and has sold almost 20 million copies. As a child growing up in Washington State, Frank Herbert was curious about everything. He carried around a Boy Scout pack with books in it, and he was always reading.  He loved Rover Boys adventures, as well as the stories of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and the science fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs.  On his eighth birthday, Frank stood on top of the breakfast table at his family home and announced, "I wanna be a author."  His maternal grandfather, John McCarthy, said of the boy, "It's frightening. A kid that small shouldn't be so smart." Young Frank was not unlike Alia in Dune, a person having adult comprehension in a child's body.  In grade school he was the acknowledged authority on everything.  If his classmates wanted to know the answer to something, such as about sexual functions or how to make a carbide cannon, they would invariably say, "Let's ask Herbert. He'll know." His curiosity and independent spirit got him into trouble more than once when he was growing up, and caused him difficulties as an adult as well.  He did not graduate from college because he refused to take the required courses for a major; he only wanted to study what interested him.  For years he had a hard time making a living, bouncing from job to job and from town to town. He was so independent that he refused to write for a particular market; he wrote what he felt like writing.  It took him six years of research and writing to complete Dune, and after all that struggle and sacrifice, 23 publishers rejected it in book form before it was finally accepted. He received an advance of only $7,500. His loving wife of 37 years, Beverly, was the breadwinner much of the time, as an underpaid advertising writer for department stores.  Having been divorced from his first wife, Flora Parkinson, Frank Herbert met Beverly Stuart at a University of Washington creative writing class in 1946.  At the time, they were the only students in the class who had sold their work for publication.  Frank had sold two pulp adventure stories to magazines, one to Esquire and the other to Doc Savage.  Beverly had sold a story to Modern Romance magazine.  These genres reflected the interests of the two young lovers; he the adventurer, the strong, machismo man, and she the romantic, exceedingly feminine and soft-spoken. Their marriage would produce two sons, Brian, born in 1947, and Bruce, born in 1951. Frank also had a daughter, Penny, born in 1942 from his first marriage.  For more than two decades Frank and Beverly would struggle to make ends meet, and there were many hard times.  In order to pay the bills and to allow her husband the freedom he needed in order to create, Beverly gave up her own creative writing career in order to support his.  They were in fact a writing team, as he discussed every aspect of his stories with her, and she edited his work.  Theirs was a remarkable, though tragic, love story-which Brian would poignantly describe one day in Dreamer of Dune (Tor Books; April 2003).  After Beverly passed away, Frank married Theresa Shackelford. In all, Frank Herbert wrote nearly 30 popular books and collections of short stories, including six novels set in the Dune universe: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune.  All were international bestsellers, as were a number of his other science fiction novels, which include The White Plague and The Dosadi Experiment.  His major novels included The Dragon in the Sea, Soul Catcher (his only non-science fiction novel), Destination: Void, The Santaroga Barrier, The Green Brain, Hellstorm's Hive, Whipping Star, The Eyes of Heisenberg, The Godmakers, Direct Descent, and The Heaven Makers. He also collaborated with Bill Ransom to write The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, and The Ascension Factor.  Frank Herbert's last published novel, Man of Two Worlds, was a collaboration with his son, Brian.

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    Reviews for The Eyes of Heisenberg

    3/5

    12 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A par for the course theme with a great beginning, slightly disappointing second half, and a satisfying end.
    • 4/5
      Short sf novel from 1966 about a far distant future where genetic engineering has brought longer lives for all and immortality for a minority -- but at the cost of genetic engineering being both compulsory and necessary, as humans no longer reproduce naturally. Many are naturally sterile, and for the rest, there is the contraceptive gas that ensures that only the chosen few with a potentially viable gene mix are allowed to try their luck at creating a zygote for the gene surgeons to improve. The immortal Optimen have ruled, largely by consent, since not long after the first of them was created some eighty thousand years ago, but there are challenges to their rule.This is one of the sf books I first read as a teenager, and was hoping would still hold up. I had occasional problems with suspension of disbelief, but it's staying on the keep pile rather than going into the Oxfam box. The opening sequence with a genetic surgeon preparing to cut a new embryo with Optiman potential, and finding that it is something even greater and forbidden -- that still has the power to evoke sensawunda for me. The rest of the novel doesn't quite hit the same heights, but there's still a worthwhile story about the price and effects of immortality. And will this short novel doesn't have the same depth of world-building as Dune, there are still some lovely little details, such as the hand-pressure language used by the Parents Underground to communicate secretly in public.
    • 1/5
      This story had real potential but had a truly disappointing ending, which ruined the story. The basis of the story involved futuristic genetic manipulation and ex vivo gestation. The different factions involve those who are sterile or fertile,those who do not age or do age, and cyborgs. The story was fine up until the capture of the underground runaways. The demise of the Optimen is truly irrational and ridiculous. It is sad that such a famous author wrote such a lousy story.
    • 2/5
      Set in the far future in a time when Optimen lived for tens of thousand of years, The Eyes of Heisenberg is kind of like 1984 on Steroids. In this society, the rulers only allow certain people to procreate, and when they do so, genetic engineers manipulate the embryo seeking to make these superhumans, who can virtually live forever. The concept is okay, but I thought by and large the execution is poor. For one thing, I think to fully understand the story, you need an advanced degree in biochemistry. Secondly, it was never fully explained why things were happening. Why the embryos are engineered, what was so important about the embryo belonging to the Durants, which is the focus of the story, that makes all hell break loose. The other thing that really annoyed me was how Herbert jumps from one scene to another skipping all sorts of scenes in between that are necessary to set up the scene. It almost seemed like I was reading an abridgement. So although the concept was interesting, and there was good character development in the story, I found the novel more exasperating than anything else.Carl Alves - author of Blood Street
    • 3/5
      i have to say that while i liked Frank Herbert's Dune, this was nothing like it. The book deals with very interesting ideas; however, it seems to short. The book lacks a lot of the detail that was put into Dune. It seems as if all the ideas that he wanted to cover were mapped out and then a story was put together; not a complete story rather just a rough draft. I have to say that after reading the book it will give you a few things to think about. it is a quick read and entertaining. I would recommended that everyone should read it at least once.
    • 3/5
      Herbert's writing was not at the same level as Dune in The Eyes of Heisenberg. Still, this novel deals with a lot of issues mirrored in the Dune series in a completely different way. Here the immortality of the God Emperor is a weakness. Herbert is also writing about issues like genetics that are not dealt with by most sci-fi authors until much later. It's a good, but not great book.
    • 4/5
      This short novel unfortunately isn't Herbert's best. Set into the distant future the humanity divided into several classes ruled by immortal übermensch. The description of the world is a bit sketchy so not much will be known about these 'supermen', the illegal cyborgs or the ordinary people. The book is over fifty years old and unfortunately it shows. The biological descriptions and explanations look a bit funny today.
    • 3/5
      Reading notes:*** There is something fascinating in Frank Herbert's characters: they feel as if they have supernatural powers although nothing in the texts suggests so. I believe it's what they do (how they read people, how they fight, how they communicate) that gives them this magic vibe.*** The book started well, but the most I listen to it the less I am interested in it.*** The main characters are very, very annoying. I feel no connection to any of the Resistance people, and least of all with the Durants. In fact the bad guys are more likable than the good guys!*** I can't discern any particular message and the philosophy is weak too.*** It's shocking how little is going on in this book!There is a lesson in each book:*** Any good book should have a MESSAGE. If it doesn't, it's just an action/love/horror/mystery book. And if the message is well hidden then the better: it's rewarding for the reader to find that message himself/herself. Plus if it is something in your face, most readers will reject the book as moralizing. Better create some character people can identify with and have them pass the message through their actions.*** Make the main characters likable even if they have flaws.*** Avoid too many technical details. For worlds that have little connection to the "Old" Earth avoid details about food and animals.*** MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS SOME PLOT OR ELSE EVERYONE WILL DIE OF BOREDOM.