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Immortality, Inc.
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
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Immortality, Inc.
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Summary
Want to be immortal? You can be in AD 2110. Just go to the Hereafter Insurance Corporation and hook yourself up to the Machine. There’s nothing to fear. That is, if it happens to be working right, and if nobody slips another mind into your body when you’re not looking, and if you’re not on a poltergeist hatelist…
First published in 1959 as a startling, revolutionary novel of the future—then pushed to new cinematic limits as the feature film adaptation Freejack in 1992—Robert Sheckley’s unsettling vision of tomorrow is a trenchantly witty novel of a future where everything has improved except the bumbling human race, which just can’t let itself enjoy a good thing when it finally gets it.
Thomas Blaine awoke in a white bed in a white room and heard someone say, “He’s alive now.” Then they asked him his name, age, and marital status. Yes, that seemed normal enough—but what was this talk about “death trauma”?
Thus was Thomas Blaine introduced to the year 2110, when science had discovered the technique of transferring a man’s consciousness from one body to another, when a man’s mind could be snatched from the past, as his body was at the point of death, and brought forward into a “host body” in this fantastic future world.
But that was only a small part of it, for the future had proved the reality of life after death and discovered worlds beyond or simultaneous with our own—worlds where, through scientific techniques, a man could live again, in another body, when he died here—and had in the process established the reality of ghosts, poltergeists, and zombies.
What did it all mean? How had this discovery of what they called the “hereafter” shaped the world of 2110?
Thomas Blaine found himself living in a future where the discoveries and techniques imagined by people of his time, though realized, were completely overwhelmed by discoveries no one had ever dreamed of.
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What listeners say about Immortality, Inc.
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 25-09-22
I liked the title...so I listened
Loved it...
What an interesting idea. Trust humanity to make an industry out of death. Quite slapstick at times and I smiled throughout. I laughed a lot too.
Zombies have been given a bad press over time, but this encounter rights that balance.
Very funny, a good look at what this world has done with the future, and very well performed. The voices Bronson Pinchot used, fitted well and the zombie voice is just as you'd have thought it would be. Even the voice of Peter Lorre gets in there.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Norma Miles
- 27-05-22
"Come to my reincarnation this afternoon."
After his fatal car crash, Thomas Baine wakes in a white bed in a white room but in a different body day- in the future. Sheckley's frequently amusing novel about changing society and how every new advantage brings with it disadvantages might be hampered by having her written mid twentieth century before the near universal advent of personal computers and mobile phones, but the premise remains solid and the adventure still fun.
Narration is by Bronson Pinchot whose performance takes It's due from the text itself, with some over the top character voices bringing further comedic value to the work. And his reading generally is clear, well paced and story involved: excellent.
My complimentary copy was downloaded from Audible as part of their Pllus programme: thank you. It was very enjoyable and sometimes also though provoking. Recommended
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- iamtheactor
- 26-03-22
Old school story retold
It hasn’t aged (apart from the use of telephones!) and still gives an interesting view on a world where immortality is realised.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mark S
- 25-07-23
Good story, worst narrator.
The narrator reads way too fast, like he’s a kid trying to prove he can. Setting the speed to 0.85x makes it a little more bearable but that does take away the horrible voices he puts on for some of the supporting characters and the horrible overacting for others.
I enjoyed the story it is worth reading, not listening to with this narrator.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- M. Dixon
- 02-02-22
Enjoyable light reading
This is fun. Bit more than pulp fiction and, like Sheckley's other work I've read, clever and well written. The performance is worth a bit more than 3 stars, the characteristions are great but I found the narration too fast and robotic. Was relieved when the paced slowed for the Zombies!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Freckles
- 14-05-22
Average sci-fi
There were some interesting ideas but far too many tedious monologues. None of the characters felt real. Women only featured as love or sex interests. Giving it 3 stars only because I’m feeling generous today
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stephen
- 22-01-24
5 stars is not a high enough rating
The combination of a hugely inventive and and intelligent story with Bronson Pinchot's incredible and involving narration makes for an absolutely stunning listen. I listened to this after 'Dimensions of Miracles' and now rate Sheckley as one of my favourite authors. This is nothing short of brilliant and I highly recommned it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Bruno Keyworth
- 03-02-24
Very good book
I thought this was quite a good humorous story that also had elements of seriousness and presented some interesting things to think about.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anthony Chantrell
- 07-12-21
Very well written
It was a very good audiobook, with a morbid twist that had me on edge and wanting to listen all the time. Narrator was enjoyable to listen to as he gave the characters different voices and accents.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- amanda easton
- 10-03-22
Dreadful narrator
This chap speed-reads through every chapter as though his parking meter is about to run out. I'll avoid him in future.
Story fine. It's a bit aged. I just wish I'd read it.
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