Dying Inside

I didn't like this as much as I did when I read it 30+ years ago. There are elements of misogyny and racism in the story and the main character is selfish and emotionally closed off in a way that makes his telepathy seem hard to credit. It's a great idea, but in practice, the character generates no sympathy and it's hard to care a great deal about his loss of a capability he never had the grace to use for anything but selfish objectives.

Possibly 3.5. I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to get round to reading this. I feel it is the sort of book I should have read when, in the early 80's, I was catching up on early/mid Roth and Heller, + Heinlein's “Stranger in a Strange Land” and Dick's “A Scanner Darkly”. It is not really science fiction. I found it a “bum trip” but a good read.