2014年9月3日水曜日

Flowers for Algernon

I read Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes.
This is a story of a man who took a surgery that  improves his intelligence.
The man, Charlie Gordon was intellectually retarded by nature and took a brain surgery in order to improve his IQ. The title, Algernon is a mouse that took a same surgery as Charlie, and it takes an important role in the story.

This novel takes a style of Charlie's diary, and his intellectual change can be seen as dates passes. And as his intelligence increase, his emotional and moral aspects also change.
I once read this book in Japanese when I was junior high school student, but I didn't remember the most of the content, so I felt it fresh and impressive. I felt Charlie's mental conflict as a subject, and as a man. I wonder how difficult it is to control the human rights and to understand the difference between animal and human. And in this book, the last was especially impressing and made me think.

This novel was first published in 1959, but the oldness isn't felt at all, but rather it should be read in this era that scientific technology has greatly developed.
I also want to read The Minds of Billy Milligan, written by Daniel Keyes, later.
The summer vacation is almost over, and autumn term will start soon. I'd like to read some books during the term too.


1 件のコメント:

  1. Wow! That books sounds really interesting. I'm going to add it to my "wish list". I know what you mean about reading "older" books on tech - you know they're well written when they stand the test of time and have just as much to say to us today as the day/time when they were written. Truth be told, a lot of our modern technology is due in large part to the foresight of such writers.

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