What if you had the opportunity to explore the universe and see the before and after results of evolution? In A World out of Time, by Larry Niven, Jerome Corbell is revived after over 100 years of waiting for a cure to the cancer that riddled his body. Corbell (mock II) must take a new occupation, the one predetermined for his personality, or he will be wiped and a new one will be placed in the body he now uses. As a former architect, now starship pilot, Corbell decides to use this ship to explore, but eventually, he returns to find Ganymede is missing, and Earth seems to have become a moon of Jupiter. Aged from his travels, Corbell goes to Earth in hopes of understanding the changes to the planet in the 3 million years he was gone, and discovers immortal children, animals like cat-snakes, teleportation systems, and a civilization in ruins which just might hold the key to returning his own youth.

Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Taren Parsons
Rating: Recommended (3)