Audiobook (abridged)8 hours
The Consciousness Plague
Written by Paul Levinson
Narrated by Mark Shanahan
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
From of the author of The Silk Code, winner of the 1999 Locus Award for Best First Novel, comes another intriguing blend of science fiction and hard-boiled police-procedural mystery.
The Consciousness Plague is about memory, more particularly, how the loss of memory, in slivers of time deducted from a growing number of individuals, can subtly undermine and play havoc with everything from the investigation of serial stranglings to candlelight dinners. Dr. D'Amato, NYPD forensic detective, investigates a spate of unusual cases of memory loss and finds evidence of a bacteria-like organism that has lived in our brains since our origin as a species and may be responsible for our very consciousness.
There's evidence for this consciousness bug in the ancient Phoenician and Viking cultures and everywhere Phil looks in our world. A new antibiotic crosses the blood-brain barrier and inadvertently kills this essential bug. Phil himself becomes a victim of the memory drain, and must struggle to get the proper authorities to pay attention before everyone loses so much memory that they forget that they forgot in the first place.
The Consciousness Plague is about memory, more particularly, how the loss of memory, in slivers of time deducted from a growing number of individuals, can subtly undermine and play havoc with everything from the investigation of serial stranglings to candlelight dinners. Dr. D'Amato, NYPD forensic detective, investigates a spate of unusual cases of memory loss and finds evidence of a bacteria-like organism that has lived in our brains since our origin as a species and may be responsible for our very consciousness.
There's evidence for this consciousness bug in the ancient Phoenician and Viking cultures and everywhere Phil looks in our world. A new antibiotic crosses the blood-brain barrier and inadvertently kills this essential bug. Phil himself becomes a victim of the memory drain, and must struggle to get the proper authorities to pay attention before everyone loses so much memory that they forget that they forgot in the first place.
More audiobooks from Paul Levinson
The Chronology Protection Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plot to Save Socrates Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Author Paul Levinson Discusses Marshall McLuhan's Theory "The Medium Is The Message" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAuthor Paul Levinson Discusses Marshall McLuhan and The Evolution of Media Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAuthor Paul Levinson Discusses Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnburning Alexandria: The Novelette Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Train to Margaretville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIt's Real Life: An Alternate History of the Beatles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Consciousness Plague
Related audiobooks
In the Courts of the Sun Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quantum Chaos Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fall of Martin Orchard Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Sensitive Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master of Plagues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skynoise: A Time Travel Thriller Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Testament: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Rise to Godhood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aliens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEverything You Wanted to Know About Black Holes: (Without Actually Having To Go Into One) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anti-Matter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Celtic Conspiracy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Psychopathic Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Way of the Chronic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Immortality: The Science, Belief, and Magic Behind Living Forever Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEternal Sonata: A Thriller of the Near Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Killer Net: Sound Effects Special Edition Fully Remastered Audio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJourney: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Matters: Exodus Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Coming of the Fairies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Condition Book One: A Medical Miracle? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Time Crime Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Falsifier: Red Serpent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Witch of Babylon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrank Herbert: Operation Haystack Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReborn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO! Roswell The Deluxe Edition: Alien Presence Roswell Above Top Secret UFO Nation The Truth Now Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLast Rights Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Care for the Insane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Science Fiction For You
Dune Messiah: Book Two in the Dune Chronicles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Three-Body Problem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gideon the Ninth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/520,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dune: House Atreides Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Rising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dune Audio Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Rising (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]: Red Rising 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Is How You Lose The Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Systems Red Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coraline Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Morning Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/52001: A Space Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Left Hand of Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Golden Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Omens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5House 23: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in the High Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whalefall: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories of Your Life and Others Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Consciousness Plague
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
12 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book reminded me of Dan Brown's novels, minus Brown's fascination with grotesque violence, and with the kooky religious history replaced with kooky scientific theories -- in this case, a theory that micro-organisms living in our brain give us consciousness. Except he doesn't really mean consciousness; he means memory, which is a different concept. The prose is better than Brown's, but it's still weighed down with exposition. Parts of the story -- for example, a shaggy-dog search for a mysterious traveler on a train -- seemed to take up space without advancing the story or revealing anything new about the characters involved. One nice aspect of the book was the healthy relationship between the forensic scientist narrator and his girlfriend.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Had a good start, intriguing but then towards the end it just didn't cut it. Bad ending.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I was intrigued by the premise and the book I was well written. I do however feel more time should have been spent on the conciousness plague elements. I would like to read more about such a subject and this book prodded me to look for similar story lines and subjects.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the second Phil D'Amato mystery novel. It has all the virtues of the first one, and it's much better integrated--no weird diversions through other stories which happen to contain crucial information. In the wake of a flu epidemic, treated by a new antibiotic that is actually effective in shortening the length and lessening the severity of the disease, there's an epidemic of short-term amnesia. It moves from the level of annoying to the level of serious problem when it starts to interfere with the investigation of an apparent serial killer. D'Amato battles his own and others' unreliable memories, one or more killers, and city and federal bureacracy and politics in pursuit of the solution to both mysteries. Highly enjoyable.