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IQ 83

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IQ 83

By: Arthur Herzog III
Narrated by: Charles Henderson Norman
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About this listen

You are Dr. James Healey and last week you were a genius that was before the DNA experiments. Before the accident you said could never happen since then you have felt your mind decaying a little more each day. You have watched your wife slip into imbecility. You have seen the crowds growing murderous with animal terror, the president of the United States babbling and drooling on tv only one thing separates you from them. You, at least, know what is happening as you search for the cure for the horror you have unleashed upon the world as each day the dimming of your mind lowers your chance of finding it!

©1978 and 4/27/2003 Arthur Herzog (P)2014 arthur herzog Genre Fiction Hard Science Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Suspense Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense
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A novel written in 1978 predicting a global pandemic which creates a world where everyone is stupid, there is too much bureaucracy and people argue over the gendering of words.
It all feels a bit too familiar.

Ok, reading that back sounds pretty right-wing, and I guess that's the main issue a lot of people had with this book. It is somewhat dated in the way it plays out as a sort of wish fulfilment for the main character. Although he loses IQ along with the rest of the population, he remains smarter than almost everyone else and his sexy female colleague keeps throwing herself at him. There's also some iffy racial stereotypes.

Still, for me it's a minor gripe for a book with such foresight and playful humour.

When the zombie virus has been done to death so many times on screen, it's a wonder this has yet to be adapted. In my opinion it's a much scarier idea.

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