To Your Scattered Bodies Go was author Philip Jose Farmer’s 1971 novel that went on the win the 1972 Hugo Award for Best Novel. About as inventive as a great science fiction novel from a very good writer can be, this describes a world where everyone who ever lived is reincarnated into a river valley environment. Filled with philosophical and theological metaphor, this is an excellent vehicle for the author to explore various subjects revolving around sociology, human nature and group dynamics. [...]

It's 1972 and the Hugos just named this one best novel, and why?Because it's actually 2016 and this novel has just been optioned by both HBO AND Showtime for an ongoing series noted mostly for it's all nude cast, all the time, celebrities and historical personages all coming back to their most perfect forms, and, of course, senseless war and violence. (When they're not expounding on philosophy, of course, because philosophy and religion always leads to a cave-man's club and a bunch of grabbing o [...]

A very Kilgore Troutish book. Farmer comes up with a phenomenal idea: a world where every human being who's ever lived has been resurrected, to spend the rest of eternity coming to terms with each other along the banks of a gigantic river. Unfortunately, after a few chapters it becomes clear that the author has no real plan about where to go with his concept. I remember some reviewer expressing similar disappointment with "The Matrix". It starts with a metaphysical revelation, and ends with a sh [...]

Let’s say you died in 2005. You wake up on a beach (I am simplifying here for those of that have not read this—the book does not start off on a beach), next to a river that is endless. You have no recollection of this place. You know this can't be possible because next to you are a man dressed in 16th century attire and a bit further down from him is what looks like a Neanderthal. But, hey, you're in a Philip Jose Farmer novel, so anything's possible. I love the concept that when we die (reg [...]

For me, the appeal of Speculative Fiction is the breadth and depth of its scope. An author is free to explore the most difficult questions and imagine worlds vastly different from anything we have ever experienced. Though all literature is concerned with what it means to be human, few outside of Sci Fi go to such lengths to ask what it means to be capable of thought and self-knowledgeHowever, there is a drawback. Often, authors succumb to the temptation to create a world so new, so different, so [...]

Revisit 2015 is via audio file 07:42:33Description: To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the Hugo Award-winning beginning to the story of Riverworld, Philip José Farmer's unequaled tale about life after death. When famous adventurer Sir Richard Francis Burton dies, the last thing he expects to do is awaken naked on a foreign planet along the shores of a seemingly endless river. But that's where Burton and billions of other humans (plus a few nonhumans) find themselves as the epic Riverworld saga begi [...]

Philip Jose Farmer's strangely Hugo winning novel "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" is mostly notable in that it serves as a perfect example of how exactly not to write a science-fiction novel. The only thing I can think of is that all of the Hugo voters the year of its winning decided they were going to be ironic and vote for the worst sci-fi book released that year, as some kind of post-dada critique on the awards process.Farmer starts with a great idea: everyone who dies wakes up on a mysterious [...]

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.After he died, the famous 19th century explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton wasn’t surprised to find that what the Christian priests had taught about the Resurrection wasn’t true. But he was totally bewildered by what actually happened. He woke up young, hairless, naked, and turning in midair (as if on a spit) in the middle of 37 billion other young, hairless, naked and rotating humans. Soon after waking, the bodies — all the people over the age of fi [...]

I can't even continue with this book. The premise is moderately interesting, but the sexism is just too much. Prudes and whores and nags and every fucking stereotype of woman you can think of, but god forbid there be a woman who serves any purpose other than sex object or victim. Yet another "genius" who can imagine a world without religion or oppressive sexual mores, but can't imagine competent women with purpose and agency outside of a man.DNFed at page 78.

Usually, the Hugo Awards are a good recommendation for entertaining literature.Not in this case. I really don't understand how this book could have been given an award of any kind. Were there NO other sf novels published in 1971?Farmer uses historical figures as his characters as an excuse to not bother writing any characterization of any kind. Every character in the novel is completely two-dimensional. It's pretty hard to make such an interesting and multi-dimensional character as the historica [...]

There is really a lot to love in this book. First--the inventive idea of coming back to life on a foreign planet with everyone else who has ever lived. Second--now all the characters must live with each other and other hsitorical figures, how does one get along with so many different people displaced from time. Third--just survival on a foreign planet. There is a lot to wrap your mind around in this book, especially when it comes to social interaction with various kinds of people and characters. [...]

4.0 stars. Excellent novel by one of the under-rated masters of science ficiton. Great, original concept and a well-written plot. Recommended.Winner: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1972)Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1972)

Imagine that you wake up and the last thing that you remember is dying. You're lying on a riverbank surrounded by strangers who are naked and hairless just as you are. As you explore your surroundings, you find that you are no longer on Earth and the people around you are all the people from the beginning of time who have lived and died on Earth. Furthermore, there are no animals or insects, but there are plenty of fish in a river that seems never never to end. Meals and wants like cigarettes, a [...]

TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO. (1971). Philip Jose Farmer. ***.According to the jacket cover, this is the first book of the legendary “Riverworld” saga. It also lets you know that this novel was the winner of the Hugo Award (1972). It looks as if there were a total of five books in the Riverworld series by the time Farmer quit, but this first one is likely to be enough for me. The concept was clever: all the people on Earth who died (which included all the present population up to 2008 because [...]

The one sentence version: Great idea, bad execution.I LOVE the idea of a world where everyone who ever existed is suddenly reesurrected and given a second chanceif that is what's really happeningHowever, it seems like it never gets too developed from an idea into a story, and using real-life people as characterswell, it can be sometimes disconcerting. When the main character Richard Burton goes after Alice Hargreaves (Alice in Wonderland) it seems more like a peek at the author's own Id than any [...]

The first PJF novel I ever read. His short stories from sci-fi magazines had impressed me but this novel went way beyond that. This novel has one of the most memorable opening sequences in all of sci-fi literature. Even 20+ years since I read this novel, I can still recall the fascinating opening of it with the suspended bodies and our protagonist coming awake. The mix of sci-fi and religion is always fascinating to me but in the hands of PJF, it was doubly fascinating.

Here's the premise: all of mankind is reborn, all at once, on a planet custom made for the purpose. If you think about this for a few minutes, you'll probably come up with all sorts of possibilities: anthropological exploration, meeting famous historical figures, fights with savages from various time periods. Give it a few minutes more and you'll probably start thinking about your personal interactions: folks you might want to settle a score with, or even people long dead who you'd like to take [...]

First, a word of warning: do NOT expect to know the answers to the questions you're going to have by the end of this book. They aren't there. So if you read this book, get to the end of it and say "this stinks! There's no resolution! I hate this book," don't say I didn't warn you! The book isn't about finding the answers's the journey that counts. And if by the end of the book you don't have any questions, you need to go back and read it again because your curiousity should be absolutely on fire [...]

I don't know if this book actually deserves a four star rating, but it has been haunting the back of my mind since senior year of high school, when I had to read it for my "Literature of Science" class. Haunting me not because it is an amazing piece of literature (I recall it being awkwardly written ) but because it is so WEIRD. It's weird in that way that certain low budget movies you catch on t.v. late at night are weird. The progression of events and the unfolding of the story is weird. The c [...]

Mayyybe 2.5Some real character building here - there's Burton, who, realistically, is almost the only person out of 36 billion intent on figuring out how the world works. There's Alice, who is a bit of a stickler for Victorian morals but has a great figure. Frigate, who claims is a stand-in for the author. Wilfrida, who has a great figure. Herman Goering, who eventually works his way toward salvation. Luga, who would be pretty if only her lips were better, but has a great figure. The subhuman, [...]

It's rather funny how I came to this audio book. I have had it for a few years in a cool little list my friend gave me for x-mas. The Top 100 azzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzok, guess I'll get this done, awake!

Un libro impresionante, sin duda entre los mejores que me he leído este año. Hablar del tema que trata es un spoiler en sí, por lo que recomiendo no leer la sinopsis, y empezarlo sin saber absolutamente nada de lo que trata. Te sorprenderá gratamente. El libro es claramente de ciencia ficción, pero tiene muchísimo de aventuras y sobre todo de misterio. Buena parte del libro me ha recordado a la serie "LOST", con ese halo de misterio y dudas que necesitan ser resueltas lo antes posible, y q [...]

Hugo Award Winner. listening to this on audio in the car ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`Wanted to give this a 3.5, but as i'm not able too, i guess it gets a 3 because i don't feel right giving it a 4. Until about halfway through the book i was gonna give it a 5 but then it felt like the the author didn't really know where else to go with the story and wanted to make sure it was a novel not a novella. So it just went on somewhat pointlesss,(i thought),for a bit. The end [...]

I tried. I realy did. The premise of this book is fascinating and right up my alley. I got about 1/4 of the way through and realized I couldn't continute. It wasn't because 1) The protagonist is unlikeable, unsympathetic, possibly a rapist and definitely kind of an @sshole (though, to be honest, I'm sure Farmer was drawing on his knowledge of the real Burton) or 2) It was insanely misogynistic, racist, and possibly homophobic, but mostly because 3) It was written like a 12th grade writing projec [...]

Good novel. Totally weird, creepy, bizarre, alternative Earth, populated with resurrected humanity.

When I first began reading To Your Scattered Bodies Go, I didn't give it enough credit. It has an amazing premise, and as a narrative it contains both the conflict and the thematic depth required to create a compelling science fiction story. And, I mean, it won the Hugo award—that can't be bad! So why was I so incredulous in the beginning? I'm not sure. It might have been the opening, which didn't draw me in like a book should. And it was difficult to connect to Burton as a character at first, [...]

Quando o explorador e orientalista Richard Burton acorda nas margens de um vasto rio, nasce um estranho mistério. A sua última recordação era do seu leito de morte, e agora descobre-se nu e desprovido de pilosidades, nas planícies que ladeiam um rio interminável. Não é caso único. Parece que a toda a humanidade foi concedida uma ressurreição nas margens deste rio planetário. Intrigado, com o seu sentido de explorador aguçado, Burton parte à descoberta dos segredos deste estranho mu [...]

Famed 19th century explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton dies. When he awakes, he finds himself resurrected, lying naked on the banks of a seemingly endless river, along with every other human being (and non-human sentient) who has ever lived on Earth or ever will. The human race is provided with food that miraculously appears from strange machines, but little else. There are no buildings, no clothes and no instructions. It is clear that this is not the afterlife that most world religions promised [...]

This is the opening novel in Farmer's Riverworld and was a fantastic read. I just cracked open the book and hours later I blink having reached the last page--so smooth style and page turner. This was written in 1971 but didn't read as dated, aside from that time's Environmental Doom Fad(tm). The premise is fantastical: every humanoid being born on the Earth from Homo Erectus to early 21st Century Homo Sapiens to alien visitors, about 35 billion of them, is resurrected along the banks of a river [...]

What a premise. In a sense this book is just a tremendous thought experiment. Every sentient humanoid who ever lived wakes up in a temperate river valley of apparently infinite length, youthful, strong, and naked. Disease and pests are absent. No one ages or gets pregnant. Food and recreational drugs are provided three times a day. What would happen?War, rape, and slavery, according to Farmer. Sadly, I'm sure he's right. But the details are engrossing. The distribution of languages and cultures, [...]