- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Bks.; n.e. edition (3 Feb 1975)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099097109
- ISBN-13: 978-0099097105
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,586,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
I was deeply dissapointed by this book, because I had already read Blish' before. Even if it wasn't spectacular, it wasn't bad either.
The novel, in brief, recounts the story of a man called Danny Caiden, a food packaging journalist, who gets himself in a lot of problems and its all because of his "skills". The "skills" I referred are psychic powers and apparently he had them his whole life, despite the fact that they (the powers) were dormant for most his life.
One day, he (unconsciously) senses the future and uses the information he knows now but is still to happen, to an article. The boss finds out and Caiden has no way to explain the source of the rather delicate information. So he is fired.
It's after that the story truly unfolds. He finds out, through friends and specialists in psychic stuff, that he has a boat load of powers (telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, a lot of teles).
The thing is that the book is appealing... when it's still in the beginning, where Caiden is mostly unaware of its powers/skills and is still discovering them. When he already has a shaky knowledge of what and how he is supposed to do, things get kinda boring. What I mean is that the story becomes too unlikely to happen, too false.
There was a few interesting things, like the sigma sequence (or whatever) a "stair" to parallel universes, where the only difference (I think) is the Planck constant.
Interesting but not engaging.
Till next time,
M.I.T.H. (ManInsideTheHelm)
The novel, in brief, recounts the story of a man called Danny Caiden, a food packaging journalist, who gets himself in a lot of problems and its all because of his "skills". The "skills" I referred are psychic powers and apparently he had them his whole life, despite the fact that they (the powers) were dormant for most his life.
One day, he (unconsciously) senses the future and uses the information he knows now but is still to happen, to an article. The boss finds out and Caiden has no way to explain the source of the rather delicate information. So he is fired.
It's after that the story truly unfolds. He finds out, through friends and specialists in psychic stuff, that he has a boat load of powers (telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, a lot of teles).
The thing is that the book is appealing... when it's still in the beginning, where Caiden is mostly unaware of its powers/skills and is still discovering them. When he already has a shaky knowledge of what and how he is supposed to do, things get kinda boring. What I mean is that the story becomes too unlikely to happen, too false.
There was a few interesting things, like the sigma sequence (or whatever) a "stair" to parallel universes, where the only difference (I think) is the Planck constant.
Interesting but not engaging.
Till next time,
M.I.T.H. (ManInsideTheHelm)
Format:Paperback
Danny Caiden is a newspaper writer who discovers one day that he has psychic powers. These powers emerge painfully and chaotically, getting him in trouble with local mobsters, earning him an accusation of insider trading, and attracting the attention of a particularly attractive girl.
At first he is a victim of the conflict that his newly-emerged powers create, but as the story progresses he learns to understand and then control them, by use of engineering to enhance these powers. As his understanding increases, eventually he is able to turn the tables on his oppressors, and to take control of his own destiny ... and that of people around him.
This book is written in a sort of 1950s noir style, which suits its action pace. As with many James Blish novels, there is some exploration of physical laws here, but I did not find them offputting, even given the age of the book. But the assumption is very much that if psi powers exist, that they should be susceptible to scientific investigation and explanation.
All in all, a good book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Super Reader
4 Aug 2007
Format:Paperback
Danny Caiden is the Jack of Eagles. However, when the novel starts, Danny is just a writer working for a trade publication. He has always had the talent for finding things. An example is given of a drunk friend at a party ringing up and asking where he has put his ski wax, and Danny tells him immediately what it has fallen in to.
Encountering another friend, he gets to talking about probability, and decides to see what else he can find. In a probability sense this means gambling, on the stock market, and horse racing.
This brings him to the attention of some gangsters, and avoiding them he decides to find out more about psychic abilities, contacting some researchers.
Soon, he learns there is a secret society, the Brotherhood, all composed of people like him. Danny's abilities are growing, making them want to recruit him. He opposes their politicals and ethics of superiority to normal humans, and escapes to discover there is an opposing force to these people.
With abilities rapidly increasing, and the understanding of the mathematics of probability and psi abilities, Danny is able to venture through different realities to attempt to thwart his opponents, and get the FBI to believe he is not a criminal.
Encountering another friend, he gets to talking about probability, and decides to see what else he can find. In a probability sense this means gambling, on the stock market, and horse racing.
This brings him to the attention of some gangsters, and avoiding them he decides to find out more about psychic abilities, contacting some researchers.
Soon, he learns there is a secret society, the Brotherhood, all composed of people like him. Danny's abilities are growing, making them want to recruit him. He opposes their politicals and ethics of superiority to normal humans, and escapes to discover there is an opposing force to these people.
With abilities rapidly increasing, and the understanding of the mathematics of probability and psi abilities, Danny is able to venture through different realities to attempt to thwart his opponents, and get the FBI to believe he is not a criminal.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
The most enthralling book on ESP ever.
24 Feb 2000
Format:Paperback
It's all about Danny Caiden, who discovers that he has ESP. But the Brotherhood of psychics wishes for him to be destroyed because of his enormous potential. HE goes through everything to stay away from them, and eventually solves his problem by destroying their headquarters. But that's not the end...
Jacks are odd, the Jack of Eagles is the oddest Jack
27 Dec 2008
Format:Paperback
"Jack of Eagles" is a good book about Danny Caiden who discovers that he has esp,i.e., psychic powers, and decides to learn more. He soon finds that the ratio of 'scientific' fact to psycobabble is rather small. However, he also crosses paths with a dangerous group of psychics and is forced to try to use his developing powers to 'save' the world. It is a good and satisfying story that ties up a lot of loose ends by the happy ending.
The novel was written in the early 1940's or there about and has an air of the times about it. The 'girlfriend' who attaches herself to Danny is quite decorative and interestingly gypsy. At the time that WWII started, the normal card deck temporarily acquired a fifth suite of cards, called eagles. Since the eagles suite was an oddball, the Jack of Eagles would be even odder than the other Jacks, and, thus, even wilder than the phrase, "Jacks are wild." might suggest. In any case, this is the title used in Britain. A different title was used in the USA (possibly; "Esper". Though I am not sure my memory got it right.)
I liked the story because it treats psychic powers with a 'scientific' mode of thinking, much like anything to which engineering might be applied. In that respect, the story is more of a science fiction story in concept than a fantasy. And, an actual science-based object is used as a central concept in the story.
Whether you like science fiction or fantasy, read this story.
The novel was written in the early 1940's or there about and has an air of the times about it. The 'girlfriend' who attaches herself to Danny is quite decorative and interestingly gypsy. At the time that WWII started, the normal card deck temporarily acquired a fifth suite of cards, called eagles. Since the eagles suite was an oddball, the Jack of Eagles would be even odder than the other Jacks, and, thus, even wilder than the phrase, "Jacks are wild." might suggest. In any case, this is the title used in Britain. A different title was used in the USA (possibly; "Esper". Though I am not sure my memory got it right.)
I liked the story because it treats psychic powers with a 'scientific' mode of thinking, much like anything to which engineering might be applied. In that respect, the story is more of a science fiction story in concept than a fantasy. And, an actual science-based object is used as a central concept in the story.
Whether you like science fiction or fantasy, read this story.
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