The Man Who Awoke

Lore & Background

The novel follows Norman Winters, who puts himself into suspended animation for 5,000 years at a time. The stories detail his adventures as he tries to make sense of the societies he encounters each time he wakes. Part 1 describes Winters’ previous life and his process of suspended animation, including his son Vincent discovering a letter explaining the chamber built with six-foot leaden walls and a coma-inducing drug, set to wake after 5,000 years via an X-ray lamp.

Reader's Guide

The Man Who Awoke is significant for its early exploration of themes that became central to later science fiction and real-world concerns. Isaac Asimov credited the novel for bringing the 'energy crisis' to his attention 40 years before it became common knowledge in the 1970s. The novel also presaged the sexual revolution, green consumerism, strong AI, full-immersion virtual reality (as in The Matrix), desktop molecular manufacturing, global warming, and stem cell therapies—concepts that only entered mainstream worldview in the 21st century. Its serialized structure, spanning from 5000 AD to 25,000 AD, depicts societies grappling with resource waste, a supercomputer called the Brain, dream-programming, genetic anarchy, and the boredom of immortality.

Did You Know?

• The protagonist Norman Winters uses a chamber with six-foot leaden walls and a coma-inducing drug to achieve suspended animation.
• The novel presaged concepts such as strong AI, full-immersion virtual reality, and desktop molecular manufacturing.