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Summary: A Glimpse into the Very Near Future
Review: This is one of the most profound books I've ever read. Halperin shows us the near future, and it's right around the corner. If you have any interest in Nanotechnology, Cryonics, or just technology in general, this is an excellent book to read.Yeah, yeah, this ain't literature at it's best, but it's easy on the brain and the ideas presented are staggering in their potential for the future of our species. As a transhumanist and someone who has spent a great deal looking into ongoing technological advances, I can say that Halperin seems to have done his research homework, and other people much smarter than myself agree. Read the First Immortal!! Begin to prepare yourself for the inevitable future today!
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Summary: Is this a novel?
Review: I gave this book two stars to be fair, because maybe it eventually gets better at some point. I wouldn't know; I didn't get very far into it. There seems to be absolutely no plot to this novel. It reads like a history book of the future, and I couldn't stand that so I quit reading. Oh, and for the record, I thought The Truth Machine was fantastic, so this was a huge disappointment.
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Summary: Maybe It's just not my type of book, but it was BORING..
Review: While I thought the idea was fascinating, and potentially engrossing, I found myself continually flipping ahead looking for something to *happen*... It picks up a little bit in the second half of the book, but nevertheless, I found the plot to be a bit too meandering, with very little "grab you" element...
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Summary: From Ann Welton - VOYA:
Review: Given the option of living forever, young and in good health, who would not jump? What if the possibility existed now, at a high cost and with some risk involved? Would one still pursue it? What are the spiritual implications of immortality? Halperin poses these questions in a carefully researched, readable narrative. His protagonist, Benjamin Franklin Smith, born in 1925, is an exuberant man who loves life. After surviving horrible experiences in a Japanese POW camp during World War II, Ben returns to Boston, marries his high school sweetheart, goes through medical school, and becomes a highly successful gastroenterologist. The only clouds on his horizon are his hostile relationship with his only son and his reluctance to die. After the death of his beloved wife and his own first heart attack, Ben begins to research cryonics-the suspension of the body at the point of death, frozen in liquid nitrogen, until medicine advances to the point where diseases can be cured. Eventually, Ben chooses to be suspended, creating a trust to pay for his revival and the suspension of other family members. The remainder of the book traces the Smith family through the next two hundred years, as cryonics gains acceptance, the quality of life improves, Ben is revived, and immortality becomes not only feasible, but standard. What allows this book to transcend its potboiler, charmed-life plot, Hollywood characters, and occasionally gushy style are the well-researched discussions of cryonics, nanotechnology, and theology. The ability of scientists to create microscopic machines which could repair DNA and counteract the effects of aging has featured in science fiction works for at least a decade. Halperin's explanation of the workings of these nanomachines is clear and convincing, and his fictional tracing of the development of the technology is believable. His argument for cryonics as a viable option is equally convincing. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this novel is its utopian view of the future, a utopia built upon the foundations of our current world political situation and achieved through sometimes violent laws. Read in tandem with such classic dystopias as Orwell's 1984 (New American Library, 1961) or Huxley's Brave New World (Heritage Press, 1974), The First Immortal provides ground for debate, discussion, and optimism. It includes a detailed, annotated list of cryonics organizations and a Web address at which the author can be contacted. VOYA Codes: 4Q 4P S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses, Broad general YA appeal, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).
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Summary: School Library Journal, 12/1/98:
Review: YA-A family saga spanning 200 years. The catch is that most of the relatives remain on the scene throughout this whole time period, or show up again by the end. This remarkable feat is accomplished through cryogenics, the science of freezing a person in liquid nitrogen shortly before death, with the hope of resurrection at some later date. Ben Smith, born in 1925, marries his high school sweetheart, fathers four children, and becomes an advocate of cryogenics. After his "death," his children squabble among themselves and institute a suit against the estate in an attempt to unfreeze both their father's body and his assets. Each new period is introduced by what reads like a CNN clip of current news through the year 2125. The scientific ideas and possibilities presented capture the imagination, and YAs are sure to ponder and question the images with which they are left. What happens to the soul? Would anyone want to clone dead parents and raise them as their children? How is immortality to be lived? An afterword gives information about cryogenics. A challenging and fascinating glimpse of one possible future.-Carol DeAngelo, American Chemical Society Library, Washington, DC
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Summary: Publishers Weekly, 11/24/1997:
Review: Cryonics the freezing of human beings for later reanimation hasbecome commonplace in the 21st century imagined in this innovative butfact-heavy, utopian techno-thriller. Physician Benjamin Smith dumbfounds his family in 1988 when he allows his body to be put into cold storage and wills himself a trust fund to cover his next-life expenses. A court battle over the trust nearly tears the Smith family apart and proves a touchstone for the problematic legal and social issues that cryonic preservation raises. As explained by Ben's great-grandson Trip Grace (whose mastery of nanotechnology proves the key to successful resuscitations in the 21st century), cryonics helps to redefine death. Halperin ruminates on the subject through fictional cameos of such real-life luminaries as Jack Kevorkian and the pope. Halperin stretches credibility by suggesting that people today would agree to costly experimental freezing with no guarantee of revival, but he plots the book with thoroughness and imagination. His depiction of a future in which suspended animation is a civil right is convincing. However, the thick bulwark of scientific fact and fancy he uses to support it prevents all but the most superficial examination of character. After Ben's "death," the narrative turns into a dense fabric of historical and scientific speculation, rich with data but bereft of soul. Readers who enjoyed the extrapolations of Halperin's first novel, The Truth Machine, will warm to the ideas of this novel. Others may find it as cold as its title character. (Jan.)
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Summary: Ugh
Review: Awful science fiction. Very poorly written and lacking in insight. Uninspired nonsense.
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Summary: wow!
Review: Other than a sometimes confusing use of "I", this was a surprisingly good sequel. I'm looking forward to future books.
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Summary: A Big Letdown
Review: The philosophical issues in this novel are handled as superficially as the characterizations. What should be fascinating is boring and ridiculous. This is awful writing with a plot that could be boiled down to a sentence. I wouldn't call it a must read because if I hadn't wasted time reading it, I wouldn't have missed a thing.A great idea that deserves a capable author.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst must-read I've ever read...
Review: The First Immortal is rife with two-dimensional characters, bland descriptions, unengaging plots and subplots, and uninspiring dialog. Yet for all that it is a mostly conservative yet fantastic vision of a very possible future, one that most people have not internalized, have not prepared for, but will very likely see. It puts the gray haze of future technology into a clearer picture. As such, I would characterize this book as an important read for almost anyone, despite its myriad faults. My rating reflects the sum of its vision pros and its writing cons.
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