A World Out of Time by Larry Niven

Second reading; first read so many years ago I didn't realize I had read it before until about half way through.

This is old-school science fiction, with the emphasis on science, written in 1976. It was recommended to me by my son, who is a hard-core Larry Niven fan. Maybe I even introduced my son to this author, as I remember that I had Niven's novel Ringworld on my bookshelf back in the '70s, and it was one of my favorites in this genre.

The hero awakes more than 200 years after being frozen in the hope that the future will find a cure for his cancer, but wait, he is in a different body. He soon finds out that The State has transposed his memories and personality into the body of a young criminal who has had his mind erased. And he is being prepared for A Mission; he is to be a starship pilot to seed far off planets with life, for the time when The State might need to migrate to the stars. If and when he returns, he can become a full citizen of The State.

Never being one to follow orders, our hero alters the course of the starship and ends up bouncing off a black hole and returning home 3 million years in the future. Of course he finds a drastically changed Earth and dangers he never could have imagined. Can he escape? Can he find the immortality that some seem to have achieved? Can the human race be started again? Will the war between the sexes never end?

I'm making a bit of fun here, but the book is action-packed, fast and easy to read, and absorbing to the end. After slogging through the 500 depressing pages of the last book I read, I enjoyed immensely being entertained. There was a bit more science here than I care for, since I have no idea if it is at all accurate. I guess I really prefer what might be called "speculative fiction," with all the science bits left out.

Recommended for readers who like action and adventure with a lot of imagination and a good bit of science thrown in.