(Found) Sensory deprivation... leading to mind adventures.. searching for an old book

[Nelliev]

Hi

I'm hoping this community of like minded people can help me track down a book I read many years ago which I have often been reminded of but can never quite bring properly into focus... but then I did start reading Astounding etc. 60 years ago when I came across a pile of them in a house we moved into. So we may be looking at as long ago as 50 years.

Anyway, this was a book which fascinated me, pretty sure it was a book and not a short, and not an Azimov or any of the more famous writers. It involved sensory deprivation tanks, or perhaps they should be termed body preservation tanks, and a boy and a girl, who I think was his sister. While their bodies were supported and looked after, kept alive by the tanks, their minds travelled to - other realities is the only term I can think of - and they had many adventures with other 'travellers?' That's about as much as I can think of.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Alex The G and T]

The Star Rover, by Jack London comes to mind; but that was only one male protagonist "escaping" mentally, from tortures in a prison.

He was in a straight jacket, not a sensory depravation tank.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

It's not the story but the technology to travel the stars through this means comes from Clifford Simak's Time is the simplest thing. Does the phrase "Hi Pal, I change my mind with you," ring any bells?!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Richiehead]

A Dream of Wessex by Christopher Priest has a similar concept, but I don't think it's the one the OP is looking for

 

[Piman25]

Dream Millennium by James White?

 

[Nelliev]

I think I just found this book! It may be Otherland, City of Golden Shadow, by Tad Williams. I listen to a lot of audio books so I guess this will be my next long listen...

 

[The Judge]

I'll mark this as "Found" then -- but if it turns out it isn't Otherland (and I wouldn't have recognised it from the very small bit I read of the book) then come and confirm it and someone will change it back!

 

[PaulMmn]

"A Boy and his Tank" by Leo Frankowski - the tank 'pilots' are actually passengers in compartments inside the tanks, operating the tanks using a virtual reality link, while their bodies are maintained by the tanks.

 

[Nelliev]

Thanks, Judge. I'll come back and let you know.

 

[tinkerdan]

The problem with Otherland is that its oldest edition is only 25 years ago.

 

[paranoid marvin]

On an aside, if the subject of sensory deprivation interests you, then the very first episode of The Twilight Zone 'Where Is Everybody?' is worth watching. As well as the first episode, it's also one of the very best.

 

[Guttersnipe]

On an aside, if the subject of sensory deprivation interests you, then the very first episode of The Twilight Zone 'Where Is Everybody?' is worth watching. As well as the first episode, it's also one of the very best.

I don't think anyone saw that ending coming, unless they assumed it was a dream, which is only partially correct.

 

[Nelliev]

The problem with Otherland is that its oldest edition is only 25 years ago.

Well, I did say may be looking at... not are.

 

[Nelliev]

I'll mark this as "Found" then -- but if it turns out it isn't Otherland (and I wouldn't have recognised it from the very small bit I read of the book) then come and confirm it and someone will change it back!

No need to change it, because the Otherland series of 4 very long books is indeed what I was thinking of. And I'm not surprised I couldn't recall much about it with total clarity because it's such a long, convoluted, and involved tale. In fact, some of the other bits I now realise I recall seemed to me to belong to different stories entirely, such as the character Paul, who starts out on a WW1 battlefield.

Thanks to anyone who tried to help, and I'll have a look at The Twilight Zone. Used to enjoy that!