Extra Innings, By Bruce E. Spitzer

The year is 2092. The science of cryonics has finally progressed to the point where they’re ready to bring someone back from the dead. Who should they choose to bring back? How about the greatest hitter that ever lived? What will be different the second time around for Ted Williams? How will he adjust? Will he make the same choices he made in his first life, or will he use this time to right any wrongs? What would any of us do in a similar situation? Extra Innings deals with these questions and more as a futuristic world welcomes a legend.

This was a wonderful book that I was lucky enough to have provided to me for review. I was a bit nervous when I started, because I don’t consider myself a science fiction fan. That wasn’t a problem at all. While set in the future, it didn’t seem to scream sci-fi to me. In fact, this book didn’t scream any particular genre to me, which is part of the appeal. Sure, it was a book about a baseball player, but it wasn’t exactly a sports novel. It dealt with philosophical issues, but wasn’t an inspirational book. It simply wound it all into a single story. I found myself asking what I would do each time Williams made a decision. Could I have done it? The story was easy to follow, and believable. Well, as believable as a story about someone being brought back to life 90 years after they died can be. I could imagine that this story would be exactly how it would happen if we ever get to that point. A person in that situation would have to deal with a new lifestyle, with all the changes that a new century required. They would face the inner struggle between the former, familiar, life and the opportunities for change presented by the new one. Would old values still apply in a new body? It made for a book I had trouble putting down, and suggest you pick up for yourself.

Rating: 3 bases