Warm

Anders, a young instructor on the brink of confessing his love to Judy, is suddenly interrupted by a mysterious voice in his mind pleading for help. At first he fears he may be losing his grip on reality, but the voice insists that he can only find it by learning to see "correctly." What begins as a private romantic moment quickly turns uncanny, as Anders discovers that ordinary surroundings can dissolve into distorted patterns, exposing how fragile the familiar order of the world may be. As he follows the voice to Judy's apartment, his feelings for her deepen even as his perception changes. He starts to see attraction, conversation, and personality not as deep truths, but as carefully arranged surfaces and responses. Judy becomes, in his altered vision, less a person than a reactive machine of gestures, fears, and programmed behavior. The loss of romance is unsettling, but also exhilarating: Anders believes he is glimpsing the hidden structure of human life itself. Driven by the voice and by his new, analytical sight, he leaves determined to probe the nature of reality, gestalts, and viewpoint. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.