THE WEIGHER OF SOULS AND THE EARTH DWELLERS

Long unavailable, these science fiction tales, by a master story-teller, are presented together for the first time. The Weigher of Souls seems to be a record of actual events, partially owing to the fact that here Maurois deals with an unscientific problem-- the possibility of immortality-- in a scientific manner. The reader has a weird sense that Dr. James is real, and that his experiments occurred. The second story, which is a series of events, concluding with notes from the journal of a Uranian who ""spies"" on earth-dwellers, is less successful. Maurois' tales here are intriguing; when he makes use of artificial mechanisms, he describes them so brilliantly that the reader is not aware of their artificiality. Unusual reading, and an unusual doctor to encounter.