A genetically resurrected vampire —an extinct, predatory subspecies of human with superhuman processing power but a lethal allergy to right angles (the "crucifix glitch").

The central, chilling argument of the book is that .

To meet an alien intelligence, humanity sends a crew that is barely human themselves:

Peter Watts has made the book available for free under a Creative Commons license on his official site, though you can also find it at retailers like Barnes & Noble .

The crew encounters alien entities that are vastly more intelligent and faster than humans but appear to have no self-awareness or "inner life".

A linguist with four distinct personalities surgically partitioned into her brain to process complex alien languages.

Named after a real neurological condition where people can "see" and react to objects without being consciously aware of them, the book explores if the entire universe works this way. Why It's a Must-Read