A literary, adventure, romantic, philosophic novel about the deepest, darkest secrets of the human mind and, ultimately, the very nature of humanity itself. The novel tells of Professor Jeremy Lipton, noted researcher on the Cornell teaching staff, who has developed a substance, isolated from flocking birds, that permits the birds to communicate crude intentions to turn or weave or stop in their coordinated flocking through magnetic impulse. In accidentally breathing some of the powder in, Jeremy finds that he may actually possess this psychic ability himself while the drug is active in his brain. A former student of his, a beautiful young woman with whom he had a very intense but very platonic relationship eight years earlier, has returned to teach on the Cornell staff. Their mutual attraction, stunted then and now by Jeremy's loyalty and devotion to his beautiful but troubled wife--the uniquely gorgeous Sibyl--provides the driving force of the plot, which the flocking substance impacts in odd and unpredictable ways. Are the effects of the chemical for real? Will Jeremy's powerful love for the new young teacher on the staff overcome his loyalty and devotion to his lovely, needy wife? And if the chemical works as it seems to, what will he learn of the inner mind and soul of man? By page 461 of this deeply insightful and beautifully written novel, the reader, led by a witty and congenial narrator, will learn it all.
