Midsummer century
This strange science fiction novel is not very well known but it is still one of the most interesting and mind boggling science fiction novels that I have ever read. It mixes the paranormal with science fiction and stretches the limits of ones imagination without becoming implausible or scientifically unacceptable. I first read this novel in Swedish when I was young and more recently in English. The Swedish title was "The World of the Birds" or "The Planet of the Birds".

An accident propels the mind of the young astrophysicist John Martels to the 250th century (23,000 years into the future), or the midsummer century. It should be noted, that according to this novel the mind is a complex self aware electromagnetic field. His mind emerges in the brain-case of a future being with a very powerful mind, the so called Qvant.

Human civilization has fallen and risen again many times and both humans and birds have evolved. In the 250th century the birds have evolved into telepathic and intelligent beings who seek to exterminate their main rivals; the humans. Humans (or the human descendents) of the 250th century have great paranormal powers but are death oriented, and have not used their intelligence to develop an advanced civilization; in fact they are not even interested in organized resistance against the birds. John Martel is thrust into a fight for the continued existence of his own mind as well as a fight for the continued existence of the human race of the future, and that is without being able to use his own physical body. In an odd way this novel also succeeded to fuse the reincarnation of the human mind with the rebirth of civilizations.
American Science fiction
James Blish
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer. He married literary agent Virginia Kidd in 1947. He worked for the Tobacco Institute from 1962-1968.  In 1968, he emigrated to England. Between 1967 and his death in 1975, he became the first author to write short story collections based on the TV series Star Trek. In total, he wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970. He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his second wife, J. A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.