Robert Silverberg is a Grandmaster of science fiction, holder of 6 Nebulas, 5 Hugos, 8 Locus Awards, and another dozen awards of various kinds. In the early period of his writing, Silverberg didn’t neglect any genre—he wrote nonfiction, detective stories, and erotica. In 1967–1976, he completely focused on science fiction, earning love from both readers of “hard” SF and fans of fantasy sagas.
The main character is David Selig, an unremarkable man living in New York. From birth he has a telepathic gift that allows him to read other people’s thoughts, but instead of using his abilities for good, he wastes them on his own needs.