To Your Scattered Bodies Go Trivia Quiz

Answer: John Donne

This is from "Holy Sonnets" no. 7, which contains the line:
"... arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go..."

This of course refers to the Biblical belief in the resurrection of the body, which Farmer cited as an inspiration for the premise of this novel, in which the human race is mysteriously resurrected.

Answer: Led an expedition to discover the source of the Nile

Sir Richard Burton was a famous nineteenth century English explorer and adventurer who headed the expedition that discovered Lake Tanganyika, one of the sources of the river Nile. Among other things, he translated "The 1001 Arabian Nights" into English, and wrote a remarkable account of his journey to Mecca disguised as a Muslim.

He is obviously not to be confused with the twentieth century Welsh movie star of the same name who married Elizabeth Taylor!

Answer: He is a Neanderthal

The inhabitants of the Riverworld appear to span all periods of human history from prehistoric times until the modern day. Burton decides that Kazz's survival skills, such as his ability to make stone tools, will be of value to him and his companions, as conditions on the Riverworld are primitive in many ways. Burton's group did include an extra-terrestrial named Monat, who turned out to know a lot more about the Riverworld than he was letting on.

Answer: She was the model for "Alice in Wonderland"

Alice Liddell Hargreaves was born to an aristocratic family in Victorian England. As a child, she was friendly with Charles Dodgson (pen-name Lewis Carroll) who created the story of Alice in Wonderland for the young girl's entertainment. In the novel, she develops a rather tempestuous romantic relationship with Burton, whom she seems to find both charismatic and offensive at the same time.

Answer: Hermann Goering

When he first appears, Goering's character is pretty much what one would expect from a former Nazi. However, later in the novel and its sequels he undergoes a remarkable moral and spiritual transformation and becomes a man of peace dedicated to spreading a message of non-violence.

Answer: It is a powerful hallucinogenic

The first night on the Riverworld, the inhabitants quite innocently start chewing this gum without at all suspecting what effect it will have. The results are wild, with many people engaging in uninhibited sexual activity, while others become violent. Under the gum's influence, Richard Burton and Alice share a night of unbridled passion much to their mutual amazement. Alice, being a prudish and respectable woman, regrets this the next morning, although she finds it hard to deny the feelings that have been awakened in her.

Answer: He can perceive certain symbols appearing on people's foreheads that no one else can see

Burton's friend Peter Frigate suggested that Kazz could see a little further into the electromagnetic spectrum than other people, allowing him to see what were supposed to be invisible markings. Burton's friends thought the symbols might have been used for identification purpose by those responsible for the Riverworld. Spruce did not have any symbols on his forehead, which made the others suspicious that he was not what he seemed.

Answer: To record human history and customs as part of a sinister scientific project

At the end of the novel, Burton meets the leaders of the Ethicals who explain that the purpose of the Riverworld is the ethical rehabilitation of the human race. However, the mysterious stranger claims that this is a monstrous lie and that once the resurrection project has run its course the resurrectees would be annihilated permanently.

Afterwards, Burton remains unsure who is telling the truth.

Answer: They believed he had the potential to wreck their plans

The Ethicals reveal that their super computer has warned them that certain individuals, of whom Burton is one, could derail their whole project. However, they are not willing to keep him in suspended animation to get him out of the way as this would represent "unforgivable violence" against him.

Answer: They claimed to have a "chronoscope" with which they could look back in time and make recordings of people, who they were then able to resurrect using energy-matter converters.

A persistent theme of the Riverworld books is that the resurrections are accomplished by scientific and not supernatural means. Although the Ethicals told Burton they had a chronoscope, a later book in the series indicates that they actually have a machine that can collect a person's "soul", also known as a "wathan" or "psychomorph", when they die.

The concept of using a "tesseract field" to resurrect people is explored in a novel called "Last Legends of Earth" by A.A. Attanasio.