The world is in a down swing and heading towards its end. The government's stifling control of opinions has killed off all innovation and left the masses stupid and resentful of the 'brains,' and the intelligentsia tightly controlled by the government so that, unknown to them, they are unable to think of any original ideas. A telepath called Joe Carter starts changing all that. Through his telepathic skills and using his position as secretary to a military project being developed at a university, he lifts the shround of opinion control and helps a group of scientists develop Bossy: a female machine that makes people young again by removing the different psychological inhibitions and restrictions that have built up over time but only so long as the person's mind is receptive to change.
The government's discovery of Bossy makes Joe and its two leading scientists take flight to avoid capture and certain jail time. They first hide out in San Francisco's skid row where they rebuild Bossy and run one person through the system which transforms their 70 year old ugly landlord to an 18 year old beautiful, intelligent blonde. News of this transformation leaks out and a super rich benefactor who is too rich and powerful to be subject to the government's control takes Bossy, Joe and the scientists into his trust.
The remainder of the story is about the fight between all the different parts of the government for control of Bossy, how the group fights back and the ultimate fate of Bossy and society. This is a pretty superficial story with a few high points but not too many (it won the Hugo award in 1957 and it has been widely acclaimed as the worst book to win a Hugo!).
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