One of the most fascinating things about the Riverworld series is that every reader is already part of the story.
Philip José Farmer resurrected every human being who ever lived. The books focus on famous historical figures—Richard Burton, Alice Hargreaves, Samuel Clemens, Cyrano de Bergerac, and many others—but they make up only a tiny fraction of Riverworld's population.
The vast majority were ordinary people.
Workers. Parents. Soldiers. Farmers. Teachers. Craftsmen. Students. People who lived their lives, loved, struggled, succeeded, failed, and eventually died.
People like us.
If Riverworld were real, you wouldn't be reading about the adventures from a distance. You would be standing on the riverbank yourself, waking up in a strange new world alongside billions of others, trying to understand where you were and why.
You were there.
Farmer just didn't mention you by name.
Darth Yoda
"Debugging the galaxy, one bite at a time."