Pebble in the Sky

by Isaac Asimov | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: 0449234231 Global Overview for this book
Registered by rodion64 of München, Bayern Germany on 1/7/2010
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by rodion64 from München, Bayern Germany on Thursday, January 7, 2010
Vor ca. 25 Jahren habe ich dieses Buch gelesen und es hat mir gut gefallen. Jetzt hoffe ich, dass es auch seinem/r neuen Besitzer/in Vergnügen bereitet.

Journal Entry 2 by rodion64 at LMU - Universitätsbibliothek in München, Bayern Germany on Friday, June 11, 2010

Released 13 yrs ago (6/11/2010 UTC) at LMU - Universitätsbibliothek in München, Bayern Germany

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Viel Spaß

Journal Entry 3 by noname-blue at München, Bayern Germany on Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Caught at the OBCZ Bibl Theophil, because Asimov is good, and the blurb on the back sounds really interesting!

Thanks to the Bookcrosser who released all the classic books at the OBCZ - the last one was caught yesterday.

Journal Entry 4 by noname-blue at München, Bayern Germany on Sunday, July 4, 2010
A very interesting book. Asimov knows how to grab the reader with the first sentence: "Two minutes before he disappeared forever from the face of the Earth he knew, Joseph Schwartz strolled along the pleasant streets of suburban Chicago..."

This novel was written in 1950, and it's ironic that because Asimov wanted to base his story on science and not magic, it has therefore become much more outdated and wrong, then if he had simply handwaved explanations away. The following errors in the plot are obvious to any lay reader today:

radioactivity, which still was new and not fully explored in the 50s, is understood well enough to never ever be able to cause a beam that cuts across time and allows transportation into the future

similar, a main part of the plot is the machine that allows electrical impulses in the brain to travel faster by not crossing through the synapses, but jumping across to the neighbouring nerves. This would not lead to advanced intelligence, quicker learning or similar, but rather, to Epileptice seizures (all nerve cells firing at once) or Multiple sclerosis (where the protective myelin sheating of nerve cells is stripped away, leading to debiliation when the nerve cells are no longer isolated).

Also, telepathy is considered not possible from current medical knowledge. The explanation that crops up most often in SF stories is the "we only use 10% of our brain" myth, that has been thoroughly debunked today. (If we would use 100% of our brain all the time, it would burn out).

Asimov, no medical scientist, makes also no mention that a higher amount of brain use would also mean more energy, that is, more food - the brain at normal use already burns 10% of the bodys energy.

Then there's the "60", which doesn't make a lot of sense: if the population has to be kept at a steady 20 million because radioactive Earth can't sustain (feed) more, than the root is the reproduction rate, not the old people (as can be seen in every 3 world country).
Also, euthanizing people at a fixed age is ineffecient and contraproductive: people don't automatically stop being able to work at 60, rather, each individual looses strength at a different age. It would be easier and make more sense to let people work and simply deny any medical procedures over the age of 60, so when old people get sick, they get offered the euthanasia pill.

Plus, the grandparents effect means that people too feeble to work the fields could help with the child-rearing, freeing up the young people for the fields (again, as done today in 3 world countries).

I would also expect a far higher rate of miscarriages and malformed/ handicapped children because of the high background radiation, and if society puts so much stress on being productive and work, less able-bodied children would be born. Anybody who's survived into his 60s would be better to keep around than taking a chance with a new-born.

Also, the level of technology seems very inconsistent - there are scientists and cloth factories, and technology is high enough for transportation and plastics, yet people talk as if agriculture is the most important work, and people have to rely on physical strength. A society advanced enough for plastic-covered houses and clothes should be able to use a lot of machinery for farming (like today's first world countries, where only 10% of the population are farmers).

It's also hard to believe that the Earthlings themselves have completly forgotten their own history of spacefaring. Yes, a nuclear war would wipe out western cities - but the military would survive in underground bunkers with basic text books. And remote villages would also not be worth attacking, so their knowledge and books would not be disturbed. Given how important on several levels the first space exploration (Moon mission) was and is, I can't believe that humans would forget this completly. Esp. considering the other level of technology we see, which is more advanced then the 1950s, so obviously not all knowledge was wiped out in the war. Or, if enough time passed for humans to develop from stone-age back again to the 1950s and past, despite the problems of cities destroyed by a nuclear war and hot with radioactivity, then they would presumably have found archaelogical evidence in areas outside.

And for the outsiders, the provincal governor, it doesn't make sense to live in the Himalayas because the air is unpolluted, without any mention of adaptments to air pressure. In fact, that would be an interesting question: if mankind has spread out over the stars and colonized many different planets over the course of thousands of years, the descendants would have adapted either physically or also genetically (maybe even on purpose with genetic engineering) to the different conditions on these planets - slight changes in atmospheric pressure, gravity, air composition, UV amount etc. How much would these different Humans still be able to mate with each other? And wouldn't outsiders always live in adapted, sealed enviroments and wear space suits on other planets?

For that reason a virus would probably be unsuitable to work as described in the book. And, a virus with a short span from infection to outbreak would kill itself shortly as it runs out of hosts, yet the scientist says that this would kill people in one day. Ideally for warfare would be a virus that is without symptoms, but transferable, for one week or more, and than takes a long time to kill the victim. This would maximize the spread of the infection and then tie up hospital resources treating the victim.

Asimov also apparently drew on real experiences with prejudices when he describes the outsider-Earth conflicts: the ingrained prejudices even in the scientist who considers himself liberal, the confrontations between the soldiers and the Earthies mirror the behaviour of whites and blacks in the segregated South. But while it reads authentic for that time period, it makes little sense to imagine it in a galactic context - while the psychological mechanism for prejudices and racism is the same across times, the expression and typical insults differ from period to period, and a galactic citizen would probably act differently towards an Earthie than a white cop to a black in the South.

It's also interesting to notice what little things Asimov has no problem imaging, like double nationality: at the end, the scientist calms his new wife that she is now a galactic citizen like him, but also, that he is now a patriotic Earthman.

I do really like the non-Hollywood ending (which is even lampshaded): once the heroes escape their captor and even manage to kidnap one of the leaders of the conspiracy, the flee to the galatic fort; but the story isn't over at that point. Instead, the slowness of the army apparatus, the pettiness and prejudice of one of the officer, and the difficulty convincing people who haven't been through the adventures of the main characters of the wild-sounding truth, endanger the lifes of everybody. No happy end simply reaching safe haven.
I did like how violence and prejudice was turned back on itself - a fitting metaphor, although I almost hoped that the governor had played the old trick of turning the clock forwards on the conspirator.
Although it was disappointing that the conspiracy was so dumb - Asimov points out that when one of the leaders, who knows all the details, is seen traveling to the enemy hours before the strike, this means either he's a traitor, or has been discovered; in both cases, all plans he has knowledge of should be immediatly changed. Instead, they demonstrate in front of the gates, are allowed to talk to him and leave reassured (apparently he used the right codewords), without solvign the problem that he might be a traitor.

Still, despite the flaws a well-written book, suspenseful and intelligent despite being outdated.

Journal Entry 5 by noname-blue at By Mail, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Released 12 yrs ago (4/5/2011 UTC) at By Mail, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent per mail to hakkalina in Hungary.

This adds Hungary to my Life-Time-Challenge

Journal Entry 6 by hakkalina at Budapest, Pest Hungary on Sunday, April 10, 2011
A wishlist book! Earlier I found Asimov so readable in English, so I am looking forward to enter his world again. :)) Thank you so much for mailing this book to me!

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