The Machine Stops By E M Forster Illustrated E M Forster 9781521093498 Books
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How is this book unique?
- Font adjustments & biography included
- Unabridged (100% Original content)
- Illustrated
About The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster
"The Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story (12,300 words) by E. M. Forster. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame. The story describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual now lives in isolation below ground in a standard room, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Travel is permitted, but is unpopular and rarely necessary. Communication is made via a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing machine with which people conduct their only activity the sharing of ideas and what passes for knowledge. The two main characters, Vashti and her son Kuno, live on opposite sides of the world. Vashti is content with her life, which, like most inhabitants of the world, she spends producing and endlessly discussing secondhand 'ideas'. Kuno, however, is a sensualist and a rebel. He persuades a reluctant Vashti to endure the journey (and the resultant unwelcome personal interaction) to his room. There, he tells her of his disenchantment with the sanitised, mechanical world.The Machine Stops By E M Forster Illustrated E M Forster 9781521093498 Books
How did this author write about our society in such a way in 1909? How could he know we would reduce our personal relationships to rhetorically regurgitated common, acceptable thoughts and commentary? How did he know we would feel more comfortable associating through the sanitary gloss of a "blue" screen rather than face to face? How did he know we would share, repost and accept without ever fact checking information? How???? I discovered this author and his short story while reading The Little Paris Bookshop. This is one of my favorite types I incidents; coming across something while reading something else that touches me in such a way I begin connecting questions I didn't even know I was asking.Product details
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Tags : The Machine Stops: By E. M. Forster - Illustrated [E. M. Forster] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <h2>How is this book unique?</h2> <ol><li>Font adjustments & biography included</li> <li>Unabridged (100% Original content)</li> <li>Illustrated</li></ol> <h2>About The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster </h2> The Machine Stops is a science fiction short story (12,E. M. Forster,The Machine Stops: By E. M. Forster - Illustrated,Independently published,1521093490,Fiction Science Fiction Action & Adventure,Fiction Science Fiction Cyberpunk
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The Machine Stops By E M Forster Illustrated E M Forster 9781521093498 Books Reviews
A dystopian creation by one of our most important writers of the past century, The Machine Stops offers another version of the recurrent fear that science will deprive us of our freedoms and our humanity. It's a story that, to my mind, illustrates how science fiction has so often been the enemy of science. Warnings are necessary, and Forster's story is a good one, but it's odd how frequently paranoia can fuel a popular literary genre.
For any serious student of 20th century dystopian novels such as Brave New World, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Anthem, Player Piano, or Zamyatin's "We," the Machine Stops is the short story which is in all reality the precursor for them all. Written in 1909, you can not underestimate the value of this story in its effect upon the literature of the 20th century.
Amazing that over 100 yrs ago Forster got it right. People spend all day looking at screens and can do nothing for themselves. And they have a meltdown if Facebook crashes! I have watched a lot of what the future will be like videos on Youtube and most got it so wrong. And Forster was way closer than anybody else.
It's a short read but I liked it.
Seemingly, this is Forster's only science-fiction story – if only he had written more. Told in his characteristic urbane, self-effacing style, the rendering of a dystopian future controlled by an all-knowing Machine is all the more terrifying for being so subtly evoked. For all its brevity, this short story holds its own among the ranks of Huxley's "Brave New World" and Orwell's "Nineteen eighty-four". Essential reading.
The only flaw I saw was that the themes were too big to deal with in a short story like this. I didn't care about the characters or the world enough to care as much as I might have about what was happening to them. But for a book written over a century ago? Wow. Forster shined a light on issues that I don't see how he understood. That makes any objection I might have had with characters irrelevant.
Another flaw? I read that this was Forster's only story of this type. Imagine. Had Forster devoted some time to this genre he'd be called one of the greats.
Originally published in 1907, it has recently been “rediscovered,” largely due to recent advancements in technology. I have attempted to find a copy of “The Machine Stops” many times in the past and failed. Now, It is readily available on the internet and can be downloaded free of charge from several publishing houses. It is still a chilling work which describes a world in which humanity has withdrawn from the earth and lives in a kind of “paradise” in which every need is met by “The Machine.” It is a world in which people “never touch one another. The custom has become obsolete.” As their dependence on the machine grows, people begin to find eye contact during communication difficult, and gradually they begin to avoid it.
I grew up in England and therefore had a lousy education. English Language (i.e. grammar) was/is not my strong point and coupled with rotten teachers who gave us pupils an assignment and then b***red off to the staff room to have a cigarette, or two, or three. He (always a he) would come back at 2 minutes before the end of the class, collect the assignments and that was that!
In my last year we had an exchange student from America. He ACTUALLY stayed in the classroom and ACTUALLY taught us strange things such as metaphors and metonymy's. He had us read two books The Machine Stops and Level 7.
Both these books have stayed with me and only now 55 years on I decided to read The Machine Stops (and currently reading Level 7) and it is amazing that I remembered almost everything. I do know that it had a major impact on me for the rest of my life but I just had to read it again.
This book is more relevant now than it was in the 60'.
How did this author write about our society in such a way in 1909? How could he know we would reduce our personal relationships to rhetorically regurgitated common, acceptable thoughts and commentary? How did he know we would feel more comfortable associating through the sanitary gloss of a "blue" screen rather than face to face? How did he know we would share, repost and accept without ever fact checking information? How???? I discovered this author and his short story while reading The Little Paris Bookshop. This is one of my favorite types I incidents; coming across something while reading something else that touches me in such a way I begin connecting questions I didn't even know I was asking.
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