History Lesson (short Story)
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History Lesson (short Story)
"History Lesson" is a science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949 in the magazine ''Startling Stories''. The two-part story speculates on the cooling of the Sun as a doomsday scenario for Earth and an evolutionary advent for Venus. Plot summary The first part of the story is told from the perspective of a tribe of nomadic humans of the 30th century, in a future where Earth has entered a final ice age. The tribe is travelling toward the equator ahead of glaciers that are descending from the North Pole, but discovers, when they arrive in the last hospitable region of the planet, that glaciers from the South Pole have already almost reached them. The tribe carries with it a few relics from the previous centuries which it considers sacred, although the functions of the various objects have been forgotten. A generation later, just before the two glaciers fronts meet and spell ultimate extinction of the human species, the relics are s ...
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WikiProject Novels
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ...
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Reach For Tomorrow
''Reach for Tomorrow'' is a 1956 collection of science fiction short stories by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. All the stories originally appeared in a number of different publications. Contents This collection includes: *"Preface" *"Rescue Party" *"A Walk in the Dark" *"The Forgotten Enemy" *" Technical Error" *"The Parasite" *"The Fires Within" *" The Awakening" *"Trouble With the Natives" *" The Curse" *"Time's Arrow" *" Jupiter Five" *" The Possessed" Reception ''Galaxy'' reviewer Floyd C. Gale described the collection as "an excellent cross-section of the art of one of science fiction's foremost exponents." Anthony Boucher, however, characterized most of the shorter pieces as inferior work, excluded from Clarke's previous collection, but praised two (unspecified) novelettes as "uniquely authentic Clarke.""Recommended Reading," ''F&SF ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science ...
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Dying Earth (genre)
Dying Earth is a subgenre of science fantasy or science fiction which takes place in the far future at either the end of life on Earth or the end of time, when the laws of the universe themselves fail. Themes of world-weariness, innocence (wounded or otherwise), idealism, entropy, (permanent) exhaustion/depletion of many or all resources (such as soil nutrients), and the hope of renewal dominate. Genre The Dying Earth genre differs from the apocalyptic subgenre in that it deals not with catastrophic destruction, but with entropic exhaustion of Earth. It is therefore described as more " melancholic". The genre was prefigured by the works of the Romantic movement. Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville's '' Le Dernier Homme'' (1805) narrates the tale of Omegarus, the Last Man on Earth. It is a bleak vision of the future when Earth has become totally sterile. Lord Byron's poem "Darkness" (1816) shows Earth after the Sun has died. Mary Shelley's ''The Last Man'' (1826) details a f ...
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Post-apocalyptic Short Stories
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronomical, such as an impact event; destructive, such as nuclear holocaust or resource depletion; medical, such as a pandemic, whether natural or human-caused; end time, such as the Last Judgment, Second Coming or Ragnarök; or more imaginative, such as a zombie apocalypse, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics or alien invasion. The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic, set after the event. The time may be directly after the catastrophe, focusing on the psychology of survivors, the way to keep the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including that the existence of pre-catastrophe civ ...
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Fiction Set In The 30th Century
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditional narrow sense, "fiction" refers to written narratives in prose often referring specifically to novels, novellas, and short stories. More broadly, however, fiction encompasses imaginary narratives expressed in any medium, including not just writings but also live theatrical performances, films, television programs, radio dramas, comics, role-playing games, and video games. Definition Typically, the fictionality of a work is publicly marketed and so the audience expects the work to deviate in some ways from the real world rather than presenting, for instance, only factually accurate portrayals or characters who are actual people. Because fiction is generally understood to not fully adhere to the real world, the themes and context of ...
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1949 Short Stories
Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. * January 11 – The first "networked" television broadcasts take place, as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air, connecting east coast and mid-west programming in the United States. * January 16 – Şemsettin Günaltay forms the new government of Turkey. It is the 18th government, last One-party state, single party government of the Republican People's Party. * January 17 – The first Volkswagen Beetle, VW Type 1 to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York City, New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon Sr., Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his ...
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Short Stories By Arthur C
Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as the Short Arts, entertainment, and media * Short film, a cinema format (also called film short or short subject) * Short story, prose generally readable in one sitting * ''The Short-Timers'', a 1979 semi-autobiographical novel by Gustav Hasford, about military short-timers in Vietnam Brands and enterprises * Short Brothers, a British aerospace company * Short Brothers of Sunderland, former English shipbuilder Computing and technology * Short circuit, an accidental connection between two nodes of an electrical circuit * Short integer, a computer datatype Finance * Short (finance), stock-trading position * Short snorter, a banknote signed by fellow travelers, common during World War II Foodstuffs * Short pastry, one which is rich in butt ...
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Encounter In The Dawn
"Encounter in the Dawn" (also known as "Expedition to Earth") is a short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1953 in the magazine ''Amazing Stories''. It was originally collected in the anthology '' Expedition to Earth'', and, in one edition of the book, is titled "Expedition to Earth". In a later collection the title "Encounter at Dawn" is used. The story was later restyled and used as the basis for the first section of Clarke's 1968 novel '' 2001 A Space Odyssey''. In Clarke's 1972 book ''The Lost Worlds of 2001'', the author noted: Plot A survey starship crewed by three scientists lands on a planet on the rim of the Milky Way, much like their own some 100,000 light years away. On the planet they discover an indigenous race of bipedals much like themselves but on a vastly lower technological level. Despite their ability to travel across the galaxy, their own civilisation is failing and at intervals increasingly bad news arrives from home. Their s ...
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Expedition To Earth
''Expedition to Earth'' () is a collection of science fiction short stories by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. There are at least two variants of this book's table of contents, in different editions of the book. Both variants include the stories "History Lesson" (1949) and " Encounter in the Dawn" (1953), but only one story is included under its own title; the other story is included under the title "Expedition to Earth". Variants differ in the story that is included under its own title. Contents This collection, originally published in 1953, includes: * "Second Dawn" * " If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth" * "Breaking Strain" * "History Lesson" (as "Expedition to Earth" in the British Edition, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954) * " Superiority" * " Exile of the Eons" (as "Nemesis" in the British Edition, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954) * "Hide-and-Seek" * " Expedition to Earth" (as "Encounter in the Dawn" in the British Edition, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954) * "Loophole" * "Inheritance" * " The Sent ...
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The Fountains Of Paradise
''The Fountains of Paradise'' is a 1979 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. Set in the 22nd century, it describes the construction of a space elevator. This "orbital tower" is a giant structure rising from the ground and linking with a satellite in geostationary orbit at the height of approximately 36,000 kilometers (approx. 22,300 miles). Such a structure would be used to raise payloads to orbit without the expense of using rockets. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. Plot Summary The novel focuses primarily on a project known as the Orbital Tower proposed by the main character, Vannevar Morgan. The tower is to stretch from the Earth's equator to a satellite that is in geostationary orbit. Such a structure would greatly reduce the cost of sending people and supplies into space. The main story is framed by two other stories. The first one tells of King Kalidasa, living thousands of years before Morgan is born, who is constru ...
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Odyssey Two
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', the poem is divided into 24 books. It follows the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the Trojan War. After the war, which lasted ten years, his journey lasted for ten additional years, during which time he encountered many perils and all his crew mates were killed. In his absence, Odysseus was assumed dead, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus had to contend with a group of unruly suitors who were competing for Penelope's hand in marriage. The ''Odyssey'' was originally composed in Homeric Greek in around the 8th or 7th century BCE and, by the mid-6th century BCE, had become part of the Greek literary canon. In antiquity, Homer's authorship of the poem was not questioned, but contemporary scholarship pred ...
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Trouble With The Natives (Arthur C Clarke Short Story)
"Trouble with the Natives" is a science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1951. This comic story describes the pains of aliens visiting an English village, as every effort at contact with humans gets frustrated. The story was also published as "The Men in the Flying Saucer". This story has similarities with Clarke's other short stories "History Lesson" and "Rescue Party "Rescue Party" is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' in May 1946. It was the first story that he sold, though not the first one published. It was republished in Clark ...": in all three pieces, aliens draw naive and humorous conclusions about humans from little information. External links * Short stories by Arthur C. Clarke 1951 short stories {{1950s-sf-story-stub ...
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