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Pebble In The Sky (1991)

Pebble in the Sky (1991)

Book Info

Author
Genre
Rating
3.82 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0553293427 (ISBN13: 9780553293425)
Language
English
Publisher
bantam

About book Pebble In The Sky (1991)

Two and a half stars. Mainly curiosity value, but . . .This was Asimov's first published novel; it preceded 1951's Foundation by a year, though most of the contents of the latter were older, having appeared in magazines in the 1940s.Coming belatedly to Pebble after reading other Asimov novels was something of a revelation. It has energy, variety, some sense of human complexity, and female characters who show occasional spirit. Asimov's narrative voice tends to be garrulous and undisciplined but it is quite engaging, and he weaves the threads of a rather complex plot together effectively. Notably several scenes are set outdoors, and in fact very few are of the boardroom-confrontation type he often relied on. He even generates a fairly convincing sense of a galaxy-spanning empire.Still, it was a bit disconcerting to find that Pebble's biology was completely protein-based, but although Asimov was a biochemist, he was writing before Watson & Crick, at a time when DNA was merely an obscure minor component of biological matter.One of Pebble's themes is racial (or in this case, planetary) stereotyping and persecution, and Asimov gives us glimpses of galactic imperial forces abusing the despised Terrestrials. His main character, Joseph Schwarz, plucked from 1949 and projected into this galactic future, talks of wars and nuclear weapons, but neither he nor Asimov ever explicitly mention Jews or what happened to them historically and in WWII in particular. It sounds like some quirk of self-censorship and feels odd now.Inevitably there are other moments of awkwardness and contrivance in the narrative, and today an aura of quaintness hangs over it, but still, comparing Pebble to the Foundation books left me wondering simply, what went wrong?The 2008 Tor edition states that Asimov was born in Brooklyn; other sources agree on Russia.2015 June 24

tI’ve been pretty negative about Asimov’s Galactic Empire Series, and Pebble in the Sky is no different. The Foundation Series is great because it uses a structural view of history to deconstruct Space Opera, whereas the Galactic Empire is just Space Opera. Pebble had a lot of flaws: For a guy famous for “hard” science fiction, a lot of magic appears here, from an atomic particle somehow causing time travel to the same man gaining psychic powers from a device unironically called “the synapsifier.” It has the same awkward social commentary as in The Currents of Space with its faux-interracial relationship between an “outsider” scientist and an “earthgirl” who are both obviously white. The villain assumes that the protagonists must be part of a massive conspiracy because their chance encounters are too coincidental to be otherwise, a point that might be a meta-comment about the contrived plot, but which is never again mentioned. In similar fashion, in a climactic scene the villain argues with an authority figure that the protagonists have zero evidence for the accusations they are making against him AND IS 100% CORRECT, but the story proceeds as if the protagonists are self-evidently in the right. The ending is weird and relies too heavily on magic for a last-minute happy ending.tAll that said, though, I actually enjoyed Pebble in the Sky which is more than I can say for Currents . I don’t know whether it’s the discussion about whether or not Earth is the origin of humanity, which presages the Foundation Series, or slighty-better-than-usual characterization, or the palpable early-50s anxiety about nuclear technology. So, uh, good for a Galactic Empire novel?

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CHE LIBRO!E già, che libro!letto in un batter d'occhio..ma cosa ci posso fare? lo ripeterò fino alla nausea..Asimov lo adoro!Mi ha catturato da subito...lette solo due pagine e già non volevo separarmi più da libro!Insomma non capita tutti i giorni di camminare e ritrovarsi in un'altra era!Letto ovunque...lavoro (in pausa) treno, metro, mentre cucino, prima di andare a dormire...insomma era sempre con me!Il libro ci introduce nella galassia precedente al ciclo delle fondazioni.Shwarz sarto di sessant'anni cammina per la strada e zac! marciapiede palazzi e gente di Chicago sparita nel nulla! per far posto ad un prato...così il nostro protagonista...cammina e non capisce dove si trova fino a che trova una casetta (un pò strana a dir la verità) e bussa...Capirà di trovarsi un'altra era..dove la Terra è bisfrattata da tutti, è un pianeta pieno di radiazioni e gli abitanti non vengono nemmeno considerati..infatti per evitare che ci sia un sovrapopolamento della terra con conseguente trasferimento degli abitanti sugli altri pianeti, è stato istituito il sessagesimo..ovvero a 60 anni viene applicata l'eutanasia..Ma un archeologo crede che la Terra sia Il Pianeta. Ovvero il pianeta dal quale è partita la vita e la successiva colonizzazione degli altri mondi e così sbarca sulla Terra alla ricerca di prove.Qui insieme a Shwarz l'uomo trasportato in quest'era si troverrà coinvolto involontariamente in un complotto degli Anziani e dei Sacerdoti (ovvero il governo terrestre)contro l'Impero per riacquistare l'antico potere di supremazia sugli altri pianeti.Bè non si può descrivere questo libro infatti credo che la mia spiegazione sia leggermente confusionaria, bisogna leggerlo per capire!Si sono monotona, e il mio giudizio sicuramente è offuscato...ma Asimov...è Asimov!Per cui buona lettura!Voto: 5 stelle piene e di più!
—Yukino

Peple said the early books Asimov wrote on his galactic empire were a little raw and ultimately quite skippable. I didn't want to believe it, mostly because I had yet to not love one of Asimov's works.This trilogy of books however haven't had the greatness I expect of Asimov. They seem to lack the ambition of the Foundation and Robot series. Concentrating on smaller stoires when a subject as big as a whole galactic empire beckoned to be explored.I found myself enjoying this one quite a bit in places but also being completely disengaged with it at times. And so 3 stars is probably a fair rating. Not terrible Sci-Fi just not Asimov good.Hopefully I will return to Asimov a little later and his more refined work won't let me down
—Ryan

The first Asimov's novel that I actually read from cover to cover. (this was 2 months ago). Brilliant, well done and fascinating. At every page my heart was jumping out of my mouth, for not knowing what was reserved for poor Schwartz! It was like I was with him at all times, but that's what a book is supposed to do I guess! So top 5 stars for this little book. I also liked the linguistic suggestions that English was a very ancient language and that Schwartz was the only man to be able to speak it.I was a bit disappointed at the end as he never got back to his own time, but I guess he was happy enough to stay in the future. Now, one thing I am still intrigued is the fact that it is suggested that this book shows how earth was already radioactive, while in Robots and Empire, the earth finally becomes Radioactive thanks to Dr. Amadiro and his loyal right-arm fellow. (but this was quite ahead in the future I believe). anyways. Thumbs up for this novel. Considering it was one of the first if not the first written by Isaac Asimov, it was an astonishing start.
—Ricky Luz

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