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    Ebook36 pages21 minutes

    Ask a Foolish Question

    By Robert Sheckley

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    Ask a Foolish Question
    Author

    Robert Sheckley

    Robert Sheckley was one of the funniest writers in the history of science fiction. He did screwball comedy, broad satire, and farce. He could also be deadly serious, but he was always entertaining and always had something pointed to say about our world using the skewed versions of reality he created in his fiction. Starting in the early 1950s, he was an amazingly prolific short story writer, with a lot of his stories appearing in Galaxy Magazine. He launched his novel-writing career with Immortality, Inc., which he followed up with a sequence of excellent books: The Status Civilization, Journey Beyond Tomorrow, and Mindswap. He continued to produce novels and short stories in abundance until his death in 2005.

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      Book preview

      Ask a Foolish Question - Robert Sheckley

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ask a Foolish Question, by Robert Sheckley

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Ask a Foolish Question

      Author: Robert Sheckley

      Release Date: October 11, 2010 [EBook #33854]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASK A FOOLISH QUESTION ***

      Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online

      Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

      Transcriber's Note:

      This etext was produced Science Fiction Stories 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

      It's well established now that the way you put a question often determines not only the answer you'll get, but the type of answer possible. So ... a mechanical answerer, geared to produce the ultimate revelations in reference to anything you want to know, might have unsuspected limitations.

      Ask A Foolish Question

      by ROBERT SHECKLEY

      nswerer was built to last as long as was necessary—which was quite long, as some races judge time, and not long at all, according to others. But to Answerer, it was just long enough.

      As to size, Answerer was large to some and small to others. He could be viewed as complex, although some believed that he was really very simple.

      Answerer knew that he was as he should be. Above and beyond all else, he was The Answerer. He Knew.

      Of

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