Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Book of the Kalends | ||
| The ever-changing book without a title; the documented history of a world. |
When Joe Fernwright arrives at the spaceport at Plowman's Planet (Sirius 5), a spiddle ("a careful, brown, large creature resembling a rat") approached him, carrying an armload of books.
| The spiddle touched a tiny tape recorder mounted on its belt; the tape began to speak for the spiddle. "Fully documented history of a fascinating world," it said, in English, and then evidently repeated this in a variety of other tongues...
"Buy it," Mali said. "You know this book? What book is it?" "There is only one book. In this world." "Don't people get tired of reading it?" "It changes," Mali said. "It is written ... by a group of creatures or entities... that records everything that happens on Plowman's Planet. Everything. Great and small." "Then it's a newspaper." Mali halted; she turned to face him, her eyes burning with exasperation. "It is recorded first," she said. "The Kalends spin the story; they enter it into the ever-changing book without a title and it comes about, finally." |
| From Galactic Pot-Healer,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Berkley Publishing in 1969 Additional resources -
|
The book of the Kalends is a great illustration of a central tenet of PKD's world; that the news is created or manifested in a way that is not clear, and that it both reflects what has happened and what may yet happen. Compare the ever-changing book without a title with homeostatic newspapers.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Galactic Pot-Healer
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to Galactic Pot-Healer
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Book of the Kalends-related
news articles:
- Wikipedia Encyclopedia And Dick's Book Of The Kalends
| Save Your Brain's Connectome, Upload Yourself Elsewhere |
| TMS Decreases Belief In God, Increases Belief In Immigrants |
| Blockchain Used To Verify Election Results |
| We Could Downgrade Puerto Rico - And Thereby Save It |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'Our ancestors... thought to make the very sand beneath their feet intelligent...'
'A mimetic poly-alloy... 'What the hell does that mean?''
'Now I will tell you how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made.'
'Fortunately, the old orbital forts were superbly equipped for this task.'
