Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Pebble in the Sky
    Unavailable
    Pebble in the Sky
    Unavailable
    Pebble in the Sky
    Ebook280 pages5 hours

    Pebble in the Sky

    By Isaac Asimov

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    One moment Joseph Schwartz is a happily retired tailor in Chicago, 1949. The next he's a helpless stranger on Earth during the heyday of the first Galactic Empire.

    Earth, as he soon learns, is a backwater, just a pebble in the sky, despised by all the other 200 million planets of the Empire because its people dare to claim it's the original home of man. And Earth is poor, with great areas of radioactivity ruining much of its soil--so poor that everyone is sentenced to death at the age of sixty.

    Joseph Schwartz is sixty-two.

    This is young Isaac Asimov's first novel, full of wonders and ideas, the book that launched the novels of the Galactic Empire, culminating in the Foundation series. This is Golden Age SF at its finest.



    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 27, 2010
    ISBN9781429968195
    Unavailable
    Pebble in the Sky
    Author

    Isaac Asimov

    To list Isaac Asimov's honors, as to list his books, would be excessive. Let it simply be noted that Isaac Asimov was the most famous, most honored, most widely read, and most beloved science fiction author of all time. In his five decades as an author, he wrote more than four hundred books, won every award his readers and colleagues could contrive to give him, and provided pleasure and insight to millions. He died in 1992, still at work.

    Read more from Isaac Asimov

    Related to Pebble in the Sky

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Confido BY KURT VONNEGUT

      Nov 1, 2022

      Confido BY KURT VONNEGUT
      13 min read

    • Article

      Unforgettable?

      Apr 8, 2021

      Unforgettable?
      6 min read

    • Article

      Vaccine Victory Via Chickens

      Feb 24, 2022

      Vaccine Victory Via Chickens
      3 min read

    • Article

      Dropping a Sigh

      Sep 10, 2022

      Dropping a Sigh
      4 min read

    • Article

      The 2020 veggie Awards

      Mar 31, 2020

      The 2020 veggie Awards
      6 min read

    • Article

      Eye Opener

      Jun 8, 2022

      Eye Opener
      2 min read

    • Article

      Music From The Vaults

      Aug 17, 2021

      Music From The Vaults
      4 min read

    • Article

      ‘I Used To Do Tarot Readings But It Got Too Scary’: Sting On Making Shape Of My Heart

      May 15, 2023

      The guitarist Dominic Miller and I would get together at my house in Wiltshire every Wednesday. One week, Dom came in with four chords. I said, “I like the sound of that” – and eventually we had the shape of a song. I took it out into the garden on h

      3 min read

    • Article

      From Snowy Yukon, A Punjabi Dance Warms Canadian Hearts

      Jan 12, 2021

      Gurdeep Pandher lives in snowy Whitehorse, Yukon. But his joyous bhangra dance videos have enthralled viewers online during the winter and pandemic.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Stricken By Sleep

      Aug 12, 2021

      and Other Stories of Mystery Illness Suzanne O’Sullivan Picador 2021 Hb, 336pp, £16.99, ISBN 9781529010558 Forteans are fascinated by culture-bound syndromes, outbreaks of functional neurological disorder (previously called mass hysteria) and exotic,

      2 min read

    • Article

      Casablanca At 80: A Golden Age Classic That Remains Impossible To Resist

      Nov 26, 2022

      Many of the greatest films of all time have some triumph-over-adversity story to buffer their mythology: a chaotic production, weak box office, critics that didn’t get it at the time, a loss to some forgettable film during awards season. Their greatn

      3 min read

    • Article

      1 disco Elysium - The Final Cut

      Sep 6, 2022

      1 disco Elysium - The Final Cut
      2 min read

    • Article

      TEGAN and SARA

      Oct 26, 2019

      TEGAN and SARA
      3 min read

    • Article

      Juno Dawson

      Jun 15, 2022

      BECAUSE OF THE 30-YEAR RULE, THE 1990S are back. For the uninitiated, this is the idea that even the most ephemeral pop culture of three decades ago can be brought back into the light by those who grew up with it. Just ask Juno Dawson. “I’ve tried to

      3 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 Criminal Duos In Fiction | Peter Swanson

      Mar 1, 2023

      There is a long and robust literary tradition of the crime-solving duo. Holmes and Watson. Nick and Nora Charles. Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. As a writer it’s nice to have two protagonists, if for no other reason tha

      4 min read

    • Article

      Sarah Bevan And John Husband

      Sep 6, 2021

      Sarah Bevan And John Husband
      7 min read

    • Article

      Bury Me Next To Ernie

      Sep 5, 2019

      Bury Me Next To Ernie
      1 min read

    • Article

      Cut And Run

      Oct 9, 2023

      The earth shook violently as the enormous metal monster closed in. It was 100m away, 50, 20 … then it was on me. As I watched its giant steel tentacle, with its whirling, screaming blade, stretch down towards me, I was conscious less of the fear of a

      2 min read

    • Article

      Reading Soviet Sci-Fi At The End Of The World

      Sep 26, 2022

      What I found was not a roadmap for escaping my circumstances but a strategy for how to operate within them. The post Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World appeared first on The Millions.

      12 min read

    Reviews for Pebble in the Sky

    3.5/5

    624 ratings29 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I'm being overly mean with a 2.5 star rating, but I was so excited to get to the Foundation series, and so enamored with Asimov's Robots Series that this paled in comparison. Not a bad idea, but we saw a better fish out of water story in Currents of Space, and a better overall story in The Stars, Like Dust. Kind of a weird one, but I did like Schwartz having telepathic powers - a precursor to R. Giskard, perhaps?
    • 2/5
      A struggle to finish. Yes, it was his first novel, but I only forced my way through so that I could get to Prelude to Foundation and say that I did actually read all 15 of his Robots/Empire/Foundation novels.
    • 4/5
      The 8th in what can be seen as the "extended" 15 book Foundation Series. This is also the last of the 3 Galactic Empire novels. In this book we get a good look on Earth and how its society works following on from what occurred in Robots of Empire
    • 3/5
      Classic science fiction from back in the Golden Age. The technology is very dated now, but still a good story. If you are familiar with Foundation or the Robot books, this may seem a little odd, as there are hints and echoes of what will come later, as this was written first. If you haven't read the others, this is a good example of his style, but by far from his best work.
    • 4/5
      My copy says it's the first novel of Isaac Asimov. I don't know if that's true but with a 1958 copyright it is certainly one of his earliest. That said it's a fine example of Classic SF.Asimov is not my favorite writer from the golden age of SF but he always makes the top 10. Like most of his books this one mixes speculative science with interesting characters. He has a pretty good understanding of people and he's a romantic.I thought this would be a good average 3 stars but I was intrigued to the end so it gets 4.
    • 3/5
      An accident at the Institute for Nuclear Research in Chicago releases a stray beam of radiation across the city, striking an innocent pedestrian by the name of Joseph Schwartz. No sooner does Schwartz step over a discarded rag doll on a busy street than he finds himself wandering for miles through dense woods.Schwartz eventually stumbles onto a highway that leads him to a remote farmhouse where he seeks help, yet the residents do not understand a word of his frantic pleas. Despite their trepidation that he might be an "outsider," they take him in for the night. The next day, one of the farmers escorts a frightened and despondent Schwartz into the city of Chica where he is experimented upon using a device called the Synapsifier, which allegedly accelerates the human brain's ability to learn. The machine is the invention of seasoned neurosurgeon, Doctor Affret Shekt who is assisted in his work by his daughter, Pola. Schwartz quickly escapes from the hospital and slowly begins to develop the ability to read minds. Along the way, he becomes a fluent speaker of the native language and realizes that, somehow, he was hurled far into Earth's future on that disorienting day in Chicago—a future in which the planet is a second-class member of a Galactic Empire!It isn't long before Schwartz finds himself embroiled with the Shekts and a brash archaeologist named Bel Arvardan from Sirius who visits Earth in an attempt to prove his theory that the planet is the origin of the human race. Together, the four uncover a conspiracy to destroy all life on the other planets in the Empire—but can they convince the authorities before it's too late?Pebble in the Sky is an engaging read, but it struck me that the protagonist, which one presumes to be Schwartz, becomes lost for several chapters as the other characters, especially Bel Arvardan and Pola Shekt, take prominence. It isn't until his psychic ability fully manifests that Schwartz once again becomes crucial to the plot.Further, the main villain in the conspiracy against the other planets is not revealed until the final quarter of the story. Before this, the character appears only briefly. Despite these observations, Pebble in the Sky is notable for its tangential place in the Galactic Empire of Asimov's Foundation series. 
    • 4/5
      Joesph Schwartz is an ordinary man, a reitred tailor in the twentieth century. He is catapulted forward in time and winds up on a devestated radioactive Earth that is so poor every inhabitant who reaches the age of sixty is euthanized. This poses quite a problem for Schwartz, as he is sixty-two. Unable to speak the language due to language drift, he is taken to be mentally defective by the first people he meets, and they send him (in exchange for a bribe) to a scientist working on enhancing mental abilities. As a result of the experiments Schwartz becomes much more intelligent and acquires telepathic abilities.Once able to communicate, Schwartz (and the reader) learn that Earth is a poverty stricken backwater in a Galactic Empire. Earth is also known for its rebelliousness and is discriminated against. Schwartz then becomes involved in a plot by pro-Earth fanatics to kill everyone else in the Empire with a super-virus, a plot he foils. The novel ends on an up note as the Imperial Procurator of Earth agrees to try to restore the planet by bringing in uncontaminated soil.Aside from the rather odd time travel element, this is a pretty straightforward story. Some things seem implausible - the ability of humans to survive on the radioactive earth (the improbability of which Asimov talks about in a later added afterward), the implausibility of the plan to restore Earth and so on, but the adventure in between holds up well.
    • 4/5
      Science fiction novel from the 50’s, in fact from 1950 and a good one. Reading some science fiction from this era can feel a bit like wading through sexist, racist even misogynist, viewpoints with cheap and nasty gung-ho nationalism thrown in for good measure, but you are relatively safe from all this with Asimov: in fact Pebble in the Sky has some important things to say about racial prejudice.The story has an unlikely premise to start with: a sixty two year old man (Schwartz) is walking past a building where a scientist is messing around with crude uranium, there is some sort of reaction and Schwartz is transported far into the future. He is still on earth which is now part of the galactic empire, but everyone seems to hate the earthlings and they in their turn hate all outsiders. Revolution is in the air and Schwartz is used as a guinea pig for a new procedure which can increase brain power exponentially. Schwarz survives the synapsifier and Asimov spends a couple of pages explaining how it might work. A leading demagogue is stirring things up and Schwartz and his new friends find themselves locked in a battle to save the Empire.Asimov’s characters main function is to move the plot along and they do this well enough in this novel. There are themes about who can and can’t be trusted, how a planet and its people can be ostracised to such an extent that they want to bring everything else crashing down, a love story where racial divides have to be crossed, colonialism, subject races and the need for understanding. There is very little world building and Asimov does not go out of his way to create any atmosphere, however the story is a good one and there are moments of tension and some surprise plot twists. Asimov tries to explain some of the science in simple terms and there is a couple of pages devoted to a chess match. An enjoyable science fiction novel from the 1950’s and so 3.5 stars.
    • 5/5
      I have to be completely honest about how this particular book came to my notice. I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and I got to an episode about a planet where the inhabitants were not allowed to live past a certain age due to resource control (the old people were a drag on the society). I looked at the trivia for this episode (Season 4, Episode 22 "Half a Life" if you're curious) and discovered that the story was inspired by Isaac Asimov's Pebble in the Sky. Naturally, I needed to read this book. Some of you might recall that I reviewed I, Robot two years ago and loved it. I'm sad it's taken me this long to get to reading another book by him honestly... Now without further ado, the review! I LOVED IT, YA'LL. This book has it all: time travel, space-y drama, and RADIOACTIVITY. Seriously, radioactivity is a major plot device. The time period which this book was written definitely plays a role in the tenor of this book (I'm looking at you, atomic bomb). Asimov blends reality with scientific innovation to create a world where Earth is but one of thousands of planets which comprise the Galactic Empire. (Actually I fell into a trap here because it turns out that Pebble in the Sky is a part of Asimov's Galactic Empire series so...) There's Joseph Schwartz who finds himself taking a giant leap into the future. (This is only funny once you've read the book.) Bel Arvardan is your typical Galactic citizen and archaeologist who wants to uncover the mystery of humanity's beginning...on Earth of all places. Who would have thought that a backwards Earthman like Dr. Shekt could invent a device that could help to thwart a revolt and simultaneously give one man unimaginable powers? In a world where the Earth is seen as 'other' and the Earthman is treated as inferior there is intrigue, burgeoning love, and institutionalized racism. The reader follows multiple storylines that weave together to form a narrative that is compelling, thought provoking, and imaginative. If you haven't ready any of Isaac Asimov's writing and you want to read truly excellent sci-fi then you should start here. 10/10 highly recommend
    • 2/5
      More Agatha Christie preposterous plotting and galactic empires. It is a bad mix. The same overt anti-racism sentiments as in the previous book in the series (good effort).
    • 4/5
      A great book from Asimov, my most loved science-fiction author!
    • 4/5
      A man is unwittingly propelled forward thousands of years into the future to a time when Man has settled many many other planets, and Earth has become a sneered-upon backwater world. Most scientists believe that human beings evolved independently on all these planets; pride keeps them from accepting the unpopular notion that they all originated on Earth. Like much of Asimov's science fiction, this is at once a concept-driven and a character-driven tale. It's a love story, a parable about prejudice, and a scientific flight of fancy all in one. Perhaps not his most memorable work, but definitely worth reading.P.S. - Some sites list this as being part of the Empire or Foundation series or maybe both. I have read neither (okay, I've read the first Foundation novel, but it was ages ago) and I had no difficulty following the story.
    • 4/5
      This first novel of Asimov's was fun although the plot had some flaws. Perhaps most interesting was seeing the appearance of certain ideas which show up in his later books as well.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those Asimov novels that I am less familiar with, not having read this for almost 30 years, unlike the Foundation and robot novels I have read multiple times. This one is set in the early centuries of the Galactic Empire, whose final end many millennia later is the backdrop for the Foundation novels. The characters are less memorable than in most of the other novels, and the central theme is the mutual suspicion and bigotry between Earth and the rest of the Galactic Empire that has obvious racial parallels both for when this novel was written in the late 1940s and the present day. The controversial idea that Earth was the original home planet of the human race that features here is also explored in other Asimov novels. Not one of his greatest, but still a good read.
    • 4/5
      Pebble in the Sky is Isaac Asimov’s first published novel, published in 1950, although from what I understand, it was first serialized in the early 1930s, so it had been around in one form or another for a long time.It’s an interesting book. Not my favorite, but not bad. Better than some of his other books. Rather than focusing solely on galactic empires and things like robots, as is the case in so many of his other novels, this one deals to a certain degree with time travel, as well as, yes, a galactic empire as well as his fascination with Earth as the founder of humankind, though no one knows it, and how the planet is nearly completely radiated, presumably from nuclear wars of centuries ago, which seems like a complete scientific impossibility. Even though the planet is ravaged by radiation, strangely the Earthmen population is immune to it, although visitors to the planet have to take medication to protect themselves from it. As a result, Earthmen are treated like non-entities by the rest of the galaxy and are ostracized as third-class citizens. Asimov was constantly obsessed with nuclear annihilation and Earth being radiated for eternity in his novels, over many decades of writing. It’s a shame his fears were never allayed. This time travel is a bit problematic because it’s not really spelled out very well. By way of bizarre chemical “science” (Asimov apparently called it a “wrinkle in nuclear physics” that was never replicated,) a beam of mysterious energy transports retired older tailor Joseph Schwartz, age 62, from 1949 into the distant future. Schwartz’s language, an “ancient” and near-illegible version of Galactic, is not understood by anyone on the new Earth he has found himself on. Neither can he understand current society, its customs, culture, medical treatment – anything. For reasons no one (Asimov) ever explains, future Earth’s population is tiny, but everyone is obsessed with the notion that there aren’t enough resources for everyone, so two things: 1) Everyone over 60 is killed – euthanized, and 2) There is an underground cult of rebels who plan to take over and destroy the Galactic Empire so they can rule the galaxy and possibly expand as needs dictate. Crazy.When Schwartz steps over a doll in his 1949 city, he is immediately transported to the future hundreds of years away, although he doesn’t yet know it. He knows something weird just happened though. When he discovers he can’t communicate with the locals, it’s bad. A local farmer takes him to the city and drops him off with an oddball scientist who is testing a “brain-enhancing machine” and, after he is tested, he finds he gets some serious major new powers, the first of which is rapid learning. For instance, he learns their language in several days. Soon, he discovers he can even kill with his mind! At the same time, the scientist and his (naturally) gorgeous daughter are caught in the middle of a deadly plot that could have galaxy-wide implications, which brings in a handsome (naturally) Imperial galactic archeologist to Earth and ultimately to their aid.So ultimately, you have a dashing, strong, noble Imperial archaeologist who encounters a pretty Earth woman (which he finds hard to admit, as she IS an Earthwoman, after all), the daughter of a respected scientist, and falls in love instantly – so they wind up fighting against the Earth villains, as well as Imperial bureaucracy together. One thing of note: the uber-villain in this novel is one of the cheesiest Asimov wrote in any of his novels. However, that can be forgiven, as this was his first effort, so it’s understandable he was still trying to test his writing skills.And how does Schwartz figure in the final part of the story? Well, he does in a big way, but if I say how, I’ll give away the ending and I obviously can’t do that, so let’s just say that it’s a generally satisfying ending, especially for a first effort, and to be frank, more so than some of Asimov’s later works.So, good effort, decent story, a little cheesy at times, but overall, good first novel. Shows potential for what Asimov later became. Four stars and recommended.
    • 4/5
      One of Asimov's first novels, it was unencumbered by 21st century baggage. A story of greed, prejudice and hubris set when earth is but a speck of the imperial galaxy. Add time travel and you have a great read. Read on....
    • 3/5
      Interesting yet somewhat disappointing for Asimov. I liked the story telling and the plot twist near the end. The problem that I have with the story is that it combines too many improbabilities. The transfer of a human through time into the future is one idea that makes for an interesting theoretical analysis. The idea of a device to enhance mental capabilities for telepathy and mind control is another interesting theoretical concept. The concept of intergalatic biological warfare is another. The combination of these concepts to intersect for problem resolution is unreasonable. The effectiveness of the biological warfare is logically overestimated as well.
    • 5/5
      Chicago, 1950's. Experiments resulting in unexpected radiations. An accident, and a time traveler is randomly created and sent to Chicago many millenia in the future, which is on the most reviled planet of the Galactic Empire. An archaeologist comes to visit Earth, trying to get more evidence to support his much-maligned theory that all the people of the galaxy used to be Earthmen, the racial scum of the Empire. It was great to find this after so many years of never coming upon anything as good as the Foundation trilogy. I simply didn't realize Asimov had written about the galactic empire before. Fantastic to have something new to chew on!
    • 4/5
      One of Asimov's early sci-fi stories. Interesting little tale about oppression and the vastness of scale of the universe. Interesting fit with the last science book I read. Not amazing, but still pretty good.
    • 3/5
      Quite an enjoyable read. I wouldn't have guessed this was his first novel - it's much stronger than The Stars, Like Dust (his second). The female characters are still very flat, though.

      Now I can start the Foundation books! o/
    • 3/5
      I must have read this once...it was like a wisp in the back of my mind the who,e time I was reading it. I think the plot was rather plagiarized from Orson Welles, although of course, I could have that backwards.The story line was darker than the Robot series was. I did not find it to tie the Robot series to the Foundation series well.Truly, we're it not written by Asimov, I probably would only have given it two or two and a half stars!
    • 5/5
      Awe inspiring. Image of humanities future, but the leaders of Earth are backwards facists.
    • 2/5
      Classic fifties scifi but not very engaging. Got through it so I can move along to the Foundation series.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite Asimov novels, not part of a series but a strong and sweet stand alone. It starts out when Joseph Schwartz, an elderly and contented retiree, vanishes from a Chicago street and reappears in a strange, radioactive earth, millenia in the future. Earth has become a radioactive pariah planet, long forgotten by the spacer civilization which has formed an empire that stretches across the heavens. But some believe that it the home of humanity, a premise with vast political implications. Things get more and more complicated from there on in, but the future world remains fascinating, and the characters compelling.
    • 4/5
      This is one of the classics. If you are just reading it now for the first time, remember it was written over 60 years ago (it's [[Isaac Asimov's]] first published novel after all)! With that in mind, you'll need to make a little effort to get into the [Pebble] universe. If you make the effort you'll see how he became one of our great SF masters!
    • 4/5
      This is a fairly rare thing - an Asimov book where the adventure nature of the story is at least as important as thinking your way to a solution, although it has to be said that the final denouement depends at least as much on intellectual success as it does on who has the biggest gun.For Asimov, the characters are reasonably well rounded as well - he is not generally noted for deep characterisation in my experience. Once we get over the hurdle of the initial mcguffin, the story is actually one of the least inventive of his, though as it is his first full length story, expecting perfection first time out may be asking rather too much.Overall, a good read rather than a brilliant read.
    • 3/5
      While I found this book interesting, I wasn't completely captivated. At times it moved very slowly. But overall, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction. A very quick read.
    • 5/5
      Very good book, my favorite of the series.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable book - Asimov tells a great story (even if the characters are somewhat "thin"), and his vision of the future is unique. I always search them out. This is the third of a series leading up to his Foundation series, and I haven't read the first two, but will look for them.