What do you think?
Rate this book
A Logic Named Joe
The story's narrator is a "logic repairman" nicknamed Ducky. A "logic" is a computer-like device described as looking "like a vision receiver used to, only it's got keys instead of dials and you punch the keys for what you wanna get".
This recording is from radio show "X Minus One". Written in 1946, it imagines something like the internet.
This recording is from radio show "X Minus One". Written in 1946, it imagines something like the internet.
Audible Audio
First published May 24, 2005
15 people are currently reading
426 people want to read
About the author
Murray Leinster
871 books115 followerssee also:
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.
An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
March 11, 2025
This is a hefty Baen collection that includes three random novels and an additional trio of short stories, all by William F. Jenkins under his far-more-famous genre pseudonym, Murray Leinster. The book says it was edited and compiled by Eric Flint, and I wonder what that entailed exactly. The three novels in order of my preference are: 1) The Pirates of Zan, a terrific space-pirates space-opera that was a Hugo nominee under its original title, The Pirates of Ersatz, in 1960. (It lost to Heinlein's Starship Troopers); 2) Gateway to Elsewhere from 1952, a fun Arabian Nights influenced parallel worlds adventure, where the hero fights the army of djinn to win the princess; it's the most fantasy-oriented work of Leinster's I can remember; and 3) The Duplicators, the original version of which was titled Lord of the Uffts when it appeared in 1964, which is an amusing Frederik Pohl-like societal satire about economics and politics and suchlike matters. The three stories include the famous title story, which predicted the internet and AI and related social nuisances way back in 1946; Dear Charles, from 1953, which is an amusing but not overwhelming twist-in-time-travel tale; and the oldest story in the book, The Fourth Dimensional Demonstrator, from a 1935 (pre-Campbell!) issue of Astounding, which is a grandly, resoundingly funny duplication-via-time-machine farce. Note the cover painting by Kurt Miller with the cigarette-munching kangaroos plaguing the six pretty blonde ladies who are scurrying for piles of cash. (Aside: I wonder if the title of this story influenced the name of the Fourth Dimension Convention at Kent, Ohio, in October of 1976, where they had Eisner and Gustovich and Haldeman and Pohl and Ellison and all kinds of other people who had a good time? We'll never know.) Anyway, six good Leinster stories, one true classic, a couple of old favorites, and not a bad apple in the barrel.
December 29, 2012
This is a collection, so I should break down my rating.
"A Logic Named Joe" *****
Murray Leinster not only predicted the internet, Google, and Amazon with remarkable accuracy in 1946, he did it in a hilarious story that also examined what an AI with a sense of humor but no desire to be sociable might mean in our world.
"Dear Charles" **1/2
Frankly, I read this story more than 6 months ago, and do not recall it. But I don't recall hating it, either, so it gets a gentleman's C.
Gateway to Elsewhere ***
A delightful piece of alternate history, science fantasy fluff. A man comes into possession of an odd coin minted in a country that never existed, and uses it to get himself there. Turns out to be a land of genies and maidens, and while the genies have powers, they are bound by certain physical laws. For instance, a genie can talk any shape, of any size, but always retains the same mass. Fluff, but good fun.
The Duplicators****
Golden Age SF in the grand style, and a delightful exploration of economics, without ever seeming to be so. Link Denham, a ne'er-do-well, finds himself on a planet with Star Trek-ish duplicator technology -- and it's the worst thing that could possibly have happened. The planet has had duplicators for hundreds of years, and has lost all knowledge of how to actually make things because of it. Why farm when you can just duplicate food without any effort? Denham sees very quickly that letting such technology get out to the rest of the galaxy would destroy civilization as we know it, and sets to work neutralizing (but not destroying) the menace. An entirely entertaining romp, with more food for thought than one would expect, and keener understanding of how economics works than you get from any ten writers today. (And I haven't even mentioned the Uffts, the planet's native race!)
"The Fourth Dimensional Demonstrator" *
The only clunker in the collection. Strains entirely too hard to be fun, and makes no sense at all. Literally none.
The Pirates of Zan ****
Another brilliant example of economics in SFnal form, as well as some interesting sociological explanation. But that makes it sound boring, and it's anything but. Bron Hoddan was born and raised on the pirate planet of Zan, but left because the pirate life was boring and restrictive. Boring because in any year, there is only about 30 seconds of excitement, and restrictive because everyone on the planet has to appear (and, in fact, to be) poor and simple to avoid getting hanged for piracy. He goes to Walden, the most civilized planet in the galaxy, and gets himself arrested and sentenced to life in prison for using his brains. Escaping local authorities, he gains diplomatic protection at the Interstellar Embassy for political persecution, and goes on from there to, eventually, deciding that piracy -- of a sort -- might be just what the civilized planets need. This one is laugh-out-loud funny, non-stop entertaining, and a fine example of "the good old stuff". Bron Hoddan, I think, would have gotten along rather well with Ragnar Danneskjold, though they'd probably bicker a bit.
So, two excellent short novels, one very good short novel, one all-time classic short story, one inoffensive short, and one clunker of a short, adds up to an entirely worthwhile reading experience.
[This review is copyright 2012 by D. Jason Fleming and available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (CC BY-SA 3.0) license.]
"A Logic Named Joe" *****
Murray Leinster not only predicted the internet, Google, and Amazon with remarkable accuracy in 1946, he did it in a hilarious story that also examined what an AI with a sense of humor but no desire to be sociable might mean in our world.
"Dear Charles" **1/2
Frankly, I read this story more than 6 months ago, and do not recall it. But I don't recall hating it, either, so it gets a gentleman's C.
Gateway to Elsewhere ***
A delightful piece of alternate history, science fantasy fluff. A man comes into possession of an odd coin minted in a country that never existed, and uses it to get himself there. Turns out to be a land of genies and maidens, and while the genies have powers, they are bound by certain physical laws. For instance, a genie can talk any shape, of any size, but always retains the same mass. Fluff, but good fun.
The Duplicators****
Golden Age SF in the grand style, and a delightful exploration of economics, without ever seeming to be so. Link Denham, a ne'er-do-well, finds himself on a planet with Star Trek-ish duplicator technology -- and it's the worst thing that could possibly have happened. The planet has had duplicators for hundreds of years, and has lost all knowledge of how to actually make things because of it. Why farm when you can just duplicate food without any effort? Denham sees very quickly that letting such technology get out to the rest of the galaxy would destroy civilization as we know it, and sets to work neutralizing (but not destroying) the menace. An entirely entertaining romp, with more food for thought than one would expect, and keener understanding of how economics works than you get from any ten writers today. (And I haven't even mentioned the Uffts, the planet's native race!)
"The Fourth Dimensional Demonstrator" *
The only clunker in the collection. Strains entirely too hard to be fun, and makes no sense at all. Literally none.
The Pirates of Zan ****
Another brilliant example of economics in SFnal form, as well as some interesting sociological explanation. But that makes it sound boring, and it's anything but. Bron Hoddan was born and raised on the pirate planet of Zan, but left because the pirate life was boring and restrictive. Boring because in any year, there is only about 30 seconds of excitement, and restrictive because everyone on the planet has to appear (and, in fact, to be) poor and simple to avoid getting hanged for piracy. He goes to Walden, the most civilized planet in the galaxy, and gets himself arrested and sentenced to life in prison for using his brains. Escaping local authorities, he gains diplomatic protection at the Interstellar Embassy for political persecution, and goes on from there to, eventually, deciding that piracy -- of a sort -- might be just what the civilized planets need. This one is laugh-out-loud funny, non-stop entertaining, and a fine example of "the good old stuff". Bron Hoddan, I think, would have gotten along rather well with Ragnar Danneskjold, though they'd probably bicker a bit.
So, two excellent short novels, one very good short novel, one all-time classic short story, one inoffensive short, and one clunker of a short, adds up to an entirely worthwhile reading experience.
[This review is copyright 2012 by D. Jason Fleming and available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (CC BY-SA 3.0) license.]
August 27, 2011
Murray Leinster's "A Logic Named Joe" was published in 1946 and is eerily good at telling the future. He has future machines called "logics" that are networked and can help people communicate and find answers for their users.
It totally predicts the Internet and the problems that happen when kids can find bomb making info on their computers (logics) and private information about their neighbors.
The story itself is probably only a 3 star but I gave it an extra star for being so great at predicting the Internet.
It totally predicts the Internet and the problems that happen when kids can find bomb making info on their computers (logics) and private information about their neighbors.
The story itself is probably only a 3 star but I gave it an extra star for being so great at predicting the Internet.
September 1, 2025
A few short stories that are absolutely worth reading mixed with 3 complete novels.
In a brief foreword the editor give the publication history of each.
In another extra at the beginning, Barry N. Malzberg gives an short biography of Murray Leinster.
First of the 3 complete novels is "A Logic Named Joe" which is a very accurate prediction of our current A.I. hype and internet. It is astonishing what of the SciFi of 70 years ago actually came to be and very excting to see how mankind will handle that much better that in the gloomy prediction of Leinster. Currently that is not really the case, but the dangers are not really clear either, unless you have read this book.
Dear Charles is a story about time-travel (no self-respecting Sci-Fi autor can do without it) and gives a unique view on a would-be traveller in time who announces his arrival in the future and what he would like to happen/what has already happenend. Great for the adepts of the genre.
Gateway to Elsewhere
In het story the author plays with the theory of parallel universes. Leinster gives it a somewhat unlikely though unique interpretation and adds his well-known humor to make it light reading. And exciting as far as the epic journey is concerned.
The Duplicators
A young man ends up in a spaceship, after a night of very hard partying. What follow is an amazing adventure with a people who put no value on money but the more on honour.
The question asked here (and in my opinion not answered satisfactorily - partially this has already come to be, and the earth has not been destroyed) is what would happen with society if a perfect duplicator existed and was available to anyone.
The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator
Hilarious story on a device that can duplicate everything, including girlfriends.
Pure slapstick, with a note of advice: duplication money sounds good but all the bills will have the same serial number which will land you in jail.
The Pirates of Zan
Space-pirates from grandfather to grandson. It is amazing what you can achieve when you ignore and not even recognize the laws and rules of others. Action, humor and applied psychology.
One of my favourite stories of all times.
In a brief foreword the editor give the publication history of each.
In another extra at the beginning, Barry N. Malzberg gives an short biography of Murray Leinster.
First of the 3 complete novels is "A Logic Named Joe" which is a very accurate prediction of our current A.I. hype and internet. It is astonishing what of the SciFi of 70 years ago actually came to be and very excting to see how mankind will handle that much better that in the gloomy prediction of Leinster. Currently that is not really the case, but the dangers are not really clear either, unless you have read this book.
Dear Charles is a story about time-travel (no self-respecting Sci-Fi autor can do without it) and gives a unique view on a would-be traveller in time who announces his arrival in the future and what he would like to happen/what has already happenend. Great for the adepts of the genre.
Gateway to Elsewhere
In het story the author plays with the theory of parallel universes. Leinster gives it a somewhat unlikely though unique interpretation and adds his well-known humor to make it light reading. And exciting as far as the epic journey is concerned.
The Duplicators
A young man ends up in a spaceship, after a night of very hard partying. What follow is an amazing adventure with a people who put no value on money but the more on honour.
The question asked here (and in my opinion not answered satisfactorily - partially this has already come to be, and the earth has not been destroyed) is what would happen with society if a perfect duplicator existed and was available to anyone.
The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator
Hilarious story on a device that can duplicate everything, including girlfriends.
Pure slapstick, with a note of advice: duplication money sounds good but all the bills will have the same serial number which will land you in jail.
The Pirates of Zan
Space-pirates from grandfather to grandson. It is amazing what you can achieve when you ignore and not even recognize the laws and rules of others. Action, humor and applied psychology.
One of my favourite stories of all times.
August 16, 2025
wow it would be so crazy if all that information was actually readily available across a vast connected network accessible via machines that everyone owned. that'd actually be so crazy. thank god this is just a story written in 1945 and not real life
i think its cute that the main problem in this story is like crime. like bank robberies and counterfeiting and murder. the part where people use the internet to attempt to mold the world to their idea of a superior society is pretty accurate though. and the part where people stalk each other. and the porn
i think its cute that the main problem in this story is like crime. like bank robberies and counterfeiting and murder. the part where people use the internet to attempt to mold the world to their idea of a superior society is pretty accurate though. and the part where people stalk each other. and the porn
March 1, 2019
8/10. Media de los 14 libros leídos del autor : 6/10
Otro de los autores clásicos "de ideas". en general se deja leer pero los que más me gustaron suyos son este genial "Un lógico llamado Joe" o "El señor de los Uffis"
Relato de 1946 donde aparece el ordenador personal y una proto-internet que se fabrica solito el "logico" -especie de ordenador que toma consciencia de sí mismo- al que llaman Joe. Relato visionario donde parecen ordenadores personales, internet, grandes empresas de la Red, información total en la red...
Genial.
En esta edición aparecen otros relatos, yo solo hablo del de Leinster.
Otro de los autores clásicos "de ideas". en general se deja leer pero los que más me gustaron suyos son este genial "Un lógico llamado Joe" o "El señor de los Uffis"
Relato de 1946 donde aparece el ordenador personal y una proto-internet que se fabrica solito el "logico" -especie de ordenador que toma consciencia de sí mismo- al que llaman Joe. Relato visionario donde parecen ordenadores personales, internet, grandes empresas de la Red, información total en la red...
Genial.
En esta edición aparecen otros relatos, yo solo hablo del de Leinster.
April 27, 2010
This was the first book I read when I found out about the Baen Free Library, incidentally one of the best resources for someone who has excessive free time in front of a computer. Also a great marketing device, as I buy Baen books now every time I go to the bookstore.
To get back off the tangent, the reason I started reading A Logic Named Joe is because of the title. I wasn't sure what a logic was, but there was definitely something interesting about it. When I looked for more information, I was greeted with this:
ALTRUISTIC SPACE PIRATES, NUCLEAR-POWERED DJINN, A TIME-TRAVELLING KANGEROO—AND MORE . . .
[sic:]
Needless to say, I was sold. This collection was not only the first book I read in the Baen Free Library, but it was also my first look at dated, period science fiction. In the titular story we read an entertaining yarn that pretty well describes home computing and the internet, yet it was written in the '40s.
Even better than that short story, the three novels included in this collection are all worth reading of their own right. We have...well you saw it, we have altruistic space pirates, nuclear-powere djinn, a time-traveling kangaroo...nothing more needs to be said, does it?
If my wholehearted endorsement isn't enough to convince you into giving this one a go, slip over to the Baen Free Library and read a bit for yourself before committing.
To get back off the tangent, the reason I started reading A Logic Named Joe is because of the title. I wasn't sure what a logic was, but there was definitely something interesting about it. When I looked for more information, I was greeted with this:
ALTRUISTIC SPACE PIRATES, NUCLEAR-POWERED DJINN, A TIME-TRAVELLING KANGEROO—AND MORE . . .
[sic:]
Needless to say, I was sold. This collection was not only the first book I read in the Baen Free Library, but it was also my first look at dated, period science fiction. In the titular story we read an entertaining yarn that pretty well describes home computing and the internet, yet it was written in the '40s.
Even better than that short story, the three novels included in this collection are all worth reading of their own right. We have...well you saw it, we have altruistic space pirates, nuclear-powere djinn, a time-traveling kangaroo...nothing more needs to be said, does it?
If my wholehearted endorsement isn't enough to convince you into giving this one a go, slip over to the Baen Free Library and read a bit for yourself before committing.
June 8, 2016
Voilà un texte intéressant, publié par le passager clandestin, dans une collection, dyschroniques pour ne pas la nommer, qui ne l'est pas moins. En revanche, toujours le même reproche à formuler : un peu cher pour ce que c'est (ici 4 € pour un texte de 39 pages).
Je reconnais pourtant que cet écrit mérite d'être réédité, voire édité tout court vu que je ne suis pas sûr qu'il ait déjà été publié en France.
Daté de 1946, ce qui fait l'intérêt de ce texte, c'est que Murray Leinster y décrit un monde où les logiques (comprendre des ordinateurs, mais le mot n'existait pas encore) sont démocratisés au point d'être installés dans tous les foyers et permettent d'accéder à distance à des bases de données comprenant informations, films, musique, etc...
Oui, en 1946, Murray Leinster nous parle d'Internet, rien que ça !
Comme déjà dit plus haut, le texte est très court, et je ne vais pas trop m'étendre dessus. C'est basiquement une histoire de machine accédant à la pensée et des dérives que cela peut entraîner. Le récit est très sympathique, bien évidemment daté, et clairement surprenant avec son ancêtre d'Internet quand même très proche du nôtre.
Un texte novateur pour son époque, que je suis très content d'avoir pu lire, mais qui aura du mal je pense à se faire connaître. Le passager clandestin est un petit éditeur, le quatrième de couv' minimaliste, et puis bon, le prix (mais je l'ai déjà dit) n'aide pas...
S'il vous tombe sous les doigts par contre, aucune hésitation : foncez !
Je reconnais pourtant que cet écrit mérite d'être réédité, voire édité tout court vu que je ne suis pas sûr qu'il ait déjà été publié en France.
Daté de 1946, ce qui fait l'intérêt de ce texte, c'est que Murray Leinster y décrit un monde où les logiques (comprendre des ordinateurs, mais le mot n'existait pas encore) sont démocratisés au point d'être installés dans tous les foyers et permettent d'accéder à distance à des bases de données comprenant informations, films, musique, etc...
Oui, en 1946, Murray Leinster nous parle d'Internet, rien que ça !
Comme déjà dit plus haut, le texte est très court, et je ne vais pas trop m'étendre dessus. C'est basiquement une histoire de machine accédant à la pensée et des dérives que cela peut entraîner. Le récit est très sympathique, bien évidemment daté, et clairement surprenant avec son ancêtre d'Internet quand même très proche du nôtre.
Un texte novateur pour son époque, que je suis très content d'avoir pu lire, mais qui aura du mal je pense à se faire connaître. Le passager clandestin est un petit éditeur, le quatrième de couv' minimaliste, et puis bon, le prix (mais je l'ai déjà dit) n'aide pas...
S'il vous tombe sous les doigts par contre, aucune hésitation : foncez !
December 26, 2012
I grew up reading Leinster's Med Service stories as published in SF periodicals in the early 1960s. Always involving a medical dilemma to be solved by space roving doctor Calhoun and his faithful alien companion (and living test lab for disease cures) Murgatroyd, the series was entertaining and often thought-provoking.
So I was happy to stumble across a copy of this compilation of other stories and novels by him. All of them employ a not-always-so-tongue-in-cheek sense of humor which doesn't always hit the mark, but is a feature of his style. the title story "A Logic Named Joe", written in 1946 actually predicts the use of home computers, the internet and social media. Amazing. I read with more than casual interest the concluding tale, The Pirates Of Zan because it was a Hugo nominee in 1960. An interesting if somewhat disjointed story about a reluctant space pirate who really wants to just be an engineer and settle down with a nice girl. Social commentary is the most interesting aspect of the story in its description of dysfunctional planetary populations founded by earlier Earth expeditions to the stars. A pure space opera with no nods to hard SF, it is a light read and much different from any possible current works likely to be up for Hugo consideration.
Entertaining to me, but probably more suited to the completist of the fiction of this notable SF pioneer.
So I was happy to stumble across a copy of this compilation of other stories and novels by him. All of them employ a not-always-so-tongue-in-cheek sense of humor which doesn't always hit the mark, but is a feature of his style. the title story "A Logic Named Joe", written in 1946 actually predicts the use of home computers, the internet and social media. Amazing. I read with more than casual interest the concluding tale, The Pirates Of Zan because it was a Hugo nominee in 1960. An interesting if somewhat disjointed story about a reluctant space pirate who really wants to just be an engineer and settle down with a nice girl. Social commentary is the most interesting aspect of the story in its description of dysfunctional planetary populations founded by earlier Earth expeditions to the stars. A pure space opera with no nods to hard SF, it is a light read and much different from any possible current works likely to be up for Hugo consideration.
Entertaining to me, but probably more suited to the completist of the fiction of this notable SF pioneer.
May 30, 2022
C'est sans doute volontaire, mais l'écriture de cette très courte nouvelle m'a laissé en plan rapidement. Je l'ai trouvée confuse, trop, me faisant souvent douter d'avoir compris ou bien suivi la chronologie des évènements.
Le récit à été publié en 1946, ce qui explique bien sûr son côté daté et déjà vu. Mais ce qui est assez intéressant par contre, c'est de voir l'auteur évoquer les troubles que causeraient une centralisation massive et unique de toutes les sources d'information - ce qui est une problématique finalement assez actuelle avec le web 2.0 et 3.0. Et d'aborder la question des prémisses de l'intelligence artificielle (ici appelée logique) qui devient indépendante, mais pas sous l'aspect de la créature qui veut se venger de son créateur. Au contraire, ici elle développe un service qui permet aux utilisateurs d'obtenir toutes les réponses à leurs problèmes.
C'est donc davantage sur les questions éthiques et morales que les conséquences vont se porter. Et si la solution recommandée par le logique conduisait à la mort d'autrui ? Mais tout aussi intéressant qu'il soit, l'axe pris se montre rapidement désuet par l'absence de nuances présentés par le récit. Comme si, parce que le logique recommandait le meurtre, le vol, ou autres solutions, l'humain se contenterait de suivre, en fonctionnant lui presque par impulsion.
Ce n'est donc pas un récit que je retiendrai, même si j'en ai quand même apprécié les toutes dernières lignes.
Le récit à été publié en 1946, ce qui explique bien sûr son côté daté et déjà vu. Mais ce qui est assez intéressant par contre, c'est de voir l'auteur évoquer les troubles que causeraient une centralisation massive et unique de toutes les sources d'information - ce qui est une problématique finalement assez actuelle avec le web 2.0 et 3.0. Et d'aborder la question des prémisses de l'intelligence artificielle (ici appelée logique) qui devient indépendante, mais pas sous l'aspect de la créature qui veut se venger de son créateur. Au contraire, ici elle développe un service qui permet aux utilisateurs d'obtenir toutes les réponses à leurs problèmes.
C'est donc davantage sur les questions éthiques et morales que les conséquences vont se porter. Et si la solution recommandée par le logique conduisait à la mort d'autrui ? Mais tout aussi intéressant qu'il soit, l'axe pris se montre rapidement désuet par l'absence de nuances présentés par le récit. Comme si, parce que le logique recommandait le meurtre, le vol, ou autres solutions, l'humain se contenterait de suivre, en fonctionnant lui presque par impulsion.
Ce n'est donc pas un récit que je retiendrai, même si j'en ai quand même apprécié les toutes dernières lignes.
February 8, 2013
I'm a sucker for classic SF . . . even not-very-good classic SF. A Logic Named Joe is just that. And I liked it, but only just. There may be a reason why Leinster isn't better known today: his work, while ground breaking, wasn't very good. He may have been on the cutting edge of "Brave New World", "1984" and "Green Hills of Earth" type stories--his "Pirate of Zan" is almost an "Atlas Shrugged" meets "The Pirates of Penzance"--but his weren't quite so good. Some of his better SF ideas, like "Gateway to Elsewhere" got trapped in 1940s style detective/adventure trappings.
A fun read, but just barely.
A fun read, but just barely.
June 28, 2014
Au départ, mon côté féministe m'a fait sourciller lorsque j'ai lu la phrase suivante: « Les logiques ne sont pas efficaces en ce qui concerne les femmes. Il faut que les choses aient un sens. » (p.8)
Mais ce bref récit est tout simplement génial. Ayant écrit ce livre en 1946, l'auteur était bien en avance sur son temps lorsqu'il a imaginé un scénario impliquant un réseau informatique mondial qui dégénère.
Ce livre vient renforcer ma préférence pour les histoires courtes. J'ai bien aimé le style simple et direct de Murray Leinster, que j'inscris dans ma liste d'auteurs à suivre.
Mais ce bref récit est tout simplement génial. Ayant écrit ce livre en 1946, l'auteur était bien en avance sur son temps lorsqu'il a imaginé un scénario impliquant un réseau informatique mondial qui dégénère.
Ce livre vient renforcer ma préférence pour les histoires courtes. J'ai bien aimé le style simple et direct de Murray Leinster, que j'inscris dans ma liste d'auteurs à suivre.
March 17, 2014
A reprint of some fantastic short stories and novels by Murray Leinster (who has been almost completely forgotten by the sci-fi world, but deserves to be far better known). The title story nearly perfectly predicts personal computers and cloud computing -- complete with privacy concerns -- and was written in 1946.
Well worth the time and money for anyone who enjoys science fiction.
Well worth the time and money for anyone who enjoys science fiction.
July 30, 2011
This book introduced me to Murray Leinster. It's also a collection of several books and short stories.
The title "A logic named Joe" is the short story that predicted the internet, in 1946.
The title "A logic named Joe" is the short story that predicted the internet, in 1946.
January 25, 2016
Best chapter is a send up of time travel called "Dear Charles"
October 7, 2022
August 2021:
Not exactly my favorite sci-fi short story, but too devilishly accurate and more relevant than ever after 75 years to give anything less than 5 stars.
Not exactly my favorite sci-fi short story, but too devilishly accurate and more relevant than ever after 75 years to give anything less than 5 stars.
August 2, 2022
I mean he nailed what the internet, computers, and Google would be me way back in the 1940s
May 24, 2014
Чудесный сборник рассказов на тему роботов, наполненные как страхом, так и надеждой, как откровенным насмеханием, так и чуть ли не поклонением. С самого начала у нас комментарии советских недокритиков к произведению,ах, как я это "люблю"! Обычно пропускаю, а тут вчиталась - "Нужно ли боятся роботов?" Вопрос неплохой, а думалось мне, что повести как раз покажут разные отношения к этой проблеме именно из-за временного разрыва между повестями, который мне казался намного больше, а в сборнике в большинстве своем 50-60-ые года. Да, Золотой Век, да, самый сок НФ, но хотелось бы немного более широкого взгляда на проблему.
Под катом простынка с мыслями по каждой повести. Больше для себя, хотя и без спойлеров.
Под катом простынка с мыслями по каждой повести. Больше для себя, хотя и без спойлеров.
June 30, 2023
He tardado 6 meses en leer este tocho.
Las historias son demasiado infantiles. ¿Necesito invertar algo para que la historia siga?, ¡sin problema!
Supongo que este tipo de ciencia ficción me gustaría cuando era un niño pero ahora me parece que no vale nada.
SF de la preshistoria sin un gramo de imaginación.
Las historias son demasiado infantiles. ¿Necesito invertar algo para que la historia siga?, ¡sin problema!
Supongo que este tipo de ciencia ficción me gustaría cuando era un niño pero ahora me parece que no vale nada.
SF de la preshistoria sin un gramo de imaginación.
December 4, 2017
Murray Leinster's marvellous story which gives the first glimpse of something like the Internet, collected with other stories.
April 21, 2020
Fun pulp sci-fi yarns that presage inventions as recent as the search engine and the videoconference.
November 11, 2023
A Logic Named Joe relates much more to today than Ray Bradberry's Fahrenheit 451. This is because a Logic Named Joe has been a reality of our time. Recommended.
Currently reading
September 4, 2025Astounding Science Fiction; March, 1946
October 7, 2015
Murray Leinster. Just who is Murray Leinster? I've never heard his name before in my life, and if the introduction to the book is to be believed, I should be ashamed of myself.
In any case, the volume contains three novels and three stories. Taking it from the bottom, "Dear Charles" is the weakest from the lot, having an annoying narrator and little humor. "A Logic Named Joe" is a more intriguing story which, as the introductions points out, seems to all but predict the Internet, or at least some sort of global access to knowledge - and ponders the consequences of free access to any and all sorts of knowledge, including dangerous and forbidden ones. It's interesting to compare the difference between the 1946 view upon this matter (when this story was published), and our contemporary one. In the story, it results in quite a lot of chaos; yet here we are in the 21st century, where any unsupervised kid or bored teenager can look up naked girls or poison recipes with a little work, and we're still quite fine.
"The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator" is a fun little gem. With a get-rich-quick machine which we just know from the first page is going to get misused something fierce, a playful kangaroo (because everything's better with kangaroos), and nosy cops only succeeding in increasing the chaos, it's well worth a read for its wit and humor.
Then there are the novels. "Gateway To Elsewhere" is an adventure story about a clever common man who, having found himself in a different world that's stuck in an era out of Arabian Nights tales, makes use of his wits to overcome his foes and get married to a beautiful girl from the local royalty. "The Duplicators" is an adventure story about a clever common man who, having found himself on a different planet that's stuck in the Medieval era, makes use of his wits to overcome his foes and get married to a beautiful girl from the local royalty. On the other hand, "The Pirates of Zan" - for a change - is about a clever common man who, having found himself on a different planet that's stuck in the Medieval era, makes use of his wits to overcome his foes and get married to a beautiful girl from the local royalty... yeah, by the third time it was getting a tad monotonous.
But even though the novels may feel similar, ultimately they're all great, well-written adventures with a dash of humor (especially "The Duplicators", whose memorable pig-like "ufft" aliens seem like satire of hippies, pacifist, or just any other sort of annoying protesters you can think of.)
Very good oldschool Space Opera sci-fi.
In any case, the volume contains three novels and three stories. Taking it from the bottom, "Dear Charles" is the weakest from the lot, having an annoying narrator and little humor. "A Logic Named Joe" is a more intriguing story which, as the introductions points out, seems to all but predict the Internet, or at least some sort of global access to knowledge - and ponders the consequences of free access to any and all sorts of knowledge, including dangerous and forbidden ones. It's interesting to compare the difference between the 1946 view upon this matter (when this story was published), and our contemporary one. In the story, it results in quite a lot of chaos; yet here we are in the 21st century, where any unsupervised kid or bored teenager can look up naked girls or poison recipes with a little work, and we're still quite fine.
"The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator" is a fun little gem. With a get-rich-quick machine which we just know from the first page is going to get misused something fierce, a playful kangaroo (because everything's better with kangaroos), and nosy cops only succeeding in increasing the chaos, it's well worth a read for its wit and humor.
Then there are the novels. "Gateway To Elsewhere" is an adventure story about a clever common man who, having found himself in a different world that's stuck in an era out of Arabian Nights tales, makes use of his wits to overcome his foes and get married to a beautiful girl from the local royalty. "The Duplicators" is an adventure story about a clever common man who, having found himself on a different planet that's stuck in the Medieval era, makes use of his wits to overcome his foes and get married to a beautiful girl from the local royalty. On the other hand, "The Pirates of Zan" - for a change - is about a clever common man who, having found himself on a different planet that's stuck in the Medieval era, makes use of his wits to overcome his foes and get married to a beautiful girl from the local royalty... yeah, by the third time it was getting a tad monotonous.
But even though the novels may feel similar, ultimately they're all great, well-written adventures with a dash of humor (especially "The Duplicators", whose memorable pig-like "ufft" aliens seem like satire of hippies, pacifist, or just any other sort of annoying protesters you can think of.)
Very good oldschool Space Opera sci-fi.
March 2, 2014
Three complete novels, one of them a Hugo Award finalist, with a number of short stories. The Pirates of Zan - When a young man is accused of being one of the Pirates of Zan and jailed unjustly, he is given a secret offer-in return for being permitted to "escape," he must shake up the establishment, which is getting set in its ways. He succeeds beyond anyone's wildest expectations, becoming not just a pirate, but the deadliest do-gooder in the galaxy. Gateway to Elsewhere - Suppose that in another dimension, the world of the Arabian Nights is real, including very powerful and very dangerous djinns, who are nothing like Aladdin's big blue pal. A man from our world wouldn't have a chance against them . . . or, would he? The Duplicators - A planet with a machine which can duplicate anything would be the wealthiest world in the galaxy, right? Wrong. And unless the hapless voyager who's trapped on the planet can find a solution to its problem, he isn't going to live to leave again. Plus three short stories, including "A Logic Named Joe," an uncannily prophetic story of home computers and the internet - written in 1946!
July 2, 2010
I have learned that I am not always capable of ignoring rampant misogyny in SF. For an expanded explanation see my rant here: http://geekgirlsrule.wordpress.com/20... Seriously, I just could not get past the Gary Stu nature of all his protagonists. They're essentially the same guy over and over and over, and they all rely on "clever" to win the day, which is not appealing. I wanted to like this collection, because I've enjoyed the title selection in other anthologies, and I really and truly adore Eric Flint and wanted to like it because he obviously thought enough of Leinster to edit the collection, but man... I just can't do it. So, even though I've stopped in the middle of one of the stories, I don't think I'll be finishing this one.
March 5, 2017
A very entertaining collection of short stories and novellas. I was reminded of Slippery Jim DeGriz from the Stainless Steel Rat stories, although I know these were written way before that. The best part of the stories in this collection is that, although they were written in the 40's and 50's, they are surprisingly non-antiquated. The fact that Murray Leinster predicted the internet and smartphones in 1946 just blew me away! - April 6, 2013
January 7, 2019
Basically the internet, evil Cortana / Alexa, google, and cookies saving your data where predicted back in the 40's. It's impressive how such a thing predicted actually came to be. This story takes on a negative view of humanity and what it could do with such a vast array of information at our fingertips. Where any question, no matter how evil, can be answered.
December 26, 2007
Available at Baen Free Library.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews