Pebble in the Sky: The groundbreaking classic science fiction novel

Another great novel by Asimov in the Empire series. I love reading sci-fi written in the 50s and the predictions of technology made back then. This novel is set 10s if not 100s of thousands of years in Earth's future, but people still use coins for payment, smoke, make calls from public callboxes and there are still department stores! Loved the story and couldn't put it down.

Set in the Empire universe this is a dystopian time travel classic. Written in 1949, the story glides along without a lot of techno-babble as Asimov knew nothing about the computerisation of everything to come. In fact at the end of the book is a 1980s apology for the use of dodgy "science" of radioactivity, vital to this story, which as he explains was still evolving in the 1940's post Hiroshima. Accept this naivety and enjoy the ride. One thing that Asimov was supreme at was the dystopian societies built around bigotry. Famously his robot series reflected the American racial bigotry at the time (and still today). In this book the lowest of the low in the universe are the 'scum' Earthlings who dwell on a radioactive contaminated planet and have to bow before their Galactic masters who lord it over them. Plopped right into the seething mess of a society is poor Shwartz, a retired tailor from Chicago, transported thousands of years into the future to a contaminated Earth he cannot recognise, whose tiny population speak a different language and who fear both the Imperial garrison and their own pseudo religious zealots who strangely believe that Earth was the original planet of humans and hate all outsiders and want to take their rightful place at the top of the food chain in the universe. The writing style is old fashioned and ........ an absolute pleasure to read. I remember reading this 30 years ago (in paperback) and found I clearly remembered most of the details, such is the quality of this story. If this was written now, there would be more violence, sex and definitely a sequel or 4. Updated a bit, it would definitely make a good TV mini series.

A sci Fi story written many years ago that still remains fresh. Asimov’s writing is unique and joyful. A feel good book.

Good read

Highly recommended!

An intriguing start to this first Asimov novel, marred by a great deal of pedestrian inaction, and spoilt by a final moment of suspense-of-disbelief that annoyed rather than built a satisfying conclusion of tension. Asimov is an excellent storyteller and particularly in building story through dialogue. But in this, the dialogue was less of a well-crafted structural device for propelling the story than it was a barrier to building any tension, and by the time the final turning point arrived it was akin to someone letting the air out of a particularly saggy balloon at the stage in the party where only the few die-hards are left lolling about amongst the litter strewn about as apparent evidence of a good time, as always hoped for, but really the picture telling of a sad fizzle of events soonest departed from. Shame - but... we all have to start somewhere, somehow. I still - and always will - love Asimov, the father of great science fiction.

Pebble in the Sky is the third book in Issac Asimov's Galactic Empire series chronologicaly but his first actual published novel. They are all stand alone stories though filling in some of the gaps between his Robot and Foundation series so you can read them in any order or stand alone if you want without any problem though I would recommend reading all three as they are all decent vintage sci-fi novels without question. Pebble in the Sky is probably my favorite of the three books in the series. The story is set around a couple of characters, Joseph Schwartz a man pulled through time and Bel Arvardan a somewhat celebrity archeologist. Through a remarkable series of events the pair of them are entangled in a plot by Earth to escape what it sees as it's shackles to the Trantorian Galactic Empire. It's an interesting story though not entirely for the cast (though they are perfectly fine and well written) but ideas in the background. Is an Empire a bad thing when it brings peace to the galaxy? Is where we came from really important? etc. They are only loosely touched upon but Issac Asimov has a nice way of weaving multiple ideas into a story without them getting in the way of the plot as a whole. Like a lot of his work it's easy to read, flows nicely but still suffers a little from being the era it was written in regards to female characters though this isn't as bad as some 50's sci-fi I have read. The one female character prevalent in the book seems to have a sole purpose of being the romantic interest for Bel while being helpless which was a little eye rolling but if you can overlook that you should very much enjoy Pebble in the Sky. Like the other books in the series though the new paperback price here of £12 is eye wateringly expensive for such a short book and while I enjoyed it and recommend it to fans of science fiction, not at that price. + Easy to read. + Well written, good pacing. + Some interesting ideas both in the foreground and background. - Lone female character is there pretty much as a romance and that's it. - £12 is pretty expensive for a pretty short book.

A great introduction to science fiction, by the master. Although it now slots in to the overall "universe" created by Asimov, this was originally a stand alone novel - so it stands on its own! Good story, some action, and even a little romance. A great read. Could easily be made into a movie, wonder why it never has?

Wie beschrieben Schnell und zuverlässig gesendet

“Pebble in the Sky” is the first book by the great American sci-fi writer, Isaac Asimov. This very nice paperback edition is a 2009 reprint by Tom Doherty's sci-fi publications house in New York. We Indians are lucky that it is so readily available to buy thanks to Amazon India. This is also the third book of the Empire series of novels, in which Asimov builds the Galactic empire that plays a central role in his subsequent magnum opus the Foundation series. John Jenkins, the famous Asimov fan who runs the ”Jenkins’ Spoiler-Laden Guide to Isaac Asimov” web site, counts “Pebble in the Sky” as one of his favourite Asimov novels. That should tell you something. This is a story set on Earth tens of thousands of years in the future. Earth is heavily polluted by nuclear waste. It is occupied by a very small population. And it is hated by the rest of the Galaxy. On such an Earth travel our two protagonists—a man from 1940s Chicago who has been hurtled into the future by a freak nuclear accident, and an archaeologist from planet Baronn who comes to Earth to study its past. And our protagonists see that something bad is brewing in the minds of the people who run the planet. … This plot of this book is very complex but very enjoyable. Highly recommended!

Secondo me gli appassionati di Sci-fi dovrebbero leggere se non tutte le opere di Asimov almeno quelle appartenenti ai "cicli" più importanti. Nel mio kindle ho la versione in lingua originale di tutte queste (Fondazione, Robot, Impero). Peccato che molti altri libri di Asimov non si trovino in versione ebook. Ma con la versione cartacea è anche peggio.

Why I chose this book. It's by Asimov, that's reason enough. He's the master. Great story and well written. I recommend this book to all.

It's been published for quite a few years now. I think - like so many of Asimov's stories - it was originally a Short Story turned into a book. Nevertheless still a good read!