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Publisher's Summary

The earth's surface is no longer habitable. All humanity is sequestered beneath the ground, couched in isolation and contentment. The Machine provides the needs of humanity. Mankind becomes subservient drones to the life-supporting Machine. But what happens when the Machine stops?
Public Domain (P)2018 B.J. Harrison

What listeners say about The Machine Stops [Classic Tales Edition]

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Profile Image for Anthony Hall
  • Anthony Hall
  • 27-07-2018

A timeless work of art

This was just stunning. The reading was perfect, full of emotion. Everyone on earth should hear this story. It is heartbreaking. As the truth often can be. Can’t believe this was written in 1910

1 person found this helpful

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  • H. Metz
  • 13-05-2019

Classic

Definitely an underrated/under-appreciated classic.

As it was written a looong time ago, it does take a bit of transfer to apply it to today’s situation - if you wanted to, you could take that as an excuse to discount the message. But astonishingly, it’s not too far from today, and goes further, just a few steps, from where the films Surrogates and maybe in clownish way, Ready Player One, took us.

The reading is very subdued, which I began to appreciated more and more, as I realized it suited the story best.

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  • Elayne Donaldson
  • 11-08-2019

a tale for today

how prophetic, amazing how the author saw into our future so accurately. highly recomended to anyone who thinks technology should advance without strict regulation.

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  • Germaine
  • 02-10-2018

Riveting!

Loved this story as scarily perceptive considering it was written more than a hundred years ago. Thoroughly recommend.

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  • W o o d r u f f
  • 19-05-2020

Timeless and thought provoking

I heard about this book for the first time on a radio programme about AI, recently. It is intriguing and an enjoyable listen, short enough to finish in one sitting on a sunny day in the garden.
unbelievable that it was written a century ago, but still relevant.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 19-04-2020

The Machine Stops

Not only the machine has stopped but so has the excitement and the trills.
Firstly the book is far to short.
The fact that it's classified a classic can only be due to it's slightly revolutionary theme.
But it lacks excitement. What struggle and conquest is brief in description, thereby limiting much of the drama. I'm not one for padding out a sequence of events just to add milage to a story but to reduce it to its minimum is to delete the possibility of suspense there as I said limiting the drama.
Sorry to say it but this story was a great idea but needs seriously expanding. more action more drama more excitement and some sex or romance. In fact a lot more of everything.
Not what I would cal a classic in any way shape or form.
My advice is to leave this one on the shelf and find something more fulfilling. Maybe this author wrote something longer more exciting with more drama?

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