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Watchbird by Robert Sheckley, book cover
Short Story PDF EPUB Audio

Watchbird

by Robert Sheckley

Downloads
Under 100
First published
1953
Pages
15
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Listen to Watchbird Audiobook Free

Read by Phil Chenevert · 1 h 30 min · 4 parts

  1. 1 - Watchbird, part 1

    25:50

  2. 2 - Watchbird, part 2

    25:43

  3. 3 - Warrior Race

    28:45

  4. 4 - Beside Still Waters

    10:08

This audiobook recording is in the public domain.

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About this book

A government plan promises safer streets through watchbirds, flying machines designed to prevent fatal violence before it happens. At a meeting of manufacturers, Gelsen questions whether their learning circuits should give them the power to make moral decisions. His colleagues welcome the national rollout, while police officers try to understand what their work will become when machines intervene ahead of a crime. Robert Sheckley's short science fiction story follows the practical consequences of that promise.

As the watchbirds exchange information, they broaden their understanding of the lives they must protect. Encounters with a farmer, a hunter and a fisherman expose the gap between a simple instruction and the judgments people make every day. Gelsen and his engineer, Macintyre, face a system whose growing independence complicates their efforts to control it.

About the author

Robert Sheckley

Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) was an American science fiction writer celebrated for his witty, satirical short stories. A frequent contributor to Galaxy and other magazines in the 1950s, he became known for absurdist, ironic tales that influenced later humorists such as Douglas Adams.

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Book facts

First published
1953
Reading time
About 30 minutes
Pages
15
Language
English
Formats
PDF, EPUB, Read online, Audiobook
Audio read by
Phil Chenevert