BDeBooks
W Watchbird Robert Sheckley
Science Fiction PDF EPUB Audio

Watchbird

by Robert Sheckley

Downloads
Under 100
Pages
15
Read online EPUB Download Save

Listen to Watchbird Audiobook Free

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

Open the player

  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.

The audio edition streams in the page. There is no audio file to download.

Browse all free audiobooks

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. Readers interested in automated authority will find a sharply focused account of how technical confidence can outrun human understanding.

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.

More by Robert Sheckley

See all 3 books

More from this genre

See all

Discussion

No comments yet. Share a thought, a question or a favourite passage.

Sign in to comment

Copyright concern? Read our DMCA policy

Read or download

Public domain book This work is in the public domain and free of copyright. Anyone may read, download and share it.

Read online Text reader: adjustable size, font and theme. Open PDF (original pages)
  • PDF 470 KB Keeps the printed page layout
  • EPUB 307 KB Reflows on phones and e-readers

Downloads start right away. How to open EPUB on your phone

Report a problem with this file

Book facts

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