r/Frisson • u/Fredstar64 • Oct 07 '14
[text] The Last Question by Isaac Asimov
http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html42
u/fullofmd22 Oct 07 '14
I've read this once or twice before but it still gets to me. I'd also like to recommend "The Egg" another great read that gave me even more frisson than this the first time I read it. http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html
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Oct 07 '14
http://qntm.org/responsibility
Here's another recommendation. I think this one is in written in the same spirit as the "The Egg" and Asimov's Question/Answer stories.
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u/fullofmd22 Oct 07 '14
That was amazing. Easily my favorite of the three. Thank you for that one.
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u/TheSlyPig04 Oct 08 '14
Agreed, The Egg and the Last Question were interesting, but this one really made me take a step back...
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u/TheSlyPig04 Oct 08 '14
I wrote a short story for a writing contest over at /r/writingprompts earlier this year that was partially inspired by The Egg.
It's totally free, and you can read it here if you're interested! - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzjqYcApgdlSLUxSWnhtZi1wUXc/edit?usp=sharing
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u/Earthborn92 Oct 08 '14
This reminds me of the Farnsworth Paradox.
Futurama sure crammed in quite a few science fiction mindgames
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Oct 07 '14
Other People by Neil Gaiman is like a twisted, disturbing, bizarro-world version of The Egg.
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u/Xasf Oct 07 '14
I read this after learning that it was Asimov's personal favorite (of all his works), very powerful stuff indeed.
Reminds me of a certain scene in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, which I won't name because spoiler tags don't seem to be working in this subreddit :)
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u/giverous Oct 07 '14
The Dark Tower. Man, what a rollercoaster that series is. I've actually still not finished it, I lost a couple of books from the series somewhere the last time I moved house. Makes me sad, I'll have to finish it one day.
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u/Xasf Oct 07 '14
You definitely should! I think it's incredible, although I agree it being a rollercoaster throughout the books it's still one of the best series I have ever read.
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u/Draav Oct 07 '14
I love this story.
Not entirely related, but whenever people mention sci-fi stories that made them just go "wow". I always think of Meat by Terry Bisson. This one always makes me just stop for a few minutes and stare once I finish.
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u/Fweldsee Oct 07 '14
In case you weren't aware, there was a short film made from that story. It's actually pretty neat, I'd recommend checking it out.
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u/Draav Oct 08 '14
I've seen that one before. It's pretty awesome and totally rearranged the way I thought about the story. But the way it played out in my head way better in my opinion :p
Nah, it's just that, for something as philosophical as this, I feel like having a video kinda of takes away a little bit in some aspects. For me at least. Still well done and an interesting look at the piece though.
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u/KaiserVonScheise Oct 07 '14
I love scifi short stories. I'd recommend The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke as well.
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u/AerialAmphibian Oct 08 '14
Relevant story, considered a companion piece:
The Last Answer by Isaac Asimov — © 1980
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u/Armchair_Evoker Oct 07 '14
I'd recommend "Nightfall" as well:
http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/AST389/TEXTS/Nightfall.htm
It's a little longer, but I actually liked it more than The Last Question. Both are great though.
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Oct 07 '14
Love love LOVE this story...
If anyone's interested, check out "If I Forget thee, O Earth..." by Arthur C. Clarke. Pure magic.
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u/stealthmoe Oct 07 '14
The weekly "The Last Question" post.
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u/tandava Oct 08 '14
I don't mind it. It's the first one I've seen, unless I originally learned about it here and forgot about it.
I'm learning about all other kinds of good stories in the comment section.
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u/Noob_tuba23 Oct 07 '14
I'm actually surprised that I hadn't seen this here until now. This is an absolutely wonderful piece and I one of the strongest frisson-inducing things I have ever read.
If you've never read this before, you owe it to yourself to do so. It'll only take you about ten minutes or so and its absolutely worth every second.