The Library Book, also known as Mystery Book, is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Union Club series, it was first published in the July 1982 issue of Gallery magazine. It was later collected in The Union Club Mysteries and The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov.
Summary[]
At the Union Club, Griswold claims personal responsibility for the development of the microchip. He recounts the story of his college friend Oswald Simpson, a brilliant but paranoid mathematician working in early computer technology. Simpson believed he had made a revolutionary discovery, a forerunner to microchip technology, and was engaged in a bitter dispute with his company over compensation. Fearing the company would steal his work, he hid the written secret in a library book, believing it would be safe from a corporate search of his home.
One morning, Simpson discovered that his wife had inadvertently returned the book to the library. Enraged and terrified that his secret would be lost, he suffered a fatal heart attack. His last words to his wife, as she returned with the book, were "Inside, inside," while pointing at it. After his death, his wife searched the book meticulously but found nothing, no loose paper, no marginalia.
Griswold, consulted by the distraught widow, deduced the hiding place from Simpson's final, unfinished clue. He realized that a library book has a unique feature: a pocket inside the cover or back for a library card. Mrs. Simpson had overlooked this pocket. Griswold checked it and found the crucial document. This paper allowed Simpson's widow to negotiate a settlement with the company, securing her family's financial future and enabling the commercial development that led to the microchip.
Characters[]
- Griswold
- Club Member (the narrator)
- Baranov
- Jennings
- Oswald Simpson
- Olive Simpson
- Simpson's Children
Historical Figures Mentioned[]
- James Watt
- Michael Faraday
- Wright Brothers
- William Shockley
- Vannevar Bush
- Norbert Wiener
See Also[]
List of short stories by Isaac Asimov