Skip to main content

What short story has a man stuck in a room with books that document all his future actions?


I am looking for a sci-fi short story I read a long time ago, though I am not sure exactly when. It must be at least 8 years old, but I believe it is much older than that. Its theme is free will vs. determinism.



The story regards a man who wakes up in a locked room with no recollection of how he got there. Meals are provided to him, though he never sees another person (I think they came through a slot in the wall, or while he was asleep). The room is completely furnished.


The interesting part of the room is that there is a wall with a giant bookcase on it. There are large bound volumes upon the shelves. Upon opening a volume, the man discovers that everything he does is detailed in the books with a time stamp on the page. So when he opens to a random page for the first time, the page says the he opened the book to X page and began reading.


He gets frustrated with the books and tries to "beat" them by doing random actions. He spins the dial of the clock to a random time, opens a book and discovers that the book already had noted the time that he set the clock to. He tears up one of the volumes in frustration. The next time he wakes up, there is a new volume in place of the old torn up one. Eventually he decides not to be governed by the books and resolves not to open them anymore. He opens one book for the last time, looks only at the time at the top of the page, and resets his clock to the correct time as detailed by the book.


Does anyone know what this short story is titled or who wrote it? I have tried to Google this many times, but there are way too many sci-fi short stories about free will v. determinism.


EDIT: Just a note on what I did to research this question. I have done many Google searches regarding the many elements of the story I can remember. I have also emailed all my sci-fi fan friends with a description of the story to see if they have any idea. I have started just looking up lists of famous and classic sci-fi short stories from all authors and reading the descriptions, but there are so many out there that I don't know my chances of success this way.



Answer



A friend of mine was able to find the story!


Just in case anyone else was interested, and for future people searching for this story, it is:


“Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends” by Thomas D. Davis, in a book called “Philosophy: An Introduction Through Fiction, Discussions, and Readings”.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Tolkien trying to say in this letter?

In a draft of a letter, later recorded as #246, Tolkien makes a strange statement. I am interested in the first few sentences of the letter, but I will include the remainder for the sake of context. In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond . But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power . But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy ...
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Was Galadriel's temptation of Boromir instrumental to his fall?

We know Galadriel tempted the members of the Fellowship, did she tempt Boromir with visions of taking the Ring and saving Gondor? In the books, Boromir willingly accepts the judgement of the council that the Ring should be destroyed, but after the meeting with Celeborn and Galadriel his personality seems to change. Was the temptation offered by Galadriel in some way responsible for Boromir's fall? Answer It's likely, but not certain I believe it is likely Galadriel tempted him with the ring, and in doing so re-ignited a pre-existing idea to take the ring, but to be clear lets break this down into three parts. Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir after setting off Boromir after being tempted Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir pleas for the ring to go to Minas Tirith, to help Gondor in its defense against Mordor. “ Why should we not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serve us in the very hour of need? Wielding it the Free Lords of the Free may surely...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more