Pebble in the Sky, by Isaac Asimov

There's no question that Isaac Asimov is one of the great sci-fi writers of all time.  It's been years since I've read his Foundation Trilogy and Robot series.  Published in 1951, Pebble in the Sky, Asimov's first novel, reminds us of his greatness and iconic influence on the genre, and makes me want to revisit his other, more famous books.

Cover of the first edition.  If you have one of these lying around, you can sell if for hundreds of dollars.

The story opens with Joseph Schwartz, a twentieth century everyman, suddenly transported thousands of years into the future due to an accident at a nearby nuclear laboratory.  In the future in which he finds himself, Earth is a "pebble in the sky," an insignificant backwater in the Galactic Empire.  Now the political and cultural centers of the Empire are light years away and the Earth is a radioactive, post-nuclear wasteland, with only isolated inhabitable portions.  The catch is that the Earth is actually the cradle of humanity, but no one really knows that.

Schwartz arrives in the 9th century of the Galactic Era at a crucial moment.  The leaders of earth are plotting revenge on the rest of the empire, and it's up to Schwartz, an Earth scientist, and an archeologist from another planet to thwart the plot.  Pebble in the Sky has all the characters and elements necessary for pulp sci-fi: the everyman hero, the hand-wringing megalomaniac with the plot to take over the galaxy (you can almost hear the evil laugh), the almost believable technological advances, the brilliant scientist who is taken advantage of by the evil plotters, his beautiful daughter/assistant, and the famous outsider who sets aside his prejudice and takes the side of the underdogs.

This is a fun, fast-moving story with lots of coincidences to tie the people and events together.  But more than that, it reveals Asimov's prophetic insights in culture, technology, and history.  Some of his insights are dead on, like the readers they use instead of books.  However, they put spools into the readers; maybe Asimov didn't anticipate the memory capacity of today's devices.  As prolific as he was, we could fit everything he ever wrote on an ipod.

I particularly liked the portrayal of discrimination against Earthmen.  Earth was isolated and looked down upon by the rest of the galaxy as filthy and detestable.  I imagine the same kinds of attitudes as the English held toward some of their colonies, or as whites toward blacks.  Writing in the early 1950s, before the civil rights movement took hold, I wonder if Asimov's message was noted; it must have been at least a little controversial in some circles.

This is truly a classic.  Sci-fi lovers shouldn't miss it.