BKMT READING GUIDES
John Smith Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars
by Roland Hughes
Paperback : 274 pages
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Introduction
"John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars" is one big interview. It is a transcript of a dialogue between "John Smith" (who, as the title of the book implies is the last known survivor of the Microsoft wars) and the interviewer for a prominent news organization.
This is a work of dystopian fiction, but it is not about an evil empire or a people struggling to rebuild some sense of normality. Indeed the bulk of the current population were all born after the disaster so life is normal to them. They do know there was “something” before, but they do not know what. Their desire to know human history and discovery of one man who not only claims to know it, but has physical evidence to back it up, is the basis of this story. How do you explain to a human race which has only seen birds in the air what human flight was? Satellites in orbit? An orbiting space station? A cell phone? Microwave oven? Such is the dilemma for John Smith, who has run out of time, and must now try to transfer all that he knows to the next cycle of humanity.
Discussion Questions
1. What if recorded history is just as accurate as that old tale about three blind men examining an elephant?2. If your eyes can only see a tiny portion of a collage, how much do you have to see before you realize it is a collage?
3. Where did history actually begin?
4. If you can choose items from any library in the world to reboot humanity, but only as many as will fit in the back of a minivan, what items would you choose?
5. Of the items you chose, how much of today's world must survive for them to be useful? Could they restart a human race which currently has nothing but a driftwood fire on a river bank?
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