1950s on paapereira.xyz

A Canticle for Leibowitz (Saint Leibowitz #1) by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1959)

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 22:00:00 +0000

A Canticle for Leibowitz (Saint Leibowitz #1) by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1959)

Author: Walter M. Miller Jr.
First Published: October 1, 1959
Series: Saint Leibowitz Book 1
Score: 7/10

Goodreads

In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes. Seriously funny, stunning, and tragic, eternally fresh, imaginative, and altogether remarkable, A Canticle for Leibowitz retains its ability to enthrall and amaze. It is now, as it always has been, a masterpiece.

Prelude to Space by Arthur C. Clarke (1950)

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 21:00:00 +0100

Prelude to Space by Arthur C. Clarke (1950)

Author: Arthur C. Clarke
First Published: January 1, 1950
Score: 7/10

Goodreads

The world’s first lunar spacecraft is about to launch. The ship, Prometheus, is built from two components—one designed to travel trough outter space to the Moon and back, and the other to carry the first component through Earth’s atmosphere and into orbit. Dirk Alexson, a historian assigned to documenting the project, travels from London to the desert base in Australia where Prometheus is to be launched. In a true example of life imitating art, Alexson describes what would become the foundation for the actual space shuttle program twenty years later. First published in 1951, Prelude to Space is full of detailed technical descriptions and conversations regarding the possibility of spaceflight, many of which mirrored—or were actually cited in—the construction of the first spaceships and telecommunications satellites. Clarke’s uncanny ability to predict so many events, concerns, dilemmas, and triumphs of space exploration decades in advance make this fascinating novel as much science as it is fiction.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954)

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 21:00:00 +0100

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954)

Author: William Golding
First Published: September 17, 1954
Score: 9/10

Goodreads

As provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, Lord of the Flies continues to ignite passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. William Golding’s compelling story about a group of very ordinary boys marooned on a coral island has been labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, and even a vision of the apocalypse. But above all, it has earned its place as one of the indisputable classics of the twentieth century for readers of any age.

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 22:00:00 +0000

Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)

Author: Arthur C. Clarke
First Published: August 1953
Score: 9/10

Goodreads

In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems.

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (1959)

Sun, 12 Jul 2020 22:30:00 +0100

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (1959)

Author: Robert A. Heinlein
First Published: December 1959
Score: 6/10

Goodreads

The historians can’t seem to settle whether to call this one “The Third Space War” (or the fourth), or whether “The First Interstellar War” fits it better. We just call it “The Bug War." Everything up to then and still later were “incidents,” “patrols,” or “police actions.” However, you are just as dead if you buy the farm in an “incident” as you are if you buy it in a declared war…

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 23:26:00 +0100

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

Author: Ray Bradbury
First Published: 1953
Score: 8/10

Goodreads

Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of 20th-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future, narrated here by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family”. But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

Foundation (Foundation #1) by Isaac Asimov (1951)

Sat, 08 Jun 2019 22:19:00 +0100

Foundation (Foundation #1) by Isaac Asimov (1951)

Author: Isaac Asimov
First Published: 1951
Series: Foundation Book 1
Score: 8/10

Goodreads

For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future – to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire – both scientists and scholars – and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1955)

Wed, 01 May 2019 22:11:00 +0100

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1955)

Author: Alfred Bester
First Published: 1955
Score: 6/10

Goodreads

In this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people “jaunte” a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hit men - and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive.

The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy and timeless narrative enchantment by an acknowledged master of science fiction.

I, Robot (Robot Series Book 0.1) by Isaac Asimov (1950)

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 22:49:00 +0000

I, Robot (Robot Series Book 0.1) by Isaac Asimov (1950)

Author: Isaac Asimov
First Published: 1950
Series: Robot Series Book 0.1
Score: 7/10

Goodreads

The three laws of Robotics:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

With these three, simple directives, Isaac Asimov changed our perception of robots forever when he formulated the laws governing their behavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot through a series of interlinked stories: from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future–a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete.

The Playground by Ray Bradbury (1953)

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 21:51:00 +0100

The Playground by Ray Bradbury (1953)

Author: Ray Bradbury
First Published: 1953
Score: 7/10

Goodreads

“The Playground” was part of the first hardcover edition of Ray Bradbury’s legendary work Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953. In the story, Charles Underhill is a widower who will do anything to protect his young son Jim from the horrors of the playground - a playground which he and the boy pass by daily and the tumult of which, the activity, brings back to Charles the anguish of his own childhood. The playground, like childhood itself, is a nightmare of torment and vulnerability; Charles fears his sensitive son will be destroyed there just as he almost was so many years ago. Underhill’s sister, Carol, who has moved in to help raise the young boy after his mother passed away, feels differently. The playground, she believes, is preparation for life, Jim will survive the experience she feels, and he will be the better for it and more equipped to deal with the rigor and obligation of adult existence. Underhill is caught between his own fear and his sister’s invocation of reason and feels paralyzed. A mysterious boy calls out to him from the playground, and seems to know all too well why Underhill is there and what the source of his agony really is. A mysterious Manager also lurks and to whom the strange boy directs Underhill. An agreement can be made perhaps - this is what the boy tells Underhill. Perhaps Jim can be spared the playground, but of course, a substitute must be found.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 19:10:00 +0100

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)

Author: Ralph Ellison
First Published: 1952
Score: 5/10

Goodreads

Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its appearance in 1952. A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of “the Brotherhood,” and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Joyce, and Dostoevsky.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)

Sun, 10 Jun 2018 21:07:00 +0100

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)

Author: Richard Matheson
First Published: 1954
Score: 8/10

Goodreads

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth… but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are hungry for Neville’s blood.

By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (1959)

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 22:54:00 +0100

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (1959)

Author: Alfred Lansing
First Published: January 1st 1959
Score: 5/10

Goodreads

This is a new reading of the thrilling account of one of the most astonishing feats of exploration and human courage ever recorded.

In August of 1914, the British ship Endurance set sail for the South Atlantic. In October 1915, still half a continent away from its intended base, the ship was trapped, then crushed in the ice. For five months, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men, drifting on ice packs, were castaways in one of the most savage regions of the world.

Casino Royale (James Bond #1) by Ian Fleming (1953)

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 22:37:00 +0100

Casino Royale (James Bond #1) by Ian Fleming (1953)

Author: Ian Fleming
First Published: 1953
Series: James Bond Book 1
Score: 5/10

Goodreads

For James Bond and the British Secret Service, the stakes couldn’t be higher. 007’s mission is to neutralize the Russian operative Le Chiffre by ruining him at the baccarat table, forcing his Soviet masters to “retire” him. When Le Chiffre hits a losing streak, Bond discovers his luck is in - that is, until he meets Vesper Lynd, a glamorous agent who might yet prove to be his downfall.