"Asimov, Isaac - Magical Wishes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

by Gordon R. Dickson

I WISH I MAY. 1 WISH I MIGHT
by Bill Pronzini

THREE DAY MAGIC
by Charlotte Armstrong

THE BOTTLE IMP
by Robert Louis Stevenson

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INTRODUCTION:

WISHING WILL MAKE IT SO

by Isaac Asimov

When I was much younger than 1 am now, I heard the
philosophical comment: "It takes a million dollars to make a
millionaire, but a pauper can be poor without a penny."

When I was a tittle older I listened to Sid Caesar playing
me rote of a Teutonic mountaineer. Carl Reiner said to him,
"Tell me. Professor, how long does it take a person to
negotiate the distance between the top and bottom of a
mountain?"

Said Sid, "Two minutes."

Carl said. with considerable astonishment, "It takes only
two minutes to climb a mountain?"

To which Sid said, with disgust. "Not climb. To negotiate
me distance from the top down to the bottomЧtwo minutes.
Climbing is a different thing altogether.''

I've thought about such things, and it became clear to me
mat both the examples I have given are representative of a
general stale of affairs that can best be expressed as follows:

"Lousy things are no trouble."

For instance, it's no trouble to go hungry. You don't need