"Paul Di Filippo - The Reluctant Book" - читать интересную книгу автора (Di Filippo Paul)

cleverly manipulated by our librarians, are the prime source of new
concepts and fresh perspectives. Even in a culture such as the current
human one, which prizes stability and feels that many limits of
knowledge
have already been reached, new thoughts are still welcomed by many
scholars and--"
"What's going on here!"
The shouted query from the rear of the herd caused every book to squeak
loudly and nearly bolt for their carrels. The herd swayed, but held.
Summoning all his courage, clutching Vellum's paw tighter than ever,
Canto
turned around to look for the source of the angry shout.
A human stood on the fringes of the herd, and he held an object Canto
had
never actually seen before, but only heard horror stories about.
A librarian's fine-assessor.

MB Stallkamp's library back home at his manse Brundisium consisted of a
mere ninety books, housed in a smallish barn recently much extended in
preparation for his anticipated acquisition. He consulted his tomes by
ones and twos--perhaps by threes, at most. Dealt with in such small
numbers, the books had always struck him as feeble and impotent
creatures,
susceptible to easy command and prone to cower under his astringent
tone.
Now, faced with scores of self-motivated books, Stallkamp was forced to
revise his long-held estimate of the books' tractability. This
unexpected
show of initiative went counter to his expectations. His gut rebelled
against the massed smell of the volumes, and their ranked stares
unnerved
him. But realizing that he should not let any of his fear or
uncertainty
show, lest he lose any trace of the upper hand, he followed his first
instinctive question with a bellowed demand, directed at the one book
who
stood out from the herd.
"You on the table! What's your UDC?"
Only among themselves did the books indulge in proper names, names
which
were meaningless to their librarians. To those masters, they were known
by
their Universal Decimal Classification, as displayed above their
carrels.
The portly book stuttered out its code. "Theta gamma dot zero nine
seven
two slash five blue one--master."
Nerving himself up to a desperate pitch, Stallkamp crane-strutted his
way
through the books as they fell desperately away from him, squeaking,