The Forgetting Machine (20 page)
Read The Forgetting Machine Online
Authors: Pete Hautman
Memory overload
When you learn something, do you have to forget something else to make room in your brain? Maybe. The human brain has been estimated to have a capacity of between ten and one hundred terabytes. Today,
Wikipedia
contains around ten terabytes of information, and it gets bigger every day. So if you could download all of
Wikipedia
into your brain, would your head explode, or would some of the information already there get pushed out? I used to know the answer, but I forgot!
Future (maybe)!
Bookless libraries
Today, computers have become a big part of the services offered by most librariesâand there are a few libraries that have no paper books at all.
Present.
Will bookless libraries become the norm in the future?
Who knows?
Hacking
Charlotte's Web
Could a book really be altered on every server and every reading device in the world? Maybe not today, but as our devices become more and more connected, it is conceivable. Paper books matter!
Future!
Pete Hautman
is the author of
The Flinkwater Factor
;
Godless
, which won the National Book Award; and many other critically acclaimed books for teens and adults, including
Blank Confession
;
All-In
;
Rash
;
No Limit
;
Invisible
; and
Mr. Was
, which was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Pete lives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Visit him at
PeteHautman.com
.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster, New York
Visit us at
SimonandSchuster.com/kids
Also by Pete Hautman
The Flinkwater Factor
Blank Confession
All-In
Rash
Invisible
Godless
(Winner of the National Book Award)
Sweetblood
No Limit
Mr. Was
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2016 by Pete Hautman
Jacket illustrations copyright © 2016 by Rayner Alencar
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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Book design by Chloë Foglia
The text for this book was set in Excelsior LT Std.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hautman, Pete, 1952- author.
Title: The forgetting machine / Pete Hautman.
Description: First Edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young
Readers, [2016] | Series: The Flinkwater chronicles ; book 2 | Summary:
“Ginger Crump solves the mystery of why people in her town are forgetting things they should definitely know.”âProvided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015044664| ISBN 9781481464383 (hardback) | ISBN 9781481464406 (eBook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Science fiction. | MemoryâFiction. | Mystery and detective stories. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Science & Technology. | JUVENILE FICTION / Science Fiction. | JUVENILE FICTION / Mysteries & Detective Stories.
Classification: LCC PZ7.H2887 Fo 2016 | DDC [Fic]âdc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2015044664
