The Fun They Had, set in the year 2155, two children stumble upon a “real book"—a relic from a distant past they have never encountered before.
Tom, the older one, informs the younger Margie that the book is about a school where human teachers, unlike the mechanical teachers they have at home, educate children, who have to assemble in a building every day.
Barely a few pages long, Asimov’s tale now belongs to the pantheon of classic science fiction, filled with an elegiac nostalgia.
In today’s context, though, it rings uncannily true.“I have been thinking about this story ever since my children started attending school online during the lockdown," says Amit Haldar, a neurologist based in Kolkata.