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The Fun They Had
The Fun They Had

Warm-Upm-Up
War
‘The Fun They Had’ is a science fiction story written by Isaac Asimov. In this piece of writing,
the author takes us in future to 2155 A.D. when Tommy comes across a book dating back to
the time when his grandfather’s grandfather might have been a school-going kid.

Margie even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the page headed 17 May 2155, she wrote,
‘Today Tommy found a real book!’
It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy all the stories

were printed on paper.
They turned the pages which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that

stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to—on a screen, you know. And then,
when they turned back to the page before, it had the same words on it that it had when they read
it the first time.
‘Gee,’ said Tommy, ‘what a waste! When you’re through with the book, you just throw it away, I

guess. Our television screen must have had a million books on it and it’s good for plenty more. I
wouldn’t throw it away.’

‘Same with mine,' said Margie. She was eleven and hadn’t seen as many telebooks as Tommy had.
He was thirteen.
She asked, ‘Where did you find it?’

‘In my house.’ He pointed without looking, because he was busy reading. ‘In the attic.’

‘What’s it about?’
‘School.’

Margie was scornful. ‘School? What’s there to write about school? I hate school.’ The mechanical
teacher had been giving her test after test in Geography and she had been doing worse and worse

until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.
He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He smiled at
her and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart. Margie had hoped he wouldn’t know how to
put it together again, but he knew how all right and after an hour or so, there it was again, large and

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