The Magnificent Possession: Restored Classics to Go Edition

· Otbebookpublishing
Ebook
25
Pages
Eligible
Switch to the audiobook

About this ebook

Walter Sills, a weary chemist long lost in obscurity, finally stumbles onto the breakthrough of a lifetime: a process for isolating a miraculous new metal called ammonium, a glittering "substitute gold" with the power to remake science, industry, and fortune. With the cheerful help of his friend Eugene Taylor, he moves from tentative experiments to a discovery that promises wealth, fame, and even scientific immortality, only to learn that invention can attract greed as quickly as admiration. News of the metal spreads fast, alarming industrial titan J. Throgmorton Bankhead, whose plating empire is suddenly at risk. Opportunists swarm in, including a pompous ex-Congressman and a gangster, while Bankhead tries to pressure the scientists into selling cheaply. When thieves and con men invade the lab, Sills and Taylor are forced into comic, dangerous improvisation to protect their secret. Even after the papers are stolen and the pair retreat under police guard, they press ahead with a test of ammonium's plating power—only to unleash a spectacular, room-filling stench that sends the lab, the street, and everyone nearby into chaos. Blending speculative science, satire, and farce, this is a story of brilliant discovery, corporate menace, and the unpredictable disaster that can follow a world-changing idea. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
Walter Sills, a weary chemist long lost in obscurity, finally stumbles onto the breakthrough of a lifetime: a process for isolating a miraculous new metal called ammonium, a glittering "substitute gold" with the power to remake science, industry, and fortune. With the cheerful help of his friend ...

Discover more

About the author

Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in Russia and brought to the United States as a child, growing up in Brooklyn with a fierce appetite for reading and a gift for explaining complex ideas with remarkable clarity. Trained as a chemist and later a professor of biochemistry, he built one of the most astonishing literary careers of the twentieth century, publishing hundreds of books across science fiction, popular science, history, and essay writing. He became especially influential for his imaginative stories about robots, future civilizations, and the ethical dilemmas created by scientific progress, as well as for his ability to make science feel accessible, exciting, and intellectually humane. His work often explores reason, responsibility, trust in knowledge, and the tension between human limits and technological power, themes that feel even more urgent in today's world of artificial intelligence, rapid innovation, and information overload. Asimov's legacy lies not only in the scale of his output but in the way he helped generations of readers imagine the future without losing sight of ethics and curiosity. He remains a vital writer for anyone who loves big ideas, thoughtful speculation, and stories that ask how intelligence and conscience should guide the world we build.

Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in Russia and brought to the United States as a child, growing up in Brooklyn with a fierce appetite for reading and a gift for explaining complex ideas with remarkable clarity. Trained as a chemist and later a professor of biochemistry, he built one of the most asto...

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
Flag as inappropriate