Tales from the White Hart

More about the book

This entertaining volume by Arthur C. Clarke collects fifteen improbable stories narrated in a London pub where a select group of writers, scientists, journalists, and editors gather weekly. The star of these gatherings is Harry Purvis, a boastful and witty storyteller who seizes any opportunity to overwhelm his friends with strange occurrences he claims to have witnessed or been privy to. Surprising inventions, unexpected situations, and bold experiments—such as machines that produce silence, recreate sexual pleasure, or compose perfect melodies; ships that plow the oceans; military computers that adopt pacifist behaviors; and colonies of termites that incorporate human knowledge—form the clever and imaginative fabric of these tales from the White Hart tavern.