Take a break; listen to a story

I have enjoyed listening to free audio books. These works are in the public domain. 

The Machine Stops (version 3)

by E. M. Forster (1879-1970)

“The Machine Stops” is a science fiction story by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster’s The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. The story describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual now lives in isolation below ground in a standard ‘cell’, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. (Summary by Wikipedia)

mp3@64kps (For other speeds or audio types, visit the site.)

Part 1 The Air-Ship – 00:30:53
Part 2 The Mending Apparatus – 00:26:01
Part 3 The Homeless – 00:23:44 

What is incredible about this story is that was published in 1909. It describes a world run by a machine (a computer). People communicate with people in other parts of the world by talking out loud and seeing the other person's image in a blue glowing tablet. Like so many science fiction works, the story predicts modern gadgets with surprising accuracy.