Project Gutenberg 2009-02-18 Public domain in the USA. 73 Jones, Raymond F. 1915 1994 Jones, Raymond F. (Raymond Fisher) The Great Gray Plague Reading ease score: 76.1 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. Produced by Greg Weeks, Dave Lovelace, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Great Gray Plague" by Raymond F. Jones is a science fiction novel written in the early 1960s. The story centers around Dr. William Baker, a 50-year-old director at the National Bureau of Scientific Development, and explores themes of scientific progress, human creativity, and the conflict between established authority and unconventional thinking. The narrative touches upon Baker's pride in his achievements, yet sets the stage for conflict as he interacts with colleagues and faces unexpected challenges, hinting at the emerging crisis that will unfold in response to a mysterious phenomenon. At the start of the novel, we meet Dr. Baker on his fiftieth birthday, where he receives a heartfelt surprise from his staff that underscores the camaraderie of his work environment. However, the tone quickly shifts as Baker's day progresses, revealing a tension between him and his friend Dr. John Fenwick, who is seeking a research grant for Clearwater College. Their conversation exposes the rigid criteria the Bureau employs to judge grant applications, including ludicrous evaluations of faculty backgrounds and cultural contributions, which irritate Fenwick. Baker's disdain for unconventional ideas and his adherence to the bureaucratic processes set up a conflict when a seemingly crackpot inventor, Jim Ellerbee, presents a potentially revolutionary communication device that challenges Baker's established views and beliefs about what constitutes legitimate scientific inquiry. The opening thus hints at a deeper exploration of creativity, human ingenuity, and the limitations imposed by rigid academic structures. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Science fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 183876 183885 2024-10-12T07:34:12.898420 2023-09-12T10:34:44.576458 text/html text/html 181986 2009-02-18T06:49:08 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 473590 2009-02-18T06:49:08 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 516302 2024-10-12T07:34:16.144629 application/epub+zip 517036 2024-10-12T07:34:13.517393 application/epub+zip 113602 2024-10-12T07:34:13.199389 application/epub+zip 584531 2024-10-12T07:34:18.252388 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 574921 2024-10-12T07:34:15.821391 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 172707 2022-09-13T07:03:48.768887 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 172695 172585 2024-10-12T07:34:12.511419 2023-09-12T10:34:44.237488 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 172532 2009-02-18T06:49:08 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 64341 2009-02-18T06:49:08 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20017 2024-10-12T07:34:18.375347 application/rdf+xml 24108 2024-10-12T07:34:13.269388 image/jpeg 4106 2024-10-12T07:34:13.232372 image/jpeg 479428 2024-10-12T07:34:12.934415 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia