These carefully curated stories are from “After Dinner Conversation” magazine to create a themed short story book about the philosophy and ethics of research. Perfect for classrooms and book clubs, each story is 1,500-7,000 words and comes with five suggested discussion questions.
Story Summary List
“The Mind Reader”: An outspoken bar patron runs an experiment to see if the world can be divided into the "weak" and the "strong" in attempt to prove he's not an authoritarian fascist.
“Mahabbah”: A scientist invents a virus that causes people to be compassionate and empathetic.
“Mayonnaise”: The inventor of million dollar "zero fat, zero calorie" food additive discovers her invention is killing her son.
“Bugs in the Valley”: A pharmaceutical company turns a rare flower into an equally rare medicine that cures cancer and stops aging.
“Sow”: A pilot is tasked with "seeding" a distant planet with the codes to give rise to future humans, at the expense of the planet's natural evolutionary process.
“Two-Percenters”: A new treatment may allow 98% of the people to be genetically enhanced, but at the expense of the 2% who already are.
“We Don't Do Faux”: A mother steals a cure from her medical employer to save her sick daughter.
“Pandora's Dreams”: A new technology allows the recording, playback, and sale of dreams.
“Words of the Ancients”: An archeology team finds a perfectly preserved crypt with a surprisingly intelligent farm animal.
“Cicada”: Dr. Zhang invents teleportation but refuses to share it with the world.
