It Takes a Thief

Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R13WVLBJTU3G41?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp

This is a classic Walter Miller Jr. science fiction story that moves along quickly, provides a glimpse into a different society and revolves around a single fascinating idea.

The setting is Mars in the far future. Mars was terraformed in the far past, around 6,000 to 12,000 years before. The humans on Mars have evolved a culture where wealth is based on snippets of the writings of science and history books from the founding generations. Apart from this bit of surviving learning, the culture has decayed to a pre-machine level.

And the air is running out.

Asir is a thief who has stolen the small bits of text. He's pieced together the problem that Mars faces and how - perhaps - to remedy it, except Asir has been caught, and he's hanging on an execution post.

I have always enjoyed this story. It serves its purpose as a quick and enjoyable bit of science fiction from a time when Mars could still elicit some fantastic dreams.