Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Micromegas: A Philosophical Short Story
    Micromegas: A Philosophical Short Story
    Micromegas: A Philosophical Short Story
    Audiobook41 minutes

    Micromegas: A Philosophical Short Story

    Written by Voltaire

    Narrated by Paul Spera

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    First published in 1752, Micromegas is one of Voltaire’s best-known works. It is a tale of mordant irony, and actually the original science-fiction short story. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromegas discovers the people of Earth, so small compared to him that he first believes that no creature this size can hope to achieve any degree of intelligence; he will soon discover the ways and thoughts of these diminutive people, who clearly have an over-inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Voltaire's extrapolations of sun-powered interstellar flight, alien civilizations, and the two moons of Mars, are designed to make us see ourselves in a new light and laugh at what we find.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAstorg Audio
    Release dateJan 1, 2014
    ISBN9782821108257
    Micromegas: A Philosophical Short Story
    Author

    Voltaire

    Born in Paris in 1694, François-Marie Arouet, who would later go by the nom-de-plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment philosopher, poet, historian, and author. Voltaire’s writing was often controversial, and in 1715 he was sent into his first exile in Tulle after a writing a satirical piece about the Duke of Orleans, the Regent of France. It was during this time that he produced his first major work, the play Oedipus. Although allowed to return to Paris a year later, Voltaire’s writing continued to land him in trouble. He was jailed in the Bastille two more times and was exiled from Paris for a good portion of his life. Throughout these troubles, Voltaire continued to write, producing works of poetry, a number of plays, and some historical and political texts. His most famous work is the satirical novel Candide, and many of his plays, including Oedipus and Socrates, are still performed today. Voltaire died in 1778.

    More audiobooks from Voltaire

    Related to Micromegas

    Related audiobooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Saturnian And The Sirian

      Mar 17, 2021

      The Saturnian And The Sirian
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Death and Life of the Frontier: A Voyage to the Limits of the Knowable.: A voyage to the limits of the knowable.

      Aug 29, 2013

      Where does the world begin and where does it end? In many creation stories the Earth has well-defined edges. In early Mesopotamian mythology it is a flat disk floating in the ocean and surrounded by a circular sky. The Hopi people of northeastern Ari

      20 min read

    • Article

      History’s Greatest Mysteries

      May 14, 2020

      History’s Greatest Mysteries
      36 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Sep 9, 2021

      With regard to Nick Guitard’s letter pooh-poohing the possible existence of tiny aliens [FT405:71], I would like to make the following observations. David Bowie, may he rock on, once said that the Internet is like an alien being has landed and that w

      17 min read

    • Article

      Mermaids And Sea Myths

      Nov 3, 2022

      Mermaids And Sea Myths
      9 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Oct 10, 2022

      Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      Lives Of The Great Occultists

      Sep 10, 2020

      Personally, I blame that Aleister Crowley. If my memory serves me well (which, these days, it seldom does), Hunt Emerson and I more or less drifted into creating ‘Lives of the Great Occultists’ after I told him a couple of my favourite yarns about th

      7 min read

    • Article

      We Are All Ancient Mapmakers

      Jan 30, 2020

      In the first half of the sixth century B.C., a Greek man named Anaximander, born in Turkey, sketched the world in a way no one had previously thought to do. It featured a circle, divided into three equal parts. He labeled those parts Europe, Asia, an

      9 min read

    • Article

      Riding the First Balloons

      Apr 1, 2022

      Riding the First Balloons
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Quest For Immortality

      May 12, 2022

      The Quest For Immortality
      4 min read

    • Article

      Historic re-boot

      Sep 24, 2020

      Historic re-boot
      3 min read

    • Article

      Why We’re Drawn Into Darkness

      Oct 10, 2019

      Robert Macfarlane grew up obsessed twith climbing mountains and nearly died on several occasions as he scaled some of the world’s high peaks. He found a safer way to indulge his alpine passions, writing about the mystique of mountains. As someone dra

      6 min read

    • Article

      Hot-Air Balloons Are Useless

      Jul 15, 2018

      Hot-Air Balloons Are Useless
      5 min read

    • Article

      Braindump

      May 11, 2023

      Braindump
      8 min read

    • Article

      This Island Earth Charles Fort’s New Lands At 100

      Sep 7, 2023

      So begins Charles Fort’s New Lands, thus laying the groundwork for every UFO book of the 1950s that suggested that we were being visited by aliens from Mars or Venus. Fort’s second major non-fiction work, New Lands, is a difficult book. It lacks the

      14 min read

    • Article

      Too Much Space

      Mar 17, 2021

      Too Much Space
      5 min read

    • Article

      Ten Sights (I Wish I’d Seen)

      Sep 3, 2019

      Ten Sights (I Wish I’d Seen)
      4 min read

    • Article

      Medieval Life

      Dec 21, 2023

      Medieval Life
      5 min read

    • Article

      Extraterrestrial

      Dec 1, 2019

      Extraterrestrial
      7 min read

    • Article

      “Properties of Thirst”

      Jul 5, 2022

      “Properties of Thirst”
      11 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      May 18, 2023

      CONTACT US BY POST: PO BOX 1200, WHITSTABLE CT1 9RH, OR E-MAIL SIEVEKING@FORTEANTIMES.COM PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS With reference to his article on Nazi UFOs [FT430:44-49], I would be curious to know what evidence SDTucker has for s

      12 min read

    • Article

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER

      Sep 1, 2022

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER
      9 min read

    • Article

      Plumbing the Depths

      Jun 3, 2019

      Plumbing the Depths
      3 min read

    • Article

      The First Fatal Car Crash

      Aug 29, 2019

      The First Fatal Car Crash
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Micromegas

    4/5

    18 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words