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The Problem Of Cell 13
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1905
About the author
Jacques Futrelle
247 books25 followersJacques Heath Futrelle (1875-1912) was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring the "Thinking Machine", Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen. He worked for the Atlanta Journal, where he began their sports section; the New York Herald; the Boston Post; and the Boston American. In 1905, his Thinking Machine character first appeared in a serialized version of The Problem of Cell 13. In 1895, he married fellow writer Lily May Peel, with whom he had two children. While returning from Europe aboard the RMS Titanic, Futrelle, a first-cabin passenger, refused to board a lifeboat insisting his wife board instead. He perished in the Atlantic. His works include: The Chase of the Golden Plate (1906), The Simple Case of Susan (1908), The Thinking Machine on the Case (1908), The Diamond Master (1909), Elusive Isabel (1909), The High Hand (1911), My Lady's Garter (1912), Blind Man's Bluff (1914).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
July 26, 2023
Van Dusen (el personaje creado por Jacques Futrelle) es encerrado voluntariamente en una prisión de máxima seguridad por una apuesta. Él piensa que, cualquiera que sea capaz de usar el cerebro de forma adecuada, podrá salir de la cárcel.
El personaje de Van Dusen es muy interesante. Se le llama "La máquina pensante".
Es cierto que la resolución es un poco inverosímil, pero posible, al fina y al cabo.
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Van Dusen (the character created by Jacques Futrelle) is voluntarily locked up in a maximum security prison for a bet. He thinks that, whoever is able to use his brain properly, will be able to get out of prison.
Van Dusen's character is very interesting. He is called "The Thinking Machine".
Admittedly, the resolution is a bit far-fetched, but possible after all.
El personaje de Van Dusen es muy interesante. Se le llama "La máquina pensante".
Es cierto que la resolución es un poco inverosímil, pero posible, al fina y al cabo.
-----------------------
Van Dusen (the character created by Jacques Futrelle) is voluntarily locked up in a maximum security prison for a bet. He thinks that, whoever is able to use his brain properly, will be able to get out of prison.
Van Dusen's character is very interesting. He is called "The Thinking Machine".
Admittedly, the resolution is a bit far-fetched, but possible after all.
January 4, 2023
I have started my reading for the New Year with a classic golden age mystery short story, featuring Augustus Van Dusen, who is known as The Thinking Machine. It was authored by Jacques Futrelle, who unfortunately went down on the Titanic, and whose plots were cleverly written and kept the reader guessing.
The Thinking Machine was a brilliant scholar who was a logician and whose proposition was that all things that start must go somewhere and brought his mental superiority to bear on a specific problem. There is no crime involved in this story but rather a bet with fellow professors that Van Dusen cannot escape from a cell in a secure prison. Of course, he accepts.
All possible precautions are taken to ensure that there is no logical way he can escape. But the reader knows that he will..................but how? That is the beauty of this story as we are given hints but don't know that they are hints. It is a true joy and is recommended.
The Thinking Machine was a brilliant scholar who was a logician and whose proposition was that all things that start must go somewhere and brought his mental superiority to bear on a specific problem. There is no crime involved in this story but rather a bet with fellow professors that Van Dusen cannot escape from a cell in a secure prison. Of course, he accepts.
All possible precautions are taken to ensure that there is no logical way he can escape. But the reader knows that he will..................but how? That is the beauty of this story as we are given hints but don't know that they are hints. It is a true joy and is recommended.
February 22, 2017
That was quick and light, the mystery was good but I was a bit disappointed in the ned, I thought it would be something really awesome.
Two scientists had a bet, can one of them get out of a highly secured prison within a week, knowing that he would be treated the same way a sentenced to death guy is.
This is a little description:
"...Chisholm Prison was a great, spreading structure of granite, four stories in all, which stood in the center of acres of open space. It was surrounded by a wall of solid masonry eighteen feet high, and so smoothly finished inside and out as to offer no foothold to a climber, no matter how expert. Atop of this fence, as a further precaution, was a five-foot fence of steel rods, each terminating in a keen point. This fence in itself marked an absolute deadline between freedom and imprisonment, for, even if a man escaped from his cell, it would seem impossible for him to pass the wall. The yard, which on all sides of the prison building was twenty-five feet wide, that being the distance from the building to the wall, was by day an exercise ground for those prisoners to whom was granted the boon of occasional semi-liberty. But that was not for those in Cell 13. At all times of the day there were armed guards in the yard, four of them, one patrolling each side of the prison building. By night the yard was almost as brilliantly lighted as by day. On each of the four sides was a great arc light which rose above the prison wall and gave to the guards a clear sight. The lights, too, brightly illuminated the spiked top of the wall. The wires which fed the arc lights ran up the side of the prison building on insulators and from the top story led out to the poles supporting the arc lights..."
Two scientists had a bet, can one of them get out of a highly secured prison within a week, knowing that he would be treated the same way a sentenced to death guy is.
This is a little description:
"...Chisholm Prison was a great, spreading structure of granite, four stories in all, which stood in the center of acres of open space. It was surrounded by a wall of solid masonry eighteen feet high, and so smoothly finished inside and out as to offer no foothold to a climber, no matter how expert. Atop of this fence, as a further precaution, was a five-foot fence of steel rods, each terminating in a keen point. This fence in itself marked an absolute deadline between freedom and imprisonment, for, even if a man escaped from his cell, it would seem impossible for him to pass the wall. The yard, which on all sides of the prison building was twenty-five feet wide, that being the distance from the building to the wall, was by day an exercise ground for those prisoners to whom was granted the boon of occasional semi-liberty. But that was not for those in Cell 13. At all times of the day there were armed guards in the yard, four of them, one patrolling each side of the prison building. By night the yard was almost as brilliantly lighted as by day. On each of the four sides was a great arc light which rose above the prison wall and gave to the guards a clear sight. The lights, too, brightly illuminated the spiked top of the wall. The wires which fed the arc lights ran up the side of the prison building on insulators and from the top story led out to the poles supporting the arc lights..."
September 16, 2017
A fun, though very uneven collection of The Thinking Machine stories. A character that almost, but didn't quite make it to top. The character's most famous story, The Problem of Cell 13 is a bona fide classic, but the other stories just don't quite have it.
Still, a very entertaining read.
Still, a very entertaining read.
November 21, 2010
Large compilation of short stories all featuring the Thinking Machine, Professor Van Dusen.
The good: Some creative locked room mysteries, some ingenious solutions, little historical gems that were just 'life as we knew it' when written, but strike the modern reader as so different. (like the 'automobile helmets' the young ladies wear when driving in that fast modern car!)
The bad: Wow, an escaped orangutan that kidnaps a baby? Really? Sometimes the solutions to these mysteries are chosen more for their effect than because they would really make any sense. Large plot holes now and then. And several stereotypes that were accepted then, but not any more!
The annoying: Apparently this is from several books or collections of his stories, because Van Dusen is introduced, including the whole story of how he got his name, his peculiar looks, etc, etc, several times in here, at least 10. That got old. I remember from the last time! But that couldn't be helped, really, without really editing the stories from the way they were written. But would it have been so hard to put the stories in chronological order? That was just sloppy. He refers to this case involving a cockatoo that related to his current mystery, but that story wasn't in the collection until much later. No reason they couldn't have fixed that.
In short, I got this one for the Kindle for 99 cents. I wouldn't have paid much more than that, but since these are out of print and I liked the ones I have read, I thought it would be worth a dollar to give it a try. I'm glad I did - it was fun. I like the old-fashioned feel to the stories, like their complete horror at discovering the three or four day old dead body of a murdered young woman. Now a cop, even a rookie, wouldn't even flinch. Times have changed. But sometimes the dated feel made the stories clunky. The writing was still fresh, though, if not brilliant, and the stories themselves were easy to read. I really liked the one where his wife wrote the first half and challenged him to come up with a solution. Fun stuff.
The good: Some creative locked room mysteries, some ingenious solutions, little historical gems that were just 'life as we knew it' when written, but strike the modern reader as so different. (like the 'automobile helmets' the young ladies wear when driving in that fast modern car!)
The bad: Wow, an escaped orangutan that kidnaps a baby? Really? Sometimes the solutions to these mysteries are chosen more for their effect than because they would really make any sense. Large plot holes now and then. And several stereotypes that were accepted then, but not any more!
The annoying: Apparently this is from several books or collections of his stories, because Van Dusen is introduced, including the whole story of how he got his name, his peculiar looks, etc, etc, several times in here, at least 10. That got old. I remember from the last time! But that couldn't be helped, really, without really editing the stories from the way they were written. But would it have been so hard to put the stories in chronological order? That was just sloppy. He refers to this case involving a cockatoo that related to his current mystery, but that story wasn't in the collection until much later. No reason they couldn't have fixed that.
In short, I got this one for the Kindle for 99 cents. I wouldn't have paid much more than that, but since these are out of print and I liked the ones I have read, I thought it would be worth a dollar to give it a try. I'm glad I did - it was fun. I like the old-fashioned feel to the stories, like their complete horror at discovering the three or four day old dead body of a murdered young woman. Now a cop, even a rookie, wouldn't even flinch. Times have changed. But sometimes the dated feel made the stories clunky. The writing was still fresh, though, if not brilliant, and the stories themselves were easy to read. I really liked the one where his wife wrote the first half and challenged him to come up with a solution. Fun stuff.
April 8, 2021
AROUND THE WORLD OF CRIME AND MYSTERY
1905: The fame of this short story is a puzzle in and of itself: What's the big deal?* Why has this story appeared in so many anthologies since 1907, even "The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century" edited by Tony Hillerman.
CAST - 3 stars: OK, but "The Thinking Machine" is rather lightly characterized here.
ATMOSPHERE - 2: A bit dry.
CRIME-3: A man says he'll be able to break out of a prison in 7 days. He is thus imprisoned. A conventional crime, a prison break.
INVESTIGATION-3: Our prisoner studies his environment carefully, the interior of his cell, the exterior through a small window. Mechanical, but the reader is pulled along in different directions.
SOLUTION-3: Conveniently, the prison has recently updated its plumbing system but has left the old system intact. Why not at least block it up? Conveniently, wiring for the prison's electrical system is just a few feet outside of the prisoner's window. And, most conveniently, untrained rats do exactly what the prisoner hopes they will do. One might think about Micheal Jackson's "Ben". And...well, I could go on, but it would spoil the whole thing for you, if you should read it. Personally, I didn't believe any of it. That said, during a second reading I noticed, buried within the unbelievable explanation, a statement by our escapee: "There were two other ways out..." *THERE it is, the real mystery, the one that gets a reader thinking about a plausible escape.
SUMMARY: 2.8 stars. What isn't told here is what's best.
1905: The fame of this short story is a puzzle in and of itself: What's the big deal?* Why has this story appeared in so many anthologies since 1907, even "The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century" edited by Tony Hillerman.
CAST - 3 stars: OK, but "The Thinking Machine" is rather lightly characterized here.
ATMOSPHERE - 2: A bit dry.
CRIME-3: A man says he'll be able to break out of a prison in 7 days. He is thus imprisoned. A conventional crime, a prison break.
INVESTIGATION-3: Our prisoner studies his environment carefully, the interior of his cell, the exterior through a small window. Mechanical, but the reader is pulled along in different directions.
SOLUTION-3: Conveniently, the prison has recently updated its plumbing system but has left the old system intact. Why not at least block it up? Conveniently, wiring for the prison's electrical system is just a few feet outside of the prisoner's window. And, most conveniently, untrained rats do exactly what the prisoner hopes they will do. One might think about Micheal Jackson's "Ben". And...well, I could go on, but it would spoil the whole thing for you, if you should read it. Personally, I didn't believe any of it. That said, during a second reading I noticed, buried within the unbelievable explanation, a statement by our escapee: "There were two other ways out..." *THERE it is, the real mystery, the one that gets a reader thinking about a plausible escape.
SUMMARY: 2.8 stars. What isn't told here is what's best.
July 9, 2014
For sheer pleasure of a mystery story in the manner of Conan Doyle it delivers gloriously. I am sure such pompous characters as the protagonist in this story are rare and a laughable stock in the literature of our times, but don't we miss their audacity? Don't we miss the self-importance with which they say "My name is Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S."? Please take note that it's not for comic effect! The dude means it.
Because its a short story (and quite ingenious as far as impossible crime goes) it works best for a quick read. For good effect, follow it with a victorian ghost story or a one by Satyajit Ray or something by Carnacki, or anything set in that world of yore when detectives were sure and content. Take my word. There's no better way to pass a rainy afternoon!
Because its a short story (and quite ingenious as far as impossible crime goes) it works best for a quick read. For good effect, follow it with a victorian ghost story or a one by Satyajit Ray or something by Carnacki, or anything set in that world of yore when detectives were sure and content. Take my word. There's no better way to pass a rainy afternoon!
July 10, 2007
again- another book i picked up through 'league of extraordinary gentlemen'- a sort of bare-bones short story so it was a quick read, but it was engaging. a science-against-humanity sort of thing and although it was a wee far-fetched, it was also a bit surprising and nicely unpredictable.
November 14, 2007
How to escape from prison using only shoe polish and rats.
December 14, 2023
This collection of seven stories featuring Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen, "The Thinking Machine," was first published in 1907. The narratives previously appeared in the Boston American newspaper in late 1905. The stories present a bank robbery, a murder that may be suicide, a mysterious amnesiac, a haunted house, and a kidnapping. The book introduces Professor Van Dusen, a consulting detective in the Sherlock Holmes vein, but a unique character, not an homage or pastiche -- he's no Solar Pons. A remorseless logician, Van Dusen is a medical doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, and apparently a dentist as well. He's also managed to escape from prison. Not as well developed a character as Holmes, he serves mainly to facilitate resolving the riddle posed in each account, though with a charming crankiness. Character plays little role in these primarily puzzle stories, in which The Thinking Machine is often aided by reporter Hutchinson Hatch who does most of the legwork, but isn't his biographer. More Archie Goodwin than Dr. Watson. The stories begin promising much, but when solved it's something of a minor let down as when one discovers how a magic trick is done -- "Oh, is that all it is." Still good but somehow the reader is left expecting more. And sometimes, given the almost 120 years since these tales were written, the resolution is not all that mysterious -- we've seen it before. Enjoyable and entertaining, but not fully developed characters or stories. American Jacques Futrelle (of Huguenot extraction) wrote one novel and 47 short stories featuring The Thinking Machine. During his lifetime a second collection of short stories appeared, The Thinking Machine on the Case (1908). With any luck Library of Congress Crime Classics (LCCC) will see fit to issue that volume also. Unfortunately Futrelle died on the Titanic in 1912 after forcing his wife into a lifeboat. Also a writer, she published some of his work posthumously. The LCCC is apparently the American counterpart to the British Library Crime Classics series, both of which are generous in sharing their mystery collections from the olden days. In these stories are such anachronisms as specifying a "gasoline car" (most autos ran on steam then) or an "incandescent light" as opposed to gas, or an easy acceptance of phrenology. [3½★]
July 28, 2019
A scientist who actually solves impossible crimes using stone cold logic.
Everything that people complain about with Sherlock Holmes--the inconsistency, the lack of fair play--is absent here. The stories are solved using fair, if not obvious, logic. Details are consistent. And yet the reviews for this book are not as glowing, nor the character as beloved, as Holmes.
It's almost as though what people say they want in a Great Detective isn't what they actually want. [Whistles.]
I liked these stories, although they did get repetitive after a while. They are puzzles, not adventures, and don't particularly engage the emotions. A fun point is that these are the type of mysteries that you'd see with Scooby Doo. There's even one with a tricked-up ghost. But the characters here aren't nearly as fun.
Clever, well written, logical. Just not stories to love.
Read if you like Holmes stories. Either you'll appreciate Holmes more, or you'll appreciate the logic here better!
Everything that people complain about with Sherlock Holmes--the inconsistency, the lack of fair play--is absent here. The stories are solved using fair, if not obvious, logic. Details are consistent. And yet the reviews for this book are not as glowing, nor the character as beloved, as Holmes.
It's almost as though what people say they want in a Great Detective isn't what they actually want. [Whistles.]
I liked these stories, although they did get repetitive after a while. They are puzzles, not adventures, and don't particularly engage the emotions. A fun point is that these are the type of mysteries that you'd see with Scooby Doo. There's even one with a tricked-up ghost. But the characters here aren't nearly as fun.
Clever, well written, logical. Just not stories to love.
Read if you like Holmes stories. Either you'll appreciate Holmes more, or you'll appreciate the logic here better!
March 13, 2024
2.5 stars. This collections starts out well, but goes downhill quickly. These are very long stories, and some of them are quite tedious. The last story is quite frankly ridiculous. "The Thinking Machine" himself was also kinda obnoxious, and there was no humor used to balance that out.
I'm glad I read this, but wouldn't read it again, or more of the same with this character.
I'm glad I read this, but wouldn't read it again, or more of the same with this character.
October 11, 2022
Classic set up, short and quick read. It was just what I needed to get me out of my reading slump.
March 21, 2020
قصة قصيرة خفيفة في 44 صفحة عن البروفيسور (فان دوسين) الملقب بآلة التفكير الذي يتحدي إثنين من زملاءه أن الإنسان يستطيع فعل أي شئ يريده من خلال العقل والمنطق فقط. فيُسجن البروفيسور طوعاً في زنزانة بسجن مُحكم ومشدد الرقابة، ويُراهن آلة التفكير زملاءه أن بإستطاعته الهروب من هذا السجن خلال أسبوع واحد فقط بدون أي أدوات إلا معجون أسنان و25 دولاراً وتلميع حذائه, فهل يستطيع؟
قصة كلاسيكية طريفة قد يظنها البعض ساذجة ولكنها بالتأكيد كانت عبقرية في عام 1905 -وقت كتابتها-.
قصة كلاسيكية طريفة قد يظنها البعض ساذجة ولكنها بالتأكيد كانت عبقرية في عام 1905 -وقت كتابتها-.
June 14, 2018
From what I've read, this short story is supposed to be a classic in the genre. I wasn't "wowed" by it, but I wasn't sorry I read it either.
September 3, 2020
كتب قصير و للطيف ممل بعد شئ ولكن قصير لغة ليس بالجيدة الاقتباس الدي اعجبني
لا شيء مُستحيل.» هكذا أعلن آلة التفكير في تأكيد مماثل. كان دائمًا يتحدَّث في صرامة،
وأضاف: «العقل سيد كل الأشياء. وحين يُقِر العلم إقرارًا تامًّا بهذه الحقيقة، سيتحقَّق
تقدم عظيم.»
لا شيء مُستحيل.» هكذا أعلن آلة التفكير في تأكيد مماثل. كان دائمًا يتحدَّث في صرامة،
وأضاف: «العقل سيد كل الأشياء. وحين يُقِر العلم إقرارًا تامًّا بهذه الحقيقة، سيتحقَّق
تقدم عظيم.»
November 9, 2022
I remember reading this as a young boy (about 45 years ago) and being so fascinated by Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen (a.k.a. "The Thinking Machine") and his intellectual abilities. I've always wanted to revisit it and it was fun to do so!
January 13, 2021
An absolute classic of my childhood. I love it, and I love to remind myself of what i read when I was a child!
July 26, 2021
Several 5 star stories, a few 4 star and the rest just 3 star. Those where the author takes the time to construct an exquisite puzzle make it worth the read overall.
October 14, 2009
First of all, this book is very weirdly titled. The spine and title page have Futrelle's name only as a possessive, not as the actual author - very confusing, since usually when a title gets a possessor like that, it's because the present book or movie or whatever is a derivative work by some other author. Not in this case.
I bought it without ever having heard of Futrelle, Professor Van Dusen, or "Cell 13," simply because there it was and it sounded like it would be fun. It absolutely was. The stories are of uneven quality, but the best ones are delightful and the worst, in their dusty forgottenness, still have a certain charm. (Mostly.) Futrelle is shamelessly jumping on the Sherlock Holmes bandwagon, but he plays up the comic joy of the absurd deductions even more than Doyle ever did. He also has what's absolutely mandatory for writing such stories: a nerdy enthusiasm for his own ridiculous gimmicks and twists. His Holmes, (the Thinking Machine) and his Watson, (Hutchinson Hatch, reporter!) are so self-apparently second-rate creations that they have nothing to apologize for. By the end I was rooting them on whole-heartedly.
The introduction by Harlan Ellison is so outlandishly, pointlessly, willfully obnoxious that it actually ends up being pretty easy to ignore. And ignore it you should.
I bought it without ever having heard of Futrelle, Professor Van Dusen, or "Cell 13," simply because there it was and it sounded like it would be fun. It absolutely was. The stories are of uneven quality, but the best ones are delightful and the worst, in their dusty forgottenness, still have a certain charm. (Mostly.) Futrelle is shamelessly jumping on the Sherlock Holmes bandwagon, but he plays up the comic joy of the absurd deductions even more than Doyle ever did. He also has what's absolutely mandatory for writing such stories: a nerdy enthusiasm for his own ridiculous gimmicks and twists. His Holmes, (the Thinking Machine) and his Watson, (Hutchinson Hatch, reporter!) are so self-apparently second-rate creations that they have nothing to apologize for. By the end I was rooting them on whole-heartedly.
The introduction by Harlan Ellison is so outlandishly, pointlessly, willfully obnoxious that it actually ends up being pretty easy to ignore. And ignore it you should.
December 5, 2008
An outstanding series of mystery-deduction stories. The hero is Professor S.F.X Van Deusen, aka "The Thinking Machine". I first read a book of some of those stories when I was young, and they made a pretty big impression on me. They're extremely clever and unique.
Futrelle himself was an interesting character, not least in the manner of his death: he was on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. With him, when he died, were several manuscripts for Thinking Machine stories - now lost forever, of course.
Jacques Futrelle's official site contains the full text of fifty Thinking Machine stories. I recommend starting with "The Problem of Cell 13". Yes, they're old, but they're really good.
Futrelle himself was an interesting character, not least in the manner of his death: he was on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. With him, when he died, were several manuscripts for Thinking Machine stories - now lost forever, of course.
Jacques Futrelle's official site contains the full text of fifty Thinking Machine stories. I recommend starting with "The Problem of Cell 13". Yes, they're old, but they're really good.
March 11, 2018
A great character
Stories are dated, but the logic in them is fascinating. Could have been a lot more stories if the author hadn't gone down on the Titanic. Still worth reading, highly recommended.
Stories are dated, but the logic in them is fascinating. Could have been a lot more stories if the author hadn't gone down on the Titanic. Still worth reading, highly recommended.
April 22, 2018
What a great new find! It is sad indeed that this fine author had to die when the Titanic sank. I think he would have gone on to write more great stories. This is a must for any Sherlock Holmes/Golden Age of Mysteries lover.
November 12, 2018
I loved this book as a child, to the extent that I was a little surprised to discover that it doesn't seem to be intended as a children's book. I remember the stories being simple, but seeming amazing at the time, much like Sherlock Holmes.
December 14, 2016
I've been pecking away at this collection over the last couple of years. Occasionally good, occasionally absurd, nothing that will change my overall opinion of short detective fiction.
January 6, 2018
I read this book nearly 60 years ago, and it created such a vivid impression that I still remember it today.
Want to read
February 22, 2019Synopsis: twenty-three stories featuring a scientist, Professor Van Dusen known as The Thinking Machine. He solves problems!
April 16, 2024
My attention was drawn to this story when I saw this banner in CrimeReads
I'd never heard of Jacques Futrelle so I looked him up and was surprised to find that he was an American (I'd assumed he was French) journalist and mystery writer who was best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as "The Thinking Machine" for rigorous use of logic to solve problems.
I found an ebook collection with forty-seven tales of 'The Thinking Machine' The Jacques Futrelle Megapack and settled down to read the most famous one, 'The Problem Of Cell13' where Van Dusen is locked up in a death row cell from which he promises he will escape within a week.
The first thing that I noticed about the story was how different the tone was from Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Yes, Holmes and Van Dusen are both eccentric but it's clear that Futrelle sees Van Dusen as a figure of fun rather than as a talented man with some darker passions.
The tone of the storytelling is light and humorous. Van Dusen is described as a pale, physically weak man with a high forehead and a big head who wears a size 8 (64cms) hat. We are told that:
"First and above all he was a logician. At least thirty-five years of the half-century or so of his existence had been devoted exclusively to proving that two and two always equal four, except in unusual cases, where they equal three or five, as the case may be."
We're also shown that he comes across as an arrogant and argumentative who accepts no limits on what a can be achieved when a thinking man applies his brain. When one of his guests asks him whether he thinks making airships will be impossible, he replies
“That’s not impossible at all,” asserted The Thinking Machine. “It will be invented some time. I’d do it myself, but I’m busy.”
His combative attitude results in an angry debate with his guests about his assertion that anything is possible, which leads to him accepting the challenge to escape from death row in the local prison.
What follows is a piece of comedy which, after having demonstrated how impossible it would be for Van Dusen to escape, centres on the increasingly frantic efforts of the prison governor to discover and thwart Van Dusen's efforts to escape.
Van Dusen is a hard man to like. Personally, I was rather hoping that he wouldn't escape but then there would have been no story.
The story ends with Van Dusen's explanations of what he had done and how he had made his escape.
I didn't believe a word of it.
Even so, I found the story to be an amusing distraction, Van Dusen to be a good figure to hiss at, and the humour to be almost of a Keystone Cops standard.
I may dip into a few more Van Dusen stories out of curiosity but I don't see him as a rival to Sherlock Holmes.
I'd never heard of Jacques Futrelle so I looked him up and was surprised to find that he was an American (I'd assumed he was French) journalist and mystery writer who was best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as "The Thinking Machine" for rigorous use of logic to solve problems.
I found an ebook collection with forty-seven tales of 'The Thinking Machine' The Jacques Futrelle Megapack and settled down to read the most famous one, 'The Problem Of Cell13' where Van Dusen is locked up in a death row cell from which he promises he will escape within a week.
The first thing that I noticed about the story was how different the tone was from Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Yes, Holmes and Van Dusen are both eccentric but it's clear that Futrelle sees Van Dusen as a figure of fun rather than as a talented man with some darker passions.
The tone of the storytelling is light and humorous. Van Dusen is described as a pale, physically weak man with a high forehead and a big head who wears a size 8 (64cms) hat. We are told that:
"First and above all he was a logician. At least thirty-five years of the half-century or so of his existence had been devoted exclusively to proving that two and two always equal four, except in unusual cases, where they equal three or five, as the case may be."
We're also shown that he comes across as an arrogant and argumentative who accepts no limits on what a can be achieved when a thinking man applies his brain. When one of his guests asks him whether he thinks making airships will be impossible, he replies
“That’s not impossible at all,” asserted The Thinking Machine. “It will be invented some time. I’d do it myself, but I’m busy.”
His combative attitude results in an angry debate with his guests about his assertion that anything is possible, which leads to him accepting the challenge to escape from death row in the local prison.
What follows is a piece of comedy which, after having demonstrated how impossible it would be for Van Dusen to escape, centres on the increasingly frantic efforts of the prison governor to discover and thwart Van Dusen's efforts to escape.
Van Dusen is a hard man to like. Personally, I was rather hoping that he wouldn't escape but then there would have been no story.
The story ends with Van Dusen's explanations of what he had done and how he had made his escape.
I didn't believe a word of it.
Even so, I found the story to be an amusing distraction, Van Dusen to be a good figure to hiss at, and the humour to be almost of a Keystone Cops standard.
I may dip into a few more Van Dusen stories out of curiosity but I don't see him as a rival to Sherlock Holmes.
March 30, 2018
“Two and two make four—not some of the time—all of the time!”
I discovered “The Thinking Machine” in one of the “Rivals of Sherlock Holmes” books. Wanting to read more than the few stories offered there, I was excited to see this book available.
But there is a major problem. The logic used by Professor Van Dusen is not all that logical. If his first story, “The Problem of Dressing Room A” he makes a jump from a disappearing stage actress to hypnotist without a shred of evidence to support the statement. In his “The Problem of Cell 13” his promise to escape prison in a week is based solely on luck, not logic. Granted, perhaps he could have escaped another way that would have involved more critical thinking, but luck did it for him. He solves a disappearing car by having a bicycle champion follow it, but never examined the scene to confirm how the car got out of the speed trap that only had an entrance and an exit.
The stories do not get any better. The cases appear t be clever upon the first read. Then the sheer illogic of the whole thing falls apart. Where Holmes eventually gives a step by step rundown of how he solved a case, Van Dusen simply jumps to the end with a sometimes laughable farce of an explanation. Oh, well…
The character of Van Dusen is rather well thought out, but the means of solving the case lacks a lot. He remains a beloved character, but whoo-boy is the logic faulty! Sad, really… I leave it to the reader to decide for him or herself…
I give the book two stars…
Quoth the Raven…
I discovered “The Thinking Machine” in one of the “Rivals of Sherlock Holmes” books. Wanting to read more than the few stories offered there, I was excited to see this book available.
But there is a major problem. The logic used by Professor Van Dusen is not all that logical. If his first story, “The Problem of Dressing Room A” he makes a jump from a disappearing stage actress to hypnotist without a shred of evidence to support the statement. In his “The Problem of Cell 13” his promise to escape prison in a week is based solely on luck, not logic. Granted, perhaps he could have escaped another way that would have involved more critical thinking, but luck did it for him. He solves a disappearing car by having a bicycle champion follow it, but never examined the scene to confirm how the car got out of the speed trap that only had an entrance and an exit.
The stories do not get any better. The cases appear t be clever upon the first read. Then the sheer illogic of the whole thing falls apart. Where Holmes eventually gives a step by step rundown of how he solved a case, Van Dusen simply jumps to the end with a sometimes laughable farce of an explanation. Oh, well…
The character of Van Dusen is rather well thought out, but the means of solving the case lacks a lot. He remains a beloved character, but whoo-boy is the logic faulty! Sad, really… I leave it to the reader to decide for him or herself…
I give the book two stars…
Quoth the Raven…
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