The Thinking Machine: Jacques Futrelle [Paperback]

Freddie Seymour (Author), Bettina Kyper (Introduction)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Seymour-Kyperproductions (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964519305
• ISBN-13: 978-0964519305
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,684,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A biography, March 7, 1999

By 

"0911813648-0001" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thinking Machine: Jacques Futrelle (Paperback)

Jacques Futrelle's tales of the Thinking Machine are some of the best detective stories ever written. This book contains a biography, family pictures, five Van Dusen stories and a list of all story and novel titles. There is also a comparison between Holmes, Van Dusen and Poirot. Although made by amateurs, it is a good work. And where else do you find much material about this early died author? --Wolfgang Steinert--March 7,1999--

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An American Sherlock Holmes, September 3, 2003

By 

Plume45 "kitka12345" (Westchester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thinking Machine: Jacques Futrelle (Paperback)

American Jacques Futrelle (who died on the TITANIC) created a brilliant scientist named Professor Van Dusen--a man so perspicacious that he was dubbed "the Thinking Machine" by his reporter friend, Hatch. Set in the early 20th century (an era without TV, computers, cell phones or an FBI data bank) these three tales reveal the fantastic mental processes of the super-logical protagonist. Although Van Dusen is not a professional detective, one wonders if Futrelle was inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In "The Problem of Cell 13" the Professor voluntarily spends 7 days and nights in a high security prison--just to prove that he can escape by exercising his mind. He actually invites his friends (and the warden) to a dinner a week hence. In "The Flaming Phantom" he unmasks the THING in a recently haunted house--easily recovering long-missing family jewels. The short "Silver Box" mystery may be the first literary case of industrial espionage. Motivated solely by academic curiosity and the joy of mental gymnastics, Van Dusen seeks no reward nor even public recognition. He is content to remind his astonished admirers that "two plus two always equals four." Still, we suspect that he takes private delight in revealing his thought processes and subsequent actions in the style of English detectives who spell out their deductions in the verbal denouement. Fascinating reading for kids of all ages!