The Sixth Day and Other Tales

Infobox Book
name = The Sixth Day and Other Tales
title_orig = Vizio di forma and Storie naturali
translator = Raymond Rosenthal


image_caption = Hardback cover - published by Summit Books.
author = Primo Levi
illustrator =
country = United States
genre = Short stories
publisher = Summit
release_date = 1990
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 222
isbn = ISBN 0-671-62617-5

"The Sixth Day and Other Tales", written by Primo Levi, is a collection of short stories, originally published in "Storie naturali" and "Vizio di forma".

Contents

*The MnemogoguesA doctor collects the scents of past places and events.

*Angelic ButterflyAre humans trapped in the pupal stage? If so what happens when they pupate?

*Order on the CheapNATCA’s Mr Simpson shows off the Mimer. Like the replicator from "Star Trek", anything can be reproduced.

*Man’s FriendTapeworms communicate through patterns on their bodies. They are aware they live inside us.

*Some Applications of the MimerGilberto duplicates his wife. But the two Emmas slowly develop as different women.

*VersaminaThe drug turns pain into pleasure. The consequence ? people will hurt themselves.

*The Sleeping Beauty in the Fridge: A Winter’s TalePeter defrosts Patricia regularly. Sometimes for special events, sometimes for her regular check ups. But also sometimes for his own pleasure. Patricia has been in the deep freeze for over a hundred years, but can stand it no more. She recruits Baldur to help her escape.

*The Measure of BeautyA NATCA device for the objective measurement of beauty. But does it work? Of course it can be made to show the owner is beautiful.

*Full EmploymentSimpson learns to communicate with the bees who help him to communicate with other insects. He enters into deals with them. Dragonflies pick berries for him, ants clean his garden, they can also manufacture small electronic components and help with microsurgery. But someone arranges for the eels to smuggle drugs.

*The Sixth DayThe committee agonises over how to design man. But after all their argument management imposes an arbitrary design.

*Retirement FundNATCA develop something resembling a virtual reality set, but it replays the experiences that someone else recorded. Their elation and excitement are in the playback. It is, of course, addictive.

*WestwardWhy do the lemmings march to the sea? Researchers find out it is not hunger as is widely thought, but chemical. A form of alcohol is found that will suppress the desire for suicide.

*Seen From AfarAliens watch our planet, they cannot see the detail, but try to guess what things are and why the things they observe occur. Why are there streams of white and red lights in some places when darkness falls. Why do those large creatures (ships) travel in straight lines.

*The Hard-SellersThey came to him to convince him to be born. They show him all the advantages of being alive, but he is sceptical. They say he is needed in the world of the living.

*Small Red LightsEverything in his life is governed by red lights, thousands of them.

*For a Good PurposeThe telephone network develops intelligence when it is connected to the French and German networks. Slowly it experiments with its powers.

*PsychophantA device creates an object that symbolises the person who touches it.

*Recuenco:The NurseThe starving have their mythology about the creature in the sky that comes to feed them.

*Recuenco:The RafterThe team on board the aircraft that delivers the food to the starving have their mythology about the recipients.

*His Own Blacksmith: To Italo CalvinoHe can remember everything, even the memories of his ancestors, all the way back to when they first developed self awareness. He sees that our development ceased once we had learned to use tools.

*The ServantThe story of a golem.

*Mutiny: To Mario Rigoni SternThe garden has a mind of its own.

*Excellent is the WaterWhat happens when the water’s viscosity begins to creep up. All life is affected.