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The Fourth R
He was five years old, and he might be the smartest human being on Earth . . .
178 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
13 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
George O. Smith
202 books11 followersGeorge Oliver Smith (April 9, 1911 - May 27, 1981) (also known as Wesley Long) was an American science fiction author. He is not to be confused with George H. Smith, another American science fiction author.
Smith was an active contributor to Astounding Science Fiction during the Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1940s. His collaboration with the magazine's editor, John W. Campbell, Jr. was interrupted when Campbell's first wife, Doña, left him in 1949 and married Smith.
Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. His output greatly diminished in the 1960s and 1970s when he had a job that required his undivided attention. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980.
He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers.
Smith wrote mainly about outer space, with such works as Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957).
He is remembered chiefly for his Venus Equilateral series of short stories about a communications station in outer space. The stories were collected in Venus Equilateral (1947), which was later expanded as The Complete Venus Equilateral (1976).
His novel The Fourth "R" (1959) - re-published as The Brain Machine (1968) - was a digression from his focus on outer space, and provides one of the more interesting examinations of a child prodigy in science fiction.
Smith was an active contributor to Astounding Science Fiction during the Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1940s. His collaboration with the magazine's editor, John W. Campbell, Jr. was interrupted when Campbell's first wife, Doña, left him in 1949 and married Smith.
Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. His output greatly diminished in the 1960s and 1970s when he had a job that required his undivided attention. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980.
He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers.
Smith wrote mainly about outer space, with such works as Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957).
He is remembered chiefly for his Venus Equilateral series of short stories about a communications station in outer space. The stories were collected in Venus Equilateral (1947), which was later expanded as The Complete Venus Equilateral (1976).
His novel The Fourth "R" (1959) - re-published as The Brain Machine (1968) - was a digression from his focus on outer space, and provides one of the more interesting examinations of a child prodigy in science fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 4, 2016
James Quincy Holden is just five when his parents are murdered, ran off the road by "Uncle" Paul Brennan. James was in the car too and was supposed to die, but he not only lives, he immediately begins to plot revenge on the man who murdered his mum and dad.
For James Holden is not just an ordinary five year old.
From birth he has been taught by the Holden Electromechanical Educator, a machine invented by his parents which records and imprints the brainwaves associated with learning, enabling you to learn something forever after reading it just once.
Can a child with the education of an adult really behave like an adult?
Holden certainly makes a more than decent fist of it, yet there is always something missing, quite apart from his characterisation as something of an intellectual brat who could do with a good clip round the ear.
What he lacks, of course, is experience, and therefore judgement.
He also lacks a fully developed body. His rather academic approach to understanding sexual matters at the age of ten is designed to illustrate this, though I thought it could have been left out (his later attempts as a teenager were more convincing).
That aside, the author did a good job with an interesting but difficult subject.
The premise raises a difficult quandary - would such a machine be used in the right way to benefit mankind? - one which I don't think Smith resolved to any satisfaction with his botched, preachy ending.
Mind you, I'm not entirely sure how I would have ended it. I'm not smart enough. Maybe a few sessions on the Holden Electromechanical Educator would put me straight?
For James Holden is not just an ordinary five year old.
From birth he has been taught by the Holden Electromechanical Educator, a machine invented by his parents which records and imprints the brainwaves associated with learning, enabling you to learn something forever after reading it just once.
Can a child with the education of an adult really behave like an adult?
Holden certainly makes a more than decent fist of it, yet there is always something missing, quite apart from his characterisation as something of an intellectual brat who could do with a good clip round the ear.
What he lacks, of course, is experience, and therefore judgement.
He also lacks a fully developed body. His rather academic approach to understanding sexual matters at the age of ten is designed to illustrate this, though I thought it could have been left out (his later attempts as a teenager were more convincing).
That aside, the author did a good job with an interesting but difficult subject.
The premise raises a difficult quandary - would such a machine be used in the right way to benefit mankind? - one which I don't think Smith resolved to any satisfaction with his botched, preachy ending.
Mind you, I'm not entirely sure how I would have ended it. I'm not smart enough. Maybe a few sessions on the Holden Electromechanical Educator would put me straight?
January 8, 2023
In 1959, George O. Smith took a break from space opera to write The Fourth R, a speculative fiction novel about education. Here’s the setup: James Holden is a precocious five-year-old whose parents have invented a teaching machine that gives him perfect recall of everything he reads. He runs away from the care of his villainous uncle and makes his way in the world by writing children’s stories and living an anonymous life in an adult world not geared toward independent children. The plot is hokey and melodramatic, but the story makes telling points about the relationship of learning to skill and experience. 3.5 stars.
June 2, 2021
This book matures as it goes along. Apt, this, for a tale of accelerated maturity through technologically enhanced learning.
Which does not mean it ends perfectly. It ends oddly.
Three things, mere notes of personal interest, in place of a full review:
1. When the tale’s legal problems flower into full courtroom drama, it becomes apparent that aspects of common law seem unfamiliar to the author (nevertheless the courtroom scene is very good).
2. The legality of a minor maintaining a secret independence from the State is a very interesting problem, and is here treated more seriously than in the excellent film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. This being acknowledged, it seems to me the author skirted one obvious pitfall: taxes. And my mind wandered back to that issue time and again while reading this novel.
3. Though the use of the word ‘faggot,’ in the conclusion is not incorrect, it sure is jarring.
Which does not mean it ends perfectly. It ends oddly.
Three things, mere notes of personal interest, in place of a full review:
1. When the tale’s legal problems flower into full courtroom drama, it becomes apparent that aspects of common law seem unfamiliar to the author (nevertheless the courtroom scene is very good).
2. The legality of a minor maintaining a secret independence from the State is a very interesting problem, and is here treated more seriously than in the excellent film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. This being acknowledged, it seems to me the author skirted one obvious pitfall: taxes. And my mind wandered back to that issue time and again while reading this novel.
3. Though the use of the word ‘faggot,’ in the conclusion is not incorrect, it sure is jarring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2019
I liked the start and the end, but it got a bit preachy towards the climax. James Holden is the possessor of information that holds a great deal of power and potential--but he's five years old, and in the power of his parents' killer. The deck is stacked against him, but he's a very educated boy, and watching him plot his way around his obstacles is entertaining.
He's not terribly likable, and I wish justice had been served, but this is overall an interesting exercise on the power of learning in all its forms.
He's not terribly likable, and I wish justice had been served, but this is overall an interesting exercise on the power of learning in all its forms.
March 29, 2023
The Fourth “R” (AKA The Brain Machine) by George O. Smith
I stumbled onto this 1959 novel by George Smith quite by accident, and I am glad that I did. The story is about a five-year-old boy whose parents have invented an electromechanical educator which can imprint knowledge indelibly on the brain without the student having to go through the normal more arduous channels. Very soon, with his parents out of the picture and his very life in danger, young James Holden finds that he must fend for himself. But how can a five-year-old boy hide out and make his way in a society geared principally toward the needs and ambitions of adults?
At the same time, James desires to rebuild his parents’ machine at a secret location, and use it to complete his own education. However, in order to achieve this, he will undoubtedly need reliable and loyal helpers and a facade to hide behind until he comes of age or can prove that he has the competence to take on the responsibilities of an adult.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable book which was well written and thought provoking. Although it is set in America, I felt that it had an almost English quality to it, perhaps because it reminded me somewhat of the Hampdenshire Wonder by J.D. Beresford. The tension is skilfully maintained throughout, and along with the introspective ruminations of the protagonist and the bildungsroman aspect, is one of the factors that makes it a compelling read.
According to the Internet reviews I have glanced at, The Fourth “R” appears to be a favorite among the novels of George O. Smith, and somewhat atypical in that it is not a space-opera adventure like many of his other works.
By the way, the Fourth “R” is evidently what the machine cannot teach. The “Rs” logically must refer to the four “Rs” of education, but since there are various versions of these, readers have come to different conclusions regarding what the Fourth “R” actually stands for. The book itself does not explicitly provide an answer.
Here are some quotations taken directly from the text of the novel:
It is deplorable that adults are not as friendly and helpful to one another as they are to children; it might make for a more pleasant world.
They cohabited but did not live together for almost a year; Paul Brennan finally pointed out that Organized Society might permit a couple of geniuses to become research hermits, but Organized Society still took a dim view of cohabitation without a license.
….two years prior to the date that Louis Holden first identified the fine-line wave-shapes that went with determined ideas. When he recorded them and played them back, his brain re-traced its original line of thought, and he could not even make a mental revision of the way his thoughts were arranged.
Knowledge is stored by rote.
He was trapped in the world of grown-ups that believed a lying adult before they would even consider the truth of a child.
But no one is more difficult to fool than a child—even a normal child.
He had yet to learn about the vast gulf that lies between theory and practice.
children denied their contemporaries for playmates often take on attitudes beyond their years.
It has something to do with the same effect one gets out of studying. On Tuesday one can read a page of textbook and not grasp a word of it. Successive readings help only a little. Then in about a week it all becomes quite clear, just as if the brain had sorted it and filed it logically among the other bits of information.
James Holden evaluated all people in his own terms, he believed that everybody was just as eager for knowledge as he was. So he was surprised to find that Mrs. Bagley’s desire for extended education only included such information as would make her own immediate personal problems easier. Mrs. Bagley was the first one of the mass of people James was destined to meet who not only did not know how or why things worked, but further had no intention whatsoever of finding out.
James Holden’s mechanical educator was a wonderful machine, but there were some aspects of knowledge that it was not equipped to impart. The glandular comprehension of love was one such; there were others. In all of his hours under the machine James had not learned how personalities change and grow. And yet there was a textbook case right before his eyes.
Tim Fisher said, “Me—? Now, I need a drink!” James chuckled, “Alcoholic, of course—which is Pi to seven decimal places if you ever need it. Just count the letters.”
All the wealth of his education could not diminish that odd sense of the time-factor that convinces all people that the length of the years diminish as age increases.
It was fun while it lasted, but it didn’t last very long. It awakened him to the realization that knowledge is not the end-all of life, and that a full understanding of the words, the medical terms, and the biology involved did not tell him a thing about this primary drive of all life.
But it took a shock of such violence to make James realize that clams, guppies, worms, fleas, cats, dogs, and the great whales reproduced their kind; intellect, education and mature competence under law had nothing to do with the process whatsoever.
“As Mark Twain once said, ‘When I was seventeen, I was ashamed at the ignorance of my father, but by the time I was twenty-one I was amazed to discover how much the old man had learned in four short years!’
I stumbled onto this 1959 novel by George Smith quite by accident, and I am glad that I did. The story is about a five-year-old boy whose parents have invented an electromechanical educator which can imprint knowledge indelibly on the brain without the student having to go through the normal more arduous channels. Very soon, with his parents out of the picture and his very life in danger, young James Holden finds that he must fend for himself. But how can a five-year-old boy hide out and make his way in a society geared principally toward the needs and ambitions of adults?
At the same time, James desires to rebuild his parents’ machine at a secret location, and use it to complete his own education. However, in order to achieve this, he will undoubtedly need reliable and loyal helpers and a facade to hide behind until he comes of age or can prove that he has the competence to take on the responsibilities of an adult.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable book which was well written and thought provoking. Although it is set in America, I felt that it had an almost English quality to it, perhaps because it reminded me somewhat of the Hampdenshire Wonder by J.D. Beresford. The tension is skilfully maintained throughout, and along with the introspective ruminations of the protagonist and the bildungsroman aspect, is one of the factors that makes it a compelling read.
According to the Internet reviews I have glanced at, The Fourth “R” appears to be a favorite among the novels of George O. Smith, and somewhat atypical in that it is not a space-opera adventure like many of his other works.
By the way, the Fourth “R” is evidently what the machine cannot teach. The “Rs” logically must refer to the four “Rs” of education, but since there are various versions of these, readers have come to different conclusions regarding what the Fourth “R” actually stands for. The book itself does not explicitly provide an answer.
Here are some quotations taken directly from the text of the novel:
It is deplorable that adults are not as friendly and helpful to one another as they are to children; it might make for a more pleasant world.
They cohabited but did not live together for almost a year; Paul Brennan finally pointed out that Organized Society might permit a couple of geniuses to become research hermits, but Organized Society still took a dim view of cohabitation without a license.
….two years prior to the date that Louis Holden first identified the fine-line wave-shapes that went with determined ideas. When he recorded them and played them back, his brain re-traced its original line of thought, and he could not even make a mental revision of the way his thoughts were arranged.
Knowledge is stored by rote.
He was trapped in the world of grown-ups that believed a lying adult before they would even consider the truth of a child.
But no one is more difficult to fool than a child—even a normal child.
He had yet to learn about the vast gulf that lies between theory and practice.
children denied their contemporaries for playmates often take on attitudes beyond their years.
It has something to do with the same effect one gets out of studying. On Tuesday one can read a page of textbook and not grasp a word of it. Successive readings help only a little. Then in about a week it all becomes quite clear, just as if the brain had sorted it and filed it logically among the other bits of information.
James Holden evaluated all people in his own terms, he believed that everybody was just as eager for knowledge as he was. So he was surprised to find that Mrs. Bagley’s desire for extended education only included such information as would make her own immediate personal problems easier. Mrs. Bagley was the first one of the mass of people James was destined to meet who not only did not know how or why things worked, but further had no intention whatsoever of finding out.
James Holden’s mechanical educator was a wonderful machine, but there were some aspects of knowledge that it was not equipped to impart. The glandular comprehension of love was one such; there were others. In all of his hours under the machine James had not learned how personalities change and grow. And yet there was a textbook case right before his eyes.
Tim Fisher said, “Me—? Now, I need a drink!” James chuckled, “Alcoholic, of course—which is Pi to seven decimal places if you ever need it. Just count the letters.”
All the wealth of his education could not diminish that odd sense of the time-factor that convinces all people that the length of the years diminish as age increases.
It was fun while it lasted, but it didn’t last very long. It awakened him to the realization that knowledge is not the end-all of life, and that a full understanding of the words, the medical terms, and the biology involved did not tell him a thing about this primary drive of all life.
But it took a shock of such violence to make James realize that clams, guppies, worms, fleas, cats, dogs, and the great whales reproduced their kind; intellect, education and mature competence under law had nothing to do with the process whatsoever.
“As Mark Twain once said, ‘When I was seventeen, I was ashamed at the ignorance of my father, but by the time I was twenty-one I was amazed to discover how much the old man had learned in four short years!’
March 4, 2013
I came to love this novel in the 1968 edition entitled "The Brain Machine." A science fiction Bildungsroman in which little Jimmy Holden, a boy genius thanks to a machine invented by his late parents, learns about life and human nature the hard way: by knocking his nose against it. I re-read this novel every few years just for the sheer pleasure of it.
July 1, 2015
Entertaining, overlooked 50s sci-fi novel. Definitely going to read more from George O. Smith.
September 13, 2020
Can a small child learn to think like an adult by the enforced, quick memorization of everything they are given to read? That is the generous assumption that is challenged in this novel.
This is an interesting story of a young boy who "grows up" way too fast because of his "education" and misfortune. In order to have the life he wants and deserves, he escapes his murderous guardian and lives quietly in hiding, at the age of 6 years.
Continuing to learn quickly, he eventually has to face the world of adults, some of whom oppose his freedom for personal or political reasons, and just plain greed for what he has.
I think that both the teenager and adult can enjoy this novel.
This is an interesting story of a young boy who "grows up" way too fast because of his "education" and misfortune. In order to have the life he wants and deserves, he escapes his murderous guardian and lives quietly in hiding, at the age of 6 years.
Continuing to learn quickly, he eventually has to face the world of adults, some of whom oppose his freedom for personal or political reasons, and just plain greed for what he has.
I think that both the teenager and adult can enjoy this novel.
April 18, 2020
A computer-instructed 6-year-old runs away from home to support himself as a free-lance writer.
May 2, 2022
It's a well written tale which contained an idea interesting enough to keep me reading to the end.
May 26, 2016
"It is not the degradation of the standard but rather the exaltation of the norm"
When I read a book like this I always think to those people who do not read "Science-Fiction" just because it does not regard reality. I think that this book is more actual and concrete that many "not-Science-Fiction" books: it's a good reflection about the importance of education, and the different between education and experience. Moreover, it's a nice story.
The only think I didn't like is the title which is, in my opinion, a little misleading: if the "fourth R" stays really for "Reason", as stated on the cover of my version, than I do not see the connection. I deem that the book is more about education, human rights, knowledge and experience, than about "reason".
When I read a book like this I always think to those people who do not read "Science-Fiction" just because it does not regard reality. I think that this book is more actual and concrete that many "not-Science-Fiction" books: it's a good reflection about the importance of education, and the different between education and experience. Moreover, it's a nice story.
The only think I didn't like is the title which is, in my opinion, a little misleading: if the "fourth R" stays really for "Reason", as stated on the cover of my version, than I do not see the connection. I deem that the book is more about education, human rights, knowledge and experience, than about "reason".
June 14, 2011
Read it first when I was a kid. It had all the things one wants as a kid. Being smarter than adults, living on your own, defeating the evil grownup, etc. When I finally found it again as an adult I was totally shocked. It was in no way a kids book, the concepts where just way beyond that. To tell the truth I was a little appalled, but I don't know if that was from the story or just the emotional upheaval of it not being as simple as I remembered it. I hope to be able to read it again soon and see if I enjoy the story and the author for itself. Still I love the story, or at least it's concepts. What can I say, I'm still a kid at heart and way smarter than those grownups, or I could be...
August 2, 2020
This is a classic, and while I liked it much better 40 years ago, today I find it, well, stupid. No research scientist who develops a machine like this would let a fascist right wing Terrorist State take control of the invention like they do in this story, it's not believable despite the nuclear weapons in the hands of Terrorist States like the United States and Israel.
January 13, 2015
An interesting book, in which the author explores the meaning of 'education' when mere facts are easily downloaded into our minds. Hmm, saying anything more could spoil the plot, so I shan't say any more.
August 20, 2016
This book was great up until the last couple chapters when I lost interest. I flipped through the pages to see what was happening and how it ended. However, this book does deserve a solid 4 stars because the majority of the book was quite interesting.
December 20, 2016
Wow! This was a much better book than I expected. I good story about the effect of extreme intelligence upon a little boy. It takes you on a journey that wouldn't have taken myself. Very good. Needs to be better known!
March 23, 2014
not bad, not great
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews