Project Gutenberg 2007-11-11 Public domain in the USA. 148 Yaco, Murray F. Freas, Kelly 1922 2005 Freas, Frank Kelly Unspecialist Produced from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1960. Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team "Unspecialist" by Murray F. Yaco is a science fiction short story published in the early 1960s. The narrative follows two space patrol officers, Banner and Harcraft, who find themselves assigned to an absurd mission transporting fertilizer and tractor fuel instead of engaging in heroic patrol duties. The story explores themes of specialization versus versatility as the duo navigates their disdain for their unusual task while dealing with a puzzling passenger, Arnold, identified as a "Bean Brain," who shows unexpected skills that diverge sharply from their own specialized training. The plot unfolds as Banner and Harcraft, initially dismissive of Arnold's abilities, discover that his unspecialized knowledge of gardening and chemistry is crucial for survival once they encounter a dormant asteroid housing a potentially hostile alien fleet. Arnold's unique perspective allows them to devise a clever plan using their cargo to destroy the fleet, showcasing his adaptability in a crisis and highlighting the limitations of strict specialization. As the officers reconcile their views on competency and adaptability, they recognize the value of unspecialized skills in a dynamic environment, ultimately challenging their preconceived notions about intelligence and training in space travel. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 76.6 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Space flight -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 55636 2025-08-10T03:39:30.155942 text/html 55461 2023-04-10T03:00:42 text/html 220652 2025-08-10T03:39:34.103967 application/epub+zip 219555 2025-08-10T03:39:31.891986 application/epub+zip 89478 2025-08-10T03:39:30.755966 application/epub+zip 302730 2025-08-10T03:39:35.727992 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 296655 2025-08-10T03:39:33.461968 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 137702 2022-08-11T05:00:22.988231 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 47270 2025-08-10T03:39:29.882976 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 47038 2023-04-10T03:03:51 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19323 2025-08-10T03:39:35.866926 application/rdf+xml 12558 2025-08-10T03:39:31.248937 image/jpeg 3246 2025-08-10T03:39:31.001959 image/jpeg 18128 2023-04-10T03:04:25 application/octet-stream application/zip 120807 2023-04-10T03:04:47 application/octet-stream application/zip 190153 2025-08-10T03:39:30.163976 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia