Project Gutenberg 2007-11-22 Public domain in the USA. 149 Raphael, Rick 1919 1994 A Filbert Is a Nut Produced from Astounding Science Fiction November 1959. Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "A Filbert Is a Nut" by Rick Raphael is a science fiction short story published in the late 1950s. The narrative revolves around the absurd concept of a patient in a mental institution reportedly creating an atomic bomb out of modeling clay. Through a blend of dark humor and satire, the story critiques the perception of sanity and genius, particularly in the context of the Cold War era's obsession with nuclear technology. The plot unfolds in a mental hospital, where the main character, Thaddeus Funston, engages in art therapy by molding clay. Unbeknownst to the staff, his creations take on a dangerous life of their own. After a nighttime explosion destroys the crafts building, military and scientific personnel become embroiled in an investigation to understand how a bomb was created in a seemingly innocuous setting. The narrative escalates as Funston is taken to a military testing facility, where he successfully replicates the explosion, leading to discussions about the nature of genius and insanity. Ultimately, the story culminates in a grand, ironic conclusion, reflecting the anxiety and absurdity of the time. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 72.5 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 43181 2025-06-10T04:15:57.435783 text/html 39699 2007-11-22T12:08:20 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 61644 2007-11-22T12:08:20 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 132809 2025-06-10T04:16:01.304771 application/epub+zip 131582 2025-06-10T04:15:59.147795 application/epub+zip 80665 2025-06-10T04:15:58.037783 application/epub+zip 224335 2025-06-10T04:16:02.874800 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 217643 2025-06-10T04:16:00.653764 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 140605 2022-09-11T06:10:45.259038 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 37320 2025-06-10T04:15:57.183839 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 37229 2007-11-22T12:08:20 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 14254 2007-11-22T12:08:20 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 18788 2025-06-10T04:16:03.002791 application/rdf+xml 13218 2025-06-10T04:15:58.566811 image/jpeg 3603 2025-06-10T04:15:58.302785 image/jpeg 126977 2025-06-10T04:15:57.443805 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