Book that Saved the Earth

Summary

This drama is set in 25th century. A historian in the museum is telling the story about 20th century; the century of the books. He tells how a book saved the earth from Martian invasion.

The invaders from Mars consider themselves too intelligent for the earthlings. They think they are superior race than the inhabitants of the earth.

There is a megalomaniac commander who commands the team of the invader. Various members from the invaders’ team enter a library. They are unable to identify what a book is. They make several wild guesses, and finally arrive at the conclusion that it must be a communication device for the earthlings.

They try to decode what is written in the book. The book is full of nursery rhymes. Their encoding tells them that earthlings must have been on a mission to attack the Mars. Fearing that, they immediately leave the earth and fly away to the distant Alpha Centauri.

NCERT Exercise

Question 1: Do you think books are being replaced by the electronic media? Can we do away with books altogether?

Answer: Books are being replaced by the electronic media in a big way. Most of the children no longer read story books and prefer to watch television and use internet. Although textbooks are still there but they may soon be replaced by electronic version. Books have their own utility value because one can read a book at his own pace and a book does not need to be powered by electricity. But as the technology is advancing by every day, a time may come when books will become a thing of the past.

Question 2: Why are books referred to as a man’s best companion? Which is your favourite book and why? Write a paragraph about that book.

Answer: Books help us to learn a lot of things. They become our guide and friend. These are reasons, books are referred to as a man’s best companion. Malgudi Days; by R K Narayan is my favourite book. I love this book because the main characters in this book are children. The way child’s psychology has been explained in this book is what gives me pleasure while reading this book.

Question 3: Noodle avoids offending Think-Tank but at the same time he corrects his mistakes. How does he manage to do that?

Answer: Noodle appears to be quite an expert at handling an arrogant and megalomaniac boss. While correcting the mistakes, Noodle never gives a sense of inferiority to his boss. He is always correct but pretends that every right information comes from the ‘highly intelligent boss’.

Question 4: If you were in Noodle’s place, how would you handle Think-Tank’s mistakes?

Answer: I would follow in Noodle’s footsteps. It is never a right policy to annoy your boss, no matter how irritating the boss may be. I would have rectified Think-Tank’s mistakes as politely as Noodle did.