TY  - BOOK
AU  - Bartholomew,Stephen
TI  - The Standardized Man
T2  - Produced from IF Worlds of Science Fiction February 1958
AV  - PS 
PY  - 2010///
CY  - Salt Lake City, UT
PB  - Project Gutenberg
KW  - Science fiction
KW  - Short stories
N1  - Release date is 2010-06-02; Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net; Original publication data not identified
N2  - "The Standardized Man" by Stephen Bartholomew is a science fiction novella written in the mid-20th century. The book explores the themes of societal conformity and the implications of extreme standardization in a future world, where the individual is reduced to a mere cog in the machinery of a highly regulated economy. It delves into the tension between personal identity and societal expectations, reflecting the anxieties of modernity.  The story centers around Charles, a chemist tasked with developing an innovative all-weather suit to stabilize the economy of the textile industry, which is facing a crisis due to falling profits. As he grapples with the pressures of his job, his personal life spirals out of control following a disastrous incident involving the new fabric’s unexpected properties, which leads to chaos and confusion surrounding personal identity in a world where everyone wears name tags that define them. This culminates in a twist where Charles, in a moment of desperation, adopts another man's identity, illustrating the extremes to which people may go to navigate societal expectations and crises of self. The novella offers a cautionary tale about the perils of losing individuality in the pursuit of uniformity and economic stability. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
UR  - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32658
ER  -