What Do You Read?

"What Do You Read?" by Boyd Ellanby is a science fiction story that imagines a future dominated by machines capable of writing stories, which challenges the place of human beings in writing. The book follows Herbert Carre, a writer struggling to remain relevant as machines take over due to automated writing technology. As society falls in love with machine-made literature, Carre notices how hollow and uncaring the stories become. When Carre goes against his superior, Commissioner Ludwig, he brings to light how this technology hurts what society values. The story makes the reader think about how important our human thoughts and feelings are to stories, implying that the key aspects of literature are impossible to replicate by machines.