Reading 'Sidewise in Time' in Bed While Lying on my Side in Bed

Recently I've been reading Murray Leinster's groundbreaking story "Sidewise in Time," originally published in the June 1934 issue of Astounding Stories.

It's considered by many the first focused exploration of what in our day is known as the "Many-worlds interpretation," described as such by Hugh Everett III in 1957.

I bought the Kindle version of the story for $2.99, intending to read it at bedtime on my Kindle Paperwhite reader, which I love because it's much easier to control with one hand than a physical book and the noise and disturbance of turning pages which formerly woke up my cat Vanta, asleep against chest, is no more.

But — after two weeks of reading, it became clear to me that I'd never finish the story — which I was enjoying very much — even though it's only 58 pages long.

Why?

Because every night when it came time to resume, I couldn't remember what had happened the previous night.

My liminal sleepy self, often so on the edge of slumber that I'd drop the Kindle only to wake up with the sudden change in balance and grip, didn't remember a thing!

For a test, this morning  I brought up the story in its Kindle version on my MacBook and read it from start to finish in one sitting: much better.

I understood now why this story is so celebrated: it's startlingly good and considering it was published in 1934, well, astounding is apt.

FunFact: So groundbreaking was this story that the Sidewise Award for Alternate History was established in 1995 to honor each year's best short and long form stories dealing with time shifts.

You could look it up!