Summary:
"Fifty Per Cent Prophet" by Randall Garrett is a science fiction novel written in the early 1960s. The book revolves around the character Dr. Peter Forsythe, a self-proclaimed seer who makes predictions about disasters and events, straddling the line between genuine prophecy and charlatanism. It delves into themes of foresight, human intervention, and the unpredictability of fate. The story follows Dr. Forsythe as he is recruited by a secretive organization, the Society for Mystical and Metaphysical Research, to utilize his purported abilities to predict disasters and avert them. As he navigates this new role, he experiences a range of successes and failures with his prophecies, each tied to human actions rather than random fate. The narrative builds to a climax when Forsythe predicts a catastrophe involving Moonbase One, which intrigues government officials but also leads to unexpected consequences as the actions taken in response to his predictions create new disasters. Ultimately, the novel explores the complexities of precognition and the potentially ironic outcomes of trying to change the future. (This is an automatically generated summary.)