Re: Could there be a Gnarly Man in current times?

On 08/05/2024 06.20, Mickmane wrote:

On 08.05.24, Tony Nance  <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
 

So I?m making my way through The Best of L Sprague de Camp, and I
just (re)read ?The Gnarly Man?. It made me wonder ... well, first a
quick summary for context:

 

This story was written in 1939 and is set in 1956. It?s about an
immortal Neanderthal - basically he stopped aging around the age of
33. He most definitely looks the part, and he?s intelligent,
articulate, knowledgable, knows dozens of languages, etc etc etc,

[...]
 

And this made me wonder:
Given his obvious physical differences, and with modern technology
and communication being what it is, are there ways he could he stay a
member of modern society and also avoid attention?

 Modern reconstructions of Neanderthals wouldn't have them stand out at
all.

This apparently was the case by 1958, when Asimov wrote "The Ugly Little Boy".

[2] He also invented soup, by necessity, since his teeth wore out and
he hadn?t invented false teeth yet.

 With your description of the book (which I don't know), I'm now
wondering how his teeth wore out, but not the rest of his body.

Presumably, the friction involved in chewing would do the trick. Unlike
most of the body, teeth aren't self-repairing.
--
Michael F. Stemper
The name of the story is "A Sound of Thunder".
It was written by Ray Bradbury. You're welcome.