Second Childhood by Clifford D. Simak Episode #86

Clifford D. Simak | August 1, 2023

Second Childhood by Clifford D. Simak Episode #86
Clifford D. Simak

SECOND CHILDHOOD

Episode #86 · Written by Clifford D. Simak · Narrated by Scott Miller

In a future where death has been engineered out of existence, Andrew Young has lived longer than any human was ever meant to. His life is filled with accomplishments, descendants, and centuries of responsibility—but none of it brings relief. Time no longer opens possibilities. It only adds weight.

When his request to end his life is denied, Young chooses a more radical path. He begins stripping away adulthood itself, rebuilding his surroundings to mirror a world where scale, memory, and meaning once felt new. What begins as a controlled attempt to escape exhaustion becomes a far riskier surrender, as his mind moves toward something it cannot fully plan or measure.

Second Childhood unfolds quietly, with mounting tension that comes not from action, but from uncertainty. The story asks how much of a person is built from memory, and whether erasing that memory is renewal or annihilation. Every step backward raises a single question: can innocence be reclaimed without losing the self entirely?

First published in 1951, this story reflects Clifford D. Simak’s distinctive approach to science fiction—one grounded in personal consequence rather than spectacle. While immortality often appears in fiction as a triumph, Simak treats it as a condition that must be endured, negotiated, and ultimately confronted on human terms.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Clifford D. Simak was a central figure in American science fiction for decades, publishing stories in Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy, and other leading magazines from the 1930s onward. His work includes the fix-up novel City, the Hugo-winning Way Station, and numerous short stories that emphasize mood, memory, and moral pressure over technological display.

Second Childhood fits squarely within Simak’s recurring interest in time, identity, and the cost of progress. Rather than treating the future as a place of endless advancement, he focuses on the inner life of those forced to live with its consequences—an approach that has made his quieter stories endure long after louder visions have faded.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to Second Childhood by Clifford D. Simak — a vintage science fiction story where immortality forces one man to choose forgetting himself or living forever.

ABOUT THE LOST SCI-FI PODCAST

The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 34 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 3.7 million listens.

Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.

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Vintage science fiction. Professionally narrated. Carefully curated.