science

Never Look Behind You

Never Look Behind You is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Never Look Behind You rather than just read about it. In short: "Never Look Behind You" is a short story by Chris Chesley and Stephen King. It was self-published by Chesley and King in 1960 as part of the collection People, Places and Things.

Key takeaways

Never Look Behind You belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Never Look Behind You to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Never Look Behind You from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"Never Look Behind You" is a short story by Chris Chesley and Stephen King. It was self-published by Chesley and King in 1960 as part of the collection People, Places and Things.

Plot summary An "old miser" and "usurer" named George Jacobs is counting money in his office when an elderly, scar-faced woman dressed in rags enters behind him. As Jacobs finishes counting, the woman tells him "too bad you won't be able to spend it". After Jacobs turns around to confront the woman, she raises her hand, killing Jacobs with "a flash of fire on his throat". Following Jacobs' death, an unnamed character queries what killed him, while another states that he is glad that Jacobs is dead. The latter character is described as "lucky" as "he didn't look behind him".

Publication "Never Look Behind You" was written by Chesley and King in the summer before beginning high school. It was self-published in 1960 as part of the short story collection People, Places and Things, which was mimeographed in King's family basement by Chesley and King.

Reception Rocky Wood describes People, Places and Things as "juvenilia" but with "clear hints of the King to come". Reviewing "Never Look Behind You", Wood comments that "it is the punch line that makes the story." Michael R. Collings states, "In approach, content, theme, and treatment [the stories] clearly suggest directions the mature King would explore in greater detail...". Tyson Blue describes "Never Look Behind You" as "an intriguing little tale not so much for what it says as what it does not say". Stephen J. Spignesi notes similarities between the character of the old woman and the character Taduz Lemke from King's 1984 book Thinner.

See also Stephen King short fiction bibliography

References

External links "Never Look Behind You" title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Never Look Behind You

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Never Look Behind You claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Never Look Behind You before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Never Look Behind You ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Never Look Behind You

In research: Never Look Behind You appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Never Look Behind You in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Never Look Behind You is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960 English-language short stories, 1960 short stories, Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Never Look Behind You outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Never Look Behind You” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Never Look Behind You in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Never Look Behind You means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Never Look Behind You out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Never Look Behind You in simple terms?

"Never Look Behind You" is a short story by Chris Chesley and Stephen King. It was self-published by Chesley and King in 1960 as part of the collection People, Places and Things.

Why does Never Look Behind You matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Never Look Behind You?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Never Look Behind You.