4,216 words (18–24 minutes)
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Psychological Drama
First published in Amazing Stories, March 1941.

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In The Secret Sense, Earthman Lincoln Fields, an aesthete obsessed with beauty, discovers that his Martian friend Garth Jan possesses a mysterious, secret sense — one Earthlings lack. When Fields demands to experience it for himself, he is given a fleeting five minutes of exposure to this alien sensation. What follows is both ecstasy and torment as Fields is returned to his ordinary life, forever haunted by the knowledge of a beauty just beyond his grasp. Asimov’s story explores the allure and danger of forbidden knowledge, the limits of human perception, and the consequences of curiosity when it exceeds one’s ability to endure.