Report on the Barnhouse Effect Summary

The narrator is writing a report about Professor Barnhouse. In the story's reality, the world is held hostage by the Barnhouse Effect, which lets Barnhouse destroy things with his mind. He discovered this talent during World War Two when excelling at craps games.

After the war, Barnhouse went to work at Wyandotte College where he serves as the narrator's thesis adviser. Barnhouse showed the narrator how he could blow up an ink well on his desk. Barnhouse also showed him all the trees and abandoned houses he had blown up around town. Barnhouse wrote a letter to the Secretary of State telling about the Barnhouse Effect and asking for help in using it for peace.

Barnhouse and the narrator were whisked away to a mansion in Virginia, where Barnhouse was repeatedly asked by government officials...