- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Icon Books Ltd (7 Aug 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1848310048
- ISBN-13: 978-1848310049
- Product Dimensions: 20 x 15.8 x 1.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 649,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Product Description
Product Description
This title charts from prototype to realization the real-life technical evolution of 50 of the most poplar science-fiction inventions. It is essential reading for the technology addict or SF film fan.Detailing the history, the reality and the tech spec of 50 of science fiction's most brilliant crime-fighting, space-travelling, remote controlled, lightspeed, artificially intelligent inventions, "Future Proof" is required reading for anyone who knows their wormhole from their black holes...It features: "Buck Rogers'" jetpack, "Jetsons" - Flying cars, "Star Trek's" transporters, "The Six Million-Dollar Man's" cyborg, "Sleeper's" Orgasmatron, "2001's" artificial intelligence, "Lost in Space's" remote controlled robots, "Vanilla Sky's" Cryonics, "Star Wars'" Warp Drives, "Back to the Future's" time travel, "Total Recall's" Terraforming, "Doctor Who's" robot pets, "Galatic Patrol's" Cybernetics, "A Fall of Moondust's" space tourism, "Stargate's" wormholes and "Brave New World's" Hypnopedia.
About the Author
Nick Sagan is the son of astronomer Carl Sagan and the author of the bestselling SF novels Idlewild, Edenborn and Everfree. Mark Frary is a science journalist whose work has appeared in The Times and many other newspapers and magazines. Andy Walker currently hosts and produces a video podcast at www.labrats.tv
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Future Proof's author, NIck Sagan is the son of astronomer Carl Sagan and NIck is continuing his father's work of making science accessible to non-scientific people like myself.
The concept is simple. Take the most popular 50 inventions from the world of science fiction and look at where they are today in the real world. You can imagine the sort of thing - jetpacks to strap on your back, humanoid slaves to do the housework, time-travel, teleportation etc. Where exactly have these concepts go to since they were dreamed up in the last century?
The suprising thing is quite how far developed many of science-fiction's imagings have become. Each short chapter details the SF "sightings" of inventions, then describes the scientific history of the device and defines the technical specification that would be required to bring the device into the real world. Finally, the current reality of the device is described.
Take for example, pocket computers. Star Trek first envisioned pocket computers back in 1966 and in 1974 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle referred to pocket computers operated by a stylus in the novel, The Mote in God's Eye. Under Scientific History, Sagan lists the development of pocked computers from their first appearance in 1982 and then under Reality Sagan notes that "if ever there was a science fiction idea that has been realised, its the pocket computer" and goes on to report the current state of development and future routes into retinal projectors and data storage connections.
Image1 On a more way-out invention such as teleportation, it is interesting to read that this was first conceived by American writer Charles Fort in his 1931 book Lo! The concept has then become ubiquitous under a variety of names such as Vibra Transmitter, Displacement Booths or Stepping Disc and has appeared in many films and books. Unfortunately in the real world, teleportation is not quite so advanced (surprise, surprise!), although scientists have managed to teleport the properties of atoms and photons using quantum mechanics phenomena (It would be better to read the explanation in the book rather than my inevitably poor regurgitation of it).
The book is attractively presented and contains many illustrations and diagrams. While being interesting in its own right, it would make an excellent gift for any friend or relative who has an interest in science fiction whether in books, films or television.
The concept is simple. Take the most popular 50 inventions from the world of science fiction and look at where they are today in the real world. You can imagine the sort of thing - jetpacks to strap on your back, humanoid slaves to do the housework, time-travel, teleportation etc. Where exactly have these concepts go to since they were dreamed up in the last century?
The suprising thing is quite how far developed many of science-fiction's imagings have become. Each short chapter details the SF "sightings" of inventions, then describes the scientific history of the device and defines the technical specification that would be required to bring the device into the real world. Finally, the current reality of the device is described.
Take for example, pocket computers. Star Trek first envisioned pocket computers back in 1966 and in 1974 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle referred to pocket computers operated by a stylus in the novel, The Mote in God's Eye. Under Scientific History, Sagan lists the development of pocked computers from their first appearance in 1982 and then under Reality Sagan notes that "if ever there was a science fiction idea that has been realised, its the pocket computer" and goes on to report the current state of development and future routes into retinal projectors and data storage connections.
Image1 On a more way-out invention such as teleportation, it is interesting to read that this was first conceived by American writer Charles Fort in his 1931 book Lo! The concept has then become ubiquitous under a variety of names such as Vibra Transmitter, Displacement Booths or Stepping Disc and has appeared in many films and books. Unfortunately in the real world, teleportation is not quite so advanced (surprise, surprise!), although scientists have managed to teleport the properties of atoms and photons using quantum mechanics phenomena (It would be better to read the explanation in the book rather than my inevitably poor regurgitation of it).
The book is attractively presented and contains many illustrations and diagrams. While being interesting in its own right, it would make an excellent gift for any friend or relative who has an interest in science fiction whether in books, films or television.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
