Reality ahead of schedule : how science fiction inspires science fact /
Have you ever wished for a personal jet pack or a robot butler? Do you wonder how you would fare as an interplanetary traveler? Are you eagerly awaiting driverless cars? 'Reality Ahead of Schedule' explores how what we imagine about the future has influenced our ability to make those ideas...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Washington, D.C. :
Smithsonian Books,
[2019]
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| Summary: | Have you ever wished for a personal jet pack or a robot butler? Do you wonder how you would fare as an interplanetary traveler? Are you eagerly awaiting driverless cars? 'Reality Ahead of Schedule' explores how what we imagine about the future has influenced our ability to make those ideas into reality. There are many vital technologies that science fiction not only predicted, but also helped bring into being. Through lively narration and lavish illustrations, the book presents technological developments in the military, consumer, space exploration, medical and communications fields. It explores the writers, futurists and far-sighted inventors whose visions became realities, from the direct influence of H. G. Wells on the atomic bomb and the tank, to the ambitious prototypes created by inventors ahead of their time, such as Nikola Tesla's remote-controlled drone ship. The history and development of each technology is related in context, exploring the road from prescient fictional representation to real-life technology. 'Reality Ahead of Schedule' offers readers the chance to meet and understand the impact of some of the greatest names and works in science fictioni, from Jules Verne and Aldous Huxley to Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, Star Trek to the Bionic Man, alongside visionary inventors such as Tesla and Wernher von Braun. |
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| Physical Description: | 224 pages : chiefly color illustrations ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 220-221) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781588346704 1588346706 |