Eric Dregni and Jonathan DregniI’m a sucker for science-related discussions, speculative notions regarding the near future (Huxley's“Brave New World”, Orwell's “1984”, and Clarke and Kubricks’ “2001”), and pictures of nubile females in various stages of undress. So, after selecting the new Einstein biography (eat your heart out, Nanc) and still having a bit left on my Border’s gift card, I was delighted to spot this book in their science section. A brief thumbing through revealed fascinating topics including “Tomorrow’s Transportation”, “Inventing Away War”, “Cities of the Future”, and so forth. In addition, I saw that there were many illustrations, most from the covers of science fiction pulp magazines of the ‘40s and ‘50s. These, of course, usually portrayed nearly nude ladies in the evil clutches of menacing robots or ray-gun toting BEMs (bug-eyed monsters for those of you lacking the quality experience of adolescent exposure to the fiction of the day). How could I resist?
Well, I should have. This is very possibly the worst book I’ve tried to read for a very long time. Egregious typos abound; someone should have informed the writers or the editors that spell- and grammar-checking features are found in most word processing programs today. Even worse, this piece of trash is filled with outlandish errors of fact; e.g., a navy “general”, an autogiro described as a helicopter which could be converted into an automobile, thinking machines (early computers) gaining “consciousness” in 1942, and many more.
To add insult to injury, most of the illustrations are poorly integrated with the text and lack date and source citations.
All in all, those science-fiction pulps I used to enjoy were generally better written and edited than this. I’m preparing this review as penance for wasting my gift card on this atrocity. Father, will you give me absolution if I promise to be a bit more thorough when scanning potential literary purchases in the future?
Review by Ken West
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