Monday, October 08, 2007

Where's My Jetpack?

Very funny -- yet scientific -- look at the future that never quite materialized. Not as technical or as thorough as I was hoping for, but still very readable and entertaining: a fast 187 pages. Wilson discusses everything from personal jetpacks to ray guns to robots to space elevators. Best line (discussing cryogenic freezing): "Here you are palming a silly book with your meaty human paws [when] you could be a thousand years in the future, standing in a thin atmosphere and cradling a mutant human baby with your horrific titanium claws." Same author who wrote How to Survive a Robot Uprising.