"Science Fiction is something that could happen -
but usually you wouldn't want it to. Fantasy is something that couldn't happen - though often you only wish that it could"
Arthur C. Clarke
Forward to: "The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke"
"Fantasy involves that which general opinion
regards as impossible; Science Fiction involves that which general opinion regards as possible under the right circumstances"
Philip K Dick
"You can't argue with mundanes
because they do not appear to be fully aware".
Isaac Asimov (PhD Biochemistry - not an honorary degree)
From the rear dust jacket of "The Caves of Steel"
Doubleday 1954 hardcover edition
For a long time the author has led a double life: one as one of the masters of the fast, terse, often humorous galactic
melodramas, and as a biochemist and teacher at the Boston University School of Medicine, where he is engaged in cancer
research. Mr. Asimov says: "Science Fiction invades most of the facets of my life, even my serious research. At my final
examination for a doctorate in biochemistry (with seven professors asking profound and embarrassing questions) the last
question concerned one of the incidents in one of my science-fiction stories. I got my degree." Mr. Asimov also says he is
better known for such stories as Pebble in the Sky, The Stars,Like Dust
and The Currents of Space in the science fiction world (which takes science fiction very seriously) than he
is ever likely to be for his cancer research.
TODAY'S (1954) FICTION - TOMORROW'S FACTS
LIFE Magazine says there are more than TWO MILLION science fiction fans in this country. From all corners of the nation comes
the resounding proof that science fiction has established itself as an exciting and imaginative NEW FORM OF LITERATURE that is
attracting literally tens of thousands of new readers every year! Why? Because no other form of fiction can provide you with
such thrilling and unprecedented adventures! No other form of fiction can take you on an eerie trip to Mars ... amaze you with a
journey into the year 3000 A.D. ... or sweep you into the fabulous realms of unexplored Space! Yes, it's no wonder that this
exciting new form of imaginative literature has captivated the largest group of fascinated new readers in the United States
today!
From the "The Left Hand of
the Electron"
Introduction to chapter 4 (The 3-D Molecule)
In the days when I was actively teaching, full time, at a medical school, there was always the psychological difficulty of
facing a sullen audience. The students had come to school to study medicine. They wanted white coats, a stethoscope, a tongue
depressor, and a prescription pad. Instead, they found that for the first two years (at least, as it was in the days when I was
actively teaching) they were subjected to the "basic sciences." That meant they had to listen to lectures very much in the style
of those they had suffered through in college. Some of those basic sciences had, at least, a clear connection with what they
recognized as the doctor business, especially anatomy, where they had all the fun of slicing up cadavers. Of all the basic
sciences, though, the one that seemed least immediately "relevant," farthest removed from the game of doctor-and-patient, most
abstract, most collegiate, and most saturated with despised Ph.D.'s as professors was biochemistry. And, of course, it was
biochemistry that I taught. I tried various means of counteracting the natural contempt of medical student for biochemistry. The
device which worked best (or, at least, gave me most pleasure) was to launch into a spirited account of "the greatest single
discovery in all the history of medicine" that is, the germ theory of disease. I can get very dramatic when pushed, and I would
build up the discovery and its consequences to the loftiest possible pinnacle. And then I would say, "But, of course, as you
probably all take for granted, no mere physician could so fundamentally revolutionize medicine. The discoverer was Louis
Pasteur, Ph.D., a biochemist."
From the dust jacket of
"Robots and Empire"
Doubleday 1985 hardcover edition
Isaac Asimov's ROBOTS AND EMPIRE heralds a major new landmark in the great Asimovian galaxy of science fiction. For it not only
presents the trilling sequel to the best-selling ROBOTS OF DAWN, but also ingeniously interweaves all three of Asimov's classic
series: Robot, Foundation, and Empire. This is the work Asimov fans have been waiting for - an electrifying tale of interstellar
intrigue and adventure that sets a new standard in the realm of SF literature.
Two hundred years have passed since THE ROBOTS OF DAWN and Elijah Baley, the beloved hero of Earthpeople, is dead. The future of
the Universe is at a crossroads. Though the forces of the sinister Spacers are weakened, Dr. Keldon Amadiro has never forgotten
-- or forgiven -- his humiliating defeat at the hands of Elijah. Now, with vengeance burning in his heart, he is more determined
than ever to bring about the total annihilation of the planet Earth.
But Amadiro had not counted on the equally determined Lady Gladia. Devoted to Elijah Baley, the Auroran beauty has taken upon
the legacy of her fallen lover, vowing to stop the Spacer's at any cost. With her two robot companions, Daneel and Giskard, she
prepares to set into motion a daring and dangerous plan . . . a plan whose success -- or failure -- will forever seal the fate
of Earth and all who live there.
Culminating in a stunning surprise climax, ROBOTS AND EMPIRE is singular science fiction that excites the mind and stimulates
the imagination. It is Isaac Asimov at his triumphant best, proving him, once again, the true Master of the genre.
In 2004, Isaac Asimov
(already dead for 12 years) sent humanity a message.
Okay so it was only a few paragraphs from a just-delivered used 1988 book but I was "in the zone" so took it seriously because
it reminded me of the posthumous messages sent by Hari Seldon to all of
humanity, via the Time Vault, in Asimov's Foundation
Trilogy. Sci-fi fans should read this message too because Asimov's Favorite
Fifteen are the basis for a provocative humanistic-robotic philosophy so awe-inspiring that I could, if I so desired,
create a religion based upon it (although I would not because Asimov would not have approved). Although half of Asimov's stories
were written in the 1940s and 1950s, they do not seem anachronistic in any way. In fact, they seem to have been written last
week.
When I wrote Foundation, which appeared in the May 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction,
I had no idea I had begun a series of stories that would eventually grow into six volumes and a total of 650,000 words (so far).
Nor did I have any idea that it would be unified with my series of short stories and novels involving robots and my novels
involving the Galactic Empire for a grand total (so far) of fourteen volumes and a total of about
1,450,000 words.
You will see, if you study the publication dates of these books, that there was a twenty-five-year hiatus between 1957 and 1982,
during which I did not add to this series. This is not because I had stopped writing. Indeed, I wrote full-speed throughout the
quarter century, but I wrote other things. That I returned to the series in 1982 was not my own notion but was the result of a
combination of pressures from readers and publishers that eventually became overwhelming.
In any case, the situation has become sufficiently complicated for me to feel that the readers might welcome a kind of guide to
the series, since they were not written in the order in which (perhaps) they should be read.
The fourteen books, all published by Doubleday, offer a kind of history of the future,
which is, perhaps, not completely consistent, since I did not plan consistency to begin with. The chronological order of the
books, in terms of future history (and not of publication date), is as follows:
Syllabus reading order as suggested
by Isaac Asimov:
A collection of nine short stories presented as the memoirs of robot psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin (an employee of U.S.
Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation).
Chapter 8 ("Evidence") is
a 1946 story where a politician is accused of being a robot. Now read my
summary
Chapter 9 ("Evitable Conflict")
is a 1950 story dealing with climate change (how did Asimov see this one coming?). Now readNSR's summary
A collection of thirty-one robot short stories published between 1940 and 1976 and includes every story in my
earlier collection I, Robot (1950).
Only one robot short story has been written since this collection appeared. That is Robot Dreams,
which has not yet appeared in any Doubleday collection.
The is the third Foundation novel but most of the world knows this book as the first book of
the Foundation Trilogy. Actually, it began as a collection of four short stories, originally published between 1942 and 1944,
plus an introductory section written for the book in 1949.
This is the seventh Foundation novel. [ Asimov's list shows a publishing
date of 1983 but this is a typo ]
Will I add additional books to the series? I might. There is room for a book between Robots and Empire and
The Currents of Space, and between Prelude to Foundation and Foundation,
and of course between others as well. And then I can follow Foundation and Earth with with additional
volumes -- as many as I like. Naturally, there's got to be some limit, for I don't expect to to live forever, but I do intend
to hang on as long as possible.
General Notes:
No book was ever published to fill the gap between Robots and Empire and The Currents of Space
Forward the Foundation (published posthumously in 1993) fills the gap between Prelude to Foundation and Foundation. Asimov's Favorite Fourteen now become Asimov's Favorite Fifteen.
Column-3 (Group) Notes:
Even though this book {I, Robot} was originally published in 1950, the pre-1950 stories contained within
seem to stand the test of time. This might have something to do with the fact that Asimov usually glosses over technological
details while concentrating more on the human side of things. Remembering that these stories were written during the age of
vacuum tubes which predates solid state electronics (transistors and integrated circuits). Asimov never mentions these
components but does use the phrase "Positronic Brain" as a literary device for "unknown technology". One "possibly" dated
phrase is "robot psychologist" to mean "computer programmer". However, the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) programming
is now becoming so complex that "robot psychology" may become a programming discipline.
The story Robot Dreams did appear in a robot compilation published by Byron Press in 1986 titled Robot
Dreams. A second robot compilation was published by Byron Press in 1990 titled Robot Visions.
Books 2, 3, and 4 (but not 5) were republished in 1988 under the title The Robot Novels
Books 6-8 are part of Asimov's Galactic Empire series. Asimov thought that these books were not very
good (as far as the Robot-to-Foundation story line is concerned). He once stated "You can skip these books and still have a
very enjoyable read [of the other 12]"
Primarily due to the book clubs of the 1950s and 1960s, there once was a time when Asimov was better known for these
three books than he was for the Foundation Trilogy
Book 8 (Pebble in the Sky) was republished in hardcover on January 2008 and I enjoyed it immensely.
Book 7 (The Stars, Like Dust) was republished in hardcover on December 2008 and I enjoyed it as well.
Book 6 (The Currents of Space) was republished in hardcover on April 2009 and think it was worth
every penny.
Book 10 (Forward the Foundation) was not in Asimov's original list because he had not yet written it.
This means that books 11-15 reflect new numberings. Forward the Foundation was Asimov's last book. Click here for suppressed information about Asimov's death in 1992
at the age of 72.
Books 11-13 are known by the public-at-large as The Foundation Trilogy. Even still, for maximum
enjoyment you should read books 9-15 in order. Since some well known Robots pop up here, you should read books 1-5 (or 1-8)
first.
It is unfortunate that we cannot able to travel back in time to convince Asimov to get 45 minutes of daily exercise so he
could avoid the triple bypass surgery responsible for infecting his blood with a deadly
virus. I cannot imagine this collection without Forward the Foundation and now can only wonder about what
he had in mind for these other insertion points. Generally speaking, Asimov fans have been very critical about the work done
by other authors commissioned by Asimov's estate.
If you are a hard sci-fi fan like me then every one of these 15 books are worth reading today. They seem to stand the test
of time and do not seem dated in any way. Locate rare and out-of-print books: www.bookfinder.com
Readers familiar with
the Sherlock Holmes stories know that Doctor
Watson referred to himself as Holmes' biographer. People who have immersed themselves in those stories have come to the
realization that Arthur Conon Doyle was, in effect, Watson.
The fact that Doyle was a real-world doctor was just icing on the cake.
Isaac Asimov = Hari Seldon in the Foundation Novels?
It has not escaped my attention that "stumbling upon Asimov's suggested reading order in an original imprint from 1988" is
very much like "receiving a posthumous message from Hari Seldon".
Yes, Asimov still speaks to humanity today but I am certain he wouldn't want you to turn his humanist-robotic philosophies
into a religion even though you could.
As a computer technologist, I find it amusing that most people today confuse A.I. (artificial intelligence)
with artificial consciousness. While A.I. has brought fully autonomous vehicles close to general use,
such a vehicle that accidentally causes a crash will not be able to be interviewed by an investigating police officer or
dragged into court to give testimony.
It appears to me that Asimov already broached these issues in his stories which are dominated by robots. Artificial
intelligence is everywhere (Detective Baily talks about "logic vs reason") but only these two robots possessed artificial
consciousness:
Together, they co-develop the zeroth law of robotics which
is used (over the course of 15 books) to save humanity from itself. Or did they? Here is an excerpt from page 116 of The
Naked Sun (1959 imprint of a 1957 story): Baily - It is as much my job to prevent harm to man-kind as a whole as yours is to prevent harm to a man as an
individual. Do you see? Daneel - I do not, Partner Elijah (but he eventually would)
Neil Rieck
Behind the Foundation
From the introduction to "Foundation and Earth"
Doubleday 1986 hardcover edition
On August 1, 1941, when I was a lad of twenty-one, I was a graduate student in chemistry at Columbia University and had been
writing science fiction professionally for three years. I was hastening to see John Campbell, editor of Astounding,
to whom I had sold five stories by then. I was anxious to tell him of a new idea I had for a science fiction story.
It was to write a historical novel of the future; to tell the story of the fall of the Galactic Empire. My enthusiasm must
have been catching, for Campbell grew as excited as I was. He didn't want me to write a single story. He wanted a series of
stories, in which the full history of of the thousand years of turmoil between the First Galactic Empire and the rise of the
Second Galactic Empire was to be outlined. It would all be illuminated by the science of psychohistory that
Campbell and I thrashed out between us.
The first story appeared in the May 1942 Astounding and the second story appeared in the June 1942 issue.
They were at once popular and Campbell saw to it that I wrote six more stories before the end of the decade. The stories grew
longer too. The first one was only twelve thousand words long. Two of the last three stories were fifty thousand words apiece.
By the time the decade was over, I had grown tired of the series, dropped it, and went on to other things. By then, however,
various publishing houses were beginning to put out hardcover science fiction books. One such house was a small
semiprofessional firm, Gnome Press. They published my Foundation Series in three volumes: Foundation (1951);
Foundation and Empire (1952); and Second Foundation (1953). The three books together came
to be known as The Foundation Trilogy.
The books did not do very well, for Gnome Press did not have the capital with which to advertise and promote them. I got
neither statements nor royalties from them.
In early 1961, my then-editor at Doubleday, Timothy Seldes, told me he had received a request from a foreign publisher to
reprint the Foundation books. Since they were not Doubleday books, he passed the request on to me. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Not interested, Tim. I don't get royalties on those books"
Seldes was horrified, and instantly set about getting the rights to the books from Gnome Press (which was, by that time,
moribund), and in August of that year, the books (along with "I, Robot") became Doubleday property.
From that moment on, the Foundation series took off and began to earn increasing royalties. Doubleday published the Trilogy in
a single volume and distributed them through the Science Fiction Book Club. Because of that the Foundation series became
enormously well known.
In the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention, held in Cleveland, the fans were asked to vote on a category of "The Best
All-Time Series". It was the first time (and, so far, the last) the category had been included in the nominations for the Hugo
Award. The Foundation Trilogy won the award, which further added to the popularity of the series.
Increasingly, fans kept asking me to continue the series. I was polite but I kept refusing. Still, it fascinated me that
people who had not been born when the series was begun had managed to become caught up in it.
Doubleday, however, took the demands far more seriously that I did. They had humored me for twenty years but as demands kept
growing in intensity and number, they finally lost patience. In 1981, they told me that I simply had to write another
Foundation novel and, in order to sugar-coat the demand, offered me a contract at ten times my usual advance.
Nervously, I agreed. It had been thirty-two years since I had written a Foundation story and now I was instructed to write
one 140,000 words long, twice that of any earlier volumes and nearly three times as long as any previous individual story. I
re-read The Foundation Trilogy and, taking a deep breath, dived into the task.
The fourth book of the series, Foundation's Edge, was published in October 1982, and then a very strange
thing happened. It appeared in the New York Times bestseller list at once. In fact, it stayed one that list
for twenty-five weeks, much to my utter astonishment. Nothing like that had ever happened to me.
Doubleday at once signed me up to do additional novels and I wrote two that were part of another series, The Robot
Novels. - And then it was time to return to the Foundation.
So I wrote Foundation and Earth, which begins at the very moment that Foundation's Edge
ends, and that is the book you now hold. It might help if you glanced over Foundation's Edge just to refresh
your memory, but you don't have to, Foundation and Earth stands by itself. I hope you enjoy it.
Isaac Asimov,
New York City, 1986
Resources
Local Links
My own reviews of Asimov's-15 were deleted on 2016.12.25 because Wikipedia does a better job (but if you really want to
read them then click here)
It is my belief that www.wikipedia.org is humanity's first real attempt at an Encyclopedia Galactica (although it was not
implemented as Asimov envisioned in his Foundation Trilogy)
www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2008/03/bill_moyers_rewind_isaac_asimo_1.html
In 1988, Bill Moyers interviewed author Isaac Asimov for WORLD OF IDEAS. Incredibly prolific in various genres beyond
the science fiction for which he was best known, Asimov wrote well over 400 books on topics ranging from sci-fi to the
Bible before his death in 1992. In one thread of his wide-ranging interview, Asimov shared his thoughts on
overpopulation:
Bill Moyers: "What happens to the idea of the dignity of the human species if this population growth
continues at its present rate?" Isaac Asimov: "It will be completely destroyed. I like to use what I call my bathroom metaphor: If
two people live in an apartment, and there are two bathrooms, then both have freedom of the bathroom. You can go to
the bathroom anytime you want, stay as long as you want, for whatever you need. And everyone believes in Freedom of
the Bathroom; It should be right there in the Constitution. But if you have twenty people in the apartment and two
bathrooms, then no matter how much every person believes in Freedom of the Bathroom, there's no such thing. You have
to set up times for each person, you have to bang on the door, 'Aren't you through yet?' And so on." Right now most of
the world is living under appalling conditions. We can't possibly improve the conditions of everyone. We can't raise
the entire world to the average standard of living in the United States because we don't have the resources and the
ability to distribute well enough for that. So right now as it is, we have condemned most of the world to a miserable,
starvation level of existence. And it will just get worse as the population continues to go up... Democracy cannot
survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more
and more people onto the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
The more people there are, the less one individual matters."
In 2002-08-10 it was revealed by Dr. Asimov's widow, Dr.
Janet Jeppson Asimov, in the new biography It's
Been a Good Life (my review below), that his
death was in fact due to AIDS. In 1983 he had triple bypass surgery and received blood transfusions containing HIV. (Ironic that
the city he loved was the cause of his death; doubtless nowhere else in the United States had a higher incidence of HIV in the
blood supply than New York at that time) As Dr. Jeppson Asimov states, after his triple bypass "the next day he had a high
fever... only years later, in hindsight, did we realize that the post transfusion HIV infection had taken hold." In the
mid-Eighties Dr. Jeppson Asimov noted that her husband had some AIDS symptoms and brought them to the attention of his internist
and cardiologist, who pooh-poohed and refused to test him. He was finally tested in February of 1990, prior to further surgery,
when he presented HIV-positive with his T-cells half the normal level. The astonishing fact of Dr. Asimov's AIDS was kept secret
at the advice of his physicians - they apparently strong-armed him in his sickbed with the threat that his wife would be shunned
as a suspected PWA (Person With AIDS) as well. The secret was kept not till after Dr. Asimov's death in 1992, but until after the
death of his physicians (see Dr. Jeppson Asimov's
letter to Locus magazine).
So there you have it. The whole world has been deprived of probably
another dozen books by Isaac Asimov. I wished we could have convinced him to diet and exercise so he could have avoided both
"the triple-bypass surgery" as well as "the associated blood transfusions". Since he was smarter than us we can only ask
ourselves "why did this PhD not engage in preventative measures to prevent this situation?"
Caveat Section: start (runs for ~ 800 lines)
Do not bother reading between this older content. Some time after creating my own online review of Isaac Asimov's books in 2004, I
discovered a much better collection of reviews at Wikipedia. Sidelined content was moved
here to reduce the size of this page.
Caveat Section: End
Arthur C. Clarke (BSc. Mathematics + Physics - King's College London)
To film buffs,
Arthur C. Clarke is best known as the author who collaborated with Stanley Kubrick to produce 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The scientific community remembers him as the man who first conceptualized geosynchronous communication-satellites, in a 1945
paper that became the foundation for modern communications technology. But science-fiction fans have any number of touchstones
for the British author: He's one of very few to be designated a Science Fiction Grand Master, he's the author of the classic
novels Childhood's End and Rendezvous With Rama, and he first created the popular axiom "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." By his late 80s, Clarke had written or
collaborated on more than 70 books, including three 2001 sequels, three Rendezvous With Rama sequels (co-authored with Gentry
Lee), two autobiographies, a wide variety of essays, short stories, and two
video games. His non-fiction includes collections of his correspondence with C.S. Lewis and Lord Dunsany, as well as many
books on physics, science, and space travel, from 1950's guidebook Interplanetary Flight to 1994's The
Snows Of Olympus, a graphic look at a terraformed Mars. His latest, Time's Eye, is a new
collaboration with Stephen Baxter, the first in a series of novels involving a cataclysm that slices Earth into segments from
across history, leading cosmonauts and prehistoric humans to mix in an epic struggle. From his home in Sri Lanka, Clarke spoke
(2004-02) with The Onion A.V. Club about religion,
transcendence, the possibility of life on Mars, and the dinosaur that was named after him.
It all began at Christmas 1948 - yes 1948 - with a four-thousand-word short
story that I wrote for a contest sponsored by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). The Sentinel
described the discovery of a small pyramid on the Moon, set there by some alien civilization to await the emergence of mankind
as a planet-faring species. Until then, it was implied, we would be too primitive to be of any interest. The BBC rejected my
modest effort, and it was not published until almost three years later in the one-and-only (Spring 1951) issue of "10 Story
Fantasy" - a magazine that, as the invaluable Encyclopedia of Science Fiction wryly comments, is "primarily remembered for its
poor arithmetic (there were thirteen stories)."
From "Valediction", "3001: The Final Odyssey"
Ballantine Books (1997) hardcover edition
"Astrologers used to believe that Man's destiny is
controlled by the stars. But one day it may come to pass that the stars' destiny is controlled by Man."
Three monoliths are introduced to humanity: a small monolith 6 million years ago on Earth; a larger monolith is found
buried on the moon; a huge monolith is found in orbit around Jupiter
On the journey to Jupiter, HAL-9000 (the onboard computer) kills
astronaut Frank Poole during a spacewalk to repair
the AE-35 antenna
Dave Bowman disconnects HAL then continues the
mission alone
"2001: A Space Odyssey" began with "Moon-Watcher" in Africa; "Time's Eye" begins with "Seeker" in the North-West
Frontier (Pakistan - Afghanistan border); Earth has been observed for eons by the "Firstborn"
This books spends too-much time in the past and yet you need to read it in order to read the next book
Based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke. By now, the year 2130, all of the largest asteroids in the solar system have long since
been discovered. Smaller ones are being downed at the rate of a dozen a day. So when a huge new asteroid appears the only
surprise is that is was overlooked for so long. It is duly assigned the next available name, Rama, and is promptly forgotten
about - but not for long. As Rama approaches the Earth, every question about it seems to have an answer that raises more
questions. And as observations continue, the most impossible explanation becomes the only one: Rama is actually a spaceship. The
next step is obvious: mankind must attempt a rendezvous. But only one of our spaceships is close enough. As fate has it, that
ship is Endeavor - the ship that you command. Without even reading them, you know what your orders will be: to rendezvous with
the giant ship, to explore it, to meet with its inhabitants, and to return home before it speeds on its orbit away from the
solar system. Yet even in your excitement, you realize it is not an easy mission. You will have to make difficult decisions -
many of them. And you will have to work very fast - because if you stay on Rama too long, returning home will be impossible.
From the first moment it has been clear: this is the mission of your lifetime. Thousands would gladly sacrifice anything for the
chance. Only you can explore Rama. Rendezvous with Rama is the first computer adventure to be produced in collaboration with
Arthur C. Clarke. The program allows you to talk with three other crew members. Multiple disks offer extended play - and the
game may be played with or without graphics. Arthur C. Clarke, world-famous author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, continues to be a
major force in science fiction; over twenty-million copies of his books have been printed World-Wide. The novel Rendezvous with
Rama has won three highest science fiction awards: the Hugo, the Nebula and the John W. Campbell Awards. The adventure game
Rendezvous with Rama was developed and produced by Byron Preiss Video Productions, Inc., leading designers of entertainment and
educational software. Their technical director is Lee Jackson.
From The Dust Jacket:
Arthur C. Clarke, visionary author of both science fact and science fiction, first conceived of satellite communications in
1945--and twenty-five years later his dream became reality. Now, in this new personal and colorful nonfiction work, Clarke
examines the rapid transformation of our society by technology and communication. As the infant field of communications began
growing in the early part of this century, so did the boy named Arthur C. Clarke--who watched, wide-eyed, as his small English
village was transformed overnight. In his job as the village switchboard operator he once overloaded the circuits, excitedly
eavesdropping on his first transatlantic call. From there his involvement grew more and more technical, culminating in his
now-famous paper "Extra-Terrestrial Relays," which anticipated many of the developments of the next fifty years. For five
thousand years communication never advanced beyond the speed of horse and wind-driven ship--but in the explosive span of
thirty years, it changed forever. Newer, faster communication toppled tyranny, won wars, and changed history all the way from
the second Russian Revolution to the Gulf war. Here is the story of the stranger-than-fiction mishaps, oversights, capricious
acts of fate, and incredible human energy that eventually transformed the earth into our modern global village. Clarke brings
unique expertise and a lifetime of experience to How the World Was One. Beginning with submarine cables, through the
development of fiber optics and communications satellites, and then projecting far into a future of neutrino, gravitational,
and tachyon (faster than light) communications, Arthur C. Clarke shows how these remarkable innovations shaped and changed the
earth--and made the world one.
Excerpt from Preface, Page 1, Paragraph 3
Nevertheless, Toynbee was essentially correct. Except for a few dwindling tribes in (alas) equally dwindling forests, the
human race has now become almost a single entity, divided by time zones rather rather than by natural frontiers of geography.
The same TV news networks cover the globe; the world's markets are linked by the most complex machine ever devised by
mankind -- the international telephone/telex/fax/data transfer system.
Excerpt from Preface, Page 2, Paragraph 2
Despite the linguistic, religious, and cultural barriers that still sunder nations, the unification of the world [by
telecommunications] has passed the point of return...
Excerpt from Chapter 1, Page 1, Paragraph 3
This state of affairs has existed for the greater part of human history. When Queen Victoria came to power in 1837, she had no
swifter means of sending messages to the far parts of her empire than had Julius Caesar -- or, for that matter, Moses.
Excerpt from Chapter 27, Page 200, Paragraphs 3-4
Telstar (and its successor Telstar 2, launched May 7, 1963) showed that active satellites could do everything that had been
claimed for them, and with very modest powers -- as long as they were backed up by massive ground equipment. The Bell System
had built an even larger horn-antenna for the Telstar than for Echo; the giant ear at Andover, Maine, weighed 370 tons yet was
able to track the speeding satellite to an accuracy of better than a twentieth of a degree.
And that was the big problem. Because of its relatively low altitude (between 950 and 5,600 kilometres) Telstar 1 circled the
Earth several times per day; its orbital period was only a fraction of the magic twenty-four hours.
Excerpt from Chapter 27, Page 201, Paragraphs 3
... paradoxically, it takes rather more energy to park [a satellite] twenty two thousand miles up than to land on the
ten-times-more-distant moon.
Lord of Science (William Thomson a.k.a. Lord Kelvin)
False Start (to laying an Atlantic telegraph cable)
Triumph of Disaster
Post-mortem
The Brink of Success
Heart's Content (the first successful cable is laid)
Battle on the Seabed (they try to grapple for a dropped cable)
Girdle Round the Earth
The Deserts of the Deep
The Cable's Core
VOICE ACROSS THE SEA
The Wires Begin to Speak (Alexander Graham Bell)
The Man Before Einstein (Oliver Heaviside)
Mirror in the Sky (the ionosphere is discovered)
Transatlantic Telephone
"Wireless" (Clarke's boyhood recollections of crystal and valve (vacuum tube) radios
Exploring the Spectrum
A BRIEF PREHISTORY OF COMSATS
Beyond the Ionosphere
"You're on the glide path... I think..."
How I Lost a Billion Dollars in My Spare Time
"If you've got a message..."
The Making of a Moon (a reprinted short story)
"I Remember Babylon" (a reprinted short story)
STARRY MESSENGERS
Echo and Telstar
Syncon
Early Bird
The United States of Earth
Satellites and Saris
At the UN
Coop's Troop
Appointment in the Vatican
Happy Birthday, Comsat!
The Clarke Awards
CNN Live
Peacesat
LET THERE BE LIGHT!
Cable Comeback
Talking with Light
As Far As Eye Can See (like this book's title, Clarke appears to have a sense of humor :-)
Epilogue: Fin de siecle -- or Dawn of a New Millennium
Postscript: The Second Russian Revolution
Appendix A
Appendix B
NSR Comments: I was surprised to learn that many telegraph cable projects were doomed to failure
because overly optimistic participants refused to learn Ohm's Law.
Playing with technology resulted in the loss of many billions of dollars which is reminiscent of the losses associated with
the Dot-Com (dot-con?) meltdown of 2000-2002.
"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible he is almost certainly right. When he states
that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
Clarke defines the adjective 'elderly' as :"In physics, mathematics and astronautics it means over thirty; in other
disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties. There are of course, glorious exceptions; but as every
researcher just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for nothing but board meetings, and should at all
costs be kept out of the laboratory". (in Profiles of the Future.)
Clarke's Second Law:
"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."
Clarke's Third Law:
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Though he wrote after the laws that "Since three laws was sufficient for both the Isaacs - Newton and Asimov - I have decided
to stop here", he continued to write laws, as we can see in the Appendix 2 of The Odyssey File where he states
the Clarke's 69th Law:
"Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software."
Clarke's Fourth Law:
“For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert.”
Cool quote:
A hundred years ago, the electric
telegraph made the United States of America possible if not inevitable. The communications satellite will make a United Nations
of Earth equally inevitable. Let us hope that the transition period will not be equally bloody.
Arthur C. Clarke, "First on the Moon", 1970
Star Trek fan reboot
Prelude
No one can deny that Star Trek: TOS (the
original series) introduced the public-at-large to science fiction so I still do not understand why Gulf+Western (which
acquired Desilu in 1967 then was renamed to Paramount) did not
do a better job funding writers and set designers. They owned the goose that laid golden eggs (to quote
Aesop) but only fed it a substandard diet.
The infighting associated with Star Trek: TNG
(my favorite series) is well known especially after watching a recent William Shatner documentary titled
Chaos on the Bridge but I am certain that most sci-fi fans only recognize half of these episodes as true sci-fi
Star Trek: Enterprise showed promise but I have no idea
what the hell happened to sci-fi during Star Trek: DS9
and Star Trek: Voyager. I watched ever episode hoping for
more sci-fi but it seemed like Hollywood was cranking out Star Trek episodes the way that butchers crank out sausage
Everyone reading this already knows about the Star Trek movie odd-number curse and most would agree with
it being a writing problem. You can spend all the time you want reediting a movie, or adding more CGI, but if the story sucks
the movie will be much less profitable (for proof: just look to the successful comics which have zero CGI). I wonder what
would a Ferengi say about that?
Speaking about lack of sci-fi stories, did Hollywood really think rebooting Star Trek with in an alternate universe with a
younger Kirk and Spock (Star Trek: 2009) or Khan in 2013 (Star_Trek_Into_Darkness) would be desirable or successful?
Both stories have plot holes large enough to fly a Star Ship through. And do we really need to recycle these characters again?
Fan-based Creations
Apparently fan-based Star Trek creations (none of which are allowed to make a profit since Star Trek is a
registered product currently owned by CBS) have stumbled onto the missing ingredient: Good Writing
Since the advent of Kickstarter to acquire alternate funding, and YouTube to
serve up content, I have been very pleased with this unexpected new direction for the Star Trek cultural phenomenon. Here are
a few of many:
Update -2016: Oops, no full movie yet because CBS is suing Axanar Productions for copyright
violation. This makes no sense whatsoever. If CBS executives were smart, they would divert the money for
this lawsuit toward licensing Axanar for viewing on their network or pay-per-view service.
TRON (actually Science-Fantasy, but still really neat)
TRON (1982 movie)
TRON uses the I/O tower to communicate with his user, "Alan1" (Here is my disc)
TRON is probably the best science-fantasy computer theme ever made into a movie (what else would you expect from Disney?). People
studying computer science, working in IS/IT, or just hacking will recognize many more metaphors. This must be why TRON is an
underground cult classic with computer engineering students.
Computer Trivia:
In the early days of computing many video terminals had TRON (trace on) and TROF (trace
off) keys
In the early days of BASIC interpreter programming, the developer could issue TRON and TROFF commands at the command prompt
prior to using a RUN command. Later on, some BASIC dialects allowed tracing to be enabled/disabled by inserting TRON control
statements within the source program.
In the 1970s and 1980s, DECPDP-11
minicomputers running the RSX-11M operating system signaled readiness to
the operator with an MCR> prompt. MCR is an acronym for Monitor Console
Routine. In the TRON movie, the computer's operating system is the MCP which stands for Master
Control Program. Coincidence?
p.s. in the movie, the MCP was always seen rotating even when it appeared to stop and stare at TRON. In a single
CPU system only one process (program instance) can run at any time. So the OS runs a scheduler which
allocates a small slice of time (10-100 mS) to each waiting user process. A programmable RTC (real time clock) interrupts
the active thread (putting the just-running-process back to sleep) then handing control back to the scheduler. The scheduler
would then rotate to the next waiting process.
Memorable Lines (and more trivia):
Who does he calculate he is?
rather than "who does he think he is?"
Can I merge with this memory? Bit?
CLU "polling" the bit; only assembly-language programmers will know what this means
Oh my User.
rather than "Oh my god"
Video game warriors leaving the game grid...This is an illegal exit!
in modular programming one needs to leave a program, routine, subroutine, or function, through a planned exit point. If
you just jump out in the middle (spaghetti code), or crash out (stack dump), or fault out (illegal instruction), or bounce
out (noise on the address bus lines), then you have experienced an illegal exit.
(well to be honest, spaghetti code isn't illegal as much as bad form)
We had better! Null Unit...
on some systems null units were device drivers with no attached device. They were an aid to learning how to program;
they were also a convenient way to delete data by copying to null. On PDP and VMS systems this device had the name "NL:"
Targets leaving protected field.
a protected field can either refer to a protected memory location (you are only able to access it if you have the
necessary privileges) or a protected field in a database or an on-screen form.
Mr. Henderson
a full branch manager
(never seen in the movie)
Peter Jurasik (Ambassador Londo Molari in Babylon 5)
BIT
???
CGI (computer generated graphics)
MCP
???
CGI (computer generated graphics)
Spiders
??? (anti-virus)
CGI (computer generated graphics)
Recognizers
??? (system monitors?)
CGI (computer generated graphics)
Tower Guards
??? (part of the scheduler?)
CGI (computer generated graphics)
More Thoughts (comparing the real world to the computer paradigm)
The earliest developers of any OS (operating system) write the device-driver software. So it makes sense that Walter Gibbs
would appear as the I/O tower guardian since that I/O Device driver would probably have been written by him.
Diseases:
Real-world biological viruses come in two major flavors.
An DNA virus is a virus that has DNA as its genetic material and
replicates using a DNA-dependent DNA polymerase.
An RNA virus is a virus that has RNA as its genetic material
most RNA viruses employ RNA to stop a cell dead in its tracks
then hijack cell organelles (like the ribosome) to make more copies of the virus. One example is influenza.
A retrovirus is an RNA virus that is replicated in a host
cell via the enzyme reverse transcriptase to produce DNA from its RNA genome. The DNA is then incorporated into the
host's genome by an integrase enzyme. The virus thereafter
replicates as part of the host cell's DNA. Retroviruses are
enveloped viruses that belong to the viral family Retroviridae (e.g. HIV,
the virus that causes AIDS).
Real-world computer viruses comes in multiple forms mimicking biological viruses
one type of virus will highjack your whole machine
one type of virus will highjack an individual program (like a browser)
one type of virus will copy itself into other software (like a retrovirus) so normal program operation will also quietly
propagate viral copies which may express itself later or elsewhere (think Stuxnet)
Medical researchers tell us that 20% of all cancers are caused by viruses (HPV
is one example).
Cancer is best described as individual cells starting doing their own thing rather than being part of a cooperative
whole (perhaps cells "forget their current function" or "are incapable of communicating with neighboring cells which is
necessary to be part of a cooperative whole").
So if cancer is best defined as a move from "being part of a cooperative" to "cells doing their own thing", then isn't
this a real-world example of deresolution (derezing)?
TRON: Legacy (2010 movie)
It seems me that corners were cut in the TRON: Legacy storyline. What's up with movie producers these days?
Don't they realize that without a perfect story there will be no market to fleece for the next 10-20 years? (witness Star Wars
Prequel and Blade Runner to only name two of many). I watched TRON: Legacy in 3d and although the graphics
were superb, the story was no where near as good as the original TRON movie from 1982.
A professional writer once told me "if it
wont work on the page then it wont work on the stage"
My advice to sci-fi movie producers: only allow comic book people to write your screen plays and have them do all the
story-boarding in a comic book format. If the story won't work in a comic book (where there is no CGI to lean on) then the movie
will not work on the silver screen or anywhere else.
Program
User
Actor
CLU (Codified Likeness Utility)
Kevin Flynn
Jeff Bridges
TRON: Evolution (2010 game)
TRON: Evolution (2010) is is the game version of TRON: Legacy (2010 movie)
So you are recalling your sci-fi youth and wouldn't mind rereading Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000 A.D.
but don't want to buy expensive plastic-wrapped originals so what do you do? It turns out that a really cool company called Dark Horse Comics has republished the first 21
Magnus issues in three hard-cover books on high quality paper (:
Volume-1 contains Magnus, Robot Fighter comic book issues 01-07 (1963-02-xx to 1964-08-xx) 205 pages
many of these stories seem to be the basis for many other sci-fi products, like:
The Matrix
Story #1 tells how one robot kidnapped 1,000 people then connected them electronically to form a giant
computer. In the Matrix, all of humanity is connected to a computer to keep us dreaming while our bodily
fluids are drained off to run a power plant.
Star Trek: TOS (The Original Series)
Magnus is replaced with a robot equivalent then other people don't know which one is human as is seen in the
episode What Are
Little Girls Made Of?
Magnus is beamed 60,000 light years (through sub-space) to the robot planet called Malev-6 and then is taken
captive by installing a remote-controlled metal ring around his neck as is seen in the episode
The Gamesters of Triskelion
The robot planet of MALEV-6 was created 1,500 galactic years ago when a robot ship crash landed. Over the
eons, hard radiation from Malev corrupted/modified the ship's self repair system. This is a variation of the
story present in the episode The
Changeling
humans are too dependent on robots as is seen in the episode
I, Mudd
although the evil genius-scientist Xyrkol is human with a beard, he does have a prominent set of pointed
ears which look just like those on Mr. Spock.
Babylon 5
the last story tells us how the 1,000 people from the first story are telepathic (were they selected as
computer processors because they were telepaths, or did they become telepathic as a result of the experience?)
and how they all held hands to increase their psychokinetic powers so they can assist Magnus on Malev-6. This
sounds just like something that happened in Babylon-5 episode "A
Race Through Dark Places"
Volume-2 contains Magnus, Robot Fighter comic book issues 08-14 (1964-11-xx to 1966-05-xx) 197 pages
Volume-3 contains Magnus, Robot Fighter comic book issues 15-21 (1966-08-xx to 1968-02-xx) 176 pages
Even though I read this stuff 40 years ago, I remember some of the artwork including one scene where robots are
feeding morbidly obese humans
Story #21 ("Space Specter" which was published 1968-02-xx) is about an attack on North Am which affects everyone
except descendants of Blackfoot Indians. Magnus uses their help to defeat the alien presence affect two robot
geniuses. This story caused me to recall the Star Trek episode titled The
Paradise Syndrome which aired 1968-08-1
Space Family Robinson
this 1962 Gold Key Comics publication was based upon the Disney
movie "Swiss Family Robinson". This comic was later turned into the disappointing TV program "Lost
in Space". The comic was serious sci-fi but the TV program was some sort of bad joke.
Klaatu's Speech: I am leaving soon and you'll forgive me if I speak bluntly. The universe grows smaller every day and
the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure.
Now this does not mean giving up any freedom, except the freedom to act irresponsibly. Your ancestors
knew this when they made laws to govern themselves and hired policemen to enforce them. We, of the other planets, have long
accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of
aggression. The test of any such higher authority is, of course, the police force that supports it. For our policemen we
created a race of robots. Their function is to patrol the planets in spaceships like this one and preserve the peace. In
matters of aggression we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked. At the first signs of violence
they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk. The result is we
live in peace without arms or armies, secure in the knowledge that we are free from aggression and war, free to pursue more
profitable enterprises. Now, we do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works. I came here
to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence,
this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your
present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.
As George Winston, the beleaguered hero of George Orwell's "1984", leafed through Emmanuel
Goldstein's subversive tract "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism" he learns the rationale that underlies the
mobilization for perpetual war. According to the principles of doublethink (synonym for American
Neo-Con Newspeak?), Winston reads, it does not matter if the war is not real or real, victory is not possible – what matters
is that the masses are kept are kept in a relative state of deprivation. Thus the purpose of war is to destroy surplus wealth
(+US$400 Billion in Iraq?) in order to maintain the hierarchical structure of society – the status quo. As George Orwell
baldly puts it, "A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. In principle the war effort is
always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation - the war is waged by the ruling group against
its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or east Asia but to keep the very structure of
society in tact"
Sonny: I just might get to like this place. Let's see if the Braves are on. How do you turn on this here teevee? Riker: Teevee? Sonny: Yeah, boob-tube... you know. I'd like to find out how the Braves are doin' after all this time. Probably still
finding ways to lose. Data to Riker: Oh -- I think he means television, sir. Sonny: Or maybe catch up on the soaps. Data to Sonny: That particular form of entertainment did not last much beyond the year Two Thousand Forty. Reference: STAR
TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Episode 126 - Titled: "The Neutral Zone" Reality: Television died in 2004; not 2040 Reason: in order to maximize their profits, the networks decided to replace programs based
upon "professional writing and acting" with "so-called Reality TV"
Cool quote from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones:
00:12:24 I'd much rather dream about Padmé.
00:12:27 Just being around her again is... intoxicating.
00:12:31 Be mindful of your thoughts, Anakin. They betray you.
00:12:34 You've made a commitment to the Jedi order, a commitment not easily broken.
00:12:38 And don't forget, she's a politician, and they're not to be trusted.
00:12:41 [ Anakin ] She's not like the others in the senate, Master.
00:12:44 [ Obi-Wan ] It is my experience that senators...
00:12:46 focus only on pleasing those who fund their campaigns...
00:12:50 and they're in no means scared of forgetting the niceties of democracy...
00:12:53 -in order to get those funds. - [ Anakin ] Not another lecture.
00:12:55 At least not on the economics of politics.
First a little Star Wars movie history: The first three movies (SW1-3
:: 1977-1983 :: EP4-6) are titled episodes 4-6. The second three movies (SW4-SW6 :: 1999-2005 :: EP1-3) are titled episodes
1-3. In my world, sci-fi fans are split down the middle: some prefer the first three movies while others prefer the second
three. There is no right or wrong here, it's just a matter of preference (some people hate Jar Jar Binks while others hate the
Ewoks; some loved watching Yoda training Luke on Dagobah while others like me preferred the martial arts of Darth Maul; some
thought the first three were targeted at children while others thought the politics of the second three made them more
appropriate for adults). SW7 (2015) follows the story SW3 (1983) and was co-written with Lawrence
Kasdan (who also co-wrote SW2 + SW3) so I suspect that only half the audience will love it.
comment-1: Okay so I just saw the film in 3D and can tell you all that SW7 is better than any of the
first three movies (1977-1983) but not better than any of the second three (1999-2005). I have no idea why people where
watching it multiple times when it opened.
comment-2 - Recently I have found that if you prefer the movies from 1977-1983 then you probably like
SW7 (the force awakens) and SW8 (the last jedi). But I am not one of these people although I like the idea of a female
warrior. IMHO, Star Wars is going to end up like Mickey Mouse. Parents are going to drag their kids to the movies as well as
the theme parks but the kids aren't going to have a clue. But Disney will make money.
I just watched season #1 of
The Man in the High Castle and was very impressed (like all good science fiction, this story is very thought provoking)
Based on the award-winning novel by Philip K. Dick, and
executive produced by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien,
Gladiator, The Martian), and Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), The
Man in the High Castle explores an alternate an alternate world where the Allied Powers lost WWII, leaving
Japan and Germany to rule the United States
comment: Last year I watched season-1 on a PC with a 22 inch (58.8 cm) hi-def monitor. This
year I rewatched season-1 on a 60 inch (152 cm) Samsung HDTV (via a PS4) and came away with totally different
experience. Why? You miss too many visual details on the small screen. Think about what Blade Runner
might look like on a small screen on a pad or phone.
Four seasons are now online at Amazon Prime Video (some) Differences between the book and the video
Item
Book
Amazon Video
Frank and Juliana
married
not married (perhaps dating or just living together)
The Expanse might
be the best science-fiction story ever shown on TV (scores 100 on
rotten tomatoes) so here's what I don't understand: the SyFy Channel in the USA
cancelled The Expanse after season #3. I'm not certain of their reasons but they mentioned "returning to
their roots" which assumes more "zombies" as well as "teenage girls romancing vampire bad-boys" (neither are sci-fi). This is
a long roundabout way of saying that if you are a sci-fi fan like me, and have limited entertainment funds, then you may need
to swap your "SyFy subscription" for Amazon Prime Video where season 4 of the Expanse
was published on 2019-12-13 (Seasons 1-3 were placed online 2019-04-xx) and Season-5 has been officially
confirmed. And while there be sure to watch all four seasons of the Philip K Dick classic The Man in the High
Castle (discussed just above) or the techno thriller Mr. Robot which has nothing to do with
robots.
Three cheers for big budget sci-fi. We all know about the struggles getting sci-fi on corporate-run television networks:
recall how NBC strangled, then cancelled, Star Trek
just as it was taking off; recall how none of the big-three networks would touch Star
Trek: The Next Generation so it was only shown on independent stations; recall how Babylon
5 was kicked from network to network; recall how Fox fumbled Firefly
then tried to blame the whole thing on the show's producer; recall how Caprica
was squeezed out during a corporate takeover. Hey, I just realized that NBC owns SyFy so it looks like NBC did it to us again
This Sci-Fi show is the most realistic sci-fi shown on big screen, or small, since "Babylon 5". After you replace "warp-speed
and transporters (Star Trek)" and "jump gates (Babylon 5)" for flip-and-burn (The Expanse) it might be the most realistic sci-fi seen since "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Many of my friends think that Game of Thrones
is the best fantasy TV program of the past 10-years. While no one can deny that GOT is a very high quality production in
every way, I have no desire to watch GOT again but have already made it through the Expanse more than a few times (mostly
seeing things a little more accurately on a bigger screen TV)
"Mr. Robot" is a techno thriller and
psychological drama inhabiting a modern day story of nerds, computers and computer culture. Once you start watching you will
not be able to stop. All four seasons on Amazon Prime Video
All I need to know about life, I learned from STAR
TREK
Seek out new life an new civilizations
Non-interference is the prime directive
Keep your phaser set on stun
Humans are highly illogical
There's no such thing as a Vulcan death grip
Live long and prosper
Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting; it is not logical, but it is often true
Infinite diversity in infinite combinations (IDIC)
Tribbles hate Klingons (and Klingons hate Tribbles) (I guess that make me Klingon!)
Enemies are often invisible - like Klingons, they can be cloaked
Don't put all your ranking officers in one shuttle craft
When your logic fails, trust a hunch
Insufficient data does not compute
If it can't be fixed, just ask Scotty
Even in our own world, sometimes we are aliens
When going out into the Universe, remember: "Boldly go where no man has gone before!" (NSR's note: should read "Boldly go where no one has gone before!")
Note: the above text was taken from a large laminated poster hanging on the wall in my office.
No copyright notice could be located.
Cyberpunk
I have always been into cyberpunk and do not know why. Here is s short list of my cyberpunk entertainment (in chronological
order)
After season 3 of The Expanse finished on SPACE,
I was going through a sci-fi dry spell so I decided to watch one episode of Babylon
5each night. The current box set "Babylon 5: The Complete Series + The Movie / Crusade
Collection [DVD] [2004]" contains 39-disks so if you buy that along with "Babylon 5: The Legend of the
Rangers" and "Babylon 5: Lost Tales" you will be in for a special treat. Especially if you watch
everything in this order (one movie comes first, one
comes last but needs to be watched before you start Crusade)
My wife has only a passing interest in sci-fi but hearing the well-written dialog from the next room made her a Babylon-5 fan
before I finished season-1. One morning she asked me "do you think John Sheridan died at
Z'ha'dum?". At other times she has asked "do you think we should watch two episodes tonight?" Sure, no problem!
Total Recall 2070
By 2019-02-xx my wife and I had made it through all of the Babylon 5 media but there still wasn't anything neat on TV (well,
there's Star Trek Discovery but only a die-hard trekor like me
would watch it because there isn't much of a story). So I was rooting through my DVD collection when I happened upon Total
Recall 2070. What a treat. This series from 1999 was released (uncut) to DVD in 2011 but is only shown in 1.33:1 (4x3).
But at least there are some decent stories.
Firefly
Okay so this was a surprise to me. During Christmas vacation I met some people who mentioned Serenity
(2005) but didn't know about Firefly (or that it was
available on DVD). Once again let me yell out "STORIES can be found here"
p.s. I lent my Serenity DVDs to these people and they were totally blown away
TekWar
The TekWar series was created by William Shatner and shown
between 1994 and 1996. Like Total Recall 2070, TekWar was release on DVD in 2011. STORIES - STORIES - STORIES
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Neil Rieck
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.