Review: Future Proof - Nick Sagan

I'm going well away from my usual themes by reviewing Future Proof, which I received it from Icon Books, and have enjoyed reading.  The book'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. 

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.