"Science Past - Science Future" by Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)

Publisher:  Doubleday, Garden City, NY
Copyright: 1975
ISBN: 0385099231

This book is a compilation of 39 essays by Dr. Asimov written over his long career. The majority are from various magazines, but but a few were never published, and the stories that he relates regarding the rejections are rather curious to read. 

The past section covers topics such as technology, the physical sciences, the life sciences. While the future section talks about parts of society, then society as a whole. Between these two sections are two short essays that are rather personal in nature but they fit in well with the rest of the book.

Because this book was written in the 1970s, A number of the science future essays are more prediction than fact, but are still interesting to read. It is surprising how close Dr. Asimov came to predicting the actual Earth's population in the year 2000 considering he was writing so long ago. Some of the technology he talks about, such as the newly developed transistor, are explained very well, but as the integrated circuit that--everybody is familiar with nowadays--didn't exist at this point he was unable to scratch that topic. I do believe he touches on the subject in one of his other books, but seeing that he died in 1988 even this information would be relatively basic compared to what we now know.

One of the reoccurring themes or topics, that comes up in the future section is the high population of the earth. Dr. Asimov has some pretty strong opinions about that, but for the most part they are justified. His solutions however may not be to everyone's liking.

I'd recommend this book to anybody who's looking for a very good overview of the history of science, and inventions that have shape the world as we know it today.

"Methuselah's Children" by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)

Publisher:  Signet Books

Copyright: 1958

Methuselah's Children is one of the more important novels written by Robert A. Heinlein. It is part of his Future History series which includes: "The Man Who Sold the Moon" (February 11, 2019), "The Green Hills of Earth" (February 18, 2019), "Revolt in 2100" (January 14, 2019), "Orphans of the Sky", and "The Past Through Tomorrow". The first three of these I have already reviewed on the dates shown.

These six books lead the reader into the World as Myth series, the first book of which is "Time Enough For Love" (1973) which I'll be reviewing in a few weeks. The other books in the future history series are: "Number of the Beast" (1980), "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" (1985), "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" (1987). Which will be reviewed in the future, but I'm not sure exactly when as they are all rather long books.

As for Methuselah's Children it introduces and tells the story of the Howard Families who are extremely long lived individuals. This is due to the fact that they are the result of an experiment in eugenics. In which individuals were encouraged to marry and have children within a select group who have a history of long lived relatives.

At the beginning of the story there is a crisis within North America because the general population has found out about the existence of the Howard Families, and mistakenly believe they have found the fountain of youth through some experimentation of their own. Because of this erroneous idea the government is being pressured into obtaining the secret of their long life for everyone.

This is when we first meet Lazarus long, the senior of the Howard families (the oldest member at 214), who is attending one of their meetings for the first time in a number of decades. Due to the above crisis things quickly come to a head and Lazarus is forced to act for the families and help them escape before they are arrested and tortured for their 'secret'.

IN the course of this novel we are also reacquainted with another character Andrew Jackson Libby, a mathematical and engineering genius, who was introduced in the short story 'Misfit' from the 'Revolt in 2100' collection.

This is an extremely good story, which I have read a number of times. It does tend to drag slightly in the beginning due to backstory being presented, but for the most part this not only doesn't detract from the story, but in fact helps in introducing the Lazarus character. It may be considered by some to contain slightly more mature themes than would normally be recommended for very young adults, but this shouldn't mean they can't read it, but that it might take a little explaining on the part of someone older.

"Rocket Ship Galileo" by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)

Publisher: Ballantine / Del Rey
Year: 1947

An Brief Introduction to the Heinlein Juveniles

The thirteen books in the Juveniles series (although some say there are only twelve, as the first twelve were published by Scribners, but they rejected the thirteenth) take the reader on a journey to the stars as they are chronologically laid out, over a fairly long time span. The first deals with the first moon landing. The next five concentrate on interplanetary travel, the following four look at the early stages of interstellar travel, in number eleven interstellar travel is easy, the twelfth has humans venturing outside the galaxy to the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, and the thirteenth looks at interstellar war.

No characters are shared between the novels due to the great time spans involved. However, some of Heinlein's other later books do reference events that take place in this series and well as in his Future History short stories.

Rocket Ship Galileo

Rocket Ship Galileo is the first book in "The Heinlein Juveniles". It was written in 1947, and as such the fact that World War II had just ended influences the plot, but more about that in a few minutes.

The world as we know it from history is quite different from the one portrayed in this book, and the influence of World War II can definitely be seen, especially the success of the use of rockets. In the novel's world rockets are now used for the delivery of the mail, and other cargo. They are being built by a Detroit company, and commercially available. In addition these rockets are able to accomplish such things as take-offs and landings from pretty much anywhere, something that we are now just achieving.

The story revolves around three boys who are recent high-school graduates, that are also into rocketry, and are in the process of building their own rocket motors (they are also quite accomplished at electronics, flying, etc). When the story opens their latest experiment had just ended, in failure but not without producing very promising results. They are then recruited by one boy's uncle, a physicist, who had previously worked on the Manhattan Project. The uncle Dr. Cargraves, proposes that they refit a surplus mail rocket with atomic engines and make the first trip to the moon. The boys agree and work begins in a military range that previously been used to test nuclear bombs. Their efforts however are disrupted by what they determine as prowlers, but who turn out to be unknown agents.

The story progresses, and when they reach the moon they establish a base by constructing a quonset-hut like shelter, and covering it with regolith to protect it. When they set up their communications equipment to attempt to contact Earth, they pick up a transmission which they determine is local, and who proceeds to bomb their ship "The Galileo". After investigating further the crew of the former rocket ship Galileo determine that their is a Nazi base on the moon, and they are planning on taking revenge for the loss of the war.

When you consider when this book was written, what the world had just accomplished (end of WWII), and the promise that nuclear power brought to the future it is conceivable from a late 1940's viewpoint that things such as this might be possible. While the plot of this story is somewhat fantastic, as it doesn't take into account all the tremendous number of details (time, money, expertise, etc.) that would be required to send a credit to the moon it is still a good read, and should entertain anyone who reads it.