John Gerald Taylor (1931–2012)

A rather dated discussion of cutting edge physics that wasn't really all that cutting edge when it was written. I agree with many of the premises included in this book, but found it to be rambling, repetitive, and boring. In addition, the author has a bad habit of not sourcing his material. He referred to something written by "a Russian biochemist" in 1936, but did not give the name of the biochemist, even though having the year and the name of the book should make that easy - and there was nothing in the bibliography that fit the description. He cited an Ogden Nash poem, but just cited it as "a poet" without any name - the infamous nameless poet who goes around writing things without telling us who he is? He makes some statements that are howlers, not just because the book is old, but that were really strange to say even 20 years ago, such as we would be using nuclear fusion for power in the near future. It's been some time since that has been believed by much of anyone in physics. Overall, a very disappointing book, and it doesn't read quickly. I really wish I had aborted it early. Instead, I stayed up a bit late to finish it and get it over with, because I was too far through to give up.… (mere)

I enjoyed this book very much when I read it in the late 70s. I'd been devouring a lot of science fiction, having moved from the space operas of E.E. "Doc" Smith to the "harder" SF of Isaac Asimov and Larry Niven, and was now wanting learn more about the facts behind the stories.

What I remember most about reading this book, however, is not the contents, but an incident that happened while I was reading it. I was waiting one winter evening at a bus stop when some passing yobs, presumably astounded at seeing somebody with a book outside of school, demanded to know what I was reading. I told them the title of the book and one of them made a vulgar comment about vaginas. Do I remember the comment because I enjoyed the book, or do I remember the book because of the comment?

On reflection, I think I remember the incident because I thought I was going to get beaten up for just for reading a book. I wasn't, though.… (mere)