Review of 'The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
In the author's view, a visioneer is a scientist and visionary, one who sees the technology and its application. The Visioneer examples saw the published Limits as a challenge instead of a barrier.
This book is a history of these two movements and the world around them, including the L5 society, OMNI magazine and governmental nanotechnology investment. This is a social history, not science, but it is fascinating for that. In both examples, the Visioneers lost control of their message, taken by publishers to mean more. The natural reaction played out in both cases, much to our loss.
My "flying car" was O'Neill's power satellite, part of his vision to get us from ground-based to lunar colonies and then space stations. As a kid, I was sure this would work, and if I had been a little older, I would have joined L5 and looked for work in this industry. …
In the author's view, a visioneer is a scientist and visionary, one who sees the technology and its application. The Visioneer examples saw the published Limits as a challenge instead of a barrier.
This book is a history of these two movements and the world around them, including the L5 society, OMNI magazine and governmental nanotechnology investment. This is a social history, not science, but it is fascinating for that. In both examples, the Visioneers lost control of their message, taken by publishers to mean more. The natural reaction played out in both cases, much to our loss.
My "flying car" was O'Neill's power satellite, part of his vision to get us from ground-based to lunar colonies and then space stations. As a kid, I was sure this would work, and if I had been a little older, I would have joined L5 and looked for work in this industry. Instead I graduated college under the cloud of the Challenger explosion and a downturn in space exploration. I can't remember which book I read this year that contained this in bibliography, but I am glad I read it, and it makes a fitting end to 2020.