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Science and Insight for Science Fiction Writing by Roger Bourke White Jr.
Good science fiction stories are about science and people.
So how do you put good science into a story that's about people? That's what this book is about.
It's about how science changes people's lives, and how to make that change an interesting story about people.
This is about making technofiction -- science fiction where science matters as much as people.
A Tales of Technofiction Book
Roger White is a careful observer of life and people, and he's done so from many interesting perspectives. He was a soldier in Vietnam in the '60's, a college student at MIT in the '70's, a computer network pioneer in the '80's and a teacher in Korea in the '90's.
Roger thinks about how technology affects how we live, and then writes about it.
Table of Contents
Volume One: Evolution of Technology
Tattoos and T-Shirts -- A Study in How New Tech Replaces Old Tech
On Birds and Boeings -- Thoughts on the surprises we can expect from genetic engineering
Differences Between High Technology and High Magic
Volume Two: Space Travel
Lifestyles on Interstellar Space Flights
Thoughts on Space Commerce -- What happens in an environment with starcraft that are constant acceleration, but slower than light speed
Thoughts on the Composition of Gas Giant Planets -- The Ooze Zone
How Hot is Venus? -- Not as hot as you might first suppose
Thoughts on Biosphere 2 and the Gardens of Starships
Volume Three: Evolution of Life
Ecological Booms, Busts and Flip-Flops
Save Mankind with Neolithic Park
On Gene Pools, Language, and Arranged Marriages
Good Times, Bad Times, and Genes
The Successes of the Grandfather are Visited on the Grandson -- or, "Mr. Evolution Cares About Your Granny"
Brides and Matrons, Big Males, and Flat Bodies -- More Thoughts on the Subtlety of the Human Design
What Valuable Trait is the Vitamin C "Screwed Up Gene" a Marker for?
Special Life-Creating Things About the Earth
The Accelerating Rate of Evolutionary Change -- How Long Will Man be Earth's Dominant Species? (And how will he know when he isn't?)
Volume Four: The Human Thinking Stack
The Thinking Stack -- Human Thinking in Terms of Processing Layers
The Thinking Stack, Part II -- Archive, Perception and Wisdom Building
The Sacred Masculine and Civilization
Advanced Leadership and Followership -- Two Modern Human Skills
On Language and Life Span
Why Humans Like to Drink Soft Drinks
Thoughts on Prostitution
Intelligence Without Nerves
What Makes Civilization Worth the Trouble?
Thoughts on Religion and Self-Awareness
Thoughts on the Y2K Crisis
Mania and Markets
Volume Five: The 9-11 Disaster: A Textbook Case in Fear
The Anatomy of Memorable Disasters
Post-September 11th -- The American Panic of the 2000’s (Written in November 2001)
NASA Abandons Hubble -- An Incarnation of "Lifeboats on the Titanic" Thinking
Worshipping at the Altar of the Holy Metal Detector
Volume Six: Other Topics
Why Do Stars Shine For So Long?
An Inexpensive Earth Terraforming Project -- Desalinating the Oceans
Thinking About Deltas -- The Nile-style "Delta" Delta and the Mississippi-style "Bird's Foot" Delta
Thoughts on how to use the video part of a TV broadcast to better report news
Teaching TV 101 in High School
Volume Seven: Humanity’s Place in the Universe
God and Man, Part One -- Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse: The Relation Between
Creators and Creations
God and Man, Part Two -- Roger White and Mickey Ratsass: The Story of a Creator and his Creation
How Small Can Mankind's Universe Be?
Is Religion Distinctively Human?
The Cow-Human Relation, from the Cow Perspective