Futures from Nature [Hardcover]

Henry Gee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 2007

Here are 100 very short stories on the subject of the future and what it might be like. The authors include scientists, journalists, and many of the most famous SF writers in the world. Futures from Nature includes everything from satires and vignettes to compressed stories and fictional book reviews, science articles, and journalism, in eight-hundred word modules. All of them are entertaining and as a group they are a startling repository of ideas and attitudes about the future.

 

Appearing in book form fo the first time, these one hundred pieces were originally published in the great science journal, Nature, between 1999 and 2006, as one-page features. That proved very popular with the readers of the journal. This is a unique book, by scientists and writers, of interest to any reader who might like to speculate about the future.

 

With stories from:

Arthur C. Clarke; Bruce Sterling; Charles Stross; Cory Doctorow; Greg Bear; Gregory Benford; Oliver Morton; Ian Macleod; Rudy Rucker; Greg Egan; Stephan Baxter; Barrington J. Bayley; Brian Stableford; Frederik Pohl; Vernor Vinge; Nancy Kress, Michael Moorcock, Vonda N. McIntyr; Kim Stanley Robinson; John M. Ford; and eighty more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Hard SF fans should revel in Gee's unusual anthology of 100 speculative miniatures created by scientists, journalists and top SF authors worldwide and originally published as recent one-page features in the science journal Nature. Each vignette centers on a wondrous or devastating or simply mind-boggling what if, carried to an unsettlingly original logical conclusion—or left spinning in an extraterrestrial mental orbit. A sampling of the treasures illustrates their remarkable range: Gregory Benford's poignant A Life with a Semisent explores the human need for love; Paul McCauley's Meat tackles the nasty human trick of twisting technology to immoral purposes; Robert Sawyer faces religion with the gobsmacking Abdication of Pope Mary III; and Ian Watson lets fly with his hilarious Nadia's Nectar, one of the best bathroom tales around. All in all, this is a perfect volume to awaken startling new thoughts on old SF themes, giant leaps into the future in delectably palatable tiny packages. (Nov.)
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Review

“The stories are just the right length for those brief interludes with which life abounds. They come from a highly respectable science journal (Hey, Nature published the Watson & Crick paper that spelled out the structure of DNA and won a Nobel Prize).Therefore, QED, this SF is highly respectable too! It won’t a hurt a bit that the stories are good as well.”
—Analog

“Worthwhile for anyone. A satisfying selection…occasionally quite profound. This book does just what we hope for.”
—Locus (Rich Horton)

“Giant leaps into the future in delectably palatable tiny packages.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (November 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765318059
• ISBN-13: 978-0765318053
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,654,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Henry Gee (b. 1962) is a Senior Editor at Nature, the international weekly journal of science. His writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers around the world. He lists his recreations as playing blues organ, supporting Norwich City FC and falling asleep. His blog 'The End Of The Pier Show' continues to delight its three regular readers. He lives in Cromer, Norfolk, England, with his family and numerous pets.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The future in 950 words or less, January 24, 2008

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Futures from Nature (Hardcover)

The 100 "speculative fictions", each 950 words or less, come from the back page of "Nature". As a general reader with an interest but no expertize in science, I've often puzzled over why such light weight fare would be included with the heavy science that populates the journal's pages.

Seeing them collected in one place, though, answered a number of my questions. For one thing, the stories were written by a wide variety of authors: SF pros, working scientists, science writers, even a 12 year old daughter of a scientist. Many of the authors are famous -- I've read more serious tomes and articles written by many of them. All of them represent an attempt to predict the future in one way or another.

The quality is variable -- some are absolute gems, some are just the germs of what might be really good stories in a more practiced hand. There are positives: all hold at least some interest; all of them are so short that you won't waste more than a couple of minutes; many provide insight into the imagination of working scientists,and all provide models of how to write good (and not so good) Amazon Reviews.

Henry Gee the editor explains what you can expect: "We have proper stories as well as spoof newspaper reports, correspondence and book reviews. The style varies from space opera to cyberpunk. Quite a lot of the pieces are humorous: a Futures piece, at between 850 and 950 words, is the right length for a good joke. ... It gives those who have not been following the column a chance to catch up. Regular readers ... can enjoy a little nostalgia. To the first group we say, live long and prosper. To the rest of you, it is klaatu barada nikto."

The collection is great fun on the lighter side of science.

Robert C. Ross 2008

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect remedy for short attention spans ;), January 6, 2008

By 

Alexis Gervais (Rimouski, Qc CAN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Futures from Nature (Hardcover)

Having read these quite short (a page or two) stories when they came out in Nature, I can say you will enjoy them. I don't recall any that struck me with a deep fascination, but on the other end very few ended up in my mind's recycling bin. The novelty is in having so many "short short" stories compiled, allowing you to read something even with very little time on your hands, and in the nature of their authors, who weren't all science-fiction writers.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book for smart teenagers, February 8, 2009

By 

S. Peterson (Bloomington, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Futures from Nature (Paperback)

My 14 year old son really liked this book. Small enough bites that you can digest at one sitting, but challenging as well.