Back in 1970 Alvin Toffler wrote a book titled Future Shock. I remember two things about it: that it was the first time I'd seen a cover (just the title, there were no pictures) offered in different colors (!) and, that it was very interesting. He wrote about how fast the world was changing, and how humans were responding. The technological changes caused social changes which left folks feeling overwhelmed and stressed, that is, "future shock." Toffler popularized the term "information overload." If it was fast then, what is it now?

We've always wondered what the future might be like and some have even made predictions (educated and otherwise) as to what we might expect. Your Flying Car Awaits: Robot Butlers, Lunar Vacations and Other Dead-Wrong Predictions of the Twentieth Century by Paul Milo is a great collection of some of the craziest predictions from the last 100 years. (My favorite: "Weather will be as predictable and controllable as a train schedule.")

The Future Remembered: the 1962 Seattle World's Fair And It's Legacy, by authors Paula Becker and Alan J. Stein is the oficial 50th anniversary celebration of the fair that changed Seattle from a frontier town which few had even heard of, to a first class city. With the Space Needle, the monorail, and Elvis (!) it was an optimistic look forward to what the future might hold. Because of the long lnes, it was several years before I finally made it to the top of the Space Needle, but I do remember the Bubblelater, the Fountain ... and Belgian Waffles. :-) The men who planned the fair were determined that when the Fair closed the city would be left with something useful .... a civic center. They succeeded! Lots of wonderful pictures!

It will connect with those faraway for business and fun, people can get married using it, play games, pass secrets, create codes, worry about security .... ladies and gentlemen, I give you .... The Telegraph! It was absolutely revolutionary when it first became available, before, the fastest a message could get anywhere was by a man on a horse, train, or boat. The Victorian Internet: the Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century' On-Line Pioneers, by Tom Standage is the riveting history of the telegraph and how it changed the way we communicate. I loved the comparisons to the internet, especially the description where the world would now be connected by a web of wires.

This book is sort of a 'side-trail' here as it focuses only on telegrams, but it ties in nicely with The Victorian Internet. Thanks go to Constant Reader for the recommendation! Telegram! Modern History As Told Through More Than 400 Witty, Poignant, and Revealing Telegrams by Linda Rosenkrantz. This is a well researched collection of telegrams concerning life and death, war (Lincoln conducted much of the Civil War over telegraph wires), business and more. There are telegrams about Hollywood movies, Broadway openings, authors needing money ... all interspersed with bits about the history of Western Union. The entries are short so it makes for easy reading during all those ads on TV. :-)

"Dreams about the future are always filled with gadgets." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson --

Reading Hermit With Dog