The Wonderful Future That Never Was: Flying Cars, Mail Delivery by Parachute, and Other Predictions from the Past

by Gregory Benford, Popular Mechanics Magazine

Between 1903 and 1969, scientists and other experts made hundreds of predictions in Popular Mechanics magazine about what the future would hold. Their forecasts ranged from ruefully funny to eerily prescient and optimistically utopian. Here are the very best of them, culled from hundreds of articles, complete with the original, visually stunning retro art. They will capture the imagination of futurists in the same way Jules Verne's writing did a century earlier. Every chapter features an introduction by astrophysics professor, science-fiction author, and former NASA advisor Gregory Benford.


PAST PREDICTIONS OF OUR FUTURE INCLUDE:
o Skyscrapers so tall they'll have their own climate
  o  Underground pneumatic tubes to replace garbage trucks
  o  Rooftop lakes that serve as air conditioning systems
  o  Clothes made from asbestos and aluminum
  o  Mail sorted by robots and delivered by parachutes

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, Technology, Humor, Anthologies, Historical

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2010

About the author

Gregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.

As a science fiction author, Benford is best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.

Reviews

[Nicolas Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great concept, disappointing execution. I love retrofuturism. Sadly, this book provided little more than some nice vintage pictures, mostly due to the terrible editing.

I had no problem that the old predictions were all snippets from old issues of Popular Mechanics. That's a reasonable (if sensational) secondary source. Unfortunately, there was basically no context except for some introductory pablum to each chapter (which loosely grouped technologies into home, transportation, etc.). I would have liked more discussion of each prediction, the parts that did come true, the parts that probably won't, and why. Maybe a general overview of what wasn't predicted, too? There wasn't even a conclusion!

The layout was also bad. Often a sentence would trail off only to be interrupted by multiple pages of captioned pictures. The individual predictions weren't well boxed either.

It might be good to skim, and the pictures are amusing, but barely worth the read.

[Ben Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating exploration of what the future may have been. Packed with spectulations from 1901-5 to about 1970s, it's amazing what they predicted, and what they got wrong. It's quite interesting to see how in line, though with fancy language, they were to current predictions. But the best line goes to this one
" One problem that remains to be solved is whether the human body could withstand the terrific strains involved in being shot into space at such speeds. In experiments with a rocket car mounted on railway wheels and operated on a track, Opel placed a cat in the seat to see how it would withstand the strain. The car, however, blew up and the cat was killed, so nothing was learned ".

[Lolly's Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of predictions that range from the amazingly prescient (that of a flat-screen, wall-mounted TV from 1954; a 1928 prediction of a half-mile high skyscraper, a feat recently achieved by the 2,684-foot-tall Buij Khalifa building in Khalifa; even the simple prognostications of automotive safety glass, from 1940, and push-button telephones, from 1942), the plausible, but way ahead of their time (the 1967 prediction of a computerized home, an idea put into practice at the time by the Sutherland family in PA--using a computer which took up the entire basement rec room; a 1968 prediction of a laser knife to use in surgery, an idea which only now is being seriously researched and developed; a 1944 prediction for a 3-D home theatre system, which has finally become available even though the technology still hasn't been fully perfected), and so bizarre it's hard to believe the ideas were ever taken seriously (like this one from 1926, that all food will soon be made from coal, supplemented by fats made from petroleum--yum; or from 1952, the prediction that we can reorganize the solar system to make colonization easy, by breaking apart or shrinking planets, or by moving them closer to the sun--anyone got a bulldozer that big?--not to mention the many predictions concerning flying cars which, while it's disappointing that we still haven't become the Jetsons, is actually rather a relief. With the number of accidents we have on the ground today, can you imagine the carnage air traffic accidents would create?), The Wonderful Future That Never Was is a fun and entertaining trip down memory lane. Compiled from the archives of Popular Mechanics magazine, the vignettes, with accompanying illustrations, give us a glimpse of the unflagging optimism so prevalent in the early to mid 20th century, a spirit of adventure and creativity fueled by the massive expansion in the fields of science and technology. Every day seemed to bring a new creation or invention to life, adding to the collective American idea that we could achieve anything with right combination of science and gusto.

Although many of the predictions are impractical or just plain strange, often failing to take into account the social impact and influence which drove and most times mutated technology, even as that technology was mutated by society, several other predictions often had a kernel of practicality, making one wonder why the ideas were never put into practice. The book is not just an enjoyable read, it's also a wonderful reference for science fiction writers. The ideas within provide a wealth of possibilities: It would be easy to extrapolate from the predictions and generate your own ideas for future inventions; you could also use the more outlandish ideas to riff on for some wild and wonderful, post-modern steampunk possibilities.

This is a wonderful coffee table book for science geeks and history buffs, or for anyone who can appreciate (and mourn the current lack of) the boundless hope and giddy glee which fueled the fields of science and technology in the 20th century.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially, this is a collection of past predictions of what future advances in technology would bring, as originally published in Popular Mechanics. Think Tomorrowland, at least the new version: the future of the past. It is really neat to read through some of the predictions. Some are true, or close enough to be considered so. Some just barely missed the mark. And some are so far off you have to wonder who ever thought it would be a good idea. Milk made from kerosene? An entirely washable house that can be cleaned by hose?

Two problems, though. The original art is awesome, but it's mostly been cropped or blown up to the point of making it impossibly grainy. Not a great way to treat what is really great art. Also, it wasn't clear to me if these were the original words from the magazine, or rewritten for the book.

Probably only of real interest to science and science fiction nerds, which covers me nicely.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a coffee table book, meant to be flipped through and consumed a bite at a time, so I probably shouldn't have read it cover-to-cover, but I did. I found myself at times hungry for more depth - more information about the predictions, who wrote them and what context they appeared in originally. I had hoped that the wonderful inventions we never achieved would give me hopeful new science-fiction ideas for my own writing. It did, somewhat. I spent a day fantasizing about new uses for pneumatic tubes, reminiscing over 1920s futurism, yearning for buildings with dirigible platforms, and a week complaining about mankind's seeming inability to predict social advances.

The most important lesson in the book - aside from "Gee those illustrations!" -- is that it is far too easy to be smug toward past predictions. Frequently, the prediction of technical advance was dead on, but ignored the social and economic forces that would shape or stunt it.

Oh yeah, I'm still annoyed about decades of advances in sustainability and efficiency that have been sacrificed on the altar of short-term profit. F'real, dudes.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more. This collection of articles from Popular Mechanics does give a snapshot of how the past imagined the present and future. I think it would have been a stronger book with more analysis and fewer filler entries. As it was, only a few predictions seemed to merit discussion about how [in]accurate they were. I suppose the author figured we could figure out the rest on our own.

[sara frances · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was rather disappointing. i only made it about halfway before i lost any real interest in finishing it.

[Jbussen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ripped off from Nicholas Ward.
Great concept, disappointing execution, terrible editing.

I had no problem that the old predictions were all snippets from old issues of Popular Mechanics. That's a reasonable (if sensational) secondary source. Unfortunately, there was basically no context except for some introductory pablum to each chapter (which loosely grouped technologies into home, transportation, etc.). I would have liked more discussion of each prediction, the parts that did come true, the parts that probably won't, and why. Maybe a general overview of what wasn't predicted, too? There wasn't even a conclusion!

The layout was also bad. Often a sentence would trail off only to be interrupted by multiple pages of captioned pictures. The individual predictions weren't well boxed either.

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

The future is fascinating. What sort of crazy inventions will propel us further toward the future? Looking back at our old newspapers and magazines is a source of amusement now, but it was groundbreaking at the time. The predictions about computers are funny now, but at the time, no one had the vision necessary to think of an iPhone.

"The Future That Never Was" is an amusing romp through old Popular Mechanics magazines guided by Gregory Benford. The artist renditions included are fascinating. Many of these ideas are possible but implausible due to their cost. A lot of the articles are silly. Imagine everything made of glass, personal airplanes for all, massive super-cities with landing strips built into skyscrapers.

The articles in the book have little asides that tell you if they came true or not.

[Sarah Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book interesting while shelving. If you enjoy science and predictions of the past of future technologies, you might find it interesting too. The book is based comprised of past predictions about technologies from popular Mechanics including illustrations. I agree with other reviewers that it is a good concept, however the book could have better written or executed. For instance, I would like more information about how these past predictions played out in the present. Did the prediction come true in any way? There are some captions or factoids about predictions that came true such as "The first pocket calculators were developed in 1970." If the prediction didn't come true, what are the reasons or factors? While the book could be improved, I still found an interesting OK read. How will any predictions being made today play out in the future?

[George Siehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A copiously illustrated review of how society viewed the scientific and technological future as presented through the pages of Popular Mechanics magazine. "The Wonderful Future that Never Was" combines an introductory narrative by science fiction author Gregory Benford for each of the book's six sections with reprinted predictions from the magazine between the years 1902 and 1969.
And, don't forget the the wonderful, futuristic illustrations. This book was frequently referenced in Peter J. Bowler's excellent book "History of the Future." The predictions that were achieved are noted with a little note proclaiming them "True," although this appears infrequently. A fun read.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for fans of retrofuturism, these items culled from the pages of Popular Mechanics over the last century-plus give us a lot of insight into what our forbearers thought would be important to us! We've certainly achieved the speeds they envisioned, if not the personal helicopters. It's surprising in both how spot-on some predictions can be, and in how the unforeseen ubiquity of satellites turned everything on its head.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of things that did happen (flatscreen TVs), things that could've happened but would've been terrible (flying cars), things that couldn't have happened because they didn't predict some other factor (hovercraft, which are LOUD), and outright bullshit (death rays!). Love the art, which often featured besuited men in fedoras and women in floral swing dresses, riding in a teardrop shaped car at 200 miles an hours through a city of spiraling towers.

[Emily Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was flooded with interesting predictions from decades past, however the formatting was really stressful as well as occasional grammatical and syntax errors. I will say however it was intriguing to learn what our grandparents or great grandparents believed might happen in our present all those years ago.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is just a collection of outtakes from the magazine Popular Mechanics.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun book with pictures about visions of the future from the past century.

[Mark Opalski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wonderful future that never was, indeed. I still want my jetpack!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much nostalgia. I loved the 70s versions of the Popular Mechanics future.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a coffee table book for nerds.

[Quinn Rollins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love science fiction--but more than just ideas about the future, I like ideas about the shiny new optimism that the future can bring. Things like rocket packs and flying cars and solutions to humanity's problems bring with it the promise that there will be a future, and it might be better than what we have now. Many of those ideas are collected in the intriguing The Wonderful Future That Never Was, by Gregory Benford and the editors of Popular Mechanics.

The 208 page hardcover is filled with full color illustrations and short articles collected from issues of Popular Mechanics ranging from 1903 to 1969, arranged by subject and in roughly chronological order. The six chapters include:

The City of the Future
Home, Sweet Home of Tomorrow
Mind & Word Become Far-Reaching & Universal
Heavy Water may Prolong Life
Airships Supersede Battleships
This Unfinished World

So the first chapter includes things about cities--everything from factory innovations to domed "garden cities" that have urban farms coexisting with skyscrapers grown from organic and synthesized substances. The second chapter is all about domestic life, with everything being prefabricated, and everything being made of plastics--plastic clothing, plastic furniture, plastic foods. You get the idea. Each page has a picture of some kind, many originally black and white, "colorized" for this book.

The choices of articles and pictures to include seem to be a balance of "hey, this is something that really happened!" and "weren't we crazy to think that back then?" ...the result is sometimes quaint, sometimes prophetic, but usually entertaining. The introduction for the entire book and the smaller essays that begin each chapter set a framework to understand what people in the past were already thinking about those new technologies, and make great connections between then and the 21st Century.

I read the entire book in one sitting, and was impressed with the predictions that came to fruition--but even more impressed with the ones that didn't. Frozen dinners are cool--but interplanetary rocketports that launch ships on a beam of light are even cooler.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Então e os rocket packs, quando é que os temos? Nesta era dominada pela ciência e tecnologia cada nova descoberta gera inúmeras hipóteses de aplicação. Aquilo que hoje está na crista da onda será amanhã tecnologia esquecida ou predição desesperadamente desactualizada pela passagem do tempo. Coligindo algumas das mais intrigantes predições tecno-científicas dos finais do século XIX aos anos 60 do século XX, esta obra organizada e comentada pelo cientista e escritor de ficção científica Gregory Benford leva-nos a uma viagem intrigante e hilariante com um forte toque de saudosismo utópico. Hoje, rodeados das enormes conquistas da ciência e sempre expectantes do que surgirá num amanhã imediato, podemos sorrir com as predições de outros tempos. Mas é bom ter em mente que as nossas correntes predições serão, no futuro, ideias capazes de despertar um sorriso.

Pois, ainda não tempos rocket packs. Nem carros voadores, não vivemos no fundo dos oceanos, não reconstruímos as nossas cidades de acordo com princípios científicos de organização social, continuamos a utilizar motores de combustão em vez de reactores atómicos nos veículos, não entregamos correio por foguetão, não vivemos em órbita, não temos missões tripuladas a vénus ou marte, não nos deslocamos em dirigíveis gigantes ou aeronaves hipersónicas, não fazemos videochamadas, não irradiamos legumes para crescerem mais viçosos, não construímos casas em aerogel. E porquê? Benford faz notar várias vezes ao longo do livro que o progresso técnico não é tudo; o que leva à adopção e desenvolvimento de uma nova tecnologia tem mais por base imperativos sociais e económicos do que técnicos. As maravilhas da tecnologia tornam-se banais por serem úteis, banalizam-se ao integrarem-se no nosso dia a dia. Por vezes, o que impede uma tecnologia de ser adoptada é puro bom senso. Já imaginaram o que seria uma colisão na auto-estrada com reactores atómicos à mistura? Os boletins de trânsito também falariam de núvens em cogumelo e níveis de radiação nas principais vias...

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Popular Mechanics has been in continuous publication since 1902, and predictions of the future have always been found in its pages. Many of those focused on what life would be like at the turn of the next century - the one we are in now. So it is fun, often funny, to read the predictions and compare them to what our lives are actually like.

Many of the predictions have come true over the past hundred years: we travel by jetplane; we have computers in our homes; plastics are everywhere; use of gps is replacing maps; and radio movies, ie television, are very popular. Many, of course, have not: hovercraft have not replaced cars; no one I know has a personal jetpack; pneumatic tubes did not pan out as a method of mass transit; we have not colonized Mars. Yet.

Reading all the predictions gives me the post-family-vacation thought: where ever you go, there you are. It seems like scientists predicting the future make the same omission I make when imagining travel with adolescents. They forget that new places or new technology doesn't make new people. Even if, as predicted in 1950, scientists were able to manufacture candy from our dirty paper napkins and rayon underpants, it doesn't mean people want to eat it. Designing new towns doesn't mean people won't litter. We wouldn't be safer drivers if we all had helicopters instead of cars.

Still, we've put men on the moon. We have refrigerators and freezers in our homes. Life expectancy has increased by 50%. We've done some pretty cool stuff.

[Dennis Boccippio · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good lesson against impulse buying based on Amazon "you might be interested in..." recommendations without checking Goodreads first. This book was a huge disappointment.

First, the easy: design-wise, the book is awful. Typographically it's a train wreck, even in its attempts to be "nostalgic". The layout is off in many ways, and the graphics frequently include unnecessarily large blow-ups of screened / stippled newsprint type images that make them almost unrecognizable. In some cases it looks like this effect was intentionally applied. It's just ugly and not pleasant to read and the nostalgic angle gets old after a few pages.

With respect to content, it's fairly lazy. Almost completely comprised of very short snippets from old Popular Mechanics magazines with minimal commentary. The order is hodge-podge, and the selections only mildly interesting. The book could have been so much more had it taken a "predicted vs actual" approach towards what was technologically anticipated versus how it turned out. A few items have schlocky "True!" stickers next to them but a perplexingly large number don't, even thought they effectively panned out, just not quite in the ways anticipated in the PM blurbs.

Can't recommend reading it.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stupendous idea, astoundingly bad execution.

This book is a collection of predictions made by Popular Mechanics magazine in the early 20th century. I think? Other than the year, there's no attempt to identify any of the predictions, which was one of my big complaints. Are they quotations from past issues? Paraphrased or integrated from multiple issues by the author? There are introductions to each section (presumably by the author), but the consistent typeface throughout means they're poorly distinguished from the predictions, leaving me constantly confused about whose "voice" any particular bit of writing was supposed to be in.

The page design made it frustratingly hard to read straight through the book, but perhaps it wasn't intended to be read that way, so I'll give them a pass. The pages did look pretty.

Perhaps most importantly, the book lacks a sense of humor or playfulness, and it all comes off a bit robotic. There's precious little analysis, either -- a few facts are identified as "TRUE!" with a note about when they came true, but at a guess I would say it's no more than 10%. Fun commentary would have transformed this dull brick of a book into the interesting popular science book it was meant to be.

[K · Rating 1 out of 5]

Brutal and unecessary over-designing of the layout rendered this book a disappointment for me.
I can't fault the textual content - although I would have liked more of it. However, visually this book is a mess. I bought it as a gift hoping (not unreasonably, I think) for some of the original Popular Mechanics illustrations to be reproduced. Unfortunately they've just been used as a raw material and abstracted beyond recognition. I would have thought they would have been a valued part of the book's content for any reader interested in Popular Mechanics and design/technology/social history. Apparently the publisher decided they weren't.
I do like the way it refrains from mocking the predictions of the past which turned out not to be true, it's still a serious, if lighthearted look at how we thought and what we hoped for the present we're currently living in. Unfortunately, I have to say it's mostly 200 pages of missed potential. Probably interesting to kids but theres simply not enough to it to satisfy me as an adult reader.

[Ken Bickley · Rating 4 out of 5]

And now, buckaroos, return with me to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when magazines actually had ARTICLES and not just pictures! Almost every issue of "Popular Mechanics" and others of that nature carried futuristic predictions, frequently mentioning that far-off year of 2000 when everything would be so different and so much better. This little book is a fun look back at some of those predictions between 1905 and 1970. It's amazing how many of the predictions written after 1945 assumed we were on the cusp of nuclear fusion, which would be the answer to everything from nuclear-powered airplanes to spaceships to power generation. Well, here it is 2015 and we don't have fusion yet. Nevertheless, an impressive number of the predictions were pretty near spot-on. Read it for amusement and amazement.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. It is beautiful and makes a great 'coffee table' book. I have also made it a habit to give this book as a gift. I love the pictures and it perfectly portrays the hope, vision and imagination that scientists had for our future.

When I was in elementary school a scientist from NASA visited us. In a school assembly we were told that our graduating class (2001) would see amazing scientific advancements. That by the time we graduated we would have: mach speed trains connecting all major cities, flying cars, and other "Back to the Future" like advancements. Those advancements didn't happen, instead of flying cars we got a cool new app, instead of high speed trains Apple released a new iPad.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"There are two futures, the future of desire and the future of fate, and man's reason has never learnt to separate them."

"The future isn't what it used to be."

1933: Safety first! The bikes of the future will be encased by a strong plastic or plastic-like substance to protect racers and recreational cyclists from harm.

1950: Because everything in her home is waterproof, the housewife of 2000 can do her daily cleaning with a hose.

1950: Thus sawdust and wood pulp are converted into sugary foods. Discarded paper table "linen" and rayon underwear are bought by chemical factories to be converted into candy.

1954: обработка повышает качества нефти.

[Sydney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate to say that my first attempt at reading a nofiction book that was not for school did not go very well. The concept was great. I always want to know how far behind we are with technology, really. the issue was a few things. First, I did not like the pictures. i dont undersand what they were going for but it did not succeed. Second, the book jumped around a lot. There was no order to this book except for the for six chapters in a 200 page book. The book jumped around from the sixties to the twenties to the fifties and back again. I wanted some consistency.
If you are thinking about picking this book up I'd say pass!!!!!!

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up from the "new non-fiction" table at the public library because it had a shiny cover and I loved reading Popular Mechanics as a kid. I felt the book was somewhat poorly edited for being compiled by the editors of popular mechanics. It makes for a fine flip-through read, but it provides little commentary on the predictions--which I thought may have been somewhat interesting. The artwork was wonderful--definitely the best part of a book like this. That being said, I thought many of the pictures were very poorly cropped and hard to understand because they had been blown-up or otherwise distorted. I think I would have liked it a lot more if I were still a young boy.