I’m madly jealous of those who have way cool projects on their blogs.

So I’m attempting a way cool project of my very own – which might take me out of my current rut.

I bought this book second-hand a couple of years ago, I can’t even begin to remember where (I think it cost me about $1.00).

I thought it was divine – in no small part because it was written in the year of my birth.

I can’t even begin to convey how much I adore 60’s imaginings of a future that I’m living in – Space 1999, for example, is a wonderful thing indeed.

And here are the authors…

Really, could you get any more hip??

From the dustjacket:

The Year 2000 draws a comprehensive and imaginative picture of the shape of probable, possible and nightmare worlds that will present new challenges in the dawn of a second millenium. Such forecasting demands the vision of both art and science. Economics, demography, history and political science, sociology and the physical sciences have all provided statistics, projections and “surprise-free” information about the massive changes that will condition the quality of human existance and the nature of society in the United States and the world.

The “hardware” of the future is an obvious extension of present technology: governments will know more about the individual than his own family. His life will be recorded in a central computer bank beginning with his birth and covering his education, his employment history and his personal activities (through local input terminals, the computer will reach into the home, the supermarket and every other area of activity). Parents will select the sex and personal characteristics of their children through genetic control. The main line of national defense will be in outer space. The great cities of Boswash, Chipitts and San-San will sprawl from Boston to Washington, Chicago to Pittsburgh and San Francisco to San-Diego.

Excellent, huh? I don’t really know why this has been sitting, unread, on my bookshelf for years.

A quote from Nancy, “Oh, I tried to read that book. You’d think it would be really exciting, but it was really dull.”

She’s right, I’ve flicked through it and it is mightily dull. For instance, the first paragraph contains “heuristic”, “propaedeutic” and “paradigmatic”.

But my intention is to plough on through the dullness and post about what Herman and The Wiener thought life would be like in 2000 – and, of course, if they were right.

Hopefully it will provide some laughs. Especially about the “nightmare worlds”.

Given the life-span of my previous projects, who knows how long this will last?

Carry on.