Collection of essays: **Past:** Unity The scientist as unbeliever The choking grip Human mutations The hollow earth Poison! Competition! Benjamin Franklin changes the world Fifty years of astronomy The myth of the machine **Present:** The perennial fringe The case against 'Star Wars' Short term; long term The useful ivory tower Do it first! Popularizing science The pace of research The brain Darwin and natural selection Cool light Halley's Comet destination space Ice in orbit Looking for our neighbors Life is wherever it lands Einstein's theory of relativity What is the universe made of? Science and science fiction The dark vision The lure of horror Movie science Book into movie My hollywood non-career I love New York The immortal Sherlock Holmes Gilbert & Sullivan Mensa and I Write, write, write Facing up to it Triple bypass **Future:** The elevator effect 2084 Society in the future Feminism for survival TV and the race with doom The next seventy years in the courts The future of costume The immortal word Liberty in the next century The villain in the atmosphere The new learning Technology, you, your family, and the future Should we fear the future? Should we fear the computer? Work changes its meaning Nuclear dreams and nightmares The new tools in space Living on the moon, parts I and II The skies of luna The solar system for humanity The clinical lab of the future The hospital of the future Medicine from space Revising the pattern Putting bacteria to work Fiddling with genes