A recent post called “Where Will We Be in 2,500 AD” reminded Ed of an old song from 1969 called “In the Year 2525.”
“Remember this one?
In the year 2525, if man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find
In the year 3535
… (very long series of verses) …
Now it’s been ten thousand years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what, he never knew, now man’s reign is through
But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight
So very far away, maybe it’s only yesterday
In the year 2525, if man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find”
And that produced this comment by me:
“I remember it well. I was in the family station wagon heading for Long Beach Island on the Jersey shore for the summer vacation when it came on the radio for the first time. I was reading a science fiction anthology edited by Robert Heinlein called “Tomorrow, the Stars.” Life was simpler then.”
Well, of course that got me thinking. As I remembered that was a pretty good anthology. But unfortunately, it was a trade paperback from 1969 so it fell apart about fifty years ago or so. Curses!
But Amazon.com has some redeeming value. I found a hard back copy (seventeen years older than the paperback I owned but in much, much better shape) and purchased it for a very reasonable sum.
And, as remembered, there are several very good stories inside; C. M. Kornbluth’s “The Silly Season,” Kurt Vonnegut’s “The Report on the Barnhouse Effect” (I forgot he was the author), Isaac Asimov’s “Misbegotten Missionary,” William Morrison’s “The Sack,” Fritz Leiber’s “Poor Superman” and several others that I still like.
So now that will allow me to enjoy some excellent short science fiction from the golden age (or was it the silver age?).
And I’ll need it. I was reading Heinlein’s posthumously published alternate novel to his “Number of the Beast” alternate universe story; “The Pursuit of the Pankera.“ But I just couldn’t read it straight through. Just like in the “Number of the Beast” the four main characters just talk way, way too much. It was like an endless struggle session to see who could out-Heinlein who. I also developed a strong antipathy for his character Hildy. I wanted a monster to squash her when she started hectoring them.
I will admit it was better than “Number of the Beast” but I couldn’t finish that one either. Maybe it’s me but after his illness in the ‘70’s I don’t think his writing ever recovered the vitality it had before “I Will Fear No Evil.” Or maybe something changed in me.
But anyway, Heinlein’s picks in the anthology I’ll be rereading show good taste at least in conventional science fiction from the 1950s. Thank goodness he didn’t have access to his continua craft in his old age and could go back and change his story selections for that anthology. I’m not sure I’d enjoy them.
Today I also received my handy-dandy manual chain saw doo-hickey (in the same box as the book).
It’s the chain for a chain saw with carabiners on the ends to allow it to be used using human power. I went back to my downed tree and took a three-foot length from the trunk and it only took about twenty minutes of sawing. Of course, I took another twenty minutes of breaks to restore strength to my tired old arms but still this is a factor of ten faster than it took me to cut the last chunk using the bow saw. My next gambit is to see if I can attach the ends of a chain to the frame of my bow saw. That would make it more convenient to use. Alternatively, I could imagine attaching the chain to the rear wheel of a stationary bicycle and really improving my efficiency. I guess I’m anticipating a future without gasoline or batteries. But I do think strangely.
Well, it was an interesting day.