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graphene
I think in the future much of our electronics might be carbon-based rather than silicon-based. Graphene -- a single layer of carbon atoms in a flat hexagonal sheet -- has a lot of fascinating properties. It turns out that two layers of graphene where one layer is rotated 1.1 degrees with respect to another becomes a superconductor (conducts electricity without resistance). Unfortunately this double layer of graphene has to be cooled to about –271° Celsius to show this effect. It has another interesting trick too: apply an electric field and it turns into an insulator. That is, it can be a switch. (See https://www.sciencenews.org/article/give-double-layer-graphene-twist-and-it-superconducts )
Graphene is also much stronger than steel, is flexible, and can be made at very low energy. At normal temperatures graphene is about 40% better conductor of electricity than copper, yet far lighter. The raw material (carbon) is one of the most common on Earth, and if we made carbon-based things out of thin air, like plants do, building their structures from carbon dioxide, we might help counter greenhouse gas build-up.
The biggest drawback is that we don't yet know how to routinely construct arbitrarily large flawless sheets of it. But you can bet we will solve it.
A prediction from me: I think cables made from long graphene tubes (also called bucky tubes) wound together will be used to make the space elevator, which will bring extremely cheap space travel to everyone.
Graphene is also much stronger than steel, is flexible, and can be made at very low energy. At normal temperatures graphene is about 40% better conductor of electricity than copper, yet far lighter. The raw material (carbon) is one of the most common on Earth, and if we made carbon-based things out of thin air, like plants do, building their structures from carbon dioxide, we might help counter greenhouse gas build-up.
The biggest drawback is that we don't yet know how to routinely construct arbitrarily large flawless sheets of it. But you can bet we will solve it.
A prediction from me: I think cables made from long graphene tubes (also called bucky tubes) wound together will be used to make the space elevator, which will bring extremely cheap space travel to everyone.
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I'd like to use the Clarke quote here!
I didn't really read fantasy until I hit 13 (before that tended to SF), but I someone moved from Wydham to Eddings, and then ended up playing D&D, which ended up with a few years reading the (then emerging) D&D novels (and then horror like King and Koontz) before I swung back.
I "regret" spending so much time down the tie-in fiction cul de sac (and parts of the fantasy avenue), but we are creatures of our time, and we make decisions at the time.
(I do regret reading Jordan and Goodkind, but that's a different story).
I didn't realise Leigh Brackett was his wife. I do have the one book they collaborated on though, "Stark and the Star Kings".
That one might be in the book I procured (The Gollanz Gateway Ombibus), listed as "The Star King". And somewhere I have the Star Wolves trilogy. Of course, I buy books faster than I can read them. I'll get to them or die first.
What little I've read of that (mostly pre-war) era suggest the SF/Fantasy/Horror divide was less obvious then, and it's one of the reasons I chase older stuff (although it's something I have come to realise)
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"Stark and the Star Kings", at least the Baen Books edition I have, is actually a small collection containing:
"Stark and the Star Kings" by Brackett and Hamilton
"Enchantress of Venus" by Brackett
"Lake of the Gone Forever" by Brackett
"Child of the Sun" by Brackett
"Retreat to the Stars" by Brackett
"The Jewel of Bas" by Brackett
The first two are novels and the others short stories, I think.
It and much more is found by a search on Baen Books' website:
http://www.baen.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=desc&order=relevance&p=1&q=edmond+hamilton
Unfortunately I think they're all ebooks. I don't know if they have any in print on paper at the moment. I'm not sure how you'd check. Baen do print paper books, but I only ever buy ebooks nowadays.
I have the "Starwolf" trilogy too. Haven't read it yet.
Yeah, I get books a lot faster than I can read them too. Project Gutenberg lets me be way too greedy. :) I figure one day I might be laid up in bed for an extended period and I'll be able to read my way through a large part of my backlog. Or I'll die with much of it unread.
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It seems as if Stark and the Star Kings puts Stark into the Star Kings series, so I guess I'll track it down someday, although Stark wasn't that compelling, but a copy of Tarzan in space (a savage, civilized, albeit on Mercury).
Baen Books is someone I tend to avoid because of the garish covers (although, I recently purchased "The Worlds of ERB", and it's sitting in a TVR pile with books I'll avoid reading on the train.
Yeah, I get books a lot faster than I can read them too. Project Gutenberg lets me be way too greedy. :)
One of the main reasons I don't have an e-reader is because I would get ALL THE BOOKS. Money and space at least act to limit what I own, and I'm still hit by choice paralysis when I go to pick up the next book.
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I'm right there with you on that.
It is weird. I have thousands of amazing books, yet I become paralysed when it comes time to choose the next one to read. Humans! We're crazy.