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. Between 1910 and 1970 scientists and military experts made hundreds of predictions in Popular Mechanics about the future of warfare Some of those prophecies were downright nuts while others veered eerily close to reality This collection of vintage articles with their stunning original art will spark the imagination of every military buff retrophile and futurist And the jacket unfolds into an amazing 24 x 19 poster of fantastic machines blasters and flying tanks Astrophysics professor science fiction author and NASA advisor Gregory Benford provides an introduction to every chapter Popular Mechanics The Amazing Weapons That Never Were Robots Flying Tanks u0026 Other Machines of WarA nice selection of articles and art from the pages of Popular Mechanics Sequel to The Wonderful Future That Never Was 9781588168627 The Amazing Weapons That Never Were by Gregory Benford and the editors of Popular Mechanics This nicely illustrated book covers predictions from the years 1906 1969 of amazing weapons we may have and use in the future Death rays are of course touched on but there are some clever ideas here that at the time you can follow their line of thinking Attaching wings to tanks to deliver them where needed Underwater nuclear powered bases for submarines and researchers This all fits in nicely with the golden age of science fiction What is interesting are the weapons that I think we eventually did see while some of these predictions may have been wrong some were just too early or slightly off Shells that fly on their own power We would view these as rocket artillery in today s world Predictions of artillery shells that are given eyes to guide them Again we have our smart weapons Their winged bombs are today s cruise missiles This is an enjoyable work that while covering weapons is also a celebration of our imaginations and the visions of those that bring their creativity to this terrible side of our nature 9781588168627 This book contains predictions of weapons that people once thought would be created in the near future that would revolutionize war The predictions where made between the 1910s and the 1960s Some are outlandish and some not so much. While interesting it was of a book to skim through than one that you would read straight through I was disappointed to learn that it didn t cover modern day amazing weapons that were nothing than a drain on the federal budgets like the Strategic Defense Initiative i.e Star Wars from the Reagan years 9781588168627.