The idea of space travel has fascinated man for more than 2000 years. This book is the story of man's long dream of reaching other worlds beyond his own an account that includes the discoveries of science and classic tales of science fiction, and shows the intriguing relationship between the two.
Until our own age of rocketry, there was only one way men could realize the dream—through interplanetary flights of the imagination. The best examples of such stories are represented here, from Lucian's 1800-year-old "True" History to the classic science fiction of Poe, Verne and H. G. Wells.
But this book is no mere anthology of science fiction; the adventurous tales are only part of the appeal. One of the most intriguing things about science fiction is its relation to science. Balancing the two, the author shows how the discoveries and theories often wrong of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, and other scientists influenced the space writers of their own and later times. Over the centuries, the dreams and the discoveries have paced each other.
As today we plan seriously for man's first actual trips to the moon and beyond, this survey of space-travel facts and fancies of the past makes absorbing reading for young scientists and science-fiction fans alike.
—from the dust jacket
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