Where Did My Retrofuture Go?

Over at Salon, there is an absolutely great book review of Where’s My Jetpack?, a new book that looks at the vivid and wonderfully imaginative history of retro-futurism and clinically diagnoses the source of my ennui with the modern world: it’s neostalgia. I’m not the only one who yearns for the future that never showed […]

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Over at Salon, there is an absolutely great book review of Where's My Jetpack?, a new book that looks at the vivid and wonderfully imaginative history of retro-futurism and clinically diagnoses the source of my ennui with the modern world: it's neostalgia.

I'm not the only one who yearns for the future that never showed up. The frustration is widely felt and has been mounting for some time, gathering serious speed in the late '90s when the really-ought-to-be-momentous new millennium loomed. Dates like "1999," "2000" and "2001" set off special reverberations -- not just for the science fiction fans among us but for plenty of regular folk too. Even now, when we should have grown blasé about living in the 21st century, the dates still have a faint futuroid tang, a poignant trace of what should have been. The obvious landmarks of tomorrow's world never materialized: vacations to the moon, 900 miles per hour transatlantic trains hurtling through vacuum tunnels. But the absence is felt equally in the fabric of daily life, the way that the experience of cooking an egg or taking a shower hasn't changed in our lifetime.

The book looks like an absolute must read. Consider it ordered.

Back to the Future [Salon]