Imagining the Future

Cover featuring an image of cars flying across a futuristic city backdrop.

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Invisibility, Immortality and 40 Other Incredible Ideas

By: Simon Torok, Paul Holper

eBook - June 2016 - eRetailers

Get prepared for the fantastic future with this guide to the unbelievable and incredible inventions just over the horizon.

Flying through time and flying in cars. Living underwater and living forever. Robot servants. 3D printed food. Wouldn’t it be amazing if science fiction became science fact? + Full description

We’re living in a rapidly changing world. Hardly a week passes without an exciting technological breakthrough. That’s the power of human innovation – it never stops happening. Inventors keep inventing.

Get prepared for the fantastic future with this guide to the unbelievable and incredible inventions just over the horizon.

Invisibility, instant transportation, holograms and lots of gadgets were once the dreams of science fiction … now they might become science fact! Imagining the future is the first step in arriving there. If you can dream it, perhaps one day you can invent it. Strap yourself in and get ready for the future!

Reading level varies from child to child, but we recommend this book for ages 8 to 14.

- Short description

Reviews

"Imagining the Future will inspire primary school aged readers to imagine, invent and research. This book is a fantastic classroom resource as well as the perfect gift for the budding scientist or inventor in your life."
Susan Whelan, Kids' Book Review (blog), 26 September 2016

"Imaging the Future is a book that should be found in every school library as it is fun and easy to read and makes science exciting."
Ann Pisarevsky, Let's Find Out journal 34(3), 2017

Details

Features

Engaging text that inspires enthusiasm for science
Fun illustrations for several of the inventions
True stories, tales and legends
Breakout boxes on fascinating details about the science behind the invention

Foreword
Are you ready for the future?
Being transparent
Eternity
Sky-highway
Faster food
Lending a metal hand
Holovision
A ladder to space
Backseat driver
What’s on your mind?
Computer-cranium connection
Chatting to chimps
Take a trip through time
Don’t forget your medicine
Hard to crack
Supervision contact lenses
What weather would you want?
Cool world
Designer babies
Colonising Mars
Back from the dead
Hot 2-methyl-3-furanthiol and chips
Around the world in 80 mins
Destroying dirt
Space tourist
Living the dream – underwater
Take off
Scientists hot on the trail of a cold cure
Two places at once
Energy-collecting skis and skateboards
Speaking in many tongues
On and on and on and on
Cashless community
Caterpillar shoes
Bigger, better brain
Flying windmills
Losing sleep
Find your secret sporting talent
Climate of change
Print your parts, personalise your pills
Solar blast
Sounds of silence
That face rings a bell
Inventing the future
Imagining your future

Authors

Simon Torok loves science. Most of his work has involved communicating the importance of science in our lives and its role in understanding the climate. He has worked at CSIRO as a science communicator and as editor of The Helix and Scientriffic magazines. He has also worked as a climate change communicator at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in England, and performed with the ANU-Questacon Science Circus doing shows for people around Australia. He has a PhD in climate change and qualifications in science and science communication.

Paul Holper has a passion for technology. He has made a career out of explaining the value and excitement of science and its applications. During 25 years at CSIRO he managed a large environmental program, and was a professional science communicator. Before that he was a secondary school science teacher. Throughout his career, Paul has popularised science through books for children and a general readership. He has a degree in chemistry and qualifications in education and science communication.

Simon and Paul are Directors of the communication company Scientell. They have written many books, several of which have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Hungarian. Imagining the Future is their 18th book together.