CHANGE!

Some Asimov ephemera: 71 cozy, unexceptionable speculations, reprinted from American Way (the in-flight magazine of American Airlines), all brief and correspondingly shallow—though some are linked in series for slightly more effect. Asimov starts with earthbound phenomena: the computer (and its multifarious roles), underground abodes, sea monsters, genetic engineering, robots, alternative energy sources, telepathy and thought-control, mining the sea, etc. Then, moving into space, he scans the potential uses—in terms of knowledge and raw materials—or just-about-everything from meteors, the moons of Jupiter, and black holes to space-borne diseases (the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe theory is demolished with a few well-chosen words), orbiting telescopes, and O'Neill's space colonies. It's all more restrained and reasonable in tone than some recent Asimov offerings; and though none of the news will be new to science buffs, novices will find it undemanding and variously eye-opening.