From an engineer and futurist, an impassioned account of technological stagnation since the 1970s and an imaginative blueprint for a richer, more abundant future The science fiction of the 1960s promised us a future remade by technological innovation: we’d vacation in geodesic domes on Mars, have meaningful conversations with computers, and drop our children off at school in flying cars. Fast-forward 60 years, and we’re still stuck in traffic in gas-guzzling sedans and boarding the same types of planes we flew in over half a century ago. What happened to the future we were promised? In Where Is My Flying Car?, J. Storrs Hall sets out to answer this deceptively simple question. What starts as an examination of the technical limitations of building flying cars evolves into an investigation of the scientific, technological, and social roots of the economic stagnation that started in the 1970s. From the failure to adopt nuclear energy and the suppression of cold fusion technology to the rise of a counterculture hostile to progress, Hall recounts how our collective ambitions for the future were derailed, with devastating consequences for global wealth creation and distribution. Hall then outlines a framework for a future powered by exponential progress—one in which we build as much in the world of atoms as we do in the world of bits, one rich in abundance and wonder. Drawing on years of original research and personal engineering experience, Where Is My Flying Car?, originally published in 2018, is an urgent, timely analysis of technological progress over the last 50 years and a bold vision for a better future.

Humans have always wanted to fly. As soon as there were planes and cars, many people saw a combination as the next step for personal transportation, and visionary engineers and inventors did their best to make the flying car (or the roadable plane) a reality. This book is a breezy account of hybrid vehicles and their creators, and of the intense drive that kept bringing inventors back to the drawing board despite repeated failures and the dictates of common sense. Illustrated with archival photos, this entertaining survey takes readers back as far as Icarus and forward into the present day, with a look toward the future. Includes author's note, source notes, bibliography, index.

This book may sound like a work of science fiction, but it's all true. Cars designed to be flown and aircraft designed to be driven have been created surprisingly often, particularly in the United States, where the unfettered optimism of the 1930s and 1950s allowed such fanciful ideas to flourish from time to time. This handsome book covers the subject in depth for the first time, revealing the stories of many doomed ventures, supported by a wealth of intriguing photographs together with wonderful artwork from comics, popular science magazines and science-fiction novels.

Dozens of short, illustrated chapters take the reader through over 150 years of world and trade fairs, from the Colt revolver and the Corvette to fax machines and flush toilets.

The debut poetry collection from Arab-American poet Kareem Rahma-formerly of VICE and The New York Times-shows us the future in haiku. What awaits us is not the future we had hoped for or what we were promised, but the terrible consequences of we've done to ourselves. Managing to be both a hopeful prayer for change and direct warning to the reader, New York-based author Kareem Rahma makes masterful work of the haiku form to build a very possible future world dominated by corporations, an earth depleted of natural resources and humans turned into zombies, glued to their screens. Elegant but caustically humorous, even in the darkness, Rahma remains hopeful that we can still keep the promises we made in the past. Paired with Jean-Marc Côté's 19th-century illustrations of an imagined year 2000, We Were Promised Flying Cars is not just for poetry and science fiction fans, but anyone interested in what tomorrow might look like.

Stories of inventors who have aimed for the sky: “Start your engines and get ready to take off for an amazing read” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Humans have always wanted to fly—and as soon as there were planes and cars, many people saw a combination of the two as the next step for personal transportation. Visionary engineers and inventors did their best to make the flying car a reality, not just an elusive dream. This book is a breezy account of hybrid vehicles and their creators, and of the intense drive that kept bringing inventors back to the drawing board despite repeated failures and the dictates of common sense. Illustrated with archival photos, this entertaining survey tells the stories of dreamers from Robert Fulton to Henry Ford to Buckminster Fuller, taking readers as far back as Icarus and forward into the present day—with a look toward the possibilities of the future as well. “Readers learn about many intriguing airplane-car hybrids, such as the Airphibian, invented by Robert Fulton, who flew his vehicle at 110 miles per hour, landed it, single-handedly converted it into a car in under five minutes, then ‘drove the convertible proudly into Manhattan at a breezy 55 miles per hour.’ These stories of invention are undeniably appealing. . . . Fascinating.” —School Library Journal Includes illustrations, source notes, bibliography, and an index

Gives readers a close-up look at flying cars. With colorful spreads featuring fun facts, sidebars, labeled diagrams, and a "How It Works" feature, the book provides an engaging overview of this amazing aircraft.