Science Fiction Books That Forecast the Future

As fans of the science fiction genre, we’re all aware that science fiction authors frequently try to predict the future of technology and science in a realistic way. In fact, for many readers of science fiction, that’s a big part of the appeal versus fantasy novels or ordinary fiction.

This great infographic from Printerinks.com takes a look at what existing technologies and discoveries were first predicted in books. From the two moons of Mars first mentioned in Gulliver’s Travels in 1735, to government spying that was so central to the story of George Orwell’s 1984, and to the real-time translation provided by the Babble fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy first published in 1980.

To learn more, take a look at It’s Okay to be Smart’s video looking at the predictions of visionary authors like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke or AT&T’s timeline of Science Fiction to Reality.