Robert L. Forward
Indistinguishable From Magic (C) (1995)
Reviewed: 1995-11-27

Clarke's Third Law:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Robert L. Forward, contempory master of hard SF, offers a glimpse at some of the incredible but not implausible technologies the future may hold in store for us, technologies so advanced they are presently still indistinguishable from magic. Alternating science speculation chapters with (previously published) short fiction that makes use of the proposed devices, Forward works his way from almost mundane concepts such as antimatter or space fountains to rather esoteric theories at the fringes of modern physics in the FTL chapter. For each topic, a short list of references to selected books and scientific papers is given.

This book is the perfect companion to Forward's other works. In fact, it might be required reading for some of his novels (e.g. Timemaster) that use many of the intriguing concepts proposed here but have little in the way of explanation of the underlying physics or physical speculations. In some of the short stories presented we encounter personae that bear more than a passing resemblance to some of Forward's and presumably also the reader's favorite characters from his novels. And if you are afraid that so much physics will make for dull reading, I can assure you that I found Forward's humor most refreshing.

Here is the table of contents:

• Introduction
• Antimatter, "Turn Left at the Moon"
• Beanstalks, "Race to the Pole"
• Starships, "Fading into Blackness"
• Antigravity, "The Singing Diamond"
• Black Holes, "Acceleration Constant"
• Space Warps and Time Machines, "Twin Paradox"
• Future Speculations, "A Matter Most Strange"
• Faster-Than-Light, "Self-Limiting"
• About the Author
• Index

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