{"product_id":"2940014008969","title":"THE BLACK STAR PASSES","description":"Contents\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction 7\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOK ONE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePiracy Preferred 11\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOK TWO\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSolarite 71\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBOOK THREE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Black Star Passes 145\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese stories were written nearly a quarter of a century ago, for the\u003cbr\u003eold _Amazing Stories_ magazine. The essence of any magazine is\u003cbr\u003enot its name, but its philosophy, its purpose. That old _Amazing\u003cbr\u003eStories_ is long since gone; the magazine of the same name today is\u003cbr\u003eas different as the times today are different from the world of 1930.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScience-fiction was new, in 1930; atomic energy was a dream we\u003cbr\u003ebelieved in, and space-travel was something we tried to understand\u003cbr\u003ebetter. Today, science-fiction has become a broad field, atomic\u003cbr\u003eenergy--despite the feelings of many present adults!--is no dream.\u003cbr\u003e(Nor is it a nightmare; it is simply a fact, and calling it a\u003cbr\u003enightmare is another form of effort to push it out of reality.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1930, the only audience for science-fiction was among those who\u003cbr\u003ewere still young enough in spirit to be willing to hope and speculate\u003cbr\u003eon a new and wider future--and in 1930 that meant almost nothing but\u003cbr\u003eteen-agers. It meant the brightest group of teen-agers, youngsters who\u003cbr\u003ewere willing to _play_ with ideas and understandings of physics\u003cbr\u003eand chemistry and astronomy that most of their contemporaries\u003cbr\u003econsidered \"too hard work.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI grew up with that group; the stories I wrote over the years, and,\u003cbr\u003elater, the stories I bought for _Astounding Science Fiction_\u003cbr\u003echanged and grew more mature too. _Astounding Science Fiction_\u003cbr\u003etoday has many of the audience that read those early stories; they're\u003cbr\u003enot high school and college students any more, of course, but\u003cbr\u003eprofessional engineers, technologists and researchers now. Naturally,\u003cbr\u003efor them we need a totally different kind of story. In growing with\u003cbr\u003ethem, I and my work had to lose much of the enthusiastic scope that\u003cbr\u003ewent with the earlier science fiction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen a young man goes to college, he is apt to say, \"I want to be a\u003cbr\u003escientist,\" or \"I want to be an engineer,\" but his concepts are broad\u003cbr\u003eand generalized. Most major technical schools, well knowing this, have\u003cbr\u003ethe first year course for _all_ students the same. Only in the\u003cbr\u003esecond and subsequent years does specialization start.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy the sophomore year, a student may say, \"I want to be a\u003cbr\u003e_chemical_ engineer.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt graduation, he may say, \"I'm going into chemical engineering\u003cbr\u003e_construction_.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTen years later he may explain that he's a chemical engineer\u003cbr\u003especializing in the construction of corrosion-resistant structures,\u003cbr\u003esuch as electroplating baths and pickling tanks for stainless steel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYear by year, his knowledge has become more specialized, and much\u003cbr\u003edeeper. He's better and better able to do the important work the world\u003cbr\u003eneeds done, but in learning to do it, he's necessarily lost some of\u003cbr\u003ethe broad and enthusiastic scope he once had.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079822885104,"sku":"2940014008969","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014008969_p0.jpg?v=1763599030","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014008969","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}