Science Fiction To Motivate The Imagination (And The Innovation)

Next month William Morrow will release Hieroglyph, a collection of science fiction short stories edited by the Director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University.  The name of the collection is taken from a theory advanced by science fiction writer Neil Stephenson, and a larger writing project of which this book is a part.  The Hieroglyph Theory describes the kind of science fiction that can motivate scientists and engineers to create a future.  A Hieroglyph story provides a complete picture of the future, with a compelling innovation as part of that future.  An example would be the Asimov model of robotics.

Hieroglyph will be available on September 9th at the usual outlets, but you can read a preview online now.  It includes biographies of the authors (an impressive collection of people, many of whom have scientific credentials in addition to their literary work), and the prefatory material from Stephenson, physicist Lawrence Krauss, and the book’s editors.  This project has been in the works for about three years now, and hopefully this book will represent a continuation rather than an end.