Where Is My Flying Car?

There's no other book quite like this. This is quickly emerging as a foundational text for the burgeoning cultural movement around progress studies.Here, Dr. J. Storrs Hall explores why we don’t yet have flying cars and uses the answers he finds as launching off points for a broader discussion on the causes of The Great Stagnation that started in the late 1960s.Broadly speaking this is a book about how the future could be even more glorious than what was envisioned in the 1960s, how we lost our way towards that future, and how we might get back on the path to a grander future. Storr is a computer scientist by training but is well known for his work in the nanotechnology field. His command of important object-level considerations in multiple engineering disciplines is really impressive. Whether discussing nuclear powered rockets, nuclear batteries, molecular nanotechnology, or pros and cons of different flying car designs, Storrs analyses are firmly grounded in established physics and specific detailed engineering calculations. Storrs makes a compelling case that we would have flying cars, energy too cheap to meter, supersonic flight, vacations on the moon, and material abundance if we had been bolder and hadn't regulated and litigated ourselves to death. Skeptical? Buy the book! Highly recommended!

I learned some new things about aeronautics, nuclear physics, and nuclear power. Hall accurately describes the current malaise in putting new discoveries into production, identifying government bureaucracy and inbred university teaching as the culprits. He digresses too often on the need he sees for flying cars and some odd ways of getting there.

A bit rambling, but very engaging overview of why flying cars were already possible in the fifties, and when they never happened. The author makes a strong point about technological stagnation occurring in the 60-70s, concurrent with the stagnation off energy use per capita. The author makes a strong case against ergophobia, i.e., fear of energy -- and the book is worth buying and reading for this concept alone -- and discusses at length its relationship with ecological ideas.

Do not let the title or cover of this book fool you. This is not only about “flying cars”. It’s the modern day version of “profiles of the future”. This is a book for readers that want to feel optimistic about the future and the steps we can take to realizing that better future.

Few books have even one provocative idea. This has dozens.Its optimism is a reminder of the power of imagination, ambition and execution. We get to make the future. And we can choose to make it awesome.

Liked the overview of what could have been developed for a flying car owned by a family and where it looks like we are going. Also good info for me, a general reader, for what might be possible once technology hurdles cleared for faster flying. Great general information on history of first flying machines. Good general information concerning the economics of private flying cars.

Full of beautiful, challenging, surprising ideas about the technological and energy dense future of humanity that we could be building right now. Usually I have to go to fiction to hear these kinds of ideas. I can't stop telling my friends about the ideas in this book. Let's get back on the Henry Adams Curve!

I was excited to read this book because, as the author is, I'm a fan of sci-fi, Feynman and the potential for the future we've been promised but I was ultimately greatly disappointed by it. There are some insightful and compelling cases made about the history and potential future of aviation, nanotechnology and "safe" nuclear power, to be sure. However, as much as the author puts forth an air of objectivity, their biases show through like a nuclear powered lighthouse and the book winds up spending a significant percentage of its pages airing grievances about safety regulations, cities, "greens", Woodstock and "the rathole of worthless light rail".One of the themes of the book is that the "great stagnation" that happened in the 60/70s as a (supposed) result of regulation and counterculture is to blame for upper-middle class households not having flying cars. It also makes bold claims about how no valuable (in either sense) research or discoveries have come about as a result of government grants or R&D (post-Manhattan Project?) and confusingly, perhaps conveniently, doesn't mention the Internet or DARPA when they quickly handwave over IT as the sole exception to the "great stagnation". Also no mention of the government grants that led to the breakthroughs in mRNA technology (again, DARPA and NIAID).A significant portion of the book was also dedicated to the potential of nuclear power and how "relatively" safe it is or could be and, yet, there wasn't a single mention of the Chernobyl disaster and a blanket dismissal of any "real" damage done as a result of the Fukushima disaster. The author also cherry picks climate science reports and all but dismisses the *widely* accepted view that humans are/will be responsible for any significant amount of climate change and that it also doesn't really matter because it won't have *too* much of an economic impact.

My first purchase from Stripe press, really glad that live up to the expectation. The cover of the book feels excellent. Really like the content as well to describe what the future could be for our technological and economical growth