Reflections on the Future: Collected Essays

by Sylvia Engdahl

This collection of essays has been replaced by three separate collections containing all the essays that were in it, plus new ones. It is no longer available for download except by people who purchased it before it was "unpublihed."

The three replacements are:
Vol. 1: Reflections on Enchantress from the Stars and Other Essays
Vol. 2: From This Green Earth: Essays on Looking Outward
Vol. 3: The Future of Being Human and Other Essays

356 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2017

About the author

Sylvia Engdahl is the author of eleven science fiction novels, six of which, including the Newbery Honor book Enchantress from the Stars, are YA books also enjoyed by many adults. Although she is best known as an author for Young Adults, her most recent novels, the Founders of Maclairn duology (Stewards of the Flame and Promise of the Flame) and the Captain of Estel trilogy (Defender of the Flame, Herald of the Flame, and Envoy of the Flame) are adult science fiction and are not appropriate for readers below high school age. For FAQs about them and more, visit her website.

She has also written a nonfiction book, The Planet-Girded Suns: Our Forebears' Firm Belief in Inhabited Exoplanets, of which updated and expanded paperback and ebook editions were published in 2012, and three collections of her essays. Most of the nonfiction books listed under her name were edited, rather than written, by her as a freelance editor of anthologies for high schools.

Engdahl says, "I never listed more than a few of the books I read here and now the list is so outdated that i have removed all but a very few that are still among my favorites, plus ebooks I produced for my mother and for my friend Shirley Rousseau Murphy. For current lists of good books on the subjects I care about, please visit the Opinion section of my website."

Reviews

[Gerald McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Space Advocacy Challenges

Sylvia has been a space migration advocate for decades. This book is an excellent assembly of her writings and website resources related to that theme. She has come to the conclusion that it is too early in the process for space to be a priority for any except those who have become familiar with the concept when young, like Bazos and Musk. However, the greats of many ages have similar perspectives, and her assembled quotes as well as her assembled resources are major contributions.

[Tobyleaf]

I'm not sure how to rate this one! It was really interesting to learn more about this author in the autobiographical essays. As the essays are opinion non fiction, I didn't agree with everything, but I always find her optimistic view of life immensely comforting. I think that's what makes me come back to the novels over and over. I get the impression from the autobiographies that she is also neurodiverse. Actually her talking about low energy was something I really related to as a neurodiverse person, I had a sudden realisation why I feel like this.