Throughout history, books have not only reflected the technological possibilities of their time but also predicted and even directly influenced later innovations. Visionary writers have imagined worlds where space travel, medical advancements, and other technological marvels are part of everyday life.

This exhibit features books that preceded and sometimes even inspired real-world technology. Library employees selected books from the Libraries’ collections and paired them with realized advances and innovations. The technologies in these books predate the real world by decades or, in one case, over a century. The science fiction and fantasy authors highlighted here envisioned the myriad ways humanity’s existence might be altered, improved, or even destroyed by our own creations.