Recommended Traveller Non-fiction

[thirdmargrave]

As another thread demonstrates, we all have our favorite Traveller related science fiction. How about a list of illuminating non-fiction resources relevant to the Traveller setting. The most exciting elements of Traveller to me are its hard SCIENCE fiction premise that actually explores the effect of technology upon a civilization and its historically inspired background (somewhat of a mix of the high Middle Ages and the heyday of the British Empire). For starters Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations goes a long way in establishing the mercantilist nature of Traveller economics. I also recommend Medieval Europe: A Short History by C. Warren Hollister. Anybody else?

 

[Loki]

Would Carl Sagan's COSMOS series apply to this thread? It's "range of subject matter from creation and evolution to the existence of aliens and UFOs" always fascinated me. It combined real science made easy for the layman to understand.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Meditations of Marcus Aurelius... Awww, you gotta read it...

"The Washing of the Spears"... The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation, a good example of TL 1 vs. TL 5, and imperialistic expansion, and its effect on an isolated culture...

Seutonius' "Twelve Caesars" (a modern translation is a good find of this, by Robert Graves) Absolute Rule and its permutaions in Imperial Rome...

"Goodbye to All That" (Robert Graves again, hard to find a copy that he didnt edit harshly after he broke up with his girlfreind...) an unflinching account of WWI, brutal, but gets it right...

James Burke's "The Day the Universe Changed" has been invaluable for a an overview on how technology impacts culture...

"Profiles of the Future" by Arthur C. Clarke... Crucial...

"Man in Space" by Arthur C. Clarke, an old book, from before we went to the moon, but eerily on the money in its extrapolations about space technology.

Recommended Film:

"For All Mankind" by National Geographic Home Video... Watch it on the Largest Screen Possible...you can probably get it at the library...

Cool Topic...

 

[rmckee78]

The science fiction writing series published by Writer's Digest Books and edited by Ben Bova. There are titles on world building, civilizations, space travel etc.. They are very detailed and technical, as a matter of fact I used the space travel one as a reference for a ME class once. They are very good and very useful. You can find them in the writing help section of most bigger book stores.

 

[IceCat]

Has anyone perused "Elegant Universe" or "Faster than the Speed of Light"?

 

[millican]

Non-fiction suggestion:

- "The Case For Mars: The Plan To Settle The Red Planet And Why We Must" by Dr. Robert Zubrin. Good stuff on terra-forming and colonization, some space travel stuff. Read it - great!

 

[BMonnery]

Originally posted by thirdmargrave:
As another thread demonstrates, we all have our favorite Traveller related science fiction. How about a list of illuminating non-fiction resources relevant to the Traveller setting. The most exciting elements of Traveller to me are its hard SCIENCE fiction premise that actually explores the effect of technology upon a civilization and its historically inspired background (somewhat of a mix of the high Middle Ages and the heyday of the British Empire). For starters Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations goes a long way in establishing the mercantilist nature of Traveller economics. I also recommend Medieval Europe: A Short History by C. Warren Hollister. Anybody else?

War in 2080 by David Langford

http://www.ansible.demon.co.uk/books/w2080.html

Bryn

 

[rmckee78]

elegant universe was great. try "our cosmic origins" by delsemme
covers from big bang through evolution and how it all relates

 

[Shadowdancer]

"Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of Modern Civilization" by David Keys.