Longtime readers of this blog (not to mention those who know me on other forms of social media) are no doubt aware of my addiction to learning new stuff. Well, okay, maybe not any new things; I tend to stay away from celebrity gossip, sportsball statistics (to the endless disappointment of my lovely wife), and reality contest shows that don’t involve Gordon Ramsey.

But if there’s a book that combines science, technology, history, and writing prompts, I’m all over it. That’s at the top of my reading list. There’s no way I’d buy the book on a sale and then let it languish in my to-read pile for five years.

. . . okay, that’s what actually happened with The Knowledge. And yet, before I finished it, it was already one of my favorite books of all time, and at the top of my list of recommendations for anyone writing SF&F — and possibly even as a textbook in certain high school or higher education classes. It’s the best single source for teaching the history of science and technology I’ve ever seen, and it does so from the engaging and entertaining perspective of “Civilization has collapsed; what now?”

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