“Aesthetic awe,” the feeling of being confronted by something so immense, ancient or extraordinary that it exceeds our normal frame of reference.

For years we have been told that physical books are on their way out. First electronic books would replace them. Then smartphones would destroy our attention spans. Then streaming entertainment would make reading increasingly marginal. None of those technologies has been insignificant. The way we discover, buy, and read books has certainly changed. But at Worldcon hundreds of people were carrying books around, sometimes heavy ones, to get them signed by authors..

by Jeremy Clift, author of Born in Space Hanging up your hat? For generations, we were told that technology would give us more leisure. Machines would perform the repetitive work. Computers would make offices vastly more efficient. Robots would take over dangerous and unpleasant jobs. And, as productivity increased, people would work fewer hours while enjoying higher standards of living. Science fiction embraced the idea enthusiastically. The Jetsons imagined a future in whic