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Chasing Science by Fred Pohl, Tor, $23.95, ISBN 0312867115

SCIENCE fiction is Fred Pohl’s day job. He’s a prize-winning author, a great
storyteller who excels at weaving science into his fiction. But for pleasure, he
pursues science as a spectator sport.

He begins the delightful Chasing Science by pointing out that this
is no simple matter. Scientists generally fall into one of two categories: the
thinkers or the doers. The former, he says, are short on entertainment value:
theoretical work is “about as exciting as watching paint dry”. Better to head
for where the more thrilling stuff is taking place—the labs and
observatories—relying on your taxpayer power to get inside.

Fermilab, for one, welcomes visitors to its Illinois atom-smashing lab. Or
take a stroll down the Avenue of Cosmonauts in Moscow, followed by a day trip to
nearby Star City, to savour the Soviet space programme. It might be advisable to
do this soon: the cash-strapped museum is selling off cosmonauts’ suits to raise
money, Pohl reports.

Back in the US, you could be the first earthling to see images beamed from
space —if you’re watching at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
California.

Pohl’s scope is global. In Asia, he turns to engineering, as he traces
ancient underground aqueducts in the Gobi desert and clambers down into the
giant cistern that lies under Istanbul. Also on the engineering agenda is a tour
of England’s great canal system. He likes Iceland’s geysers, Hawaii’s volcanoes,
and visiting deep caves and fossiliferous beaches. A tiny museum run by
Con-Edison reveals the tangle of technology lying just below the streets of New
York.

There’s even fun to be had, claims Pohl, catching up with the professional
gypsies of science at the big conferences. As a spectator, there’s no sweating
over a paper or presentation; just the new ideas to mull over, good company to
talk them over with.

His only complaint is that there is too much good stuff. At an America
Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, for example, there’s no time
to do more than sample the delights. He suggests adding a few specialist
meetings to your calendar, trying lectures locally. But above all, he says, have
fun. His enthusiasm will, I hope, be catching. Chasing Science is a
must-have book for a backpack or a briefcase.