10 Books That Accurately Predicted The Future

The terms ‘time travel’ and ‘time machine’ never existed until the visionary writer H.G Wells came up with his for his fictional work. After that, not only has the concept become extremely popular, scientists now believe that we may actually see the technology come to fruition someday. This is the power of great fiction and forward-thinking writers. Not only do they entertain us, they also open our minds to great and wonderful possibilities. There have been many writers across history that have accurately predicted the future in one way or another. Here is a list of 10 such books that managed to peer into the future:

1984

The most famous example on this list is George Orwell’s prediction of wide-spread government surveillance in his 1948 book ‘1984’. The NSA scandal that broke out in 2013 proved his prediction to be true.

Cyborg

Martin Caidin’s book – ‘Cyborg’, written in 1972, managed to predict the use of bionic limbs that would enhance human capabilities. In 2013, this vision came to life when the first bionic leg implant was performed.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Arthur C. Clarke is considered by many as one of the greatest thinkers of all-time. His amazing book ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ not just made for a great source material for one of Stanley Kubrick’s greatest films, it also predicted the use of communication satellites 14 years before they were first used in 1965.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

Douglas Adam’s ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, is a truly exceptional work for many reasons. It was written in 1980, but was obviously ahead of its time. Douglas Adam used the concept of real-time voice translation in his book, a feature that has been fully realized by Google in 2014.

The City And The Stars

Arthur C. Clarke features again on this list for his envisioning of virtual reality. He did so in his 1956 title ‘The City And The Stars’. Virtual reality was first used 10 years after this book when the first flight simulator was developed.

Neuromancer

Predicting the invention of something like the internet needs a special kind of recognition. William Gibson’s genius sci-fi classic ‘Neuromancer’ did exactly that when spoke about the use of the world wide web in 1984, seven years before the birth of the internet.

Stranger In A Strange Land

Bet you never thought that an author predicted the use of waterbeds before it was invented. Robert Heinlein did so in his 1961 book ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’. The first waterbed was patented in 1971.

The Age Of Intelligent Machines

Ra Kurzweil predicted that the best human chess player in the world would be beat by a computer before the year 2000. He did so in his book ‘The Age Of Intelligent Machines’ which came out in 1990. Only 7 years later, IBM’s computer managed to become the chess champion of the world.

Stand On Zanzibar

Predicting the political state of a continent can be extremely difficult, but John Brunner managed to accurately predict the formation of the European union in his 1969 book ‘Stand on Zanzibar’. The union came into existence 24 years later.

From The Earth To The Moon

In her amazing book ‘From the Earth to the Moon’, Jules Verne predicted details of the Apollo mission 104 years before the incident actually occurred. She penned this book in 1865 and said that lunar modules would launch from Florida and make their way to the moon, and even return to Earth using splashdown capsules.