Saturday 27 October 2018

A View

Poul Anderson, Harvest Of Stars, 3.

From the roof of a Security Police building, Enrique Sayre admires the view while feeling and hearing a wind that smells of salt water, chemicals and ozone. Thus, four of his senses are engaged.

He sees:

streets;
bridges;
monorails;
dymaxions;
lesser buildings;
towers;
grass, weeds and saplings encroaching on negligently maintained biospaces;
argent Elliott Bay with less shipping and sailboats than before;
structures across the Bay;
Cascade snowpeaks;
blue sky.

A longer list than I had expected, from streets to sky. There are many such moments in Poul Anderson's works, usually instantly forgotten. The unfamiliar term, "dymaxion," brought me back to this one.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

The wore "dymaxion" interested me enough that I used your link to look it up. Truth to say, I don't think Buckminster Fuller's design will ever become widely used. The round shape will not appeal to everybody and it does not seem to allow for much privacy. What would REALLY appeal to me would be to use nanotechnology for "growing" houses. Why are we STILL using such old fashioned materials and technologies like wood and hammers, nails, saws, etc., for construction?

Sean