The Star Beast by Robert Heinlein:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

Wonderful Heinlein juvenile novel (written for the teen market in the 1950's). Lummox is the pet of John Thomas Stuart, great-great-grandson of the space explorer who brought him back from an early interstellar trip. Except for a taste for steel (he had once eaten a Buick), he was just your average eight-legged hippo-sized family pet.


(Robert Heinlein: The Star Beast and copter harnesses)

But one day, Lummox goes for a walk (read: rampage), the Office of Interspatial Affairs gets involved - well, you'll have to read it yourself. A Heinlein favorite; great characters and a great story. Select an invention:

Bodyphone
A unique designation for a personal phone you can carry with you.

Copter Harness
A single person flying machine.

Reading Plate - 50's style flat panel
A flat screen that provided computer output for viewing.

Tanglefoot Field - non-lethal crowd control
A force field that would not harm but merely entangle and stop anyone (or anything) caught in it.

Truth Meter - a 50's lie detector
A lie detector.

Universal Dictionary - grandfather of the electronic dictionary
A machine that provided references to anything known.

 

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