Heinlein Predicted E-Cigarettes?

[PowerfulDot]

Was just reading a book I'm fond of (Robert Heinlein's The Door Into Summer) when I came upon a mention of an interesting cigarette:

He stepped just far enough inside to let the door slide into place behind him, then reached inside his clothes and pulled put a pack of cigarettes. He got one one out, waved it briskly in the air, placed it in his mouth and puffed on it; it was lighted. He offered me the pack. "Have one?"
"Uh, no, thanks."
"Go ahead. It won't hurt you."

This scene takes place after a man goes into "cold sleep" (hibernation) for thirty years, from 1970 til 2000, and he's describing cool futuristic things.

First copyright is 1956. He was a pretty forward thinking writer.
Dot

 

[KDMickey]

Ha ha, 20-20 heinliend sight?

 

[WiηgC¤mmαηdεя]

I started my sci-fi reading with Heinlein and loved him as a author - favorite book = Friday, i would love to think that he predicted e-cigs

 

[Vicks Vap-oh-Yeah]

I started my sci-fi reading with Heinlein and loved him as a author - favorite book = Friday, i would love to think that he predicted e-cigs

Who are your other favorite SF authors? I've been a SF junkie as long as I can remember...

Some of my favorites are McCaffrey, MZB, Zelazny, Lackey, etc...

 

[WiηgC¤mmαηdεя]

Who are your other favorite SF authors? I've been a SF junkie as long as I can remember...

Some of my favorites are McCaffrey, MZB, Zelazny, Lackey, etc...

McCaffrey and zelanzny are great, but i really enjoy David Drakes works. I read mine mostly as e-books. you might be interested in the Baen free book disk collection - baencd at the Fifth Imperium and the Baen Free Library

 

[xKrazYx]

Not to spoil your fun but I think you might have misinterpreted it.

What I got from reading that is

"he took out a pack of cigs and put it in his mouth and started puffing because it was lit"

"go ahead, it won't hurt you" he said jokingly.

 

[PowerfulDot]

Not to spoil your fun but I think you might have misinterpreted it.

What I got from reading that is

"he took out a pack of cigs and put it in his mouth and started puffing because it was lit"

"go ahead, it won't hurt you" he said jokingly.

Try it this way: He got one out, waved it briskly in the air, placed it in his mouth and puffed on it; it was lighted.

Meaning that the action of waving it in the air and puffing made it light.

Later on in the book, the main character travels back in time and tries waving a cigarette in the air, noting wryly that nothing happens, because he got used to the cigarettes of the future.

The man is being serious when he says it won't hurt you, because otherwise the author would have added something like "he said jokingly". Because he didn't (and the man speaking being the guy's doctor *sorry it wasn't in the paragraph*) we can deduce that he's not.

 

[leaford]

Hmmm, brand some e-cigs as Heinlein e-cigs, and sell them at sci-fi cons.

 

[chainedangel]

Hmmm, brand some e-cigs as Heinlein e-cigs, and sell them at sci-fi cons.

Actually not a bad idea. Fans are likely to buy it if it has the name. I know my son would buy/use anything that had anything to do with Star Wars. Actually, I think it would be cool to see an e-cig that lit up like a light sabre. Nevermind. My son would see the blue led on my (just ordered) black 901 and say that it looked like a light sabre anyway.

 

[leaford]

I want an e-cig built into one of these:

 

[strayling]

Who are your other favorite SF authors? I've been a SF junkie as long as I can remember...

Some of my favorites are McCaffrey, MZB, Zelazny, Lackey, etc...

I know you didn't ask me, but speaking as a total SF junkie:

Charles Stross, Iain M Banks, Richard K. Morgan, Ken Macleod and Alastair Reynolds are my current favourites. A real breath of fresh air after all the libertarian ****fests coming from so many authors the past few years.

 

[strayling]

Rats. I'm used to being able to sneak the word w.a.n.k. past filters. Forgot that Smokey Joe is a Brit.

 

[Ramblin]

 

[Wolf]

I'd buy one that looks like a sonic screwdriver.