COMMENT:Covers the way science fiction ideas have worked their way into society, and how society in turn provided ideas for science fiction. Many of these ideas are familiar to skeptics, including flying saucers, Atlantis, Lemuria, and scientology. While references are scattered throughout the book, chapter 4 "The SF Community," and especially the sub-chapter "Beyond the Fringe" contains a snapshot history of UFOs, Dianetics, and psi and how these ideas were both incorporated into science fiction stories by writers eager for ideas, and exposed to a larger society because of their inclusion in science fiction. Shavian/UFO stories and Dianetics/Scientology get slightly extended treatment. The dual attitude of fandom towards the fringe, both rejecting it as non-scientific and accepting it as a possibility for the future, is also discussed.
