Establishing the historical breakpoint … is only half the game of writing alternate history. The other half, and to me the more interesting one, is imagining what would spring from the proposed change. It is in that second half of the game that science fiction and alternate history come together. Both seek to extrapolate logically a change in the world as we know it. Most forms of science fiction posit a change in the present or nearer future and imagine its effect on the more distant future. Alternate history, on the other hand, imagines a change in the more distant past and examines its consequences for the nearer past and the present. The technique is the same in both cases; the difference lies in where in time it is applied.
A teacher once wrote in a forum that she was disappointed how much Second Life mirrored real life. She had been listening to presenters talk about alternative pedagogies in virtual worlds. Except for the fact that she had teleported to the lecture hall, the lecture itself was all too much like its real life counter part. What draws me to the alternate history genre is that its authors constantly intersect possible paths with real history, often through science fiction mechanisms like time travel, such that it is impossible not to consider what might well be. I am waiting for Harry Turtledove to tackle teaching and lecturing.
I’m fairly new to alternate history, so how does this reading list look?
Reading List
- To read
- Recommended
- You have better things to do
- Karl Alexander. Time After Time, 1979
- Lou Antonelli. Pen Pal, 2004
- Isaac Asimov. The End of Eternity, 1955 [very different in tone from his better known Foundation trilogy]
- Stephen Baxter. The Time Ships, 1995 [sequel to Wells’ The Time Machine]
- J. J. Benitez. Caballo de Troya, 1984 [not yet translated]
- Gregory Benford. Timescape, 1980
- Ray Bradbury. A Sound of Thunder, 1952 [short story]
- Octavia Butler. Kindred, 1979
- Orson Scott Card. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, 1996
- David G. Compton. Chronocules, 1970
- Michael Crichton. Timeline
- Philip K. Dick. The Man in the High Castle, 1962
- Brendan DuBois. Resurrection Day, 1999
- David Gerrold. The Man Who Folded Himself, 1973
- Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. Grant Comes East, 2004.
- Harry Harrison. In A Rebel In Time, 1983
- Simon Hawke. TimeWars, 1984
- James P. Hogan. In Thrice Upon a Time, 1980
- Stephen King. The Langoliers, 1990 [novella from Four Past Midnight]
- Dean Koontz. Lightning, 1988
- Geoffrey A. Landis. Ripples in the Dirac Sea, 1988 [Nebula Award]
- Paul Levinson. The Plot To Save Socrates, 2006
- Richard A. Lupoff. 12:01 PM, 1973
- Michael Moorcock. Behold the Man, 1966
- Tim Powers. The Anubis Gates, 1983
- Jeremy Robinson. The Didymus Contingency, 2006
- Romain Sardou The Spark of God, 2004
- Robert J. Sawyer. End of an Era
- Robert Silverberg. Up the Line, 1969
- George Gaylord Simpson. The Dechronization of Sam Magruder
- Ian Watson.The Very Slow Time Machine, 1978
- Robert Charles Wilson. Darwinia, 1998
2 Comments
Good question. For as long as there has been formal education, there has been criticism, so the seeds for departure would not be hard to find. A good place to start might be when at the turn of the 20th century when adult learning became systematized. Edward Thorndike who held low opinions of lectures. Or maybe, because lectures are often defended on the grounds of efficiency, what about alternative conclusions to Fredrick Taylor’s scientific management? Or what about game theory as applied to education? It’s only been formalized recently, but a POD could be a game-theoretic insight going back to ancient times. What do you think? Is this the stuff of a riveting story?
Good list. Here’s a question, though. How far back in time do you need to take your story or your point of departure for it be alternate history.