Retro Books

Years ago, before Covid, I was at a big Microsoft Convention at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. I was listening to Scott Guthrie delivering a day’s presentation on the Azure Cloud. Very technical. There must have been 400 or 500 of us there. I must have been one of the oldest, by a long chalk.

During one of the breaks I was reading Poul Anderson’s book, Tau Zero. Two people wandered up to me; one said, ‘Is that a book you’re reading?’ Yes, was my reply. To which one said, ‘That’s pretty retro.’ Before I could think of a suitable, cutting reply, they’d wandered off.

The book was published in 1970 and is still available.

It’s a fascinating science fiction novel about a group of people travelling through space to a planet around a distant sun. It’s well worth reading, but it’s a bit dated now.