My dad read a lot of science-fiction novels. Over the years, many of those novels wound up in my hands. Occasionally, I’ll breeze through one of these books, especially after reading something more serious in nature. My dad enjoyed a lot of these books. Later in his life, I think he got more out of them as fun nostalgia trips than anything else. It was likely that he had read many of these books before, probably while he was growing up. I recall many times when we’d discuss these books, and he’d either marvel at the things these classic sci-fi writers came to predict (computers, TV’s, etc.) or he’d laugh at some of the completely ridiculous notions they held about the future (flying cars, atomic-powered ray guns, etc.). He also enjoyed these books in general, and he liked the writing and the stories. The first part of his enjoyment – the nostalgia factor – is often a deterrent to my enjoyment of these books. Sometimes, they’re just all too dated. Especially when they do contain things like atomic-powered zappers. I can usually tell within the first chapter of any of these novels if I’ll be able to stick with them ’til the end. And I’m happy to report that The Day After Tomorrow is indeed a book I was able to enjoy all the way through.
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