Elleda Wilson: Astor's other worlds
Apr. 13—It's well known that uber-wealthy John Jacob Astor IV, great-grandson of Astoria's founder and the wealthiest man on the Titanic, went down with the ship 111 years ago on April 15, 1912.
What is less known is, aside from being a successful businessman (especially in real estate deals) and inventor (he had several patents), he was also the author of a wildly imaginative illustrated science fiction book, "A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future," published in 1894.
PublicDomainReview.org says the book takes place in the year 2000, where Astor speculates there will be a worldwide telephone network, solar power and air travel. Space travel to Jupiter and Saturn would be made possible by "apergy," an energy force that defies gravity.
The Callisto, the adventurers' spaceship, looked like a large bird cage. As they approached the planet, one of the space travelers noted, "I hope we may find some four-legged inhabitants ..." True enough, Astor described Jupiter as a a tropical bedlam crawling with cannibal plants, vampire bats and huge snakes, not to mention flying dragons they had to fight off with their "explosive magazine rifles" (pictured).
On a rather contemporary note, the planet was also loaded with scads of natural resources that are being exploited by (surprise) greedy Americans. Saturn, on the other hand, is "an ancient world of silent spirits" who acted as seers for the astronauts.
The book must have made quite an impression at the time — even though you can read it for free online, several book sellers offer it in both hardcover and softcover even now.
