The Serious Scientific Talks

Bob Shaw was renowned for talks he gave at British conventions, which were, well, serious and scientific, such as "The Bermondsey Triangle Mystery". Five early examples were collected as The Eastercon Speeches (1979) edited by Rob Jackson; three more as Serious Science (1984); ten, including the entire contents of the earlier collections, as A Load of Old BoSh (1995); and fourteen — including all those previously collected — as The Serious Scientific Talks (2019), an Ansible Editions ebook. At least one more talk, delivered in 1995, remains untraced and uncollected.

The Serious Scientific Talks at the TAFF site.

Table of Contents:

• Publisher's Note: Dave Langford
• Introduction, 1979: Mike Glicksohn
• Introduction, 1995: Alison Scott
• A Note from the Author: Bob Shaw

The Speeches

• The Need for BAD Science Fiction (1974)
• Time-Travellers Among Us (1975)
• The Return of the Backyard Spaceship (1976)
• The Bermondsey Triangle Mystery (1977)
• Up the Conjunction: An Investigation into Astrology (1978)
• Eau de Clone (1979)
• The Mysterious World of Bob C. Shaw (1981)
• Beyond Cosmos (1982)
• Conning Your Way (1983)
• Ten Years, but Not Decayed (1984)
• My Life and Space/Times (1985) -- titled Worldcon After Dinner Speech in A Load of Old BoSh
• What I Learned from Watching Star Trek (1987)
• The Importance of Fluoridation of Public Water Supplies (1988) -- titled A Serious Scientific Talk in A Load of Old BoSh
• Corn Is the Lowest Form of Wheat (1990)

Appendix: Past Collections

• The Eastercon Speeches (1979)
• Serious Science (1984)
• A Load of Old BoSh (1995)
• Original Appearances

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Publication

2019

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