The Way the Future Was
Frederik Pohl
318 pages
published in 1978

Frederik Pohl used to be one of my favourite sf writers when I was still dependent on my local library for my sf fix. They had quite a lot of his novels, both in English and translated in Dutch. The Gateway books in particular I devoured, being among the first sf novels I read first in English. In short, he was one of my personal Golden Age writers and I've had a weak spot for him ever since.

By the time I discovered him, sometime in the early eighties, he already had had a long and fruitful career, which coincidently is the subject of The Way the Future Was. Published in 1978, it tells of how Pohl discovered science fiction, was one of the first science fiction "fans" and started writing and editing the stuff. It doesn't cover his entire career, but stops in 1970. A pity, because I suspect he could tell some interesting stories post-1970 as well.

Frederik Pohl's life, as he describes it here, could be the model for a whole generation of science fiction writers. They grew up when science fiction didn't really exist yet, then quickly became fans when they realised it existed. Like Pohl, a lot of them then started creating science fiction fandom at a young age, before becoming writers and editors, or in Pohl's case, both.

It's always interesting to read about this, about how science fiction got started, how fandom got going and all that, especially when told by such an engaging writer as Pohl. He manages to tell both his own story, as well as giving a broad view of what was happening in science fiction at that time. At the same time, he writes about more than just his career in science fiction, which also helps to keep this interesting. He tells frex, about his involvement with the communist Party in the 1930ties and 1940ties and how he became disillusioned with them, as well as his adventures in the army during World War II.

In all, I would heartily recommend this to anyone interested in science fiction and the history of science fiction. If you have some interest in how people lived during the Great Depression and the war, so much the better. The one problem I have with the book, which is usual for (auto)biographies, is that it isn't as well balanced as could be. Towards the end of the book, things get slightly rushed, as if these years aren't as interesting, or perhaps more likely, Pohl needed to fit everything within a certain length.