(Via In the Agora) The Ladies Home Journal of December 1900 had predictions of what the world would look like by the end of the year 2000. Some of them are pretty accurate. Some of them are way off. One of my favorites:
Gymnastics will begin in the nursery, where toys and games will be designed to strengthen the muscles. Exercise will be compulsory in the schools. Every school, college and community will have a complete gymnasium. All cities will have public gymnasiums. A man or woman unable to walk ten miles at a stretch will be regarded as a weakling.
No so much. But, they got a lot of stuff right about the communications revolution that was developing. As for transportation, they were right that horses would soon be obsolete. But they overestimated the future of ships and trains and underestimated the use of airplanes. It doesn’t seem like automobiles were envisioned as a good option for long-distance travel. But, then, given the state of roads in 1900, it must have been tough to envision what a massive public works project developing interstates and improving roads would become.
You’ll enjoy The Experts Speak by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky (my copy’s from 1984, but it’s since been revised; should be copies at Half Price Books fairly often).