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I am looking for a specific book that I read in my childhood (specifically, between 1986 and 1990), and while it would fall under the concept of "fiction" and indeed "science fiction", I am not sure it would fall under the concept of a "story" per se.

The book is basically a collection of predictions (as in, each covering different areas - what we would eat, air travel, wars etc) about the future and what the future would be like. It was all light hearted, aimed at children, had several humorous illustrations included but it does lack a story.

Is that tag the best one to use for that question?

Is this the best place to ask that question?

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  • 2
    I think it would be fine.
    – Mithical
    Aug 13, 2017 at 10:02
  • 3
    Story-ID is used as a tag for all kinds of identification questions. Don't get too hung up on the absence of a story
    – Valorum
    Aug 13, 2017 at 10:13
  • 7
    Nice user name.
    – Möoz
    Aug 13, 2017 at 23:32

2 Answers 2

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If it's science fiction, then yes.

Science fiction is science fiction, whether it's in the form of a coherent story or a collection of vignettes. The site is about "Science Fiction and Fantasy", in all its many shapes and forms. Quoting from the answer to Can I ask about identifying a sci-fi puzzle book?:

As long as there was a consistent science fiction theme throughout, these books would be perfectly well on topic.

We've had other questions about puzzle books (typically of the CYOA variety) as well as scifi artbooks and the community seems broadly happy with them.

We've even accepted story-ID questions about things which turned out to be commercials!

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There have been numerous books that relate to the subject of futurology and those would be largely off-topic. However, since what you're describing is presented as pseudo-science (and in humourous way as well) rather than a matter of academic conjecture, identifying the book you're describing would seem to be on-topic.

That being said, extensive questions about the book itself would probably be off-topic (Are works that aren't SF per se, but have occasional SFnal elements on-topic? (e.g. spy movies)

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