Preface to the Baen Books Edition

The original edition of Minds, Machines, & Evolution, published by Bantam Books in June, 1988, produced some enthusiastic responses, and readers were still tracking me down to ask how they could obtain a copy long after it had gone out of print. So, when, early in 1996, Jim Baen decided to put together a second, similar collection, Rockets, Redheads, & Revolution, we thought it would be a good idea to reissue the first also as a companion volume.

Views and opinions that remained totally unchanged after eight years would be a sure sign of little or nothing much new having been learned in the meantime. All material, however, has been left as it appeared in the original. Where appropriate, I have added an afterword to reflect any updates that would seem in order today.