Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962 is like an encyclopedia of progress and hope, boasting page after page of advertising by the aerospace industry back when it was working hard to promote the idea that Mars would replace the Grand Canyon for family vacations. Space historian Megan Prelinger has amassed 40,000 books, plus other print rarities, to produce this collection, which sparked Mad Men prop master Gay Perello to covetously quip, “I wish I had this book when I started Mad Men .” It's jammed with rocket/space ad artwork with such exclamatory copy as “Inflatable space hotels are not in orbit!” and promising “moon gardens” and how to break up a “space traffic jam.” Prelinger gives a presentation featuring “eye candy, space smarts a film clips followed by a book signing.

Wed., June 2, 7:30 p.m., 2010

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