If You're Listening Did a 1981 book correctly predict the future?
Jan 26, 2026
They dig up a 1980 Book of Predictions and trace its strange forecasts about space travel, pod houses and nuclear fallout. They compare science fiction, experts and psychics and tally hits versus misses. They unearth eerie historical coincidences like a novel foreshadowing a shipwreck and explain why prediction books once mattered.
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Almanacs Were Pre-Internet Google
- Compilations like The Book Of Predictions filled a pre-internet need for quick facts and curiosities.
- Matt Bevan argues these almanacs functioned as the era's Google for casual debates and pub conversations.
Psychics' Hit Rate Was Almost Nonexistent
- David Wolachinsky cataloged experts, sci-fi writers and psychics while compiling the book.
- He found psychics produced 364 predictions with only about four remotely correct, mostly trivial hits.
Experts Predict Hopes Not Probabilities
- Experts often told Wolachinsky what they wished would happen rather than realistic forecasts.
- That bias shows even credentialed specialists project desires into future predictions.
