# Help identifying a scifi book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-scifi-book/647615 "2013-01-18T14:41:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-scifi-book/647615/1 "2013-01-18T14:41:31Z")
I’ve been trying to find this book, to no avail. Maybe someone here will recognize it. It was a collection of scifi and/or fantasy short stories. The first story in the book was about this man who invents a new type of scope. I want to say he called it the omniscope, but I could be mistaken. Not only could this scope see through objects, it could also see back and forwards through time. So if you focused on a wasp, you could watch its every movement, and watch back through time, following it and its ancestors all the way back to the beginning creatures of the wasp. Another story in the book had these people getting stranded on Mars. As the days pass, strange plants begin to grow wherever these people urinate, leave dead bodies, etc. Eventually, the people realize these plants are bio-engineered to be used by sentient beings as spacesuits, among other things. I read this book back in the early 90s, but there’s a good chance it could have been published anywhere from the 60s on. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-scifi-book/647615/2 "2013-01-18T14:52:32Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > The first story in the book was about this man who invents a new type of scope. I want to say he called it the omniscope, but I could be mistaken. Not only could this scope see through objects, it could also see back and forwards through time. So if you focused on a wasp, you could watch its every movement, and watch back through time, following it and its ancestors all the way back to the beginning creatures of the wasp. That sounds a lot like “Life-Line” from Robert Heinlein (see here: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life-Line](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life-Line)) Maybe that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-scifi-book/647615/3 "2013-01-18T14:56:44Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > I’ve been trying to find this book, to no avail. Maybe someone here will recognize it. > > It was a collection of scifi and/or fantasy short stories. The first story in the book was about this man who invents a new type of scope. I want to say he called it the omniscope, but I could be mistaken. Not only could this scope see through objects, it could also see back and forwards through time. So if you focused on a wasp, you could watch its every movement, and watch back through time, following it and its ancestors all the way back to the beginning creatures of the wasp. > > Another story in the book had these people getting stranded on Mars. As the days pass, strange plants begin to grow wherever these people urinate, leave dead bodies, etc. Eventually, the people realize these plants are bio-engineered to be used by sentient beings as spacesuits, among other things. > > I read this book back in the early 90s, but there’s a good chance it could have been published anywhere from the 60s on. The second story is “In The Halls of the Martian Kings” by John Varley; the first is probably “I See You” by Damon Knight. The collection you read is probably one of the “Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine” collections (the 23rd collection in fact [Publication: The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 23rd Series](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?35676)) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-scifi-book/647615/4 "2013-01-18T15:21:14Z")
Nope, that’s not it **Mycroft Holmes**. That does sound like an interesting story, so I’ll hunt it down. **Andy L** , I think you nailed it, as that cover is very familiar. Thanks folks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-scifi-book/647615/5 "2013-01-19T01:20:03Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > Nope, that’s not it **Mycroft Holmes**. That does sound like an interesting story, so I’ll hunt it down. > > **Andy L** , I think you nailed it, as that cover is very familiar. Thanks folks. 🙂 Ironically, I have the paperback edition, which has a different cover [http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512DyEugcyL.\_SL500\_AA300\_.jpg](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512DyEugcyL._SL500_AA300_.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-scifi-book/647615/6 "2013-01-19T04:36:03Z")
Fifteen minutes? We’re slipping people. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-identifying-a-scifi-book/647615/7 "2013-01-19T07:09:21Z")
**Andy L** is da man!