I'm stumped on what seems to be a fairly easy question that has been asked of me after reading about "Mike Rose". I will summarize the story and provide the question that has given me the mental block.

Question

Simple story... Mike Rose as a kid didn't do well in grammar or mathematics. He didn't see the point of most of it. He did however become fascinated with Science. He spent all of his days with his chemistry set, telescope, drawing space ships, and reading science fiction.

Question: How did science fiction support his abilities in science-and vise versa?

I know what science fiction is. I know that he spent a lot of time reading science fiction. I know of his abilities in the field of science. I'm just not seeing how science fiction supports his abilities in science, and vise versa.

Any help to push me through this mental block would be appreciate it.

Answer 1

Reading science "fiction" gives you ideas of "what if" and "maybe we can".

It leaves room for imagination that text books don't do, in fact it encourages "that hasn't been done before, lets see if we can". A good research scientist needs that kind of thinking.