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If you've ever wondered when you're going to be able to teleport with your robot servant to a space colony in orbit around Mars, then you're in the target audience for author Daniel H. Wilson's latest effort. Where's My Jetpack? is an odd compendium updating regular folks on the status of real-life scientific efforts to realize sci-fi fantasies such as hoverboards and manned space expeditions.

Many of the book's factoids are genuinely interesting, and details about the current developments in holography or robotics or underwater hotels will make great conversation starters. Wilson, who holds a Ph.D. in robotics, aims for a breezy, jocular style in Jetpack, but the book never really takes off. Cringe-worthy jokes and pop-culture references miss the mark, and the book's overly brief chapters could benefit greatly from more reporting.

Instead, Wilson's dopey comments never let up, like this would-be bon mot: "In order to live long enough to see a cure for genital herpes, we must freeze ourselves and preserve our bodies for some future scientist to thaw and revive. Afterward, it's all free love and running through rainbow-filled meadows." It's hard to take any book seriously when its author suggests that herpes is the biggest STD crisis of the 21st century. If you're future-sci-fi curious, your time might be better spent on a tome by a talented science writer like Dava Sobel or on a subscription to a good science magazine.