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"One could imagine a very ascetic sort of life ... where the body is ignored. This is something I've played with in my books, where people hate to be reminded sometimes that they have bodies, they find it very slow and tedious."
- William Gibson

Venus Cities Float In Atmosphere  
  Cloud cities on Venus.  

This is an early reference to the idea that Venus, the surface of which could not reasonably support human life, could be colonized with "cloud cities".

In the story, baking loaves of bread using helium to help it rise has resulted in millions of loaves taking flight.

Radio Venus reported to its winged audience that Earth's inhabitants were establishing food depots in the upper air, preparatory to taking up permanent aerial residence "such as we have always enjoyed on Venus."
From Bread Overhead!, by Fritz Leiber.
Published by Galaxy Science Fiction in 1958
Additional resources -

I'm not sure how long the idea of building cloud cities on Venus has been around. Scientist and sf author Geoffrey Landis suggested the idea in 2008. See the stories below for more details.

The Hawkmen in Flash Gordon had a city that floated in the sky, as well, in the 1930's.

The floating island in the sky idea is historically old; see the entry for laputa in Gulliver's Travels (1726).

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Bread Overhead!
  More Ideas and Technology by Fritz Leiber
  Tech news articles related to Bread Overhead!
  Tech news articles related to works by Fritz Leiber

Venus Cities Float In Atmosphere-related news articles:
  - Cloud City On Venus?
  - Revisiting A Cloud City On Venus
  - HAVOC Over Venus ala Bespin

Articles related to Space Tech
Japan's LignoSat Space Wood Satellite And Dan Simmons' Treeship
Is It Time For Lunar Farside Telescopes?
Spaceflight Vertigo Solved By NASA Releasing The Kraken
Lunar Pogo Stick - Retro Technovelgy From 1968

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