Kagan explores the causes of war by looking
at specific examples: The Peloponnesian War, the Second Punic
War, the First and Second World Wars and a war that didn't happen,
the Cuban Missile Crisis. Includes a well-written critique of
the diplomatic strategy of appeasement.
Good near-future "hard" science
fiction,with a focus on some key transhumanist technologies:
cryonics, the "hypernet", VR and nanotechnology. Nagata's
main character is a woman with believable motivations and emotional
texture. Recommended.
Canadian-born journalist Jan Wong's witty
and poignant personal account of her experiences in China, from
her days as one of the first foreign students at Beijing University
during the later stages of the Cultural Revolution to her coverage
of the reforms since then as a newspaper correspondent. This
book makes me nostalgic for a China I barely knew, but loved
in a strange way.
A "techno-thriller" murder mystery
based on two transhumanist technologies, cryonics and uploading.
I was impatient with James' "micro-narrative"
style and felt there was plenty enough material for a story with
just one of the two technologies he discusses. Frustrating because
I've had an idea for a story with some similar elements, but
a very different line through them.
Vinge's seminal sf novel of transhumanist
technology and the Singularity. If you read no other work of
fiction from the basic Extropians bibliography, it should be
this book, as it best expresses the core concepts and values
shared by that group. While the plot gets pretty stretched in
places, the sheer scope of ideas Vinge packs into the book seems
to justify the ... elasticity.
An anthology of essays and short stories
about molecular nanotechnology
("MNT"). Contains the visionary story Blood Music
by Greg Bear, which was written in 1983 before Engines of
Creation and therefore (in my opinion) earns Bear credit
as an independent "inventor" of MNT. Marc Stiegler's
story, The Gentle Seduction, is worthwhile as a step-by-step
depiction of transhumanist technology. Good book; recommended
for those wishing to explore the concept of MNT through fiction
and easily-digested essays.
Friedman employs his informal and witty
style to walk the reader through "Economics 101" using,
as the title suggests, examples from everyday life. Not a "radical"
book like The Machinery of Freedom, Hidden Order
defends the free market using homespun wisdom, illustrated with
the basic tools of technical economics.
A book oft-cited as a "basic text"
of modern anarcho-capitalist legal thinking and worth its reputation.
It is insightful and witty. If you're wondering, "what are
all these anarchist crazies on the Web talking about?" you
should read this short book.
Another much-discussed book: Science fiction
taking some of the issues and problems of "mind uploading"
head-on and hitting the mark a lot of the time. Like Neal Stephenson's
Diamond Age, though, it has a disappointingly poorly-thought-out
ending and, in addition, could have been edited better.
Kaiser Bill is a very bad boy; why monarchy
is a bad idea; the first arms race of the 20th century; very
entertaining example of history as a series of interlocking biographical
sketches
More literature than science; a collection
of clinical "cases" from Sacks' practice as a neuropsychiatrist;
interesting exploration of the workings of the mind in anecdotal
form.
First of three novels about the colonization
and terraforming of Mars; very good descriptions of the Martian
surface as it is transformed in the terraforming process; Robinson
misses the boat on nanotech.
Excellent
novel set in the period of rapid social change wrought by first-generation
nanotech; interesting characters; unfortunate tendancy (like
much science fiction) to do too much; bad deus ex machina
ending; overall very good sci-fi novel
Latest in the entertaining series of short
stories and novellas set in Larry
Niven's future-history; contains a good story about the first
contact with the "Outsdiers"
