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A fascinating look at the future, as you've never seen it.
Ten years from now, will we have a tiny personal computer surgically inserted in an earlobe, capable of connecting to phone lines and the internet? Fifty years from now, will atomic-sized robots replace surgeons? A hundred years from now, instead of taking the bus, will we simply teleport to work? It all may sound like impossible science fiction, but not too long ago, so did walking on the moon. Journalist Jonathan Margolis interviews leading thinkers in such fields as genetics, medicine, neurobiology, quantum physics, robotics, computer science, and space travel to explore where we're going, and what it will look like when - and if - we get there.
Beginning with famously flawed past visions of the future - among them H.G. Wells, George Orwell, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates - Margolis examines many of the strange and tempting futures that may lie in store for us. Politics, society, religion, and work are all destined for great changes. What might they be? How will they come about? Thought-provoking, amusing, and absolutely original, A Brief History of Tomorrow is a deliciously compelling look at something we all spend a lot of time contemplating: the future.
A fascinating look at the future, as you've never seen it.
Ten years from now, will we have a tiny personal computer surgically inserted in an earlobe, capable of connecting to phone lines and the internet? Fifty years from now, will atomic-sized robots replace surgeons? A hundred years from now, instead of taking the bus, will we simply teleport to work? It all may sound like impossible science fiction, but not too long ago, so did walking on the moon. Journalist Jonathan Margolis interviews leading thinkers in such fields as genetics, medicine, neurobiology, quantum physics, robotics, computer science, and space travel to explore where we're going, and what it will look like when - and if - we get there.
Beginning with famously flawed past visions of the future - among them H.G. Wells, George Orwell, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Hawking, and Bill Gates - Margolis examines many of the strange and tempting futures that may lie in store for us. Politics, society, religion, and work are all destined for great changes. What might they be? How will they come about? Thought-provoking, amusing, and absolutely original, A Brief History of Tomorrow is a deliciously compelling look at something we all spend a lot of time contemplating: the future.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the book
Excerpt: "'The future,' science fiction guru Arthur C. Clarke once said, 'isn't what it used to be.' A clever, ironic statement, superficially quite ridiculous of course, containing nevertheless two nuggets of wisdom for the price of one. Because what the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey was talking about, naturally, was futurology, the fusion of informed scientific analysis and inspired guesswork about the future at which he has excelled for over fifty years."
Latest review:
"In a voice pitched somewhere between conversational, conspiratorial and professorial, Margolis takes on "the arrogance of the present" – each generation's view that it is on the cusp of greatness and that the things which are important now will always be – but simultaneously argues that ours is indeed a remarkable time. The author of Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic and columnist for the Financial Times shows just how remarkably wrong or astonishingly right predictions can be. The fascinatingly odd visions covered in chapters on the mind, leisure, the human body and more will make readers wonder if current commonly accepted predictions–such as global warming are all that much less bizarre. Readers will be so effectively drawn in that they will be able to see the subtle ways that the future is already upon us (smart-lawn mowers, cell phones) and ways in which we have fallen behind our own imaginations (space travel, farming the sea). This is a clever look at how the world could have been, how it might be and how it won't be." - Publishers Weekly
About the Author-
Jonathan Margolis is a journalist and author who writes for the Financial Times, The Guardian and the Daily Mail among other publications. He specialises in technology, but also writes on China, along with a variety of quirkier, mostly scientific, subjects that interest him. His first book was Hothouse People: Can We Create Super Human Beings? (Pan 1987, with Jane Walmsley). His most recent books were A Brief History of Tomorrow (Bloomsbury 2000), which analysed the successes and failures of futurologists, and O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm (Century 2004). Jonathan lives in London with the author Sue Margolis and their family. See Jonathan's technology reviews and videos at www.howtospendit.com/#/themes/technology
Reviews-
October 30, 2000 In a voice pitched somewhere between conversational, conspiratorial and professorial, Margolis takes on "the arrogance of the present"Deach generation's view that it is on the cusp of greatness and that the things which are important now will always beDbut simultaneously argues that ours is indeed a remarkable time. The author of Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic and columnist for the Financial Times shows just how remarkably wrong or astonishingly right predictions can be. The fascinatingly odd visions covered in chapters on the mind, leisure, the human body and more will make readers wonder if current commonly accepted predictionsDsuch as global warming are all that much less bizarre. Readers will be so effectively drawn in that they will be able to see the subtle ways that the future is already upon us (smart-lawn mowers, cell phones) and ways in which we have fallen behind our own imaginations (space travel, farming the sea). This is a clever look at how the world could have been, how it might be and how it won't be. (Nov.) Forecast: If this survey of the decidedly fickle art of predicting the future is marketed for general consumption, it may have a decent following. It holds appeal for historians, science fiction fans, and anyone who thinks they know what the future will bring. The arrival of Y2K, which had been a focal point for many seers, from Arthur C. Clarke to Nostradamus, has tuned many people in to the future and the past simultaneously.
November 15, 2000 Acknowledging that off-kilter predictions litter the pastime of soothsaying, journalist Margolis forges ahead with a modest mission: to explore the premises on which futurologists make their forecasts. With a plethora of examples from the century just expired, he explains that their most common method, the straight-line extrapolation into tomorrow of current trends, has a risible record of unfulfillment--like periodic warnings of oil running out. But some linear proclamations, such as the 1939 World Fair's display of limited-access highways, have fairly come to pass. Margolis lists fivepremises and jauntily develops them as the framework of his exposition. One is an obvious but overlooked lens for peering beyond the present: the fact that people make the future happen; it doesn't occur by itself independent of human agency. In this respect, Margolis exudes an optimistic tone, underscoring the ingenuity that percolates in the process of conceiving and developing things. The author's view stretches forward about a century, and readers will discover, in his sensible perspective, a cornucopia of lively commentary about everything from artificial intelligence to genetic engineering to global warming.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)
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