An optimistic if superficial overview of our brave new (technological) world.
Forget personal jet packs, flying cars, and food pills—welcome to a coming world of robot servants, gene splicing, really long life spans, and fusion power.
In what is more a set of speculative thought pieces than specific predictions, Hulick gathers sound-bite quotes from dozens of researchers and embeds them in general ruminations on the directions that new technology seems to be taking us in fields from cybernetics and space colonization to the search for better energy sources. A focus on the positive leads her to mention but downplay troubling issues such as the already-scary hackability of the internet of things and the near possibility (more likely probability) of “designer babies.” She also argues that artificial intelligence will never trump the human sort because it intrinsically lacks “common sense” and lays out a broadly brushed future scenario in which robots will do all the work while people, on universal basic incomes, enjoy a “never-ending vacation.” Sure. She also regards the use of wind and other renewable power sources as just placeholders until atomic fusion becomes practical, and looks to next-generation 3-D printers she calls “maker machines” to feed the world. Wolski’s blocky paintings, more retro than futuristic, add unimaginative images of generic gizmos or human figures of diverse racial presentations playing with a pet robo-dog, strolling among dinosaurs, climbing out of TARDIS-like teleportation booths, posing in lab coats, or rumbling past on a toddler assembly line. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An optimistic if superficial overview of our brave new (technological) world. (Speculative nonfiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7112-5124-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
The author of The Snake Scientist (not reviewed) takes the reader along on another adventure, this time to the Bay of Bengal, between India and Bangladesh to the Sundarbans Tiger Preserve in search of man-eating tigers. Beware, he cautions, “Your study subject might be trying to eat you!” The first-person narrative is full of helpful warnings: watch out for the estuarine crocodiles, “the most deadly crocodiles in the world” and the nine different kinds of dangerous sharks, and the poisonous sea snakes, more deadly than the cobra. Interspersed are stories of the people who live in and around the tiger preserve, information on the ecology of the mangrove swamp, myths and legends, and true life accounts of man-eating tigers. (Fortunately, these tigers don’t eat women or children.) The author is clearly on the side of the tigers as she states: “Even if you added up all the people that sick tigers were forced to eat, you wouldn’t get close to the number of tigers killed by people.” She introduces ideas as to why Sundarbans tigers eat so many people, including the theory, “When they attack people, perhaps they are trying to protect the land that they own. And maybe, as the ancient legend says, the tiger really is watching over the forest—for everyone’s benefit.” There are color photographs on every page, showing the landscape, people, and a variety of animals encountered, though glimpses of the tigers are fleeting. The author concludes with some statistics on tigers, information on organizations working to protect them, and a brief bibliography and index. The dramatic cover photo of the tiger will attract readers, and the lively prose will keep them engaged. An appealing science adventure. (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-07704-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this glossy photo essay, the author briefly recounts the study and exploration of the moon, beginning with Stonehenge and concluding with the 1998–99 unmanned probe, Lunar Prospector. Most of the dramatic photographs come from NASA and will introduce a new generation of space enthusiasts to the past missions of Project Mercury, Gemini, and most especially the moon missions, Apollo 1–17. There are plenty of photographs of various astronauts in space capsules, space suits, and walking on the moon. Sometimes photographs are superimposed one on another, making it difficult to read. For example, one photograph shows the command module Columbia as photographed from the lunar module and an insert shows the 15-layer space suit and gear Neil Armstrong would wear for moonwalking. That’s a lot to process on one page. Still, the awesome images of footprints on the moon, raising the American flag, and earthrise from the moon, cannot help but raise shivers. The author concludes with a timeline of exploration, Web sites, recommended books, and picture credits. For NASA memorabilia collectors, end papers show the Apollo space badges for missions 11–17. Useful for replacing aging space titles. (Nonfiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-57091-408-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
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