Physics of the Future - Michio Kaku (3.5🌟)

This book discusses science and technology advancements in 6 areas, namely Computers, Artificial intelligence, Medicine, Nanotechnology, Energy and Space Travel. For each of these topics the author provides a bit of historical background and current affairs. He also relates his predictions for progress in the near, mid and far future. I have to say that I originally picked this book from my local library as I saw there were chapters on artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and space travel. Three topics I want to know more about. I learned a lot of new interesting things in each of the six chapters but I was a bit let down. One factor was the authors writing style (I got bored sometimes) and the second was the lack of critical perspective. The chapters seemed to me mere enumerations of cool technology. There was little if any mention if ethical or social implications from the creation and use of such technologies. A couple of examples I can mention are the sections on "designer children" and stem cells. Maybe this wasn't the aim of this book and I'm totally wrong asking for that. But I can't help feeling like that when I read about such sensitive topics otherwise they feel empty to me. Anyway, despite what I say above, I think Kaku did a great job "collecting" technologies by talking to dozens of experts around the world. This book is a sort of map of progress in relevant areas to predict how the future would look like.

In addition to the above there is a chapter on Wealth discussing subjects such as capitalism, digital divide and jobs in the future. Another chapter discusses the future of the human  civilization explaining a ranking of civilizations introduced by astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev which is based on the energy they consume. I really enjoyed this section of the book as it painted a much bigger picture than the ones discussed in previous chapters.  The last chapter is a kind of speculative story of life in 2100 using some of the concepts discussed in the book.

The edition I got from the library is by Penguin books in 2012 with 366 pages.

The Evolutionary Void - Peter F. Hamilton (4.5🌟)

The Evolutionary Void is the third novel in The Void trilogy. You can find my thoughts on my previous two novels here: The Dreaming Void and The Temporal Void.

My conclusions after reading this book are:

• As with the other two books the quality of writing is excellent, the plot is addictive, and we get more scientific explanations as to the nature of the void and the technologies of ancient alien species (loved these bits!). 
• Inigo’s dreams end halfway through, something I appreciate as I thought these dreams were the weakest aspects of the novels. 
• The ending is brilliant! (Although at some points I sensed soap opera vibes.) And all the main plot lines are nicely closed. This doesn’t mean that the novel does not leave unanswered questions, because it does. 
• Although Hamilton takes his time explaining the science and technology behind some of the characters and ships abilities, I finished the trilogy still feeling I couldn’t grasp the FTL (Faster than light) technologies for both ship transportation and communications. I couldn’t really get how people could talk or sense each other even when they were thousands of light years away and even when one of them was inside the void and the other wasn’t! 
• Some of the decisions some characters make were questionable, at least for me. Can’t say exactly which because spoilers, but suffice to say there were more realistic options to pursue in most cases. 

Opinion: I can’t recommend it enough. The three books are chunky but the reading experience is unique.

My edition was published in 2014 by Pan Macmillan and it has 726 pages.

The Collector - Sergio Toppi (4.2🌟)

The Collector is a collection of 5 stories about a man known as the Collector. We don't know his name, or his origins, only that he travels the world looking for unique, precious objects which he likes to collect. These objects have "deep personal meaning" to him. They have "lived" and have "actors in histories" only The Collector knows.  In his trips the protagonist meets with peculiar sometimes bizarre characters. All of which add to the mystery, and to the heavy atmosphere of the stories. Heat, difficult landscapes, long distances, danger and enemies are always waiting for him. But he does not mind. He will do anything and offer everything to get what he wants. And he always gets what he wants. (Amazing, isn't it!)

The Collector is a fascinating character. Sometimes he reminds me of a western hero, keeping his cool in dangerous situations. He is persistent and stubborn, never giving up. He's got a righteous spirit: he saves people from death in some stories and has made friends all over the world this way. However, he can also be a complete bastard, harming or killing whoever is between his precious objects and him. And if that wasn't enough, The Collector has also supernatural  (or magical?) powers he uses in extreme situations.  I didn't understand the nature or system of these powers or why The Collector didn't use them every time he was in danger but this didn't make me like less the stories.  I love how Toppi designed this character, not only his personality and the mysterious aura around him but also his physical appearance. Tall and thin, and always wearing the same smart clothes.

Each story included in this book is a quest for one particular object. The "narrative" feels like an adventure, dark and mysterious,  revealing interesting aspects of the land and culture of the lands visited.  In this book we visit USA, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Ireland, Tibet and other (exotic) places. The art is amazing and perfect for these kinds of stories.

1. The Red Rock Peace Pipe - The Collector looks for an old Indian pipe used by several notable Indian chiefs across the years. They say one can see the future through its smoke.
2. The Abyssinian Obelisk - The Collector goes to Ethiopia looking for an Obelisk believed to turn anyone who touched the stone in King of Kings.
3. The Mongol Jewel - the Collector goes to an Indonesian island searching for a valuable jewel hidden in a cave by a thief and murderer. Legend says the jewel is the only tear a mongol warrior shed when his horse died during a battle. Every year in the a anniversary of the battle the silhouette of the horse can be seen through the tear.

4. The Scepter of Muiredach - The Collector is after an old "magic" scepter. Somewhere in Ireland someone sings a song telling the story of the Scepter. The Collector meets the father of the singer and asks for the priceless object to be given to him as he is its rightful guardian. An English man, named Eoin Dunchada, attacks them, takes the Scepter and the leaves the protagonist for dead. Time after, the Collector is following Dunchada's trace to recover what he believes is his.
5. The Necklace of Padmasambhava - our protagonist goes to Tibet searching for a magic necklace made with pieces of bones of a powerful Lama. Anyone who possesses the Necklace acquires the powers of the Lama.


My edition is in English (translated from Italian by Edward Gauvin) published by Archaia in 2014. It has 252 pages, but this is something I had to search online as the book does not have page numbers!!

Wonders of the Universe - Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen (4.5🌟)

Wonders of the Universe is a book about the Universe, providing scientific explanations about its birth and life so far to accurate predictions of its death. This is cosmology and physics but don't panic, it is very accessible for a non-scientific reader like me.

This book is very well written explaining difficult concepts in an unbelievable easy language. I can appreciate its pedagogical aspect as it felt like a series of lectures very well put together. The division of Chapters and sub-sections, the analogies: describing natural phenomena on earth to explain a concept or the qualities of a celestial object, the vignettes, the photographs, and the diagrams all perfect. I can now better understand Concepts such as the Big Bang, Quarks, Atoms, the 4 forces of the universe (Strong and Weak nuclear Force, Gravitational Force, and Electromagnetic Force), Time, Entropy and the death of the universe. Also loved to read about the Nature of Astronomical Objects such as the Stars, Galaxies and Black Holes.

One thing that struck me was the realisation that we, human beings and all life on earth, were part of the Big Bang. It sounds obvious, but I have never thought about that before. All the matter that exists in the universe was created in fractions of a second after the Big Bang. (Cox himself worked at the Large Hadron Colladier in Sern trying to recreate the big bang. They managed to prove the existence of the Higgs Boson. I don't understand the Higgs Boson that much only that it has a role in providing matter to energy particles. And this is how the universe expanded with particles acquiring mass at the beginning of time.) Then the universe started to expand. After millions if not billions of years the stars were created. The strong nuclear force making protons, electrons and neutrons and the gravitational force putting all those atoms together forming starts. They were made of hydrogen and helium and when they died or collided between them they could fusion newer elements as their temperatures rose to unimaginable temperatures. Carbon and oxygen were created in/by the starts and with that the foundations for life. Look at your body, at your house, at the sky, everything you see was part of (a) star(s) billions of years before.

The Big Bang explained:

One

Two

Three

Four

I will not try to explain more than the above as don’t see the point. Professor Cox and Andrew Cohen are so good at it! And although I can now understand a bit more the above concepts, concepts I have read about in Science Fiction so many times, I am still not able to articulate them in a coherent way. I should read more non-fiction about the Universe! This is a book every person interested in astronomy, physics, and even Science Fiction (like me) should read.

My book was published in 2011 by Harper Collins. It has 256 pages.