false 425 297 293 true 5687222 read 1 true 679351 currently-reading 3 true 679350 to-read <![CDATA[Keith added 'Rabbit Is Rich']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17449257 to: Rabbit Is Rich (Paperback) by John Updike
]]> <![CDATA[Keith added 'The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15627462 to: The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (Trade Paperback) by Ray Kurzweil
An overview of potential advancements in genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR). It's a long book, in places longer than it should be (which isn't a sign of laziness so much as an inability to trust the reader - e.g., I felt the discussion of exponential growth was belabored). It's a fascinating primer on the current theoretical state of many cutting-edge technologies and the critique of linear growth models is well-taken. While there are many times that Kurzweil comes off as overly optimistic, if he's correct on a fraction of his claims, and we're about to hit the knee of the curve, then the near future will be a time of explosively profound technological change.

(Ultimately, it's worrisome who will benefit from these advancements and who won't. Will existing dichotomies between the populations of information societies and developing nations be exaggerated by our ability to adopt and their inability to? If what Kurzweil claims is true, and the next few decades will result in fundamental changes in what it means to be human, what will be the status of those who get left behind?)

As a friend of mine noted, there are times when you can sense a kind of desperation in Kurzweil's prognostication - not surprising that the sixtyish author of Live Long Enough to Live Forever dearly hopes to witness (and capitalize on) upcoming scientific revolutions. ]]> <![CDATA[Keith added 'The Problems of Philosophy']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15627550 The Problems of Philosophy (Paperback) by Bertrand Russell
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
]]> <![CDATA[Keith added 'The Anubis Gates']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11888515 to: The Anubis Gates (Paperback) by Tim Powers
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
]]> <![CDATA[New Update update]]> <![CDATA[New Update update]]> <![CDATA[New Update update]]> <![CDATA[Keith made a comment on Dorksgetlaid2's profile]]> http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/731760-dorksgetlaid2 Keith made a comment on Dorksgetlaid2's profile:

Thanks for the add. And from what I hear, the bar's bullshit anyway. ]]> <![CDATA[Keith added 'His Excellency: George Washington']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9209228 to: His Excellency: George Washington (Paperback) by Joseph J. Ellis
The Washington that we get here is flesh-and-blood, a willful, flawed and much more interesting person than the Olympian - and rather inhuman - Founding Father I think most of us imagine. It's a great narrative, replete with detail without burying you in it. Perhaps the most indelible impression is of Washington as a kind of man's man - rather than the cold, almost effeminate figure that appears in so many artists' renditions. I'll never look at a dollar bill the same way again. ]]>