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Soonish

Ten Emerging Technologies That Will Improve and/or Ruin Everything

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Soonish

By: Dr. Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith
Narrated by: Dr. Kelly Weinersmith, Joseph May
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Soonish by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, read by Kelly Weinersmith and Joseph May.

What will the world of tomorrow be like? How does progress happen? And why don't we have a lunar colony already? In this witty and entertaining book, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith give us a snapshot of the transformative technologies that are coming next - from robot swarms to nuclear fusion powered-toasters - and explain how they will change our world in astonishing ways. By weaving together their own research, interviews with pioneering scientists and Zach's trademark comics, the Weinersmiths investigate why these innovations are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way.

 History & Culture Innovations Technology & Society Technology Witty Robotics Comedy

Critic reviews

An unabashed nerd-out of a book, zinging from outer space to DNA, hardly pausing for breath ... The gleeful geeking out makes for a great read - I couldn't help chuckling or outright cracking up a number of times - while surreptitiously teaching some really important science. It's a winning combination. The sheer breadth of topics covered is also amazing: Probably no other book in history has seriously described the science behind both tentacle construction robots and the human nasal cycle (Science)
Space elevators, gold asteroids, and fusion-powered toasters - who knew science could be so much fun? And who knew fun could be so scientific? Soonish is hilarious, provocative, and shamelessly informative (Tim Harford, author of 'Messy' and 'The Undercover Economist')
Playful, yet deep (Dr. George Church, Harvard University)
I love this book so much I 3D printed myself a second heart so I could love it more (Dr. Phil Plait, astronomer, author, writer of the Bad Astronomy Blog)
Kelly and Zach promised me a crystal ball, but what I got is both more insightful and far more entertaining than staring into a dumb glass orb. Soonish will make you laugh and - without you even realizing it - give you insight into the most ambitious technological feats of our time. You should read this book, sooner than soonish (Alexis Ohanian, Cofounder of Reddit)
Basically, I think this book is a masterpiece, and something I wish I'd written myself (Scott Aaronson, David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin and author of 'Quantum Computing Since Democritus')
Compelling, accessible, and wryly funny ... Popular-science writing has rarely been so whip-smart, captivating, or hilarious (albeit occasionally terrifying) (Sarah Hunter)
A fascinating look at the most provocative and promising research going on today and how it could alter the way we work and live
All stars
Most relevant
the content and idea for the book is good. But the jokes are a little too frequent. The general tone is probably more appropriate for teenagers, and maybe that's what left me a little disappointed. I will definitely pass it on to the kods

too many jokes

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I learned a lot and had a good time doing so.
I just hope I live long enough to see some of these technologies come to market...

Fun balance of humor and knowledge

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Hard to listen and absorb content as narrator has a very strident voice. Great shame and may try text version instead.

Author / narrator seriously grating

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