Most Recently Added Most commentedby pub dateBy Title | A-ZBy Author | A-Z

Hacking Your Education: Ditch the Lectures, Save Tens of Thousands, and Learn More Than Your Peers Ever Will

October 20, 2012

hacking_your_education

Author:
Dale J. Stephens
Publisher:
Perigee Trade (2013)

It’s no secret that college doesn’t prepare students for the real world. Student loan debt recently eclipsed credit card debt for the first time in history and now tops 1 trillion dollars. And the throngs of unemployed graduates chasing the same jobs makes us wonder whether there’s a better way to “make it” in today’s marketplace.

There is — and Dale Stephens is proof of… read more

Robot Futures

March 20, 2013

Robot Futures

Author:
Illah Reza Nourbakhsh
Publisher:
The MIT Press (2013)

With robots, we are inventing a new species that is part material and part digital. The ambition of modern robotics goes beyond copying humans, beyond the effort to make walking, talking androids that are indistinguishable from people. Future robots will have superhuman abilities in both the physical and digital realms. They will be embedded in our physical spaces, with the ability to go where we cannot, and will have… read more

Memories With Maya

March 4, 2013

Memories with Maya

Author:
Clyde Dsouza
Publisher:
Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (2013)

“It’s Complicated,” Daniel types, updating his profile’s relationship status on his social network. He’s just lost his girlfriend. Emotions after all are shared online. Daniel (Dan) breathes technology. He will stop at nothing to win her back.

His work involves creating AR. solutions for Real-Estate. The recession and an explosion of data-cops is drying out his streams of income. He turns to close friend, Krish, a researcher in… read more

Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing

February 4, 2013

Fabricated

Author:
Hod Lipson, Melba Kurman
Publisher:
Wiley (2013)

Fabricated tells the story of 3D printers, humble manufacturing machines that are bursting out of the factory and into schools, kitchens, hospitals, even onto the fashion catwalk.  Fabricated describes our emerging world of printable products, where people design and 3D print their own creations as easily as they edit an online document.

A 3D printer transforms digital information into a physical object by carrying out instructions from an electronic design file,… read more

Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die

March 14, 2013

Predictive Analytics

Author:
Eric Siegel, Thomas H. Davenport
Publisher:
Wiley (2013)

You have been predicted — by companies, governments, law enforcement, hospitals, and universities. Their computers say, “I knew you were going to do that!” These institutions are seizing upon the power to predict whether you’re going to click, buy, lie, or die.

Why? For good reason: predicting human behavior combats financial risk, fortifies healthcare, conquers spam, toughens crime fighting, and boosts sales.

How? Prediction is powered by… read more

Human Being @ Risk: Enhancement, Technology, and the Evaluation of Vulnerability Transformations (Philosophy of Engineering and Technology)

March 14, 2013

Human Being @ Risk

Author:
Mark Coeckelbergh
Publisher:
Springer (2013)

Whereas standard approaches to risk and vulnerability presuppose a strict separation between humans and their world, this book develops an existential-phenomenological approach according to which we are always already beings-at-risk. Moreover, it is argued that in our struggle against vulnerability, we create new vulnerabilities and thereby transform ourselves as much as we transform the world. Responding to the discussion about human enhancement and information technologies, the book then shows… read more

Extinction

April 18, 2013

Extinction

Author:
Mark Alpert
Publisher:
Thomas Dunne Books (2013)

A malevolent, artificial life form created by military scientists threatens to destroy humanity in this smart, Crichtonesque thriller.

Jim Pierce hasn’t heard from his daughter in years, ever since she rejected his military past and started working as a hacker. But when a Chinese assassin shows up at Jim’s lab looking for her, he knows that she’s cracked some serious military secrets. Now, her life is on the line if he doesn’t find her first.

The Chinese military… read more

The Hidden Alpha

February 19, 2013

thehiddenalpha

Author:
Alexander Popoff
Publisher:
Alexander Popoff (2013)

X Factors are unknown, emerging risks to human wellbeing, even survival. These risks might come from inner space (human cognitive and body enhancement, associated with genetic engineering, nanotechnologies, neural and cybernetic implants, etc.) and outer space (discovery and contact with extraterrestrial life and artificial intelligence).

That’s not preposterous science fiction mumbo jumbo of professor Farnsworth from Futurama but a serious discussion at the annual World Economic Forum in… read more

Homeland

January 16, 2013
Author:
Cory Doctorow
Publisher:
Tor Teen (2013)

In Cory Doctorow’s wildly successful Little Brother, young Marcus Yallow was arbitrarily detained and brutalized by the government in the wake of a terrorist attack on San Francisco—an experience that led him to become a leader of the whole movement of technologically clued-in teenagers, fighting back against the tyrannical security state.

A few years later, California’s economy collapses, but Marcus’s hacktivist past lands him a job as webmaster for a… read more

Physics in Mind: A Quantum View of the Brain

January 28, 2013

Physics in Mind

Author:
Werner Loewenstein
Publisher:
Basic Books (2013)

No one can escape a sense of awe when reflecting on the workings of the mind: we see, we hear, we feel, we are aware of the world around us. But what is the mind? What do we mean when we say we are “aware” of something? What is this peculiar state in our heads, at once utterly familiar and bewilderingly mysterious, that we call awareness or consciousness?… read more

The Psychedelic Future of the Mind: How Entheogens Are Enhancing Cognition, Boosting Intelligence, and Raising Values

February 26, 2013

psychedelic-future-of-the-mind-how-entheogens-are-enhancing-cognition-boosting-intelligence-and-raising-values

Author:
Thomas B. Roberts
Publisher:
Park Street Press (2013)

Explores scientific and medical research on the emerging uses of psychedelics to enrich mind, morals, spirituality, and creativity

• Outlines a future that embraces psychedelics as tools for cognitive development, personal growth, business, and an experience-based religious reformation

• Presents research on the use of psychedelics to enhance problem-solving, increase motivation, boost the immune system, and deepen ethical values

• Includes chapters by Roger N. Walsh,… read more

Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think

March 25, 2013

book_big_data

Author:
Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, Kenneth Cukier
Publisher:
Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2013)

A revelatory exploration of the hottest trend in technology and the dramatic impact it will have on the economy, science, and society at large.

Which paint color is most likely to tell you that a used car is in good shape? How can officials identify the most dangerous New York City manholes before they explode? And how did Google searches predict the spread of the H1N1 flu outbreak?… read more

La Singularidad Está Cerca. Cuando Los Humanos Transcendamos La Biología

January 4, 2013

La singularidad esta cerca

Author:
Ray Kurzweil
Publisher:
Lola Books (2012)

“La Singularidad está cerca” es la obra maestra de uno de los pensadores más influyentes de nuestros días, el ingeniero e inventor Ray Kurzweil. Este libro se centra en lo que el autor llama la ley de los rendimientos acelerados, una ley que ha de llevar a la humanidad a un escenario donde se producirá una singularidad tecnológica, un explosión de inteligencia que transformará el mundo de… read more

Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming

January 31, 2013

Python for Kids

Author:
Jason R. Briggs
Publisher:
No Starch Press (2012)

For Kids Aged 10+ (And Their Parents)
The code in this book runs on almost anything: Windows, Mac, Linux, even an OLPC laptop or Raspberry Pi!

Python is a powerful, expressive programming language that’s easy to learn and fun to use! But books about learning to program in Python can be kind of dull, gray, and boring, and that’s no fun for anyone.

Python for Kids brings Python… read more

Nexus

December 18, 2012

Nexus

Author:
Ramez Naam
Publisher:
Angry Robot (2012)


In the near future, the experimental nano-drug Nexus can link human together, mind to mind. There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it. There’s more to Nexus than meets the eye.

When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and… read more

close and return to Home