July 11, 2022
Walter Sierra closes his four-volume series and resumes his in-depth analysis of rocketry with Beyond the Saga of Rocket Science: The Never-Ending Frontier. In this book, he concludes his historical study while also giving editorial perspective and projections.
Sierra begins where he left off in volume three, covering the former Soviet Union and its space […]
June 27, 2022
“The increasing impact of computers in our lives may change what it means to be human.” That’s the streamlined thesis of Evolution Continues, in which author William Meisel posits that the rapid evolution of computer technology is intrinsically linked to a concurrent type of human evolution, albeit not a biological one.
Instead, Meisel’s book contends, […]
May 23, 2022
While some are familiar with the space race from the perspective of U.S. involvement, many may not have compared what was happening simultaneously in Soviet advancement. Walter Sierra does just that in volume two of his “Beyond the Saga of Rocket Science” series subtitled Avoiding Armageddon.
Sierra pulls back the Iron Curtain to look at […]
April 19, 2022
Mohammed Ahmad S. Al-Shamsi’s book, Innovation & Imitation for Nations, explores the notion of innovation, including historical case studies for ancient China, Greece, Sumer, medieval Europe, and the American colonies.
Al-Shamsi first writes about the economic motives for innovation, positing that developing countries don’t have the infrastructure to innovate, and hence must “copy” from developed […]
June 28, 2021
The full realization of artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t here yet, but will be soon. That’s according to tech entrepreneur Charles J. Simon’s study, first published in 2018 and now enjoying a second edition, which also argues that, in order to understand what AI will mean for humankind, we need to carefully consider what both human […]
November 30, 2020
With The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power, Roger Duncan and Michael E. Weber deliver an impressively comprehensive analysis of what is both possible and practical for future buildings, energy systems, and modes of transportation, with an eye toward sustainability and global warming.
Each topic is given historical context. For instance, “at the end of […]
July 23, 2018
Presidential elections tend to elevate the national conversation about jobs, but once the hoopla is over, that conversation usually recedes to the state and municipal levels. Billions Lost author Hilarie Gamm argues that this fragmented approach is rooted in an American tech crisis that has substantially impacted today’s job market.
Drawing on her experiences as […]
March 26, 2018
Mention “cybersecurity” to the owner of a small business and his or her eyes may glaze over. Everyone knows that hacking is a problem, but small business owners often think their companies are too insignificant to worry about such dark possibilities.
Not so, warns Rob Arnold, a cybersecurity expert and founder of Threat […]
February 26, 2018
The high-tech revolution continues to charge toward consumers at an ever-increasing pace. In Inventions That Built the Information Technology Revolution, author Rhys McCarney aims to put the upheaval into perspective, explaining the hardware inventions that laid the groundwork for the movement and the evolution of the software that has become ubiquitous to everyday life.
The back cover notes […]
November 13, 2017
Greg Smith takes the long view on history, humanity and life itself in Accelerating to Twilight, a thoughtful discourse about the nature of man’s place in history and our use of technology.
Smith first examines the dawn of our species and the early technologies that helped us evolve. Over many chapters, he condenses the history […]