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Soonish
368 pages
A hilarious, comic-studded joyride through the weird, wild, and highly improbable technologies of tomorrow.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in a pub with your smartest, funniest friends as they enthusiastically sketch out the future of humanity on a stack of napkins. It is a brisk, deeply curious exploration of tomorrow's technology that never takes itself too seriously. The mood is relentlessly playful, buoyed by a geeky optimism that celebrates human ingenuity while gleefully pointing out the absurd logistical nightmares of actually building space elevators or programming matter. The prose is conversational and snappy, perfectly balanced by hilarious comic strips that puncture any lingering academic stuffiness. It is an absolute delight for science nerds, webcomic fans, and anyone who wants to understand the messy, hilarious reality of how progress actually happens.
- Mood
- playful
- curious
- lighthearted
- mind-expanding
- Tone
- wry
- geeky
- irreverent
- optimistic
- informative
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the messy nature of progress · human ingenuity · technological optimism · the gap between sci-fi and reality
- The writing
- Conversational, punchy, and highly accessible, seamlessly blending rigorous scientific explanation with absurd, laugh-out-loud comic strips.
- The arc
- Moves from wide-eyed wonder at sci-fi concepts to a humorous, grounded appreciation for the messy reality of scientific progress.
- Who it's for
- Curious geeks and science enthusiasts who love their futuristic forecasting served with a heavy dose of snark and stick-figure humor.
Content notes
- mild comedic existential dread
About the book
"From a top scientist and the creator of the hugely popular web comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a hilariously illustrated investigation into future technologies--from how to fling a ship into deep space on the cheap to 3D organ printing. What will the world of tomorrow be like? How does progress happen? And why do we not have a lunar colony already? What is the holdup? In this smart and funny book, celebrated cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and noted researcher Dr. Kelly Weinersmith give us a snapshot of what's coming next--from robot swarms to nuclear-fusion-powered toasters. By weaving their own research, interviews with the scientists who are making these advances happen, and Zach's trademark comics, the Weinersmiths investigate why these technologies are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way. New technologies are almost never the work of isolated geniuses with a neat idea. A given future technology may need any number of intermediate technologies to develop first, and many of these critical advances may appear to be irrelevant when they are first discovered. The journey to progress is full of strange detours and blind alleys that tell us so much about the human mind and the march of civilization. To this end, SOONISH investigates ten different emerging fields, from programmable matter to augmented reality, from space elevators to robotic construction, to show us the amazing world we will have, you know, soonish."--Jacket.
Description from Open Library.
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