The Harnessing of Power
Did you know Daimler and Benz, whose names would combine to form one of the longest-standing car manufacturing partnerships in history, not only never met but were competitive rivals? … Continue readingThe Harnessing of Power
Category: Books
As the name suggests, this is where you’ll find everything I’ve written about books, publishing, authors, book stores and more. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to some renowned novelists and thinkers including Joe Hill, Jared Diamond, David Brin, Naomi Wolf, Kim Stanley Robinson and Matthew Reilly.
But it’s also been a way of exploring some big ideas facing technology, society and the economy, whether it’s the lack of contact from interstellar civilisations, the role of pornography not just in technology but human communication overall or how graphic design is changing in the web age.
I’ve also turned the spotlight back on the book industry itself, looking at everything from the challenge of keeping boys interested in reading to the latest innovations in distribution to fiction sales’ dirty little secret about the genre that keeps it afloat.
Human Errors
It’s written with a lot of personality and is often laugh out loud funny, but the uniquely lovely message at it’s heart is that we’ve endured aeons of poor design, agony and death only to rise above it and make our world according to our vision, while a perfect organism would sit quietly and achieve little. … Continue readingHuman Errors
Ready Author One
Cline considers the internet, video games, cinema and television to be wonderful things that can enrich our lives, and neither the book nor the film are about unplugging completely but striking a balance between reality and fantasy. “If there’s any message in the novel and the movie I think it’s that escapism is essential, but the real world is the only place where you can find true happiness.” … Continue readingReady Author One
In Pursuit of Memory
Like cancer, it’s not even a single disease. The bizarre Posterior Cortical Atrophy, also known as ‘visual Alzheimer’s’, leaves the person’s memory and sense of self mostly intact, instead causing hallucinations, the sudden loss of the ability to read, recognise faces and familiar environments. One sufferer even saw everything compltely upside down. … Continue readingIn Pursuit of Memory
Rise of the Machines
Like Digital vs Human, the recent book by futurist Richard Watson, war studies professor Thomas Rid’s Rise of the Machines takes a similar look at our relationship to technology. But
Why Diets Make Us Fat
If the size and influence of the diet industry and the battles many people wage – often over decades – to control their weight seems nonsensical to you, Why Diets
Digital vs Human
According to Digital vs Human, we need to start talking about the way robotics, AI, automation and the web are going to further affect us – but we aren’t. Instead,
The Gene: An Intimate History
A book of both history and science, this couldn’t have a better title – it’s quite simply the comprehensive story of the discovery, disentanglement and manipulation of the gene. From
The Microbiome Solution
Even in the absence of comprehensive scientific testing (which author Chutkan, a clinical gastroenterologist, admits still has gaps), the argument in The Microbiome Solution is pretty compelling. Processed foods and
Back to the Future – The Ultimate Visual History
In a world where the post-theatrical market of a movie (DVD special features, theme park rides, comics) presents a real profit opportunity, it makes the archiving, maintenance and exhibition of behind-the-scenes drawings, props and even executive memos a science in itself. … Continue readingBack to the Future – The Ultimate Visual History