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jo_in_bookland's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, perhaps an out-of-this-world, mind-bending look at future technologies. Although I did learn some very interesting facts, there was nothing that wowed me. I found myself going to the Web to get a visual on some of the things that were being talked about. Instead of the cartoons that were meant to insert humour, I would have appreciated some pictures related to the technologies being addressed. I understand that the authors were trying to lighten up the book with these cartoons and some other "funny" text, but I don't think it quite worked. As well, I think diagrams would have gone a long way to support some of the explanations. That augmented reality pic obtained by looking at the cover with a downloaded app was really cool. More of these throughout the book would have worked nicely!
Overall this was an interesting book but just ok for me.
Overall this was an interesting book but just ok for me.
penguinjuggler's review against another edition
4.0
Been trying to read this as a book book (ie. straight through) for ages. But it became more of a chore than an enjoyable read, which is mostly my fault. It's not meant to be read straight through. Instead, pick a chapter/section, learn a bit about a cool technology and the specialized scientists Kelly and Zach got to meet, and dive into their educational guesses at where it's heading and what problems/solutions each technology may provide.
I love smbc-comics. I'm constantly amazed and amused at how he's able to put out such silly, quality content daily, and I'd have bought the book just to support that, since I've been enjoying his comics for years. You can easily tell that the book itself took a tremendous amount of research from both of them, and they provide some fun analogies to understand how things work. However, by reading the book straight through, the style of over-simplifying things got almost patronizing (?). I think in small doses, this book is perfect and a great conversation starter. And I'll happily support the weinersmith's future efforts.
I love smbc-comics. I'm constantly amazed and amused at how he's able to put out such silly, quality content daily, and I'd have bought the book just to support that, since I've been enjoying his comics for years. You can easily tell that the book itself took a tremendous amount of research from both of them, and they provide some fun analogies to understand how things work. However, by reading the book straight through, the style of over-simplifying things got almost patronizing (?). I think in small doses, this book is perfect and a great conversation starter. And I'll happily support the weinersmith's future efforts.
brenticus's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
As a fan of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the webcomic of one of the authors, I forgot this existed. I don't know how I remembered, but I'm glad I did, because everything discussed was just far enough into the future that the past five years hasn't made it irrelevant. Woohoo!
This was a genuine pleasure to read. It covers a lot of cool things at a level of detail that is understandable but still shows the complexities involved, and it's also just funny. It's nice to see that they aren't just hyping up a bunch of stuff, with every chapter having a section on likely concerns and related chapters make sure to remind us of the inevitable robot uprising.
There's a chapter dedicated to the idea graveyard, where they talk briefly about things they couldn't write about in the same way as the rest of the book, and I really like that instead of doing a half-assed job on a bunch of topics they just said "these are cool but for these reasons we're not doing it." So often books ride the hype train to be more exciting, or they pretend they're the only thing worth being hyped about, or they just fluff up a bunch of content to make it seem like they totally know what's going on, but this book is none of that. It's a bunch of cool things the authors were able to do good research on, and it's an acknowledgement that they are not the totality of things affecting the future nor are they going to do a bad job of explaining things just because they like an idea.
I feel like I'm rambling. Basically this is one of the best pop sci books I've ever read, putting the whole genre to shame, go read it before it goes too far out of date to be interesting.
This was a genuine pleasure to read. It covers a lot of cool things at a level of detail that is understandable but still shows the complexities involved, and it's also just funny. It's nice to see that they aren't just hyping up a bunch of stuff, with every chapter having a section on likely concerns and related chapters make sure to remind us of the inevitable robot uprising.
There's a chapter dedicated to the idea graveyard, where they talk briefly about things they couldn't write about in the same way as the rest of the book, and I really like that instead of doing a half-assed job on a bunch of topics they just said "these are cool but for these reasons we're not doing it." So often books ride the hype train to be more exciting, or they pretend they're the only thing worth being hyped about, or they just fluff up a bunch of content to make it seem like they totally know what's going on, but this book is none of that. It's a bunch of cool things the authors were able to do good research on, and it's an acknowledgement that they are not the totality of things affecting the future nor are they going to do a bad job of explaining things just because they like an idea.
I feel like I'm rambling. Basically this is one of the best pop sci books I've ever read, putting the whole genre to shame, go read it before it goes too far out of date to be interesting.
kimscapturedlife's review against another edition
3.0
Soonish. 3⭐️. Continuing my trend of non-fiction. This one was interesting about too 10 emerging technologies. From Space to programmable matter to bio printing.
The Universe: Cheap Access to Space, Asteroid Mining; Reusable rockets. Different ideas for propelling. And mega lasers to add heat. Speed and acceleration ideas. Elevation ideas. 25 mile high launch tube. And space elevators. Lol
Stuff: Fusion Power, Programmable Matter, Robotic Construction, Augmented Reality, Synthetic Bio, most of these sounded more realistic than Space.
You: Precision Medicine, Bio-printing, Brain-Computer Interfaces
The Universe: Cheap Access to Space, Asteroid Mining; Reusable rockets. Different ideas for propelling. And mega lasers to add heat. Speed and acceleration ideas. Elevation ideas. 25 mile high launch tube. And space elevators. Lol
Stuff: Fusion Power, Programmable Matter, Robotic Construction, Augmented Reality, Synthetic Bio, most of these sounded more realistic than Space.
You: Precision Medicine, Bio-printing, Brain-Computer Interfaces
jbaker314's review against another edition
2.0
This would work better as a special edition of Wired magazine. The humor is sometimes witty, but more often arduous. This book is far too long for what it wants to be.
settingshadow's review against another edition
4.0
This is the month that the internet becomes book form and then I read it? Except, in contrast to the other book-form internets that I've read this month, Soonish isn't based on a blog, but rather the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Which is one of those things that makes me feel a little less lonely: there are a nonzero number of people out there who, like me, eagerly wake up in the morning to read the newest math/D&D/physics/astronomy joke-based comic strip. I'm not alone in the universe.
Soonish is actually primarily by the wife of the SMBC guy, Dr. Weinersmith, who is a PhD in parasitology and her scholarly publication list certainly dwarfs her lay publications. In my opinion, the scholarly bent showed: it's easy to go off of the scifi deep end here, but Dr. Weinersmith both explained things clearly, but also evidently spent a lot of time interviewing the top scholars in the field and making sure she was accurately depicting the current state of each field as well as the promises that it might contain. Ultimately, because the book focuses on multiple future technologies in a fairly rapid fire way it was light reading, but I don't think overly simplified.
I always have pause to see my own field depicted in the lay literature: here in the form of CRISPR, synthetic DNA and precision medicine, but I found it mostly well done, with a couple of metaphors that didn't quite work out. If that's the barometer for the overall scientific rigor of the book, I would say it's in about the 95th percentile of pop science writing.
And the illustrations certainly helped! As a reader of SMBC, I found the comics absolutely consistent with the tone of the webcomic -- funny and a little dry.
Soonish is actually primarily by the wife of the SMBC guy, Dr. Weinersmith, who is a PhD in parasitology and her scholarly publication list certainly dwarfs her lay publications. In my opinion, the scholarly bent showed: it's easy to go off of the scifi deep end here, but Dr. Weinersmith both explained things clearly, but also evidently spent a lot of time interviewing the top scholars in the field and making sure she was accurately depicting the current state of each field as well as the promises that it might contain. Ultimately, because the book focuses on multiple future technologies in a fairly rapid fire way it was light reading, but I don't think overly simplified.
I always have pause to see my own field depicted in the lay literature: here in the form of CRISPR, synthetic DNA and precision medicine, but I found it mostly well done, with a couple of metaphors that didn't quite work out. If that's the barometer for the overall scientific rigor of the book, I would say it's in about the 95th percentile of pop science writing.
And the illustrations certainly helped! As a reader of SMBC, I found the comics absolutely consistent with the tone of the webcomic -- funny and a little dry.
impalalove's review against another edition
3.0
This does have quite a wealth of scientific information, but it was still both informative and interesting to read about; and I appreciated the comics/humor from keeping things too dense.
3thingsaboutthisbook's review against another edition
4.0
📕There is a good balance between science and humour here - hope the authors have the same balance in their marriage. They give you enough to make you aware, but they don’t bore you to an extent that you feel like you are reading a textbook (although the book is as heavy as a textbook tho!)
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📗My friend was reading this book and I decided to flip through pages. They caught me at printable organs
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📘Fun read for anyone who is interested in science, technology and possible inventions we will have in future - it puts everything into perspective both scientifically and financially
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📗My friend was reading this book and I decided to flip through pages. They caught me at printable organs
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📘Fun read for anyone who is interested in science, technology and possible inventions we will have in future - it puts everything into perspective both scientifically and financially
andrewgraphics's review against another edition
3.0
Fun, interesting facts, but the author's jokey style falls flat: not terribly funny, and it permeates the book. I found myself skimming to find the kernels of info.
And the cartoons (by the author's husband) suffer from the same problem.
This book desperately needed an editor to rein them in.
And the cartoons (by the author's husband) suffer from the same problem.
This book desperately needed an editor to rein them in.