richardleis's reviews
524 reviews

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

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4.0

Intelligent exploration of violence in our culture. Falls apart a bit with the romance, but the world-building is so strong, the lead character so strong and determined, and the pace relentless that you simply fly through the book.
Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization by Ayesha Khanna, Parag Khanna

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4.0

The TED format for short books about specific topics is part of a promising publishing trend. In Hybrid Reality, the authors provide a quick, information-rich summary of current technological trends that appear to be merging the real with the virtual, and the human with the technological. The resulting Hybrid Age will lead to "a new mode of arranging global society" and "human-technology coevolution".

What I appreciate most about this book is how it provides a useful new lens for viewing these trends: geotechnology. This is part of yet another trend in repositioning technology as one of the primary movers of the world, a trend I whole-heartedly endorse. To paraphrase: "technology is the most important source of power and well-being". Meanwhile, generativity - that is, the ability of people not originally involved in the development of a technology to help said technology continue evolving - is the means by which technology trends are accelerating, often in surprising ways. The book provides several examples of how generativity in the Hybrid age is rapidly changing education, health care, and governance.

The authors ends with challenges in this new age. The very technologies that are rapidly changing everything around, and within, us could also lead to our destruction. The authors do not provide much in the way of solutions, but I think this will come out of the general discourse this book is trying to enhance.

For those not usually inclined to read such books, "Hybrid Reality" is more of a friendly primer than an in-depth technical manual to the future. I think it is the one of the best resources for being introduced to these ideas, and I hope more people read books like these to at least get started thinking about the impact of all of this change.