The Shape of Sh-- to Come, by Alan McArthur and Steve Lowe

You only have to read the title of Alan McArthur and Steve Lowe's book to get a sense of their tone.  The Shape of Sh-- to Come takes a look at the future of culture and technology with the attitude of a stand-up comic.  TSOSTC is chock full of science tidbits and genuine forecasting.  There's plenty of crazy stuff being developed even now, as well as stuff that would have sounded absolutely crazy not that long ago, but now is far along in development.

This isn't a boring book.  It made me laugh a lot.  Talking about tech entrepreneurs, who ride their Segways around the office.  "We will leave our fate in the hans of adults who ride scooters indoors.  They ride around on scooters indoors, but hold in their hands the power to change human nature itself."  Funny.  True.  Sometimes their attitude is just common sense.  For instance, on the subject of genetics: "Mastering nature to breed a race of supermen; isn't this just a teeny bit Nazi?  It does sound a bit Nazi.  It's probably the words 'master,' 'race,' 'breed,' and 'supermen.'"  Or quoting 'biogerentologist' Aubrey de Grey: "'There is a tendency to think there is some sort of inevitability about ageing,' he says, correctly."

Besides laughter, McArthur and Lowe do bring some good sense to the developments and trends they examine.  There are limits to the uses and applications of science.  Not that they always come down easily on either side of an argument: "It sounds wrong--putting the heart of a pig into a man.  But is it wrong?  Clearly it is.  But is it?  It's the heart of a pig.  But they're putting it into a man.  Is that wrong?"

TSOSTC has a broad scope, and more depth than you might think.  It's not an academic journal, but the authors have at least a good lay understanding of the science they talk about.  I mentioned the stand-up comic tone--by that I mean the late-night HBO standup comics.  There's plenty of R-rated language herein, just so you know.  All-in-all, it's funny and thoughful (in that order) and makes me wonder about what else is yet to come.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!