The Singularity Is Near

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101218886
Total Pages : 992 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis The Singularity Is Near by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book The Singularity Is Near written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-09-22 with total page 992 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Celebrated futurist Ray Kurzweil, hailed by Bill Gates as “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence,” presents an “elaborate, smart, and persuasive” (The Boston Globe) view of the future course of human development. “Artfully envisions a breathtakingly better world.”—Los Angeles Times “Startling in scope and bravado.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times “An important book.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer At the onset of the twenty-first century, humanity stands on the verge of the most transforming and thrilling period in its history. It will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, The Singularity Is Near presents a radical and optimistic view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

The Singularity Is Nearer

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 039956277X
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis The Singularity Is Nearer by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book The Singularity Is Nearer written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2024-06-25 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The noted inventor and futurist’s successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the decades to come Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public. In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA. The culmination of six decades of research on artificial intelligence, The Singularity Is Nearer is Ray Kurzweil’s crowning contribution to the story of this science and the revolution that is to come.

Ethics and Emerging Technologies

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137349085
Total Pages : 594 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (373 download)

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Book Synopsis Ethics and Emerging Technologies by : Ronald Sandler

Download or read book Ethics and Emerging Technologies written by Ronald Sandler and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First and only undergraduate textbook that addresses the social and ethical issues associated with a wide array of emerging technologies, including genetic modification, human enhancement, geoengineering, robotics, virtual reality, artificial meat, neurotechnologies, information technologies, nanotechnology, sex selection, and more.

Singularity Rising

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Publisher : BenBella Books
ISBN 13 : 1936661659
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (366 download)

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Book Synopsis Singularity Rising by : James D. Miller

Download or read book Singularity Rising written by James D. Miller and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Ray Kurzweil's New York Times bestseller The Singularity is Near, the futurist and entrepreneur describes the Singularity, a likely future utterly different than anything we can imagine. The Singularity is triggered by the tremendous growth of human and computing intelligence that is an almost inevitable outcome of Moore's Law. Since the book's publication, the coming of the Singularity is now eagerly anticipated by many of the leading thinkers in Silicon Valley, from PayPal mastermind Peter Thiel to Google co-founder Larry Page. The formation of the Singularity University, and the huge popularity of the Singularity website kurzweilai.com, speak to the importance of this intellectual movement. But what about the average person? How will the Singularity affect our daily lives—our jobs, our families, and our wealth? Singularity Rising: Surviving and Thriving in a Smarter, Richer, and More Dangerous World focuses on the implications of a future society faced with an abundance of human and artificial intelligence. James D. Miller, an economics professor and popular speaker on the Singularity, reveals how natural selection has been increasing human intelligence over the past few thousand years and speculates on how intelligence enhancements will shape civilization over the next forty years. Miller considers several possible scenarios in this coming singularity: • A merger of man and machine making society fantastically wealthy and nearly immortal • Competition with billions of cheap AIs drive human wages to almost nothing while making investors rich • Businesses rethink investment decisions to take into account an expected future period of intense creative destruction • Inequality drops worldwide as technologies mitigate the cognitive cost of living in impoverished environments • Drugs designed to fight Alzheimer's disease and keep soldiers alert on battlefields have the fortunate side effect of increasing all of their users' IQs, which, in turn, adds a percentage points to worldwide economic growth Singularity Rising offers predictions about the economic implications for a future of widely expanding intelligence and practical career and investment advice on flourishing on the way to the Singularity.

The Age of Spiritual Machines

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101077883
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis The Age of Spiritual Machines by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book The Age of Spiritual Machines written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Bold futurist Ray Kurzweil, author of The Singularity Is Near, offers a framework for envisioning the future of machine intelligence—“a book for anyone who wonders where human technology is going next” (The New York Times Book Review). “Kurzweil offers a thought-provoking analysis of human and artificial intelligence and a unique look at a future in which the capabilities of the computer and the species that invented it grow ever closer.”—BILL GATES Imagine a world where the difference between man and machine blurs, where the line between humanity and technology fades, and where the soul and the silicon chip unite. This is not science fiction. This is the twenty-first century according to Ray Kurzweil, the “restless genius” (The Wall Street Journal), “ultimate thinking machine” (Forbes), and inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era. In his inspired hands, life in the new millennium no longer seems daunting. Instead, it promises to be an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. More than just a list of predictions, Kurzweil’s prophetic blueprint for the future guides us through the inexorable advances that will result in: • Computers exceeding the memory capacity and computational ability of the human brain (with human-level capabilities not far behind) • Relationships with automated personalities who will be our teachers, companions, and lovers • Information fed straight into our brains along direct neural pathways Eventually, the distinction between humans and computers will have become sufficiently blurred that when the machines claim to be conscious, we will believe them.

Transcend

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Publisher : Rodale
ISBN 13 : 1605292079
Total Pages : 482 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Transcend by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book Transcend written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Rodale. This book was released on 2010-12-21 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Transcend, famed futurist Ray Kurzweil and his coauthor Terry Grossman, MD, present a cutting edge, accessible program based on the vanguard in nutrition and science. They’ve distilled thousands of scientific studies to make the case that new developments in medicine and technology will allow us to radically extend our life expectancies and slow the aging process. Transcend gives you the practical tools you need to live long enough (and remain healthy long enough) to take full advantage of the biotech and nanotech advances that have already begun and will continue to occur at an accelerating pace during the years ahead. To help you remember the nine key components of the program, Ray and Terry have arranged them into a mnemonic: Talk with your doctor, Relaxation, Assessment, Nutrition, Supplements, Calorie reduction, Exercise, New technologies, Detoxification. This easy-to-follow program will help you transcend the boundaries of your genetic legacy and live long enough to live forever.

The Technological Singularity

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Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262527804
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis The Technological Singularity by : Murray Shanahan

Download or read book The Technological Singularity written by Murray Shanahan and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2015-08-07 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of technological singularity, and what it would mean if ordinary human intelligence were enhanced or overtaken by artificial intelligence. The idea that human history is approaching a “singularity”—that ordinary humans will someday be overtaken by artificially intelligent machines or cognitively enhanced biological intelligence, or both—has moved from the realm of science fiction to serious debate. Some singularity theorists predict that if the field of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop at its current dizzying rate, the singularity could come about in the middle of the present century. Murray Shanahan offers an introduction to the idea of the singularity and considers the ramifications of such a potentially seismic event. Shanahan's aim is not to make predictions but rather to investigate a range of scenarios. Whether we believe that singularity is near or far, likely or impossible, apocalypse or utopia, the very idea raises crucial philosophical and pragmatic questions, forcing us to think seriously about what we want as a species. Shanahan describes technological advances in AI, both biologically inspired and engineered from scratch. Once human-level AI—theoretically possible, but difficult to accomplish—has been achieved, he explains, the transition to superintelligent AI could be very rapid. Shanahan considers what the existence of superintelligent machines could mean for such matters as personhood, responsibility, rights, and identity. Some superhuman AI agents might be created to benefit humankind; some might go rogue. (Is Siri the template, or HAL?) The singularity presents both an existential threat to humanity and an existential opportunity for humanity to transcend its limitations. Shanahan makes it clear that we need to imagine both possibilities if we want to bring about the better outcome.

Fantastic Voyage

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Publisher : Rodale
ISBN 13 : 0452286670
Total Pages : 466 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (522 download)

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Book Synopsis Fantastic Voyage by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book Fantastic Voyage written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Rodale. This book was released on 2005-09-27 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading scientist and an expert on human longevity explain how new discoveries in the fields of genomics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology could radically extend the human life expectancy and enhance physical and mental abilities, and introduce a cutting-edge program designed to enhance the immune system and slow the aging process on a cellular level. Reprint.

Avogadro Corp

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Publisher : William Hertling
ISBN 13 : 0984755713
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (847 download)

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Book Synopsis Avogadro Corp by : William Hertling

Download or read book Avogadro Corp written by William Hertling and published by William Hertling. This book was released on 2014-04-09 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Ryan is the designer of ELOPe, an email language optimization program, that if successful, will make his career. But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence. David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda. WINNER SCIENCE FICTION DIY BOOK FESTIVAL 2011-2012 "Avogadro Corp is a tremendous book that every single person needs to read. In the vein of Daniel Suarez's Daemon and Freedom(TM), William's book shows that science fiction is becoming science fact. Avogadro Corp describes issues, in solid technical detail, that we are dealing with today that will impact us by 2015, if not sooner. Not enough people have read these books. It's a problem for them, but not for the [emergent] machines." -- Brad Feld, managing directory Foundry Group, co-founder Techstars "Highly entertaining, gripping, thought inspiring book. Don’t start without the time to finish — it won’t let you go.” -- Gifford Pinchot III, founder Bainbridge Graduate Institute, author THE INTELLIGENT ORGANIZATION "An alarming and jaw-dropping tale about how something as innocuous as email can subvert an entire organization. I found myself reading with a sense of awe, and read it way too late into the night." -- Gene Kim, author of VISIBLE OPS "A fictional world where Portland is the hub for the most exciting advancements in technology... [J]am packed with great references to deep Portland culture...and Portlandia-type references" -- SILICON FLORIST

How to Create a Mind

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143124048
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Create a Mind by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book How to Create a Mind written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bold futurist and renowned author of The Singularity Is Near explores the limitless potential of reverse-engineering the human brain. “This book is a Rosetta Stone for the mystery of human thought.”—Martine Rothblatt, chairman and CEO, United Therapeutics, and creator of Sirius XM Satellite Radio “Kurzweil’s vision of our super-enhanced future is completely sane and calmly reasoned, and his book should nicely smooth the path for the earth’s robot overlords, who, it turns out, will be us.”—The New York Times In How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil presents a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilization: reverse-engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines. Kurzweil discusses how the brain functions, how the mind emerges, brain-computer interfaces, and the implications of vastly increasing the powers of our intelligence to address the world’s problems. He also thoughtfully examines emotional and moral intelligence and the origins of consciousness and envisions the radical possibilities of our merging with the intelligent technology we are creating. Drawing on years of advanced research and cutting-edge inventions in artificial intelligence, How to Create a Mind is an incredible synthesis of neuroscience and technology and provides a road map for the future of human progress.

Work

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Publisher : Verso Books
ISBN 13 : 1786634139
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (866 download)

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Book Synopsis Work by : Andrea Komlosy

Download or read book Work written by Andrea Komlosy and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Deeply researched, lucid and persuasive." –Joe Moran, Times Literary Supplement Tracing the complexity and contradictory nature of work throughout history Say the word “work,” and most people think of some form of gainful employment. Yet this limited definition has never corresponded to the historical experience of most people—whether in colonies, developing countries, or the industrialized world. That gap between common assumptions and reality grows even more pronounced in the case of women and other groups excluded from the labour market. In this important intervention, Andrea Komlosy demonstrates that popular understandings of work have varied radically in different ages and countries. Looking at labour history around the globe from the thirteenth to the twenty-first centuries, Komlosy sheds light on both discursive concepts as well as the concrete coexistence of multiple forms of labour—paid and unpaid, free and unfree. From the economic structures and ideological mystifications surrounding work in the Middle Ages, all the way to European colonialism and the industrial revolution, Komlosy’s narrative adopts a distinctly global and feminist approach, revealing the hidden forms of unpaid and hyper-exploited labour which often go ignored, yet are key to the functioning of the capitalist world-system. Work: The Last 1,000 Years will open readers’ eyes to an issue much thornier and more complex than most people imagine, one which will be around as long as basic human needs and desires exist.

Singularity Hypotheses

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642325602
Total Pages : 430 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (423 download)

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Book Synopsis Singularity Hypotheses by : Amnon H. Eden

Download or read book Singularity Hypotheses written by Amnon H. Eden and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-03 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment offers authoritative, jargon-free essays and critical commentaries on accelerating technological progress and the notion of technological singularity. It focuses on conjectures about the intelligence explosion, transhumanism, and whole brain emulation. Recent years have seen a plethora of forecasts about the profound, disruptive impact that is likely to result from further progress in these areas. Many commentators however doubt the scientific rigor of these forecasts, rejecting them as speculative and unfounded. We therefore invited prominent computer scientists, physicists, philosophers, biologists, economists and other thinkers to assess the singularity hypotheses. Their contributions go beyond speculation, providing deep insights into the main issues and a balanced picture of the debate.

The Age of Intelligent Machines

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Publisher : Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262610797
Total Pages : 565 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis The Age of Intelligent Machines by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book The Age of Intelligent Machines written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comparing the human brain with so-called artificial intelligence, the author probes past, present, and future attempts to create machine intelligence

The 21st Century Singularity and Global Futures

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030337308
Total Pages : 619 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (33 download)

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Book Synopsis The 21st Century Singularity and Global Futures by : Andrey V. Korotayev

Download or read book The 21st Century Singularity and Global Futures written by Andrey V. Korotayev and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-02 with total page 619 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces a 'Big History' perspective to understand the acceleration of social, technological and economic trends towards a near-term singularity, marking a radical turning point in the evolution of our planet. It traces the emergence of accelerating innovation rates through global history and highlights major historical transformations throughout the evolution of life, humans, and civilization. The authors pursue an interdisciplinary approach, also drawing on concepts from physics and evolutionary biology, to offer potential models of the underlying mechanisms driving this acceleration, along with potential clues on how it might progress. The contributions gathered here are divided into five parts, the first of which studies historical mega-trends in relation to a variety of aspects including technology, population, energy, and information. The second part is dedicated to a variety of models that can help understand the potential mechanisms, and support extrapolation. In turn, the third part explores various potential future scenarios, along with the paths and decisions that are required. The fourth part presents philosophical perspectives on the potential deeper meaning and implications of the trend towards singularity, while the fifth and last part discusses the implications of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Given its scope, the book will appeal to scholars from various disciplines interested in historical trends, technological change and evolutionary processes.

Singularity Sky

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 9780441011797
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (117 download)

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Book Synopsis Singularity Sky by : Charles Stross

Download or read book Singularity Sky written by Charles Stross and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-06-29 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a technologically suppressed future, information demands to be free in the debut novel from Hugo Award-winning author Charlie Stross. In the twenty-first century, life as we know it changed. Faster-than-light travel was perfected, and the Eschaton, a superhuman artificial intelligence, was born. Four hundred years later, the far-flung colonies that arose as a result of these events—scattered over three thousand years of time and a thousand parsecs of space—are beginning to rediscover their origins. The New Republic is one such colony. It has existed for centuries in self-imposed isolation, rejecting all but the most basic technology. Now, under attack by a devastating information plague, the colony must reach out to Earth for help. A battle fleet is dispatched, streaking across the stars to the rescue. But things are not what they seem—secret agendas and ulterior motives abound, both aboard the ship and on the ground. And watching over it all is the Eschaton, which has its own very definite ideas about the outcome...

Youniverse: A Short Guide to Modern Science

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Publisher : Prelude Books
ISBN 13 : 0715654233
Total Pages : 170 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (156 download)

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Book Synopsis Youniverse: A Short Guide to Modern Science by : Elsie Burch Donald

Download or read book Youniverse: A Short Guide to Modern Science written by Elsie Burch Donald and published by Prelude Books. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your guide to science, from the Big Bang to AI Whether you wish to discover the basics of science or catch up on its latest developments, this short accessible guide is for you. YOUNIVERSE describes in simple terms the world you are inseparably a part of: what it is, how it works and your place in it – insofar as these things are known. The text has been vetted by 13 distinguished scientists. Journey now through time and space, a world of the unimaginably big and the inconceivably small – though the marvels of science. *PRAISE FOR YOUNIVERSE* ‘This is a fine piece of work... very entertaining and informative... It should appeal and be useful to the generalist who wants an overview of science.’ Sir Peter Ratcliffe, 2019 Nobel Prize winner and head of clinical research at the Francis Crick Institute

Oryx and Crake

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Author :
Publisher : Vintage Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307400840
Total Pages : 420 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Oryx and Crake by : Margaret Atwood

Download or read book Oryx and Crake written by Margaret Atwood and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-07-27 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning and provocative new novel by the internationally celebrated author of The Blind Assassin, winner of the Booker Prize. Margaret Atwood’s new novel is so utterly compelling, so prescient, so relevant, so terrifyingly-all-too-likely-to-be-true, that readers may find their view of the world forever changed after reading it. This is Margaret Atwood at the absolute peak of her powers. For readers of Oryx and Crake, nothing will ever look the same again. The narrator of Atwood's riveting novel calls himself Snowman. When the story opens, he is sleeping in a tree, wearing an old bedsheet, mourning the loss of his beloved Oryx and his best friend Crake, and slowly starving to death. He searches for supplies in a wasteland where insects proliferate and pigoons and wolvogs ravage the pleeblands, where ordinary people once lived, and the Compounds that sheltered the extraordinary. As he tries to piece together what has taken place, the narrative shifts to decades earlier. How did everything fall apart so quickly? Why is he left with nothing but his haunting memories? Alone except for the green-eyed Children of Crake, who think of him as a kind of monster, he explores the answers to these questions in the double journey he takes - into his own past, and back to Crake's high-tech bubble-dome, where the Paradice Project unfolded and the world came to grief. With breathtaking command of her shocking material, and with her customary sharp wit and dark humour, Atwood projects us into an outlandish yet wholly believable realm populated by characters who will continue to inhabit our dreams long after the last chapter.