A captivating prediction about the future of mankind.
A scientist explores the possibility that a new human species could arise within the next two centuries.
It seems like fantastical sci-fi fodder: the emergence of a new, intelligent species that shares the Earth with us—maybe as partners and maybe as rivals. But debut author Simborg, a physician, contends that it’s not only possible, but also likely that a new species—he dubs it “Homo nouveau”—will eventually appear. This sort of species coexistence is historically the evolutionary norm, he says; for a stretch of at least 10,000 years, he points out, Homo sapiens lived side by side with Homo neanderthalensis and Homo denisova. And although we’re still subject to Darwinian evolution—we’ve undergone seismic transformations in the last 40,000 years—the new humans, he says, won’t be the result of it or of the natural, accidental branching of a new species from the existing one. Instead, he argues, Homo nouveau will be birthed by genetic engineering—more specifically, germline genetic therapy, which, he says, can allow new traits to be passed on to offspring. For example, he writes, this type of genetic editing could be used on a portion of the population to prevent a disease, and then that group could interbreed for generations. (For the sake of hypothesis, the original alteration doesn’t make breeding problematic by, for instance, increasing the possibility of miscarriage.) Such a combination of technologically sophisticated action and ungovernable accident, he asserts, could eventually give rise to Homo nouveau. Given the extraordinary leaps in genomic science and the likelihood that such germline editing will become both more effective and popular, he avers, it seems plausible that a new species will materialize. Simborg travels a wide expanse of scientific and philosophical terrain with astonishing brevity. In order for his book to be accessible to the layperson, he needed to quickly explain concepts surrounding species and natural selection, and he accomplishes this with clarity and the breeziest style that such technical subject matter permits. The author also ably furnishes a minihistory of evolution, appraising the theoretical interpretations of Charles Darwin, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and Gregor Mendel. Perhaps more impressive, though, is that Simborg’s thesis compels him to take readers on a tour of multiple disciplines, including neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and anthropology. For example, over the course of this work, he thoughtfully discusses and critiques futurist Ray Kurzweil’s predictions regarding the singularity, the moral issues raised by genetic editing, and the difficulty of defining life itself. Even stripped of its provocative hypothesis regarding Homo nouveau, this study supplies a magisterially synoptic introduction to evolutionary science and its sister fields. Furthermore, Simborg’s zeal for scientific explanation doesn’t keep him from being sensitive to abiding mysteries; he concedes a whole host of unanswered questions, including those regarding the genesis of life on Earth: “This book is certainly not finished, and the answers are certainly not resolved. Not a week goes by that I don’t read something newly published that is relevant to the answers.”
A captivating prediction about the future of mankind.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-92001-5
Page Count: 294
Publisher: DWS Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
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