In this densely packed deliberation on the shape of things to come, Kelly, the executive editor of Wired, offers a biological paradigm for a whole set of scientific and cultural phenomena: virtual reality, self-controlling robots, animation, nanotechnology, games, even the much ballyhooed ``information superhighway.'' Kelly's main thesis is that biological organization offers a degree of adaptability impossible with the more familiar hierarchic mechanical organization. A swarm of bees has no single guiding intellect; it arrives at a consensus based on the input of various individuals, generating more or less enthusiasm for a proposal as members go out to verify various reports. This lack of central control becomes a model for a variety of processes that combine great freedom of the individual parts with sophisticated overall performance. Computer networks like the Internet are classic examples of anarchy in action, making available an enormous amount of information with a minimum of structure. Space researchers have begun to speculate that a swarm of small, very simple machines independently following very simple instructions may be better able to prepare a lunar landing site than a single, more complex device. The ultimate in simplicity lies in the infant science of nanotechnology, which envisions the use of extremely simple machines no larger than some organic molecules. At the other end of the spectrum, Mark Pauline of San Francisco makes enormous ``organic machines'' out of spare (or stolen) parts and sets them to destroying one another in bizarre exhibitions that resemble freaked-out reenactments of the Roman circus. The book is full of such fascinating characters and oddball insights into the interplay between technology and living forms. Kelly's organization is often as seemingly uncontrolled as some of the processes he discusses. But the book as a whole is rewarding, full of food for thought, and a convincing preview of the probable future of technology.
Pub Date: July 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-201-57793-3
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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