An informative and highly entertaining read about the computing revolution already underway.
A renowned physicist explains the mind-blowing potential of quantum computing.
Translating complicated scientific concepts into language that lay readers can understand is an art. Kaku, a professor of physics at the City University of New York, is one of the best practitioners. He has written numerous books on advanced science, technology, and mathematics, including Parallel Worlds, Physics of the Future, and The God Equation. In his latest, the author delves into the emerging field of quantum computing, which certainly could “change everything.” As he writes, “quantum computers can tackle problems that digital computers can never solve, even with an infinite amount of time.” The key is that quantum computers utilize atoms arranged in precise patterns to vibrate in unison instead of using chips or transistors. Kaku examines the underlying physics of quantum mechanics, encountering a variety of colorful figures and scientific disputes along the way. Integrating these principles into functional computer systems was enormously difficult, but the project eventually came together. In the past few years, tech companies have poured billions of dollars into research and development. The first generation of quantum computers is here, and one of the leading companies, IBM, even provides public access through the internet. At present, quantum computers require massive cooling systems and superstable environments, but further research might address these problems to make them more widely available. Kaku examines how quantum computing could profoundly affect biotechnology, medicine, energy, food production, and environmental modelling—virtually every aspect of human activity. One problem, however, is that quantum computing could render every computer security measure effectively obsolete. The author pauses occasionally to provide summaries, which is important given the inherent complexity of the subject. As always, Kaku’s enthusiasm is contagious, and this latest book is an important guide to a crucial part of the tech future.
An informative and highly entertaining read about the computing revolution already underway.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780385548366
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
A pleasure for fans of old-school historical narratives.
Avuncular observations on matters historical from the late popularizer of the past.
McCullough made a fine career of storytelling his way through past events and the great men (and occasional woman) of long-ago American history. In that regard, to say nothing of his eschewing modern technology in favor of the typewriter (“I love the way the bell rings every time I swing the carriage lever”), he might be thought of as belonging to a past age himself. In this set of occasional pieces, including various speeches and genial essays on what to read and how to write, he strikes a strong tone as an old-fashioned moralist: “Indifference to history isn’t just ignorant, it’s rude,” he thunders. “It’s a form of ingratitude.” There are some charming reminiscences in here. One concerns cajoling his way into a meeting with Arthur Schlesinger in order to pitch a speech to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy: Where Richard Nixon “has no character and no convictions,” he opined, Kennedy “is appealing to our best instincts.” McCullough allows that it wasn’t the strongest of ideas, but Schlesinger told him to write up a speech anyway, and when it got to Kennedy, “he gave a speech in which there was one paragraph that had once sentence written by me.” Some of McCullough’s appreciations here are of writers who are not much read these days, such as Herman Wouk and Paul Horgan; a long piece concerns a president who’s been largely lost in the shuffle too, Harry Truman, whose decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan McCullough defends. At his best here, McCullough uses history as a way to orient thinking about the present, and with luck to good ends: “I am a short-range pessimist and a long-range optimist. I sincerely believe that we may be on the way to a very different and far better time.”
A pleasure for fans of old-school historical narratives.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781668098998
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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