Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything

The instant New York Times bestseller! A Wall Street Journal Best Science Book of the Year! A Popular Science Best Science Book of the Year! From a top scientist and the creator of the hugely popular web comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a hilariously illustrated investigation into future technologies -- from how to fling a ship into deep space on the cheap to 3D organ printing What will the world of tomorrow be like? How does progress happen? And why do we not have a lunar colony already? What is the hold-up? In this smart and funny book, celebrated cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and noted researcher Dr. Kelly Weinersmith give us a snapshot of what's coming next -- from robot swarms to nuclear fusion powered-toasters. By weaving their own research, interviews with the scientists who are making these advances happen, and Zach's trademark comics, the Weinersmiths investigate why these technologies are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way. New technologies are almost never the work of isolated geniuses with a neat idea. A given future technology may need any number of intermediate technologies to develop first, and many of these critical advances may appear to be irrelevant when they are first discovered. The journey to progress is full of strange detours and blind alleys that tell us so much about the human mind and the march of civilization. To this end, Soonish investigates ten different emerging fields, from programmable matter to augmented reality, from space elevators to robotic construction, to show us the amazing world we will have, you know, soonish. Soonish is the perfect gift for science lovers for the holidays!

Science & Math

Weinersmith, Zach

Weinersmith, Kelly

Technology

Penguin Press

Penguin??Books

Augie and the Green Knight is about 20,000 words long, and is a retelling of when King Arthur's court encounters a strange giant Green Knight. In this book, we get to hear the Green Knight's side of the story through the lens of a young nerdy girl named Augie.

Augie and the Green Knight

Children's Books

Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

Breadpig

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC) is at heart a geek comic, but it nevertheless addresses a broad range of topics, such as love, relationships, economics, politics, religion, science, and philosophy. It is one of the fastest growing comics online, having sextupled in readership since 2008. SMBC appeals to many different groups, as evidenced by the fact it has been featured on a variety of important websites and blogs, including The Economist, Glamour, BoingBoing, Bad Astronomy, Blastr, Blues News, Joystiq, The Washington Post, Freakonomics, and more. SMBC has never released a book, which is almost unheard of for a comic with such an extensive archive, making this first-ever collection highly anticipated. BreadPig donates its profits to DonorsChoose.org, a not-for-profit organization that aims to improve public education by empowering every teacher to be a change-maker and enabling any citizen to be a philanthropist.

Save Yourself, Mammal!: A Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Collection

Comics & Graphic Novels

Comic Strips

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC) is at heart a geek comic, but it nevertheless addresses a broad range of topics, such as love, relationships, economics, politics, religion, science, and philosophy. It is one of the fastest growing comics online, having sextupled in readership since 2008. SMBC appeals to many different groups, as evidenced by the fact it has been featured on a variety of important websites and blogs, including The Economist, Glamour, BoingBoing, Bad Astronomy, Blastr, Blues News, Joystiq, The Washington Post, Freakonomics, and more. Breadpig donates its profits to Khan Academy, a not-for-profit organization with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.

The Most Dangerous Game: A Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Collection

Trial of the Clone is a choosable pathway gamebook that allows the reader to make choices, interact with the world, and otherwise navigate through over 500 scenes and thousands of potential pathways. Readers can choose to simply read through the story or interact more fully with the book's game by keeping track of statistics, items, and battles. Readers are incentivized to reread the book many times to explore other pathways or to catch some of the many secrets the author has hidden throughout the book. The reader plays as a clone who sets out to find his place in the world, solving challenging puzzles and fighting monsters along the way. Weinersmith's writing is characteristically irreverent and satirical, painting a dystopian future world filled with comical, colorful characters and clever surprises. Trial of the Clone is Zach Weinersmith's first full-length book, and is evident of his sprawling understanding of literature, science, logic, philosophy, and technology. Weinersmith is the sole creator behind Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a daily comic that boasts over 250,000 daily readers and served more than 500,000,000 comics in 2011. This book is published by Breadpig, whose publisher profits will be donated to Fight for the Future.

Trial of the Clone: An Interactive Adventure!

Literature & Fiction

United States

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is at heart a geek comic, but it nevertheless addresses a broad range of topics, such as love, relationships, economics, politics, religion, science, and philosophy. It is one of the fastest growing comics online, having sextupled in readership since 2008. This is a compendium of the finest science-related strips from SMBC, featuring science stories from Phil Plait, Elizabeth Iorns Henry Reich, Ed Yong, Emily Lakdawalla, Sean Carroll, Christina Agapakis, and Adam Savage.

Science: Ruining Everything Since 1543: A Collection of Science-Themed Comics

A modern middle-grade graphic novel retelling of Beowulf, featuring a gang of troublemaking kids who must defend their tree house from a fun-hating adult who can instantly turn children into grown-ups. Listen! Hear a tale of mallow-munchers and warriors who answer candy's clarion call! Somewhere in a generic suburb stands Treeheart, a kid-forged sanctuary where generations of tireless tykes have spent their youths making merry, spilling soda, and staving off the shadow of adulthood. One day, these brave warriors find their fun cut short by their nefarious neighbor Grindle, who can no longer tolerate the sounds of mirth seeping into his joyless adult life. As the guardian of gloom lays siege to Treeheart, scores of kids suddenly find themselves transformed into pimply teenagers and sullen adults! The survivors of the onslaught cry out for a savior--a warrior whose will is unbreakable and whose appetite for mischief is unbounded. They call for Bea Wolf.

Bea Wolf

First Second

What will the world of tomorrow be like? How does progress happen? And why don't we have a lunar colony already? In this witty and entertaining book, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith give us a snapshot of the transformative technologies that are coming next - from robot swarms to nuclear fusion powered-toasters - and explain how they will change our world in astonishing ways. By weaving together their own research, interviews with pioneering scientists and Zach's trademark comics, the Weinersmiths investigate why these innovations are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way.

Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That Will Improve and/or Ruin Everything

Weinersmith, Dr. Kelly

Penguin

From the bestselling authors of Soonish, a brilliant and hilarious off-world investigation into space settlement Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away--no climate change, no war, no Twitter--beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Critically acclaimed, bestselling authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of research, they aren't so sure it's a good idea. Space technologies and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the knowledge needed to have space kids, build space farms, and create space nations in a way that doesn't spark conflict back home. In a world hurtling toward human expansion into space, A City on Mars investigates whether the dream of new worlds won't create nightmares, both for settlers and the people they leave behind. In the process, the Weinersmiths answer every question about space you've ever wondered about, and many you've never considered: Can you make babies in space? Should corporations govern space settlements? What about space war? Are we headed for a housing crisis on the Moon's Peaks of Eternal Light--and what happens if you're left in the Craters of Eternal Darkness? Why do astronauts love taco sauce? Speaking of meals, what's the legal status of space cannibalism? With deep expertise, a winning sense of humor, and art from the beloved creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself--whether and how to become multiplanetary. Get in, we're going to Mars.

A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Weinersmith, Zach. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Weinersmith, Zach

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Weinersmith, Zach. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything

Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything

Augie and the Green Knight

Save Yourself, Mammal!: A Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Collection

The Most Dangerous Game: A Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Collection

Trial of the Clone: An Interactive Adventure!

Science: Ruining Everything Since 1543: A Collection of Science-Themed Comics

Bea Wolf

Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That Will Improve and/or Ruin Everything

A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?