"An Optimist鈥檚 Tour of the Future," by Mark Stevenson (Avery, 384 pp.)
Writer, comedian, and learning-enthusiast Mark Stevenson is not a scientist. He鈥檚 just an ordinary forward-thinking British bloke with a lot of questions. In An Optimist鈥檚 Tour of the Future the lucky layman travels the world to ask its brightest people: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 next鈥�?
He meets the Harvard professor who launched the Human Genome Project; a couple of roboticists and their talking, thinking machines; and the 鈥渋nventor鈥� of nanotechnology. He visits a pair of Australian farmers who plan to redefine agriculture and stave off climate change at the same time. He joins the president of the Maldives for a cabinet meeting 20 feet underwater.
Stevenson describes our future鈥檚 possibilities with a journalist鈥檚 eye for detail, a teacher鈥檚 knack for translating complexities, and a comic鈥檚 wry commentary. He neatly divides the book into four sections 鈥� Man, Machine, Mother Earth, and Me 鈥� but his internal conclusions aren鈥檛 as simple. 鈥淭he way I think and reason is in thrall to a world that is passing,鈥� he realizes. In the end, it is up to readers to decide if they will adopt the author鈥檚 ultimately hopeful state of mind when imagining the years to come.
