- a new perspective -

Author: J. H. Brennan

Rating: 3/5

Back Cover Snippet: ‘… Is time travel really possible? Temporal anomalies are scattered throughout the world-things that could not possibly belong to the time period in which they were found. Are these anomalies the litter left by time travelers from our future? …’

Comments: This is an ok book to skim for neat ideas, but not a great overall book. I would have liked more digging into the authenticity of the unusual object stories, and less semi-science proof that it is theoretically possible. I would guess anyone reading this specific book would already agree at a minimum that time travel is possible in theory. On a tangent I think it was the ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ series that pointed out that if human time travel was possible all the interesting points in history would be crowded with millions of future tourist watching from the bushes trying not to be seen. Overall I am glad I read this book for ideas in the first section ‘The Findings’.

- envisioning the next fifty years -

Author: Bruce Sterling

Rating: 3/5

Inside Jacket Snippet: ‘… describes the world our children might be living in over the next fifty years and what to expect next in culture, geopolitics, and business. …’

Comments: This book was published in 2002, so to read a book predicting the next fifty years about 10 years after it has been published is a bit strange. Too close in time to say his predictions are wrong, but far enough away to have those same predictions feel dated. The book contains many concise smart predictions, but then is rambley and melodramatic talking to future generations about random topics. So overall this book is an OK read, but I will search out more recently published futurism books to recommend.

- our next billion years -

Author: Michael Hanlon

Rating: 5/5

Inside Jacket Snippet: ‘… The world of 10,000 years hence, let alone 100,000,000 years hence, will be strange and almost unrecognizable. But it will still be our world. …’

Comments: Eternity is a great futurist book. It is hard to find any good futurist books. So if you are interested in the topic then this is one book to read. I will definitely look for more works by Machael Hanlon. The only complaint is that maybe the book felt too pessimistic throughout. A couple more off-the-wall and very unlikely positive futures might have lightened things up a bit.

Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin

Brock is a great champion, but Shane winning would really shake things up. Maybe create a nice trilogy fight series. That scenario is way better than watching either of them fight Frank Mir again.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

I am borderline interested in this one. Maybe Leben has had too many comeback chances… win or lose I hope he puts on a great show.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar

I will cheer for anyone to beat down Stephan Bonnar, but as an extra bonus Krzysztof has put on some good fights and I would cheer for him anyway. Not a headliner fight, but definitely one I am now really looking forward to.

Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricardo Romero

Come on Seth Petruzelli! There is a real chance here for him to win three in a row and shoot up the ranks. I can still clearly remember the Kimbo knockout.

Overall the fight card looks ok, just a lot of fight card adjustments by the UFC on this one.

- A scientific investigation into civilization’s end -

Author: Lawrence E. Joseph

Rating: 4/5

Inside Jacket Snippet: ‘…This book will convince you that there is a nonnegligible chance that the year 2012 will be more tumultuous, catastrophic, … than any other year in human history. …’

Comments: The ideas covered in this book are really interesting, but I didn’t care for how the author always hedged his own support. Say when he travelled all the way to Russia to interview a super smart dude with lots of data, but ends with a maybe/maybe-not attitude for a conclusion. I would have enjoyed the book better if he said at the start that he is personally not qualified or trained to pass judgement on any of the following ideas, but you can check the end notes for his opinion piece on advanced space physics he has never studied. Overall, still a good book to read that summarises all the major 2012 scenarios.