Contents
Moscow will host an international fair of non/fiction intellectual literature from 2 to 6 December. We studied what publishers released especially for the fair, and chose new book releases about the main trends of our time
Digitalization
“A Brief History of Digitalization” by Martin Burckhardt
German culturologist Martin Burkhardt dedicated his new book to the phenomenon of digitalization, offering to look at the world of heroes from Silicon Valley in a different way. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg – icons of the new time or just clever businessmen who took advantage of existing knowledge? A conventional computer is not the same utilitarian tool as a hammer, whose functionality is clear and finite. New technologies threaten to change the very social architecture that has evolved over the centuries, but not in the direction of greater equality.
Climate and ecology
“Life on our planet. My Warning to a World on the Brink of Disaster, David Attenborough
David Attenborough is the British Nikolai Drozdov, who received a knighthood for his work as a naturalist and documentary filmmaker. From film to film, he observed more and more alarming symptoms: the death of coral reefs, the reduction of rare species of animals and plants, the melting of the Arctic ice, and the depletion of soils. David paints pictures of a possible future with Rotterdam and Miami gone under water, millions of refugees from Africa and an ocean without fish. But such an apocalypse can still be avoided by moving towards a more conscious lifestyle, which is the subject of the motivating finale of the book.
digital activism
“A stands for Anonymous. An Illustrated History of the Hacker Group That Changed the World by David Kushner
It is symbolic that the graphic novel genre was chosen for the book, which tells about a hacker group hiding under the mask of a comic book hero. In a non-standard form, Kushner described the history of the creation of a group that personifies hacktivism – a movement in which members use hacker techniques to defend political views or freedom of speech. A distributed community of hackers and activists is attacking Scientologists, pedophiles and Arab dictators. Who are they? Cybercriminals and terrorists or freedom fighters? The reader can draw the conclusions himself, although the author’s sympathies clearly lie on the side of his heroes.
Biohacking and life extension
“Immortals. Why Hydras and Jellyfish Live Forever and How People Can Learn Their Secret by Andrew Steele
Aging is the biggest risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease, as well as cancer, diabetes, and hundreds of other diseases. The modern approach in medicine is aimed at treating a specific disease. But what if it were possible to influence the root cause – aging itself? A radical change is taking place in the field of gerontology. New treatment protocols and the application of “gold standards” of research give hope that a truly effective cure for old age will appear in our lifetime.
Artificial Intelligence
“Artificial intelligence. An Illustrated History by Clifford Pickover
Clifford Pickover holds 797 patents held by IBM, Google, eBay, PayPal, LinkedIn, Yahoo! and other companies. As a person from the industry, he not only sings praises to artificial intelligence, but also shares his concerns. Research shows that some AI-based pattern recognition systems can be easily “fooled” into misidentifying animals as rifles or mistaking a plane for a dog. The book provides an opportunity to reflect on the ethical side of the use of AI and form your own opinion on the topic.
Neurobiology and the structure of the brain
“Who’s in charge? Free will from a neuroscience point of view, Michael Gazzaniga
To the winged question “Am I a trembling creature or do I have a right?” Michael Gazzaniga answers from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. In the 1960s, he collaborated with Nobel laureate Roger Sperry on research that showed that the hemispheres of the brain are specialized for different tasks. In this book, the scientist tells how the brain works, how decisions are made, how much responsibility can be placed on a person for his actions, and whether we should review the existing judicial system because of all this.
Scientific discoveries
“Chaos. Creating a New Science, James Glick
Corpus publishing house has reissued to non/fiction the world bestseller about chaos theory, awarded in 1988 with the Pulitzer Prize and becoming a classic of non-fiction literature. It is referenced by Robert Sapolsky in his lectures on human biology and by the characters in the 2005 film Chaos starring Jason Statham. Chaos theory helps to understand the behavior of some non-linear dynamic systems – turbulent flows, heart arrhythmias, society as a communication system. Glick describes what might happen if the “mad genius” begins to challenge the consensus that has formed among scientists about the universal laws of nature.
New ethics
“Complex feelings. Phrasebook of a new reality: from abuse to toxicity, edited by Polina Aronson
While disputes are still burning in the Russian-speaking segment of Facebook, is it necessary to call a person a narcissist, if you can just say “…” (a modified word for “eccentric.” – Trends), a new reality phrasebook is published by Individuum publishing house. What does it mean to be in a resource? How is gaslighting different from discounting? How to “invest in relationships”? Each expression corresponds not even to a dictionary entry, but to full-fledged essays prepared by a team of authors. Journalists, psychologists and anthropologists talk about the applicability of a particular term in different situations, the contentiousness of the context and the attitude of society towards Newspeak.
Personal Information
Evgeny Chereshnev: “Form of Life No. 4”
The book by Evgeny Chereshnev, who has been living with a biochip in his hand since 2015, is a fascinating story about what the world might look like in the XNUMXnd century. It is impossible to disconnect from the global network, every sneeze is under control. And, as is usual in any dystopia, we are already taking the first steps towards this brave new world, allowing the smart home to monitor itself, allowing the smartphone to share geolocation, giving applications access to the microphone and camera. The idea of total surveillance provokes instinctive resistance, and the author shares recommendations on how to protect your “digital DNA”.
Pandemic
“Sociology of the Pandemic”, Public Opinion Foundation
In March 2020, the CoronaFOM Project was initiated to study the effects of the pandemic. Based on his materials, the book “Sociology of the Pandemic” tells what this “post-COVID” world is like. For example, restrictions and hygienic alertness (wearing masks, sanitizing hands, distancing) form new properties of society: fear, distrust, and suspicion of other people are growing. How does all this affect our future, the work of small businesses and large businesses? The book presents the most telling results, but the project itself contains much more data than is available on the site.