By Craig Wilson, Bob Minzesheimer, Deirdre Donahue and Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
Daily life in 2100, memory champions, human behavior and the history of information are all covered in engaging fashion in these recent non-fiction books.
Wondering what the world of your great-grandchildren will look like? Get in glimpse in Michio Kaku's book,
Wondering what the world of your great-grandchildren will look like? Get in glimpse in Michio Kaku's book,
The Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
By Michio Kaku
Doubleday, 416 pp., $28.95
Ignore the title. It's not a science textbook. Anything but. Physicist Michio Kaku, who wrote Physics of the Impossible, has the rare ability to take complicated scientific theories and turn them into readable tales about what our lives will be like in the future. Not that most of us will be alive, but it's still fun to see what our offspring will be up to. Kaku interviewed 300 scientists who are inventing the future today. How about contact lenses that contain the Internet? How about sensors in our clothes to monitor our health? If nothing else, read the last chapter, titled "A Day in the Life in 2100." Fascinating. And just a little bit spooky. ? Craig Wilson
The Social Animal
By David Brooks
Random House, 424 pp., $27
David Brooks' The Social Animal is, by turns, ridiculous, brave and moving. It's a quasi-novel in which the conservative New York Times op-ed columnist uses an imaginary couple to illuminate scientific research to explain human behavior. "Erica" is a Chinese-Mexican self-made CEO/presidential adviser married to a historian/think-tank wonk. These characters ferry Brooks into examinations of love, sex, achievement, creativity and social mobility. His goal: to describe what he believes constitutes a good life. On topics like community and education, he's brilliant. But on others, like nurturing and aging, the material feels familiar. As for Brooks the novelist? Sleep easy, Jonathan Franzen! ? Deirdre Donahue
Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
By Joshua Foer
Penguin, 307 pp., $26.95
Convinced that the world's "memory champions" are savants or, at the very least, blessed with a photographic memory, Joshua Foer, brother of Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), sets out to uncover what makes them so smart. In Moonwalking With Einstein, Foer rolls out his discoveries about people who are able, for example, to memorize two shuffled decks of cards in five minutes. What he finds is startling: Memory champs aren't smarter; they've just taught themselves to make better use of their brains. Foer's book is relevant and entertaining as he shows us ways we can unlock our own talent to remember more. ? Carol Memmott
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
By James Gleick
Pantheon, 526 pp., $29.95
To write a history of information, from African drumming (misunderstood by the white man) to the idea of yottabytes (let's just say, that's a lot more than gigabytes), is beyond ambitious ? it's audacious. But James Gleick, who also wrote a book titled Chaos, pulls it off. It's not easy reading, but it is accessible. It's a project like the best college courses: challenging but rewarding. Gleick catalogs century-old complaints of too many books and too much information, then notes: "The old ways of organizing knowledge no longer work." But for now, a gracefully written book may be the best way to tell the story of information. ? Bob Minzesheimer
Christina Ricci Leslie Bibb Jodi Lyn OKeefe Whitney Port Kristy Swanson
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