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Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating look at a major revolution in progress
Review: A fascinating and informative account of the ongoing computer revolution and the opportunities and challenges it presents. The author's enthusiasm for his subject is "catching" as is his spirit of exploration "...no matter how much progress we make, we will forever be at the beginning." It's a book that will stimulate your thinking no matter what your field of expertise.
Rating:
Summary: Best Nontechnical Book for Exploring Computer Potential
Review: As a nonscientist who is deeply interested in how computers will advance our ability to lead productive, meaningful, and rewarding lives, I found this book to be very provocative and helpful. Instead of looking only at business or computer science, the author extends in many different directions to consider how computers could change the potential, fabric, and value of our lives. Not being knowledgeable in some of the fields, I found it helpful to have a tour guide who could explain what remains to be done in terms of problem solving and creating better mouse traps. While no one person can be expected to anticipate such an exciting and unpredictable future very well, the author does a great job of referring to many of my favorite works on how computer technology can transform the way we do things like education, entertainment, and so forth. Anyone who has ever enjoyed reading science fiction to help imagine what could come in the future will find this book rewarding. I found the work solid except with regard to population growth, where the author failed to put two and two together. The rise of education and income has a very depressing effect on the birth rate, so much so that demographers argue that the economically developed countries should have declining populations by the middle of next century. Eventually, this trend will spread more broadly to the rest of the world, and should be complete before the end of the next century. But I leave that for you to consider. I strongly urge you to read and enjoy this outstanding book. The excerpt that you can access by clicking on the excerpt button above on the left of this page on Amazon.com is well worth your time, and you will want to read the whole book after you have looked at that chapter. I thought that this exerpted chapter was the best multidisciplinary description of the implications of computers compared to past information explosions that I have seen. One of the strengths of this book is that it points to the untapped potential of computers rather than just focusing on what the best practices of the past have been. The woods are full of the later, and they are dated by the time they are published -- especially most of the Internet books. You have a real treat in front of you, which should inspire you to make more practical use of computers to advance what you care about.
Rating:
Summary: Best Nontechnical Book for Exploring Computer Potential
Review: As a nonscientist who is deeply interested in how computers will advance our ability to lead productive, meaningful, and rewarding lives, I found this book to be very provocative and helpful. Instead of looking only at business or computer science, the author extends in many different directions to consider how computers could change the potential, fabric, and value of our lives. Not being knowledgeable in some of the fields, I found it helpful to have a tour guide who could explain what remains to be done in terms of problem solving and creating better mouse traps. While no one person can be expected to anticipate such an exciting and unpredictable future very well, the author does a great job of referring to many of my favorite works on how computer technology can transform the way we do things like education, entertainment, and so forth. Anyone who has ever enjoyed reading science fiction to help imagine what could come in the future will find this book rewarding. I found the work solid except with regard to population growth, where the author failed to put two and two together. The rise of education and income has a very depressing effect on the birth rate, so much so that demographers argue that the economically developed countries should have declining populations by the middle of next century. Eventually, this trend will spread more broadly to the rest of the world, and should be complete before the end of the next century. But I leave that for you to consider. I strongly urge you to read and enjoy this outstanding book. The excerpt that you can access by clicking on the excerpt button above on the left of this page on Amazon.com is well worth your time, and you will want to read the whole book after you have looked at that chapter. I thought that this exerpted chapter was the best multidisciplinary description of the implications of computers compared to past information explosions that I have seen. One of the strengths of this book is that it points to the untapped potential of computers rather than just focusing on what the best practices of the past have been. The woods are full of the later, and they are dated by the time they are published -- especially most of the Internet books. You have a real treat in front of you, which should inspire you to make more practical use of computers to advance what you care about.
Rating:
Summary: A Solid "Briefing" on Basic Issues
Review: To a majority of executives in organizations, Robertson offers a remarkably well-organized and well-written "briefing" on computer technologies which can help them to formulate appropriate strategies and tactics to compete more effectively. I do not damn with faint praise when pointing out that very little of the material in the book is new, earth-shaking, etc. But it is rock-solid. Robertson examines the evolution of language, the accumulation and evaluation of information enabled by language, modes of communication by which to share that information, and new technologies which create almost unlimited opportunities to communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, and at any time. My strong suggestion to those who purchase this book is that they read it in combination with Borgmann's Holding On to Reality and Pinker's The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works.
Rating:
Summary: A Solid "Briefing" on Basic Issues
Review: To a majority of executives in organizations, Robertson offers a remarkably well-organized and well-written "briefing" on computer technologies which can help them to formulate appropriate strategies and tactics to compete more effectively. I do not damn with faint praise when pointing out that very little of the material in the book is new, earth-shaking, etc. But it is rock-solid. Robertson examines the evolution of language, the accumulation and evaluation of information enabled by language, modes of communication by which to share that information, and new technologies which create almost unlimited opportunities to communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, and at any time. My strong suggestion to those who purchase this book is that they read it in combination with Borgmann's Holding On to Reality and Pinker's The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works.
Rating:
Summary: An upbeat preview of a world transmuted by computers.
Review: To live at the beginning of a new era is exciting; to do so and understand what is happening is a rare privilege. Douglas Robertson offers to share this privilege with us by presenting his vision of a world transformed by computers in the not-too-distant future. It is an upbeat peek at the future, devoid of the gloomy forecasts of some "future shock" science fiction adventures. As with all penetrating portrayals of the future, The New Renaissance is provocative and draws controversial conclusions. I often found myself arguing with the book -- and not always winning, as I read the elaboration of one of the book's more surprising assertions. For example, I could accept "synthespians" figuring importantly in future entertainment (p 157), but I could not believe they would be an acceptable replacement for athletes. Yet, what if the real competition were at a different level, and the synthespian athletes were used to provide visualization? The author brings to this work the unusual combination of scientist-technologist and historian-philosopher. His future-world view is upliftingly optimistic about the triumph of the human spirit. By virtue of his education, Dr. Robertson is comfortable with a professional mathematical approach to problem solving. But he keeps this well in the background, using only high-school mathematics in the discussion, and even that quite sparingly. In an engaging and accessible style, he examines several aspects of the human enterprise and projects their restructure based on the emerging ability of ordinary people and specialists alike to access and manipulate vast amounts of information with ease. The restructuring he describes is deep and pervasive, yielding a world as different from ours as was the previous turn of the millennium. He uses historical precedent to motivate and justify his vision of the immensity of the changes he sees coming. In the final chapter, Robertson rejects the notion put forth by others -- some quite prominent, whom he names -- that we will run out of frontiers. He puts the case in historical perspective and then makes a logical argument about a future in which humans have universal freedom from "tedious and mindless labor" and are able to spend their lives exploring the marvels of the universe, the arts, mathematics, and science. He calls this a minimal list; to it I would add philosophy, sports, adventure, and possibly new classes of activities not yet dreamt of in our transitional world. This portion alone of Robertson's vision of the future makes the book worth reading. For the totality of his projection, the book is an important experience for any open minded person.
Rating:
Summary: An upbeat preview of a world transmuted by computers.
Review: To live at the beginning of a new era is exciting; to do so and understand what is happening is a rare privilege. Douglas Robertson offers to share this privilege with us by presenting his vision of a world transformed by computers in the not-too-distant future. It is an upbeat peek at the future, devoid of the gloomy forecasts of some "future shock" science fiction adventures. As with all penetrating portrayals of the future, The New Renaissance is provocative and draws controversial conclusions. I often found myself arguing with the book -- and not always winning, as I read the elaboration of one of the book's more surprising assertions. For example, I could accept "synthespians" figuring importantly in future entertainment (p 157), but I could not believe they would be an acceptable replacement for athletes. Yet, what if the real competition were at a different level, and the synthespian athletes were used to provide visualization? The author brings to this work the unusual combination of scientist-technologist and historian-philosopher. His future-world view is upliftingly optimistic about the triumph of the human spirit. By virtue of his education, Dr. Robertson is comfortable with a professional mathematical approach to problem solving. But he keeps this well in the background, using only high-school mathematics in the discussion, and even that quite sparingly. In an engaging and accessible style, he examines several aspects of the human enterprise and projects their restructure based on the emerging ability of ordinary people and specialists alike to access and manipulate vast amounts of information with ease. The restructuring he describes is deep and pervasive, yielding a world as different from ours as was the previous turn of the millennium. He uses historical precedent to motivate and justify his vision of the immensity of the changes he sees coming. In the final chapter, Robertson rejects the notion put forth by others -- some quite prominent, whom he names -- that we will run out of frontiers. He puts the case in historical perspective and then makes a logical argument about a future in which humans have universal freedom from "tedious and mindless labor" and are able to spend their lives exploring the marvels of the universe, the arts, mathematics, and science. He calls this a minimal list; to it I would add philosophy, sports, adventure, and possibly new classes of activities not yet dreamt of in our transitional world. This portion alone of Robertson's vision of the future makes the book worth reading. For the totality of his projection, the book is an important experience for any open minded person.
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