How To Create A Mind

Ray Kurzweil, the bold futurist and author of The New York Times bestseller The Singularity Is Near, is arguably today’s most influential technological visionary. A pioneering inventor and theorist, he has explored for decades how artificial intelligence can enrich and expand human capabilities. Now, in his much-anticipated How to Create a Mind, he takes this exploration to the next step: reverse-engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works, then applying that knowledge to create vastly intelligent machines.

Of all Kurzweil's main topics brain engineering is probably the most contentious. I'm as excited to read the book as I am to watch the inevitable scientific fallout.

How to Create a Mind is out on November 13th 2012.

The Responsible Company

Patagonia have released a new book chronicling their 40 years of experience starting, running, and growing a responsible company.

I really enjoyed Yvon Chouinard's 2006 book "Let My People Go Surfing" and I've very anxious to read this.

It's very odd that Patagonia, a company very well known for environmental activism, would publish a book in 2012 without a day one digital option. I'll wait for that version.

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think

Peter Diamandis, of X PRIZE fame and co-founder of the Singularity University, and Steven Kotler have written an "antidote to pessimism" in which they show how exponential technological growth will dramatically improve the quality of life for all people in the near future.

Peter Diamandis does a pretty good job selling the book in this video.

Abundance is out February 21 2012.