Wallace, Mike (editor).

Apr. 2008. 256p. Thomas Nelson, hardcover, $24.99 (9780849903700)

This collection of essays exploring life in the future is the realization of some of our worst nightmares (water shortages, overpopulation, and nuclear war) but also some hopeful developments: longer and healthier lives, clean energy from the sun and wind. The “father of the Internet” Vint Cerf sees a complete merger of the real and the virtual in business, learning, and entertainment arenas. Cerf also sees the Internet going interplanetary with missions to other planets. Francis S. Collins, the geneticist who led the Human Genome Project, sees each of us with individual copies of our complete DNA sequences tied to electronic medical records available wherever we are in the world and the ability to reprogram our cells to prevent illness. Among the contributors are Marion Wright Edelman, children’s rights advocate; journalist Keith Richburg; futurist James Canton; several Nobel Prize winners; the former president of the Republic of Korea; the secretary general of Interpol; and an OPEC official. Contributors expound on a broad range of subjects, including food, health, natural resources, global security, the environment, religion, politics, and economics. A fascinating look at what may be ahead for human life on the planet.

— Vanessa Bush

(Source: Booklist)

These short meditations on the world in 50 years are overwhelmingly devoted to developments in human health, climate change and technology, with a disappointing scarcity of speculation about any social or spiritual transformations. Scientists, who make up more than half of the contributors, predict that genetic engineering will be commonplace and AIDS obsolete, although infectious diseases will adapt and prosper. Marriages will be arranged by compatible genotype; the oceans will rise; cats will no longer be kept as pets-they will have been identified (along with hamsters and birds) as transmitters of everything from Parkinson's to schizophrenia. China and India will be the new superpowers, and the U.S. will finally adopt the metric system. Although many writers note that certain species of plants and animals will be extinct in 50 years, only one laments that several languages will also be dead. This privileging of the scientific viewpoint makes the contributions from immunologist Peter Doherty and writer Michael Shermer all the more welcome as they attempt to focus on humanity rather than technology, imagination more than data. Perhaps it is easier to chart the course of climate change than social change-still the inhabitants of the planet and the future of their governments, beliefs and values deserve as much attention as the planet itself.

(Source: Publishers Weekly)