Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century

  • Philip Ball
Princeton University Press, $17.95, £11.50

“Many books on new materials have more hyperbole than substance; this is not one of them. Ball writes of his materials with enthusiasm, but tempered realism. He recognizes that most (but far from all) new materials will be passing wonders.” A. Lindsay Greer, Nature 392, 561–562 (1998)

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence

  • Ray Kurzweil
Penguin, $14.95

“Kurzweil's account focuses mostly on the intelligence of machines and the way humans will interface with them via direct neural connections to our brains. The writing is always lively and the arguments are well presented and amplified by numerous boxed cut-outs, tables and graphs showing the ever-accelerating pace of computing technology …[Recommended] to any reader who wants a mind-expanding account of the rise of the age of intelligent machines.” John L. Casti, Nature 397, 663–664 (1999)

Mapping the Mind

  • Rita Carter
Seven Dials, £14.99

“Information there is aplenty, nugget after nugget of it to stimulate and tease the most jaded palate.” Jeffrey Gray, Nature 399, 652 (1999)