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Renowned\ninventor Kurzweil (The Age of Spiritual Machines) may be technology's most credibly\nhyperbolic optimist. Elsewhere he has argued that eliminating fat intake can prevent\ncancer; here, his quarry is the future of consciousness and intelligence. Humankind, it\nruns, is at the threshold of an epoch ("the singularity," a reference to the theoretical\nlimitlessness of exponential expansion) that will see the merging of our biology with the\nstaggering achievements of "GNR" (genetics, nanotechnology and robotics) to create a\nspecies of unrecognizably high intelligence, durability, comprehension, memory and so\non. The word "unrecognizable" is not chosen lightly: wherever this is heading, it won't look like us. Kurzweil's argument is necessarily twofold: it's not enough to argue that\nthere are virtually no constraints on our capacity; he must also convince readers that\nsuch developments are desirable. In essence, he conflates the wholesale transformation\nof the species with "immortality," for which read a repeal of human limit. In less capable\nhands, this phantasmagoria of speculative extrapolation, which incorporates a\nbewildering variety of charts, quotations, playful Socratic dialogues and sidebars, would\nbe easier to dismiss. But Kurzweil is a true scientist-a large-minded one at that-and\ngives due space both to "the panoply of existential risks" as he sees them and the many\npresumed lines of attack others might bring to bear. What's arresting isn't the degree to\nwhich Kurzweil's heady and bracing vision fails to convince-given the scope of his\nprojections, that's inevitable-but the degree to which it seems downright plausible.\n(Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights\nreserved.)

Banker to the Poor is an inspiring memoir of the birth of microcredit, written in a\nconversational tone that makes it both moving and enjoyable to read. The Grameen\nBank is now a $2.5 billion banking enterprise in Bangladesh, while the microcredit\nmodel has spread to over 50 countries worldwide, from the U.S. to Papua New Guinea,\nNorway to Nepal. Ever optimistic, Yunus travels the globe spreading the belief that\npoverty can be eliminated: "...the poor, once economically empowered, are the most\ndetermined fighters in the battle to solve the population problem; end illiteracy; and live\nhealthier, better lives. When policy makers finally realize that the poor are their\npartners, rather than bystanders or enemies, we will progress much faster that we do\ntoday." Dr. Yunus's efforts prove that hope is a global currency. (Reviewed by Shawn\nCarkonen)

Freakonomics is a ground-breaking collaboration between\nLevitt and Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They usually begin with a\nmountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern lifeand-\ndeath issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of\nstudy contained in this book: Freakonomics. (http://freakonomicsbook.com/)

Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a\npresentist. His aim in The World Is Flat, as in his earlier, influential Lexus and the Olive\nTree, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in\nyour lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The\nworld isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much\nof its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that\nfuturists--the optimistic ones at least--are inevitably prey to. (Reviewed by Tom Nissley)

In this sobering but optimistic manifesto, development economist Sachs (The End of\nPoverty) argues that the crises facing humanity are daunting-but solutions to them are\nreadily at hand. Sachs focuses on four challenges for the coming decades: heading off\nglobal warming and environmental destruction; stabilizing the world's population;\nending extreme poverty; and breaking the political logjams that hinder global\ncooperation on these issues. The author analyzes economic data, demographic trends\nand climate science to create a lucid, accessible and suitably grim exposition of looming\nproblems, but his forte is elaborating concrete, pragmatic, low-cost remedies complete\nwith benchmarks and budgets. Sachs's entire agenda would cost less than 3% of the\nworld's annual income, and he notes that a mere two days' worth of Pentagon spending\nwould fund a comprehensive anti-malaria program for Africa, saving countless lives.\nForthright government action is the key to avoiding catastrophe, the author contends,\nnot the unilateral, militarized approach to international problems that he claims is\npursued by the Bush administration. Combining trenchant analysis with a resounding\ncall to arms, Sachs's book is an important contribution to the debate over the world's\nfuture. (Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All\nrights reserved.)