Short essays on different topics scientists think should be of concern. And we should be worried. I thought at first that this was a dull collection, however, it was a good read in general. Of course, there's always the thing with essay collections that there are writers and topic you don't like or don't agree with.To sum up, yes we should be very worried about many things. Like the nuclear war, global warming, cosmology, internet, natural selection...

This is an EdgeBook comprising essays from prominent scientists from 3rd Culture, I'm usually defining as the Leading edge of civilisation in conducting endeavour in responding the 2013 Edge question: WHAT SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?As stated in Brockman's preface:"We worry because we are built to anticipate the future. Nothing can stop us from worrying, but science can teach us how to worry better, and when to stop worrying. The respondents to this year’s question were asked to tell us somethin...

I absolve myself of the duty of finishing this doubtlessly interesting book because the pandemic continues and I don’t want to imagine any of the other things.

I loved the idea of this book. It took the opinions of over 120 scientists, educators, and journalists who discussed where we should point our attention towards in fields like neuroscience, economics, computer science, politics, philosophy, physics, social media, psychology, biology, etc. Who better else to ask "What should we be worried about" than some of the most influential minds of today? Almost every entry was interesting and caught my attention; so much so that I wanted more from each sub...

I admit returning this one to the library. This might be a good one for a coffee table reader. Articles are relatively short without any real common thread running through them, other than "you should worry about this thing." Some of them are interesting, others not.

One of the things I liked about this book is what was NOT in it. No right wing crackpots complaining about Obama taking away their guns or the UN taking over the world. No left wing crackpots complaining about America taking over the world or the evils of the NSA. Each commentator used logic and reason. Intelligence ruled. There were 153 brief essays from one to five pages each. I actually found it difficult to disagree with any of them, even those that expressed opposite viewpoints. Here are so...

Edge should be renamed "The Edge of Physics but the Dark Ages of Biology"Brockman cannot keep claiming to be on the edge of anything if he continues to prioritize fossils like the technophobes, old gene jocks, and the like, while limiting actual progressive scientists from contributing. It's one thing to have 2 sides of a debate. It's another to clearly showcase the old guard who is increasing becoming obsolete, signaling to your younger audience that you, John Brockman, do not know how to keep

A collection of short and very short essays of various authors (mostly academics) about the threats we are facing and are likely to face in the near future. The topics are very diverse, ranging from technological, environmental, digital to social, psychological and even statistical issues. Some of the essays are very captivating, enlightened while others seems to be too dull to read. However, by reading this book, the reader may have general ideas about what catastrophes the individual and the w...

What I liked the most about this book (or maybe I should point out that this is more of a compilation of short essays, as it seems, after reading some reviews, that some people were expecting something different), is that in two or three instances, I came across ideas that made me think twice and reconsider ideals that I already had. And in some cases, I found ideas or thoughts that I had already formed, written and expressed in a clearer way than I could've acheived. Now, this does make it soun...

This is a collection of very brief essays by a wide variety of thinkers, all responding to the question-of-the-year posed by Edge.org. It makes for highly stimulating reading.I especially appreciated the brevity of the pieces. Good writers are capable of making very cogent arguments in just a few pages. (And in the case of the ridiculous pieces, I was grateful to be done with them quickly.)Now I'm quite curious to read more of the volumes in this series.

A ton of good content, like a treasure trove of good content in this book that is backed by scientists from many different fields. I could say that this book is book for people who want to some relevant business in the world.

150 short essays on issues scientists think should be of concern. After the first 100 pages, I thought I would never sleep again. By the time I finished it, I was a devoted follower of Alfred E. Neumann. I picked five things I'm never worrying about again and five legitimate concerns. I did enjoy the metaworry essays - we have nothing to worry about but worry itself.Worry about a world where no one is paying attention.Worry about whether the Internet is devaluing words.Worry that people who can

A collection of very short essays from scientists and plutocrats in a response to the titular question. I liked the breadth of the answers, however that also made it feel like everyone was just standing on their own soapbox, not really thinking outside their own expertise.I would've liked a report or transcript of a series of debates or conversations between these people instead.Some of the essays were so short or so jaded that they didn't amount to anything except the author's book-shout-out. O...

Hard to give a star rating to this one. Some of the essays are extremely thought provoking, others seem to be circling around the same themes and in ways that are not unique. Worth a look.

Oh, I completely misunderstood the concept for the book. Read blurbs more carefully, ems!!The format is 150 very short sections, almost always written by someone who has a book to flog, each raising a concern e.g. "living without the internet for a couple of weeks," (yes, this scares me, too), kids not learning about hardship and overcoming obstacles, the singularity, the eradication of human biological death, are we becoming too connected etc. The sections are once over, lightly. They don't dis...

A few years ago I decided I didn't have as much time to live on edge.org like I'd like to so I stopped reading the site every day. I pretty much stopped altogether and try to fit into my too long reading list John Brockman's annual collections of answers to his...um, annual questions. Now that the Edge Question is a pageant, I get the impression reading this one that quite a few contributors think to themselves, "Crap! Another question. Well, I have to submit something or I won't be viable anymo...

This was so incredibly interesting to read! I started it years ago but barely made it past page 100 - each response fascinated me to the point where I even based a speech off one of them. I finally returned to reading this book a few days ago and quickly finished the remaining three hundred pages. Although I was tempted to thoroughly investigate each response that brought new ideas to mind (i.e. all of them), I know that I can return at any point for further research.It was especially interestin...

What Should We Be Worried About?: Real Scenarios That Keep Scientists Up at Night by John Brockman “What Should We Be Worried About?" is a thought-provoking book of scientific essays brought to you by The Edge. The Edge is an organization that presents original ideas by today's leading thinkers from a wide spectrum of scientific fields. The 2014 Edge question is, “What should we be worried about?” This interesting 531-page book provides 153 short essays that address the question. The quality of

The panel of contributors to this book of short essays is impressive, and many were interesting and worthwhile. But there are so many that weren't interesting or particularly worthwhile, and sorting through these became tedious. It felt like the editor's loyalty was to the submitters and not to the ultimate reader to be selective about what was included.

Mostly excellent with some notes out of tune. This is a compilation of short essays by leading thinkers in a wide range of fields, all in response to the editor's asking them the titular question.Their responses were mostly quite thoughtful and covered a range from potential wars, to the impacts on civil liberties of new technologies, to the growing crisis of access to drinkable water for the more than seven billion of us now living on Earth, and a slew of others that are cogently thought out an...