[extropy-chat] More shameless self-promotion: my new book...

[Damien Broderick]

... is now published. It's a non-fiction series of linked essays, 
*Ferocious Minds: Polymathy and the new Enlightenment*, from Borgo/Wildside 
press. Here's the preposterously complicated url:

http://www.wildsidepress.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WP1&Product_Code=0809544733&Category_Code=Broderick1

And here's their blurb:

========================

Two centuries ago, the first Enlightenment failed when its dream of reason 
smashed into the passions and fury of stubborn humans. Without a deep, 
broad understanding of the world, the emerging Enlightenment was left 
floundering, its best impulses perverted into the bloody excess of the 
French Revolution. Arguably, its idealism and noble goals led directly, and 
shockingly, to the 20th century's totalitarian nightmares.

Now the 21st century is learning anew the Faustian hunger to know 
everything that can be known. But Enlightenment values of reason and 
tolerance, enriched by new knowledge, face a complex world no less eager to 
embrace medieval terrorism and ancient superstitions, a world bizarrely 
denying itself many of the fresh opportunities and insights availed by 
science. Can we find cures for poverty, unhappiness, ignorance, the 
ruination of the planet, aging, and perhaps for death itself? If so, should 
we?

================

Certain names familiar to the extropes crop up, such as Anders Sandberg 
(one of the dedicatees), Greg Burch, Dale Carrico...

I just received my author freebies today, and I have to say the trade 
paperback looks pretty; very attractive jacket, photo courtesy of ace 
photographer Andrew Hartman. As for the contents... You < coff > Be the Judge!

Damien Broderick