The Singularity Is Near

By: Ray Kurzweil

Narrated by: George Wilson

Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

“Startling in scope and bravado.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

“Artfully envisions a breathtakingly better world.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Elaborate, smart and persuasive.” (The Boston Globe)

“A pleasure to read.” (The Wall Street Journal)

One of CBS News’ Best Fall Books of 2005 • 
Among St Louis Post-Dispatch’s Best Nonfiction Books of 2005 • 
One of Amazon.com’s Best Science Books of 2005 •

A radical and optimistic view of the future course of human development from the best-selling author of How to Create a Mind and The Age of Spiritual Machines who Bill Gates calls “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence”.

For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.

©2005 Ray Kurzweil (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

“Anyone can grasp Mr. Kurzweil’s main idea: that mankind’s technological knowledge has been snowballing, with dizzying prospects for the future. The basics are clearly expressed. But for those more knowledgeable and inquisitive, the author argues his case in fascinating detail.... The Singularity Is Near is startling in scope and bravado.” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

“Filled with imaginative, scientifically grounded speculation.... The Singularity Is Near is worth reading just for its wealth of information, all lucidly presented.... [It’s] an important book. Not everything that Kurzweil predicts may come to pass, but a lot of it will, and even if you don’t agree with everything he says, it’s all worth paying attention to.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

“[An] exhilarating and terrifyingly deep look at where we are headed as a species.... Mr. Kurzweil is a brilliant scientist and futurist, and he makes a compelling and, indeed, a very moving case for his view of the future.” (The New York Sun)