What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.

But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain.

Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown, to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.

A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom is a comprehensive analysis of the concept of artificial intelligence surpassing human intelligence and the potential consequences of such a development. Bostrom explores the capabilities unique to the human brain that have allowed our species to hold a dominant position on Earth. This dominance could be challenged if machine intelligence exceeds our own, presenting a superintelligence that could become extremely powerful, possibly beyond our control.

The book delves into whether it is possible to construct an initial seed AI in such a way that an intelligence explosion could be survivable. Bostrom presents a controlled approach to this explosive potential, addressing topics such as oracles, genies, singletons, boxing methods, tripwires, mind crime, humanity's cosmic endowment, differential technological development, indirect normativity, instrumental convergence, whole brain emulation, technology couplings, Malthusian economics, dystopian evolution, artificial intelligence, biological cognitive enhancement, and collective intelligence.

With lucid writing, Bostrom guides the reader through this complex landscape, making it accessible and engaging. Superintelligence does not merely lay out the challenges ahead; it offers a reconceptualization of our essential tasks in the face of the future of intelligent life and the fate of humanity itself.

As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. The Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds, the only path to liberation for Darrow's kind is revolution.

To honor the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life, Darrow sacrifices himself. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm to destroy it from within. As a lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind's destiny, Darrow confronts treachery, overcomes his desire for retribution, and strives for a hopeful rebirth rather than violent revolt.

The road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, but Darrow must follow Eo's principles of love and justice to free his people. He must live for more.