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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Free updated version available at akalaniz@gmai.com Nov 27, 2008
The 2nd ed. is significantly improved thanks to many great reviews.
Thanks,
Alex
free PDF at akalaniz@gmail.com
Also free translation from the French of a Le Clezio short (Le Clezio was the Nobel Laureate forWandering Star (Lannan Translation Selection Series) 2008 in Literature).
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
the past the future Apr 06, 2007
great book. i'm a history major that enjoyed the telling of the past & how it connects to the future. this book does exactly that and more. i would recommend and also tell you that it is an easy read.
18 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Cannot wait for the movie Jan 03, 2006
The love story between Heinreich and Lise, which takes them from their childhoods in WWII through the age of youth restoring technologies in the 2020s and beyond reminded me very much of Dr. Zhivago. Lise, a physicist, is a German Jew. Heinreich, a nobleman and fighter pilot is German. Just when they begin their lives together, they are torn apart by the forces of history, and try as they might to reunite, fate works against them. Yet, as science and technology advance, often for the purposes of war, these two do more than survive. In America, thinking Lise is dead, Heinreich thrives, becoming a wealthy aerospace industrialist. In Russia, Lise, also thinking Heinreich is dead, works on nuclear weapons. In their 90s, when stem cell and nanotechnology lead to youth restoration coctails, they reunite. Humanity seems on the verge of curing all its ills including death. But the power of pro-active evolution, no longer driven by chance, but by science, leads to the ultimate war for survival of the fittist post-human beings across the Solar System. This time Lise and Heinreich, using his vast aerospace resources to save humanist rebels and refugees, cling together. Suddenly, gripping the book ever tighter, you're thrust into a huge, strong science fiction 21st century techno-space battle. I cannot wait for the movie.
Belleno
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Engrossing futuristic tale Dec 24, 2005
I have to admit, I would have never picked this book up had it not been for the shameless plugs Dr. Alaniz, the author, has placed all over this site like some kind of cyberspace Burma Shave commercial. Now back to THIS book...The love story is not that engaging, but the fact that the science behind the story could happen in the near future in the way that Dr. Alaniz lays out the story is very frightening because it hits so close to home. The fact that the Richard Cheneys of the world could upload their brains into servers once their bodies give out, plug into limitless amounts of knowledge and thus wed the incarnate evil of the human soul and all of its insatiable appetites with all of the technology and knowledge available to man is chilling. 30 years ago DNA technology was just a dream, now it is commonly used as "the finger of God" to indict criminals and to free the wrongfully imprisoned. Thus, the idea of a permanent upper class that can never be overthrown because it shall always be smarter than everyone else due to nanotechnology and genetic engineering is an idea whose time is coming very soon. I would like to compare this work by Dr. Alaniz to Carl Sagan's "Contact", and it does compare in daring and originality. However, ultimately "Contact" was a hopeful work and I find the truth behind this book just frightening. Highly recommended.
26 of 31 found the following review helpful:
Mind Blowing!!! Dec 06, 2005
I completely agree with my friend Cathy's review, but as a concerned bioethicist, I worry that most of humanity might soon become insignificant in light of near future biotechnology. Alex's book, through the entangled lives, deep romances and awesome adventures of his living characters, has only made my fears worse. Whereas I have feared that within 10 to 20 years the ultra rich will be able to buy highly expensive, highly improved invitro produced offspring, leaving our kids in the dust of post-Darwinian evolution, Alex warns us that the super rich are likely to simply use their billion dollar resources to upload their minds into large supercomputers in thirty or forty years. Then the rest of us will be truly left in the dust. To me, Beyond Future Shock is a book filled with ideas that everyone should hear about, or see if this visually graphic epic is ever made into a block buster movie.
Randy
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