World Wide Mind

Praise

“Michael Chorost is not only a clear and concise science writer, but also a visionary. The coming integration of humans and machines may be a bit further off than he thinks, but he convinced me that we will get there someday.”
The New York Times, Feb. 15, 2011. Full review

“As the recipient of cochlear implants himself and through a profoundly personal story of his own search for personal connectedness, Chorost is in a unique position to consider the impacts of melding the human body with technology and enabling the sharing of a deeper level of human consciousness. At its heart, World Wide Mind is the ultimate love story.”
Appletell, March 12, 2011. Full review

“World Wide Mind is a thought-provoking story about how technology will connect with the brain ever more intimately, merging humanity and the internet, providing technologically shared experiences and emotions. It forces the reader to think again – not just about neuro-technology but also about communication, about how important eye-to-eye and body-to-body contact is.”
New Scientist, Feb. 19, 2011. Full review

“Brain-to-brain communication is the standard stuff of science fiction, but Chorost attempts to outline the engineering path towards feasibly realising this much-fantasised communicative ability and, more importantly, he explains how it could deepen human communication. Yes, there are several science bits that you can’t really skip, but the surprising thing is that, even to this non-techie, Chorost makes it so readable and convincing.”
The Irish Times, June 18, 2011. Read the article

“In the end, you may react to World Wide Mind as diverting science fiction, as a speculative but plausible look into an exciting future, or even as a work of horror. Whatever your response, it’s hard to imagine many who won’t find this book fascinating.”
Civil Engineering, May 2011. Full review

“Chorost presents a unique argument: we biologically and emotionally crave deep intimacy with each other, and although we don’t recognize it in ourselves, we yearn for precisely the same kind of constant connectivity with each other that machines enjoy…Chorost’s writing is clear, visionary and romantic.”
Big Think, Feb. 16, 2011. Full review

“Chorost takes pains to lay out recent advances in relevant brain and software technology without sensationalizing them….The upshot of the research Chorost details is nothing less than a pathway to telepathy, telempathy and a linked world consciousness…The real triumph of the book derives from Chorost’s storytelling ability.”
The L Magazine, Feb. 16, 2011. Full review

Named as a Notable Nonfiction Book in Scientific American’s February 2011 issue.

“An adroit overview of the progress in joining together computers and humans… Chorost makes a stimulating case that implanted computers might propel humans to the next step in evolution.”
Kirkus Reviews

“His tour of here-and-now neuroscience makes for an engaging account of how the brain communicates with itself and the world.”
Publishers Weekly

“In World Wide Mind, Michael Chorost takes on a daunting challenge: seriously and factually examining what it would mean to connect human minds directly through technology. Until recently the realm of science fiction, this task is of increasing importance as our inventions even now blur the boundary between the made and the born. Chorost’s greatest achievement is in making his tale not one about transistors and neuroscience, but about the future of humanity and love.”
Joel Garreau, Author, Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies – And What It Means to Be Human

World Wide Mind is a rare pleasure indeed: a smart book about the future of technology that is really about the complexities of the human heart and the universal yearning to be transformed by connection. By combining cutting-edge neuroscience, keen insight into the social potential of networks, and touchingly candid personal anecdotes, Chorost has written one of the most memorable and thought-provoking books of the year.”
Steve Silberman, Contributing editor, Wired 

“Michael Chorost is one of the most thoughtful writers confronting a major question of the 21st century: how will the ability to engineer human minds change the the way we live, communicate, and love? As a cyborg himself, Chorost has a unique perspective that enables him to foresee how mind technologies will impact everyday issues of existence. This is a remarkable book for its ability to ponder neuroengineering through the wisdom of a humanistic lens.”
Ed Boyden, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, MIT Media Lab

“A deeply personal exploration of individuality, connection, and the brain. Chorost does an impressive job of articulating how brain-to-brain communication could become real, and of exploring its implications for all of us. Moving, insightful, and provocative.”
Ramez Naam, Author, More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement