Christopher E. MasonMIT Press The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds

If you were ever wondering where we go from here as a species, this book will give you the best, most realistic suggestions that anybody has ever conceived. Like the program it describes, 'The Next 500 Years' is ambitious, complex, challenging and, above all, significant. This excellent book could be dry and inaccessible, but it is far from it because Chris Mason has managed to fuse together clear descriptions of some of the most advanced contemporary scientific processes with informed speculation and predictions about what we will be like 500 years from now into a vibrant, compelling narrative. He informs but does not lecture; he talks to the reader, not down to the reader; he raises awareness and understanding, and in doing so he raises hope that there is a long term future for us here on Earth and elsewhere. His good humour is evident and adds a welcome and appropriate subjective human touch to this potentially drily objective subject. If you want to have an opinion on our human future, 'The Next 500 Years' is essential reading.

This book was a thrilling ride. To contemplate colonizing other worlds and how we are very close to achieving that is an exciting prospect. I can recall being a young man and at that time there were exactly zero known exoplanets. Now there are thousands. We know there are other earth-like worlds out there. And genetics will allow us to "engineer" ourselves and other creatures to join us in the journey beyond!However, I do not foresee any tool in the geneticist's toolbox that will optimally compensate for that very unpredictable basket of variables that nebulously can be described as human nature. Where we go, you can bet tragedy and drama will accompany us, in all its gory glory. Only a blind fool would think otherwise. Consider if you have the temerity the history of our own specie on this planet in just the last few thousand years, from Alexander to Genghis Khan to Hitler. Imagine a universe not just of technological marvels, but one of nearly limitless greed and lust and envy - envy all the way to the far reaches of the cosmos, driving sentient beings irrevocably into the primordial, eternal dust.That part of the exiting drama is too little described in this optimistic little tome.However, I did enjoy reading it.

Adapting the human species for space travel is such an important topic as we set out for extended stays on Earth's Moon and Mars. The physical challenges and risks of going any farther into space than Mars will leap by orders of magnitude.Dr. Mason has done an outstanding job of taking the reader, step by step, through the next 500 years, and how the human species might make it possible for itself to not only explore our vast solar system, but also venture to star systems light years away.I should also mention that MIT Press has done an outstanding job - as usual - of designing the paperback version of this book. From a beautiful and captivating cover image and graphics to a combination of font, page design and paper stock that are welcoming and very comfortably accessible.I highly recommend this edition. It's a proud addition to my bookshelf.

Chris Mason is a visionary who outlined in this sagacious, educational, and entertaining book the technological progress that will enable us to become a multiplanetary species. This book is a perfect read or gift for anyone with an interest in space and biology! Highly recommended - this was my most gifted book in 2021!

The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds gives a road map on how we as a species can utilize what we know about biology to accelerate the rate at which we adapt to more hostile environments like space! If you like biology and don't know what you're interested in focusing on, just pick one of the ideas from this plan and you can make a career out of turning fantasy into reality!