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The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices
Frank Moss
How the Digital Magicians of the MIT Media Lab Are Creating the Innovative Technologies That Will Transform Our Lives
Crown Business
June 2011
On Sale: June 7, 2011
270 pages
ISBN: 0307589102
EAN: 9780307589101
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
If you've ever read a book on an e-reader, unleashed your
inner rock star playing Guitar Hero, built a robot with LEGO
Mindstorms, or ridden in a vehicle with child-safe air bags,
then you've experienced first hand just a few of the
astounding innovations that have come out of the Media Lab
over the past 25 years. But that’s old hat for today’s
researchers, who are creating technologies that will have a
much deeper impact on the quality of people’s lives over the
next quarter century.
In this exhilarating tour of the Media Lab's inner sanctums,
we'll meet the professors and their students - the Sorcerers
and their Apprentices - and witness first hand the creative
magic behind inventions such as:
* Nexi, a mobile humanoid robot with such sophisticated
social skills she can serve as a helpful and understanding
companion for the sick and elderly.
* CityCar, a foldable, stackable, electric vehicle of the
future that will redefine personal transportation in cities
and revolutionize urban life.
* Sixth Sense, a compact wearable device that transforms any
surface – wall, tabletop or even your hand - into a touch
screen computer.
* PowerFoot, a lifelike robotic prosthesis that enables
amputees to walk as naturally as if it were a real
biological limb.
Through inspiring stories of people who are using Media Lab
innovations to confront personal challenges - like a man
with cerebral palsy who is unable to hum a tune or pick up
an instrument yet is using an ingenious music composition
system to unleash his “inner Mozart”, and a woman with a
rare life-threatening condition who co-invented a
revolutionary web service that enables patients to
participate in the search for their own cures - we’ll see
how the Media Lab is empowering us all with the tools to
take control of our health, wealth, and happiness.
Along the way, Moss reveals the highly unorthodox approach
to creativity and invention that makes all this possible,
explaining how the Media Lab cultivates an open and
boundary-less environment where researchers from a broad
array of disciplines – from musicians to neuroscientists to
visual artists to computer engineers - have the freedom to
follow their passions and take bold risks unthinkable elsewhere.
The Sorcerers and Their Apprentices can serve as a blueprint
for how to fix our broken innovation ecosystem and bring
about the kind of radical change required to meet the
challenges of the 21st century. It is a must-read for
anyone striving to be more innovative as an individual, as a
businessperson, or as a member of society. Also includes 16 pages of color photos highlighting some of
the lab's most visually stunning inventions - and the people
who make them possible.
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