There was a time when everybody believed that history is only the biography of great 'men'. Legendary women of the past, like Cleopatra, have been the exception, not the rule. This is no longer true. The history of the modern world also includes the lives of great women. Through the ages, women did come to the forefront, and their genius could not be confined by the walls of society. This issue of Manorama Tell Me Why takes a look at the luminous lives of great women - extraordinary women who changed the world. The world has known so many great women, that some names had to be left out due to space constraints. We hope to include them in a separate issue in future.
Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil foresees the dawning of a new civilization where we will be able to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity, combining our biological skills with the vastly greater capacity, speed and knowledge-sharing abilities of our creations. In practical terms, human ageing and illness will be reversed; pollution will be stopped and world hunger and poverty will be solved. There will be no clear distinction between human and machine, real reality and virtual reality.
Lost on Planet China - : The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation or How He Became Comfortable
Maarten Troost is a laowai (foreigner) in the Middle Kingdom, ill-equipped with a sliver of Mandarin, questing to discover the "essential Chineseness" of an ancient and often mystifying land. What he finds is a country with its feet suctioned in the clay of traditional culture and a head straining into the polluted stratosphere of unencumbered capitalism, where cyclopean portraits of Chairman Mao (largely perceived as mostly good, except for that nasty bit toward the end) spoon comfortably with Hong Kong's embrace of rat-race modernity.
In the land of Eileanan, the Pact of Peace has not meant the end of unrest. And, though Isabeau would like to return home to help her family in these uncertain times, she must first venture to the Skull of the World where she will discover her true talents as a witch. And when she does return home, she does so transformed with the power to overcome her family's enemies once and for all.
Hopes and Prospects is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about the primary challenges still facing the human race. Professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Noam Chomsky is widely regarded to be one of the foremost critics of U.S. foreign policy in the world. He has published numerous groundbreaking books, articles, and essays on global politics, history, and linguistics.
