Vaclav Smil, Invention and Innovation. MIT Press. 2024. ISBN: 978-0-262-55101-4. $19.95.

Recently, many technologies have been branded as “inevitable”: 3D television, the Metaverse (the online environment with legless avatars from Facebook’s parent company, not Neal Stephenson’s conception from the novel Snow Crash), and vacuum-based transportation systems. The first two technologies in that list are no longer extant and the third, though allegedly implemented in Las Vegas as the Hyperloop, consists of human drivers piloting cars through underground tunnels instead of pneumatic tubes ferrying passengers in a high-speed subway system.

In his book Invention and Innovation, published by MIT Press, Dr. Vaclav Smil examines the history of technological hype within three categories of products: inventions that turned from welcome to unwelcome, inventions that were supposed to dominate but did not, and inventions we keep waiting for. The first category includes effective but harmful substances such as the insecticide DDT and lead as a fuel additive; the second features aircraft such as the zeppelin (lighter than air) and supersonic transport such as the Concorde, both of which fell out of favor when reasonable alternatives arose; and we’re still waiting for our flying cars, jetpacks, and vacuum-tube conveyances that have been promised for years but never delivered.

I was a bit surprised that Smil spends relatively little time on artificial intelligence (AI), but after a few paragraphs on the nature and expense of AI output and the cost of its training, he sums up his two pages on the subject this way:

“The conclusion is obvious: our quest for AI is an enormously complex, multifaceted process whose progress must be measured across decades and generations and whose impressive achievements on some relatively easy tasks coexist with the much larger realm of intelligence that remains well beyond the capabilities of programmed machines.”

Each of Smil’s cases provides important context for the current economic and technological environment. I read Invention and Innovation in its entirety and believe that’s the best way to take in his arguments and analysis, but I also think the book would be equally useful as a reference work for researchers and policy makers or as part of the readings for a course on the social impacts of technology and how it is marketed. Smil’s congenial writing style and comprehensive framework make it easy to appreciate his sensible approach to evaluating claims for products marketed now and in the future.

Martha Wells, Platform Decay. Tor. 2026 ISBN: 978-1-250-82700-5. $24.99.

If you’re a science fiction fan you’ve probably watched or at least seen advertisements for the Murderbot television series from Apple TV. The show is based on a book series by Martha Wells and I’m happy to say that Tor just released the eighth installment Platform Decay. tl;dr: Buy and read the entire series.

The main character of the Murderbot series is a SecUnit (security unit), a former human with cybernetic enhancements used for mission and personal security operations. The SecUnit’s specs are between that of a worker unit and a combat unit, which allows for a variety of matchups against unmodified humans, other SecUnits, more powerful foes, and combinations of adversaries varying in number and type. Importantly, SecUnit bypassed their control module and has free will, which they exercise to aid and protect a group of influential humans.

Murderbot’s independence and echoes of their human existence has allowed Wells to develop the character in interesting ways. As Murderbot grows as an individual, they experience meaningful (and stressful) human interaction, including with children, as part of the exfiltration operations central to the plot of Platform Decay. Muderbot also acts as a mentor to another SecUnit with a hacked control module, Three, so the reader gets to see how Murderbot relates to their own progress as an individual.

Like most of the other books in the Murderbot series, Platform Decay is of novella length and a fairly quick read. While you can read it by itself, I highly recommend reading the previous books in the series so you are familiar with the characters and understand the context for the action in this book. You can buy the first six installments of the series as ebooks from most major retailers.

I loved Platform Decay and can’t wait for the next Murderbot book. Highly recommended!

Kory Stamper, True Color. Alfred A. Knopf. 2026. ISBN: 978-1-5247-3303-2. $32.00.

Color is hard to define, both in the general sense and when specifying individual colors. Spare a thought for the lexicographers, editors, and subject matter experts in charge of updating color definitions for Webster's Third New International Dictionary. This unabridged monster was finally published in 1961, two years late and a million dollars over budget when a million dollars was still a million dollars.

Kory Stamper, a lexicographer who worked for Merriam-Webster for many years, weaves a compelling narrative of how editors of the Third wanted to bring its color definitions and definitional framework into the scientific age. They recruited I.H. Goodlove, a respected expert, to build out the framework and define individual colors within that new scheme. Experts are in constant demand and some have a hard time saying no to requests for their time, so everyone who has ever had a manage a project (especially one that involves producing a book) knows how this story goes.

Beyond the obvious concerns, though, Goodlove's eccentricities pushed the editors to their limit. Insisting on a specific color framework used by industrial colorists but not formalized as a standard, delivering definitions late or not at all, and extended absences due to health concerns all factor into this fascinating tale.

As the author of more than 40 books, I can attest that on some projects it seems like the book will never make it to the finish line and it would be better to accept that you have wasted tons of effort and quit throwing good money, time, blood, sweat, and tears after bad. Despite those temptations, the Third came out, albeit significantly late, and the tale of the struggle to get those bookplates to the printer with the color section included makes for riveting reading. And what happened after with the color definitions for a subsequent American Heritage Dictionary release offers valuable context for both the Third and how color work was performed and perceived in industry and society.

Elisabeth B. Reynolds (ed.), Priority Technologies. MIT Press. 2026. ISBN 978-0-262-05429-4. $24.95.

Priority Technologies, edited by Dr. Elisabeth B. Reynolds and published by the MIT Press, offers policy recommendations to develop six technologies critical to U.S. national security: critical minerals, semiconductors, biomanufacturing, quantum computing, drones, and advanced manufacturing. Reynolds and her Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) colleagues make specific policy recommendations for each of the technologies.

The technology-focused chapters follow a set structure: Strategic Importance, Current Landscape, Gaps and Opportunities, and Recommendations. This format is similar to the popular SWOT framework, which looks at Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, in this case with added context provided by the strategic analysis. The recommendations, made by senior faculty with impressive credentials (most of whom occupy named chairs), follow a similar format and often contain similar recommendations.

Among the authors, there appears to be a consensus that the United States should develop regional hubs centered on specific technology groups. I first encountered this type of analysis in AnnaLee Saxenian’s book Regional Advantage, which was published in 1994 and depicted the rise of technology hubs along Route 128 near Boston and in Silicon Valley. Much as in Shenzhen now and with craft-based artisanry in pre-industrial Italy, concentrations of skill and resources create beneficial interactions and competition.

Proposing this type of government-led development within the United States can be a bit fraught. When I worked in the Washington, DC, area in the 1990s the term “industrial policy” evoked strong reactions. Discussions meandered from claims that central planning doomed the Soviet Union, through arguments pointing out the success of Japanese programs running through the Ministry of Technology and Industry (MITI), and often concluding with someone claiming that the United States was a free market economy and the government had no business “picking winners and losers.”

Such discussions went from interesting to drudgery after the first few times through the loop, but one could easily make the case that government entities have always picked winners and losers through acquisitions, tax incentives, and subsidies. More directly, the United States federal government acquired about 10% of Intel stock in 2025 with the stated goal of strengthening our domestic chip design and fabrication capabilities.

Thankfully, the authors bypass the age-old industrial policy debate and recommend sensible levels of government support for specific technologies, industries, and regional development hubs. While Europe has moved away from national champions, at least in part, countries such as China are following aggressive loss-leading strategies to extend their dominance beyond contracted manufacturing. It might not be time to dust off our copies of MITI and the Japanese Miracle, but there are certainly lessons to be learned.

Priority Technologies offers sensible recommendations for policymakers, legislators, and other parties interested in shaping the future of American industry. Yes, it appears that some level of explicit industrial policy is required to create a solid technological foundation for the next phase of economic development, but old prejudices should not stand in the way of future growth.

Annalee Newitz, Automatic Noodle. Tordotcom. 2025. ISBN: 978-1250357465. $24.99

The year is 2064 and California has won its independence from the United States after a bloody war of secession. Technology has advanced to the point where high-level robots have been classified as “human equivalent embodied intelligence”, or HEEIs. The HEEIs have been granted citizenship, though without several important rights afforded their biological counterparts.

In Automatic Noodle, author Annalee Newitz explores how a postwar society rebuilds in the face of shared trauma, prejudice, and lingering threats from the conflict. The central group of four HEEIs, soon joined by a human friend, wake up after an extended sleep cycle to find the restaurant they staffed has been abandoned and is threatened by water from an atmospheric river drenching northern California. They power up and join forces to turn the defunct burger joint, which reminds me of the tax-dodging candy shops on London’s Oxford Street, into a viable business.

Newitz uses the mid-future scenario to explore social issues in the same way the original Star Trek series used alien species as proxies for class, ethnicity, and race in the 1960s. Our heroes take risks, bend the occasional rule (and break the occasional law) to do what they need to do to ensure they retain their freedom. As artificial entities, several of the crew were forced to sign extortionate contracts to maintain their independence so the stakes are high for those HEEIs and those who care about them.

Automatic Noodle doesn’t shy away from difficult circumstances and the effects of war and prejudice on specific classes of sentient beings, but it was a joy to read. As Martha Wells, author of the Murderbot Diaries, blurbs on the front cover: “A story I didn’t know I needed right now. So much fun!” I agree and hope you find the time to fit Automatic Noodle into your busy reading schedule.