Real Space: The fate of physical presence in the digital age, on and off planet

Cyberspace takes us to any part of the planet we want to visit. But as Paul Levinson shows in his brilliant new book, when it comes to essential aspects of life we prefer to take our bodies with us. Whether it’s trains, planes, scooters of pogo sticks, we want to really move through our world. Is planet earth the end of the line, or is space itself the next stop? In a lucid inquiry that ranges from robots to religion, Paul Levinson asks why there is a deep-seated human desire to know what’s ‘out there’. Full of fascinating examples, Realspace asks some searching questions about space and the way we think about it. Why, after getting a man on the moon, did the US space program develop so slowly? In a world where space is constantly repackaged, how do we know what real space is? Is our desire to get into space natural, spiritual or military? And why do we call rocks on Mars names such as Yogi and Barnacle Bill? A tour de force of fascinating thinking about our future, Realspace is essential reading for anyone sitting in front of a computer screen in cyberspace, thinking of boarding a space shuttle, or just hurtling with humanity on spaceship Earth.