Jason Bradbury

This is my very well thumbed proof-copy of Airman by the brilliant Eoin Colfer. It is one of my favourite books (and that’s not just because Eoin was very complimentary about my own book! B-) Puffin is holding a competition to film your own flying machine in action and offering a really cool prize. You can check my own origami effort on Airman’s website www.isitabird.co.uk.

Watch this video in HD. See all the my posts about Dot Robot here 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZHxwtH7GXA

As I get ready for the launch of Dot Robot (5^th Feb 2009), I’m busy writing its sequel! Here’s a sneaky peek at one of the gadgets I’m planning for book two. I saw this Police Specialized Hardrock mountain bike at a cycle show in Earl’s Court, London this year. Now, a couple of these aluminum framed, blues and twos equipped, cruisers have made it into an action-packed chase sequence I’m working on. I wonder if Specialized would lend me one for a test ride?

Do you know any secrets?

There I was, on Amazon.co.uk, looking for last minute Christmas presents and I thought I’d see if Dot Robot is listed. And OMG, there’s my book! After such a long time writing it, it’s an incredible feeling to see my first book on the world’s biggest online book domain. Check it out here.

I can’t believe how soon my book will be out! In around seven weeks! It hit me when I was Christmas book shopping in my local bookstore and the manager asked me about the launch date for Dot.Robot - 5th of February 2009. I’ll let y’all know when the planned web stuff is live (hint: there’s going to be a really cool Flash game) It’s going to be a very exciting year.

The man from The Guinness Book of World Records was standing by. The laser-timing gate was in place. The twin engines of my £2500, purpose-built, radio-controlled car were gargling nitro. I was ready for a world speed record attempt. As for whether I was successful, well, you’ll have to ‘find out after the break’ – as I’m bound to secrecy until the ‘RC Car’ challenge goes out on The Gadget Show. What I will say is that when a fifteen-inch car made of aluminium and carbon fibre goes beyond the fifty miles per hour mark, you stop breathing – as the slightest wrong movement can send it airborne. Watch this space.

Ray Kurzweil is a brilliant scientist and futurist. His book maps out a startling vision of the fusion of biology (namely us) and technology. It’s a dense read, but it’s not a difficult book to understand because Kurzweil is fond of graphs! His sections on Moore’s Law are fascinating and he makes it clear that, because of the exponential growth in computing power,  those of us who are around for the next fifty years will see Star-Trekian advances in technology. ‘It is reasonable to expect [the] hardware that can emulate human-brain functionality to be available for approximately one thousands dollars by around 2020.’ I just wish it was lighter, so I could carry it with me on the tube! Check out more books from My Library.

In many ways, this book is the research document for the book Max Brooks wrote next ‘World War Z’, which happens to be one of my all time favourite reads. ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ is perfect public transport fodder. See more in My Library.