This summer, SYEP intern and incoming City Tech student, Sabrina McAnuff, created an innovative display of fiction and nonfiction books around the theme of technology and imagination. In her blog post below, she highlights some of her favorite titles and explains the value of reading science fiction as a STEM student. Sabrina holds a certificate as an Emergency Medical Technician and she plans to major in Radiologic Technology at City Tech beginning this Fall.
Hello, City Tech community! If you are walking past the library this week, stop for a moment and take a look at our new display on technology and science fiction! Why combine books on technology with science fiction? Combining both of them allows us to explore not just how they work together, but how we use (or might use) technology in our daily lives. Technology can give us tools while sci-fi can spur our imagination about what may happen in the future. Whether you are a student of technology or the humanities, there is something here to challenge how you view the future.
Dive into Sci-Fi
First, let’s explore science fiction. Reading sci-fi challenges STEM students to consider the future uses of technology, and it can push us to think more about how it can impact our society. Some books on display are worrisome because technology’s impact depends on how people use it and it can be dangerous. The more worrisome a book is, however, the more challenging it becomes. If you are interested in space adventures, you should check out Isaac Asimov’s Foundation’s Edge and Foundations And Empire. This series explains the inevitable fall of a galactic empire and the efforts of Hari Seldon to shape the future of humanity.
In George Orwell’s 1984, the Thought Police turns technology into a weapon, using cameras to watch citizens’ every move and eliminate personal privacy. If you are interested in learning more about climate change, The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson would be a good book to explore. And, if you’re interested in Star Wars, try Culture, Identities, and Technology in the Star Wars films: Essays on the Two Trilogies for a discussion on how droids are like real-life robots.
The Future of Medicine
Technology is complex and impactful, changing how we live today. In addition to sci-fi titles, I also picked out some nonfiction books that show how medicine and technology are working together. If you’re curious about X-rays and what’s beneath the surface level, check out Invisible Light. The Patient Will See You Now talks about how smartphones are giving people more control over their healthcare. Deep Medicine looks at how artificial intelligence could help fix problems in healthcare and make things easier for doctors, allowing them to focus more on patients. By contrast, The Doctor and the Algorithm: Promise, Peril, and the Future of Health AI examines the risks artificial intelligence poses to health equity and patient trust.
How Tech Affects Our Lives
Lots of people use smartphones, computers, and the internet everyday. Some books here talk about how screens and apps change the way we live and talk to each other. Look for The App Generation, Civic Media, Hey Cyba, and Captivating Technology, all of which explore how screen apps influence our daily lives. Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age examines how digital tools reshape our identities and communications. And, This Is For Everyone is all about how the internet connects us all.
By exploring new technologies like AI, and digital while also including sci-fi, this collection helps students think about the future in imaginative ways. Don’t miss out! Come to the library, check out the display, and maybe find your next favorite book!
