What will the world of tomorrow be like? How does progress happen? And why do we not have a lunar colony already? Cartoonist Zach Weinersmith (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal) and researcher Dr. Kelly Weinersmith give us a snapshot of what's coming next, from robot swarms to nuclear-fusion-powered toasters. By weaving their own research, interviews with the scientists who are making these advances happen, and Zach's trademark comics, the Weinersmiths investigate why these technologies are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way.

Cheap access to space: The Final Frontier is too damn expensive -- Asteroid mining: Rummaging through the Solar System's junkyard -- Fusion power: It powers the sun, and that's nice, but can it run my toaster? -- Programmable matter: What if all of your stuff could be any of your stuff? -- Robotic construction: Build me a rumpus room, metal servant! -- Augmented reality: An alternative to fixing reality -- Synthetic biology: Kind of like Frankenstein, except the monster spends the whole book dutifully making medicine and industrial inputs -- Precision medicine: Everything that's wrong with you in particular; a statistical approach -- Bioprinting: Why stop at seven margaritas when you can just print a new liver? -- Brain-computer interfaces: Because after four billion years of evolution you still can't remember where you put your keys -- Conclusion: Less soonisher, or The graveyard of lost chapters.