Profile buys Al-Khalili book on future science

Profile Books has acquired The Future, a new collection of short pieces on the science of the future by leading experts in the field.

Profile have acquired world rights from Patrick Walsh at PEW and will publish in November 2017.

The book will be edited by renowned scientist, author and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-Khalili, who has recently won the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication. Al-Khalili also edited Aliens: Science Writing from the Other Side, which Profile is publishing this autumn.

Covering everything from the "bizarre" (time travel and bionics) and the "inspirational" (genetics and medicine) to the "vitally important "(climate change and energy), The Future will be a "mind-blowing" introduction to the science which will define the world to come, the publisher said.

Al-Khalili said: "The American computer scientist Alan Kay is quoted as saying 'the best way to predict the future is to invent it'. With this in mind, I wanted to bring together some of the world’s leading scientists and ask them to predict how what we know now, or are likely to discover, will change the world. From genetic engineering to quantum computing, if you thought that the world has changed dramatically due to the scientific advances of the past, just wait to see what the future has in store."

Profile commissioning editor Cecily Gayford said: "If I had a time machine, I’d be getting into it immediately to visit November 2017 and read The Future right now. Which is a way of saying I’m absolutely delighted that we’ve signed up Profile’s next book with the incomparable Jim Al-Khalili. Jim is one of the foremost scientists and science communicators working today and Profile is extremely proud to be publishing The Future."