Winner of the 2012 Kurd-Laßwitz-PreisThey are just children when they first meet: Charlotte, daughter of the French ambassador, and Hiroshi, a laundress’s son. One day on the playground, Hiroshi declares that he has an idea that will change the world. An idea that will sweep away all differences between rich and poor.When Hiroshi runs into Charlotte several years later, he is trying to build a brighter future through robotics. Determined to win Charlotte’s love, he resurrects his childhood dream, convinced that he can eradicate world poverty by pushing the limits of technology beyond imagination. But as Hiroshi circles ever closer to realizing his vision, he discovers that his utopian dream may contain the seeds of a nightmare—one that could obliterate life as we know it.Crisscrossing the globe, from Tokyo to the hallowed halls of MIT to desolate Arctic islands and Buenos Aires and beyond—far beyond—Lord of All Things explores not only technology’s dizzying potential, but also its formidable dangers.

Translated by: Samuel Willcocks