Good question. I felt like there was some significant overlap between the two, and I think that's borne out by commentary from other people who have read both. I think a few people have even accused Kurzweil of borrowing a little too freely from Hawkins' HTM idea. But, to my mind, they complement each other well. Between the two, you get a strong dose of case for thinking of the human mind's primary algorithm being some form of pattern-matching.

For anybody who is interested in AI topics, and who hasn't read either or both of those, I'd really recommend reading both.