Social forecasting, future studies Books

Book SynopsisAn intriguing glimpse into the future provides information detailng the political and social collision that could occur shortly after the millennium, based on a repeating series of eighty to one hundred year cycles, divided into four turnings--a High, Awakening, Unraveling, and Crisis. Reprint.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisAn utterly absorbing account of humans, computers, and how much they differ' Dame Diane Coyle, author of Cogs and MonstersWhat does Artificial Intelligence mean for our identity? Our fascination with AI stems from the perceived uniqueness of human intelligence. We believe it's what differentiates us. Fears of AI not only concern how it invades our digital lives, but also the implied threat of an intelligence that displaces us from our position at the centre of the world. Neil D. Lawrence's visionary book shows why these fears may be misplaced. Atomism, proposed by Democritus, suggested it was impossible to continue dividing matter down into ever smaller components: eventually we reach a point where a cut cannot be made (the Greek for uncuttable is 'atom'). In the same way, by slicing away at the facets of human intelligence that can be replaced by machines, AI uncovers what is left: an indivisible core that is the essence of humanity. Human intelligence has evolved across hundreds of thousands of years. Due to our physical and cognitive constraints over that time, it is social and highly embodied. By contrasting our capabilities with machine intelligence, The Atomic Human reveals the technical origins, capabilities and limitations of AI systems, and how they should be wielded. Not just by the experts, but ordinary people. Understanding this will enable readers to choose the future we want either one where AI is a tool for us, or where we become a tool of AI and how to counteract the digital oligarchy to maintain the fabric of an open, fair and democratic society.

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Book SynopsisTim Wu is a professor of law at Columbia University and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. He served as President Biden's Special Assistant for Technology and Competition Policy from 2021 to 2023. He is known for his expertise in antitrust law, for coining the term network neutrality', and for his books The Master Switch, The Attention Merchants and The Curse of Bigness.

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Book SynopsisThis is a 'Whole Earth Catalog' for the 21st century: an impressive and wide-ranging analysis of what's wrong with our societies, organizations, ideologies, worldviews and cultures - and how to put them right. The book covers the finance system, agriculture, design, ecology, economy, sustainability, organizations and society at large. In it, Daniel Wahl explores ways in which we can reframe and understand the crises that we currently face and explores how we can live our way into the future. Moving from patterns of thinking and believing to our practice of education, design and community living, he systematically shows how we can stop chasing the mirage of certainty and control in a complex and unpredictable world. The book asks how can we collaborate in the creation of diverse regenerative cultures adapted to the unique biocultural conditions of place? How can we create conditions conducive to life? "This book is a valuable contribution to the important discussion of the worldview and value system we need to redesign our businesses, economies, and technologies - in fact, our entire culture - so as to make them regenerative rather than destructive." Fritjof Capra, author of The Web of Life, coauthor of The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision. "This is an excellent addition to the literature on ecological design and it will certainly form a keystone in the foundations of the new MA in Ecological Design Thinking at Schumacher College, Devon. It not only contains a wealth of ideas on what Dr Wahl has termed 'Designing Regenerative Cultures' but what is probably more important, it provides some stimulating new ways of looking at persistent problems in our contemporary culture and hence opens up new ways of thinking and acting in the future." Seaton Baxter OBE, Professor in Ecological Design Thinking, Schumacher College, UKTrade Review"Daniel's book Designing Regenerative Cultures is a wonderful and well-referenced primer for a new paradigm." Satish Kumar "Clearly our ways of thinking have gotten us in some trouble--here are concrete suggestions for some new habits of mind that could help us climb out of our hole!";Bill McKibben, author: Eaarth - Making a Life on a Tough New Planet; co-founder 350.org, and Schumann Distinguished Scholar, Middlebury College "This is an impressive, broad and forward looking book that integrates design thinking with a diverse range of contemporary and innovative ideas around sustainability, ecology and transformation. Its attention to not just the problems, but also to how address them is timely and much needed. As such the book is now one of the main core programme texts for our MSc Sustainability at the University of Dundee." Professor Ioan Fazey, Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience, University of Dundee. "Daniel Wahl... has the capacity to explain complex and subtle subjects such as systems theory, regenerative design, holistic management, biomimicry, the circular economy, quantum theory ... and much more, succinctly. There are so many paragraphs in this book that I highlighted to return to and savour later on. He is also well versed in the integral, holistic worldview and the processes which support the birth of a new consciousness that will enable these regenerative shifts. His book is not only a collection of well articulated ideas, it is a litany of so many of the world's best projects that are already in existence, balancing theory with practice. There is an unstoppable optimism implicit in this book, however care-worn and cynical the reader may feel." Maddy Harland in Permaculture Magazine. "Designing Regenerative Cultures has gained international acknowledgement for its pragmatic approach to the subject, reframing and questioning the current approaches to the challenges that humankind is currently facing with deeper understanding of the possible solutions surfacing with regenerative design." UNESCO Global Action Programme on ESD Aug 2016 "Daniel Wahl has had an important insight that makes this book an essential read for anyone trying to change the world. The necessary catalyst is in the title of this book: "regenerative systems." To quote Wahl, "Sustainability is not a fixed state to reach and then maintain, it is a community-based learning process aimed at increasing the health and resilience of our communities, our bioregional economies, ecosystems, and of the planetary life-support system as a whole." This is the core realization of Rob Hopkins (Transition Handbook) and David Fleming (Lean Logic) as well, but Wahl's book gets to the assembly language programming, explaining how ecological literacy and the social, technological, and entrepreneurial skills required for the transition are the entry point that leads to everything else. Arguably ecological literacy is already the foundation of much that is new in the world of industrial design - it is called biomimicry. Biological and ecological design intelligence is starting to reinvent the way we design communities, businesses, cities, and industries. This book gets out in front of that with the larger picture. We need to do these things, now, or we may not be here in another century. Wahl says, "We need to dare to envision a sustainable world, by re-designing our food systems, transport systems, energy systems, economic systems, and education systems, but most of all, we need to re-envision how we collaborate and how we relate to each other and the natural world." Whether we have time to make this unprecedented change in our social contract is still in doubt. Set your doubts aside for the moment and let this book give you a sense of "... but what if?" If we are going to get this right, it will begin here." Reviewed by Albert Bates, Ecovillage and Permaculture Pioneer, Right Livelihood Award Winner, and author of Climate in Crisis. "6 Star Handbook for Saving Civilization & Earth. This book makes the jump from 5 stars (generally I don't bother to review a book if it is not a four or five star read) to 6 stars - my top ten percent - because of the combination of Questions Asked, glorious color graphics, and the total holistic nature of the book - this is easily a PhD thesis in holistic analytics, true cost economics, and open source everything engineering. Indeed, this book could be used as a first-year reference across any humanities and science domain, they would be the better for it. It is of value to ministers of government, managers of corporations, administrators of non-profit and educational organizations, labor union and religious stewards, and every single citizen planning to be alive in five years and beyond." Reviewed by Robert David Steele on the Public Intelligence Blog and Amazon "Daniel Wahl has compiled a great deal of useful information in a masterful synthesis. That alone is a significant accomplishment, but he's given us more than that. Designing Regenerative Cultures describes the doorway to a possible, indeed, necessary future. We are not fated to the dystopia in prospect. We have, as he writes, the capacity to design and to organize our societies to protect, enhance, and celebrate life. The blueprint was there all along. The awareness of our possibilities is growing. The art and sciences of ecological design are flourishing. The choice, as always, is ours and that of those who will follow." From the Foreword by David Orr (environmentalist and Paul Sears Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College and a James Marsh Professor at the University of Vermont). "This book is a treasure for everyone who is looking for a guide to more sustainable living and a roadmap for re-designing our societies , regenerating our communities , cities and societies in harmony with natural systems and our home planet. Author Daniel Wahl has deep experience to share and his knowledge in this beautiful book will help all those aspiring to be responsible global citizens working for our common future." Hazel Henderson, author and President, Ethical Markets Media , Certified B. Corporation, USA & Brazil "Daniel Wahl's Designing Regenerative Cultures provides an exhaustive review of current thinking on our global challenges as well as a refreshing approach to how we can "live into the questions" that will help us create a beautiful future. Anyone working in sustainability or social innovation will find this book to be a tremendously useful reference and provocative guide for framing regenerative solutions. It is a wonderful blend of passionate vision and practical insight." Denise K. DeLuca, Co-Founder & Director, BCI (Biomimicry for Creative Innovation) "The world is converging on integration and systems thinking, and regeneration of the world is the battle cry of any sentient being in the 21st century. Daniel Wahl provides good insights and inspirations on the index of possibilities -in mass scale regeneration of nature and society." Marcin Jakubowski, PhD, Founder & Executive Director of Open Source Ecology. Designing Regenerative Cultures is a wide ranging synthesis of key knowledge to take us into a more resourceful 21st Century. The book brings forth multiple perspectives on the ultimate challenge of our time. This living material will help one get beyond the bread and circus approach that the mainstream media is foisting upon us, and thereby subtlety turning us into bloated modern Romans without a clue on what really matters, let alone the power to create what matters. Shifting from a narrative of separation and scarcity, to interbeing and abundance opens the conceptual door to the next phase of the human enterprise. Read and absorb this powerful treatise, and learn from the dynamic context Daniel Wahl has created with the publication of his new book. Christopher Zelov conceived and produced the award winning film 'Ecological Design: Inventing the Future'. Recent projects include: A Visit With Magnus, City 21, and Design Outlaws. "To me as a life-long activist nourished on systems thinking and Buddhist teachings, this is one of the most intellectually exciting and soul stirring books I've read in years. I had the sense of drinking it, with pleasure and surprise, not having known what I'd so thirsted for. br> By starting with questions and keeping to questions throughout, Daniel engages the reader, and by example frees her from striving for, or pretending to know, any final answers. This approach -- in itself a rare lesson in systems epistemology - invites trust, openness, and a restructuring of the mind. Among the gifts for which I am especially grateful are these: Conceptual tools for perceiving and experiencing our mutual belonging , and especially what I've come to call the great reciprocity at the heart of the universe. The ways Goethe, Bortoft, Bateson, Maturana, and Varela are brought in, and key insights mediated with economy and clarity. The abundant evidence of the Great Turning, the manifold transition underway to a life-sustaining culture. And, especially valuable to those of an apocalyptic bent like myself, the 'adaptive cycle' of resilient systems, showing that at 'the edge of chaos' comes opportunity for the emergence of greater complexity and intelligence. These are but a few of the ways in which this remarkable book will enrich my thought, my teaching, and my life in this turbulent world of ours." Joanna Macy, environmental activist, scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology and author of World as Lover, World as Self and numerous other books. "This is a seriously rich source of perspective on the nature of whole system design. The future is already here and Daniel Wahl has synthesized the wide ranging progress in the emerging field of `regenerating wholeness'. There is a lot of positive and effective activity happening around the planet! Of particular note, the title addresses "us" as a significant and often missing leverage point in our work towards regenerative relationships: our cultural ability to become collaborative weavers, integral to evolving a condition of long-lasting health. This book shows the powerful potential of how all these dimensions of wholeness are coming together." Bill Reed, Regenesis Group "Life on the Planet has sustained itself for billions of years by continually regenerating itself. Our modern industrial culture has interfered with these natural processes to the point of causing massive extinctions of species and threatening our very survival. This book is a valuable contribution to the important discussion of the worldview and value system we need to redesign our businesses, economies, and technologies - in fact, our entire culture - so as to make them regenerative rather than destructive." Fritjof Capra, author of The Web of Life, coauthor of The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision.Table of ContentsFOREWORD ~ David Orr FOREWORD ~ Graham Leicester INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 - Living the Questions: Why change the narrative now? Questioning dangerous ideologies Facing complexity means befriending uncertainty and ambiguity Caring for Earth is caring for ourselves and our community Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world The 'why' will guide the 'what' and the 'how'Spirituality, soul and solitude in nature Sustainability as a learning journey: pilgrims and apprentices Sustainability is not enough; we need regenerative cultures! CHAPTER 2 - Why choose transformative over sustaining innovation? The Three Horizons of innovation and culture change Evaluating disruptive innovation in the age of transition Transformative innovation is about deep questioning Sensitivity to scale, uniqueness of place and local culture The transformative power of social innovation Collaborative consumption and peer-to-peer collaboration Facilitating systems innovation and culture change CHAPTER 3 - Why do we need to think and act more systemically? Believing is seeing and seeing is believing The whole is more than the sum of its parts From the 'crisis of perception' to the 'systems view of life' Interbeing How can we participate appropriately in complex systems? The IFF World System Model Learning to see nature everywhere Being a process, and seeing in relationships CHAPTER 4 - Why nurture resilience and whole-systems health? Rolling back Earth Overshoot Day Learning to live within planetary boundaries What exactly are resilience and transformative resilience? The adaptive cycle as a dynamic map for resilience thinking Panarchy: a scale-linking perspective of systemic transformation Local and regional community resilience building is going global How can we nurture transformative resilience? From control and prediction to conscious participation, foresight and anticipation CHAPTER 5 - Why take a design-based approach? Design education enables cultural transformation Design is where theory and practice meet Design follows worldview and worldview follows design Ethics and design for regenerative cultures Aesthetics and design Emergence and design Designing for positive emergence (a case study) Scale-linking, salutogenic design for resilience The resurgence of a culture of makers: re-localizing production Collective visioning and design conversations change culture CHAPTER 6 - How can we learn to better design as nature? Ecoliteracy: Learning from living systems Valuing traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous wisdom How does life create conditions conducive to life? Biologically Inspired Innovation Green chemistry and material science Biologically inspired product design Biomimetic architecture Nature's whole system optimization informs community design Living the questions together creates community Industrial ecology and symbiosis are closing the loops Ecologically informed urban and regional planning CHAPTER 7 - Why are regenerative cultures rooted in cooperation? Redesigning agriculture for food sovereignty and subsidiarity Regenerative agriculture: effective responses to climate change Learning from and mimicking healthy ecosystems Redesigning economics based on ecology Creating circular economies Towards a regenerative economy Thriving communities and the solidarity economy Shifting from quantitative to qualitative growth Valuing the commons by cooperatively sharing the gifts of life Earth Law: the enabling constraints of collective living Life's collaborative lessons transform business Co-creating regenerative enterprises Collaboration and empathy as evolutionary success stories Activism revisited: conscious participation and collective intelligence We are coming back to life and this changes everything Learning to listen deeply Inner and outer resilience CONCLUSION - Regenerative cultures are about thriving together

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Book SynopsisThe international bestseller'A manual for thinking clearly in an uncertain world. Read it.' Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow_________________________What if we could improve our ability to predict the future?Everything we do involves forecasts about how the future will unfold. Whether buying a new house or changing job, designing a new product or getting married, our decisions are governed by implicit predictions of how things are likely to turn out. The problem is, we're not very good at it.In a landmark, twenty-year study, Wharton professor Philip Tetlock showed that the average expert was only slightly better at predicting the future than a layperson using random guesswork. Tetlock's latest project – an unprecedented, government-funded forecasting tournament involving over a million individual predictions – has since shown that there are, however, some people with real, demonstrable foresight. These are ordinary people, from former ballroom dancers to retired computer programmers, who have an extraordinary ability to predict the future with a degree of accuracy 60% greater than average. They are superforecasters.In Superforecasting, Tetlock and his co-author Dan Gardner offer a fascinating insight into what we can learn from this elite group. They show the methods used by these superforecasters which enable them to outperform even professional intelligence analysts with access to classified data. And they offer practical advice on how we can all use these methods for our own benefit – whether in business, in international affairs, or in everyday life._________________________'The techniques and habits of mind set out in this book are a gift to anyone who has to think about what the future might bring. In other words, to everyone.' Economist'A terrific piece of work that deserves to be widely read . . . Highly recommended.' Independent'The best thing I have read on predictions . . . Superforecasting is an indispensable guide to this indispensable activity.' The TimesTrade ReviewThe techniques and habits of mind set out in this book are a gift to anyone who has to think about what the future might bring. In other words, to everyone. * Economist *A terrific piece of work that deserves to be widely read . . . Highly recommended. * Independent *This marvelous book tells an exciting story of ordinary people beating experts in a very serious game. It is also a manual for thinking clearly in an uncertain world. Read it. -- Daniel KahnemanFull of excellent advice – it is the best thing I have read on predictions . . . Superforecasting is an indispensable guide to this indispensable activity. * The Times *Philip Tetlock has transformed the science of prediction. * Spectator *The most important book on decision making since Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. * Wall Street Journal *Fascinating and breezily written. * Sunday Times *Superforecasting is a fascinating book. * Daily Mail *Superforecasting is a very good book. In fact it is essential reading. * Management Today *The best way to know if an idea is right is to see if it predicts the future. But which ideas, which methods, which people have a track record of non-obvious predictions vindicated by the course of events? The answers will surprise you, and they have radical implications for politics, policy, journalism, education, and even epistemology – how we can best gain knowledge about the world. The casual style of Superforecasting belies the profundity of its message. -- Steven PinkerSuperforecasting is a rare book that will make you smarter and wiser. One of the giants of behavioral science reveals how to improve at predicting the future. -- Adam GrantThe material in Superforecasting is new, and includes a compendium of best practices for prediction . . . [It offers] us all an opportunity to understand and react more intelligently to the confusing world around us. * New York Times Book Review *Tetlock's 'Ten Commandments For Aspiring Superforecasters' should probably have a place of honor in most business meeting rooms. * Forbes *There isn't a social scientist in the world I admire more than Phil Tetlock. -- Tim HarfordSuperforecasting is the most important scientific study I’ve ever read on prediction. * Bloomberg View *A fascinating study of what it is that makes some forecasters consistently better than others. * International Politico *Tetlock's work is fascinating and important, and he and Gardner have written it up with verve. - Financial Times -- Stephen CaveSuperforecasting by Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner, is one of the most interesting business and finance books published in 2015. -- John Kay * Financial Times *The lessons of superforecasting are keenly relevant to huge swathes of our lives. -- Matthew Syed * The Times *Tetlock writes boldly about wanting to improve what he sees as the bloated, expensive – and not terribly accurate – intelligence apparatus that advises our politicians and drives global affairs. * City A.M. *Philip Tetlock’s Superforecasting is a common-sense guide to thinking about decision-making and the future by a man who knows this terrain like no one else. -- Books of the Year * Bloomberg Business *Tetlock and Gardner believe anyone can improve their forecasting ability by learning from the way they work. If that's true, people in business and finance who make an effort to do so have a lot to gain – and those who don't, much to lose. * Financial Post *What I found most interesting was the continuous process of integrating new information to test and modify existing beliefs … clearly a beneficial skill in financial markets * Citywire *Social science has enormous potential, especially when it combines 'rigorous empiricism with a resistance to absolute answers.' The work of Philip Tetlock possesses these qualities. * Scientific American *A fascinating book. * PR Week *Offers a valuable insight into the future of management. -- CMI Management Book of the Year judgesBoth rigorous and readable. The lessons are directly relevant to business, finance, government, and politics. -- Books of the Year * Bloomberg Business *A scientific analysis of the ancient art of divination which shows that forecasting is a talent. -- Books of the Year * Economist *Captivating . . . [Tetlock's] writing is so engaging and his argument so tantalizing, readers will quickly be drawn into the challenge . . . A must-read field guide for the intellectually curious. * Kirkus Reviews *A top choice [for best book of 2015] among the world’s biggest names in finance and economics . . . Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer, Deutsche Bank Chief U.S. Economist Joe LaVorgna, and Citigroup Vice Chairman Peter Orszag were among those giving it a thumbs-up. * Bloomberg Businessweek *Just as modern medicine began when a farsighted few began to collect data and keep track of outcomes, to trust objective 'scoring' over their own intuitions, it's time now for similar demands to be made of the experts who lead public opinion. It's time for evidence-based forecasting. * Washington Post *Tetlock and his colleagues [have] found that there is such a thing as foresight, and it’s not a gift that’s bestowed upon special people, but is a skill that can be learned and developed . . . To obtain this apparent superpower does not take a PhD or an exceptionally high IQ; it takes a certain mindset. * Guardian *Superforecasting is a very good book. In fact it is essential reading - which I have never said in any of my previous Management Today reviews . . . It should be on every manager's and investor's reading list around the topics du jour of decision-making, prediction and behavioural economics. -- Andrew Wileman * Management Today *Read Philip Tetlock’s Superforecasting, instead of political pundits who don’t what they’re talking about. -- Dominic CummingsWe should indeed apply superforecasting more systematically to government. Like systematic opinion polling, it is an aid to decision-makers and informed debate. It is ideologically neutral, unless you have a bias in favour of ignorance. This is all good. -- Andrew Adonis * Independent *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE BBC REITH LECTURER 2021''The most important book I have read in quite some time'' Daniel Kahneman; ''A must-read'' Max Tegmark; ''The book we''ve all been waiting for'' Sam HarrisHumans dream of super-intelligent machines. But what happens if we actually succeed?Creating superior intelligence would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, according to the world''s pre-eminent AI expert, it could also be the last. In this groundbreaking book, Stuart Russell sets out why he has come to consider his own discipline an existential threat to humanity, and how we can change course before it''s too late. In brilliant and lucid prose, he explains how AI actually works and its enormous capacity to improve our lives - and why we must never lose control of machines more powerful than we are. Russell contends that we can avert the worst threats by reshaping the foundations of AI to guarantee that machines pursue our objectives, not theirs. Profound, urgent and visionary, Human Compatible is the one book everyone needs to read to understand a future that is coming sooner than we think.LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES & McKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR''Thought-provoking'' Financial Times''Fascinating and significant'' Sunday Times''The most important book on AI this year'' GuardianTrade ReviewSurely the most important book on AI this year. -- Ian Sample * The Guardian, Book of the Day *A brilliantly clear and fascinating exposition of the history of computing thus far, and how very difficult true AI will be to build. -- Steven Poole * The Spectator *Fascinating and significant. -- James McConnachie * The Sunday Times *Worth reading Human Compatible by Stuart Russell (he's great!) about future AI risks and solutions. -- Elon Musk * Twitter *A thought-provoking and highly readable account of the past, present and future of AI . . . Russell deploys a bracing intellectual rigour . . . but a laconic style and dry humour keep his book accessible to the lay reader. * The Financial Times *It's asking a lot of a book about the potential end of civilisation to be strewn with humour and wry asides, but this is what Russell manages . . . it's worth sticking with, for the sake of the species. -- Best Science, Nature and Ideas Books of 2019 * The Guardian *An excellent, nuanced history. * The Telegraph, Best New Science Books for Christmas *Russell is an assiduous and conscientious scholar ... [he] provides a wealth of information. This is one of those intellectual voyages where both the journey and the destination matter. -- John Naughton * The Literary Review *This is the most important book I have read in quite some time. It lucidly explains how the coming age of artificial super-intelligence threatens human control. Crucially, it also introduces a novel solution and a reason for hope. * Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize and author of 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' *Of the many books published this year on artificial intelligence, this is probably the best. Stimulating and scary stuff. -- Best Books of 2019: Technology * The Financial Times *A must-read: this intellectual tour-de-force by one of AI's true pioneers not only explains the risks of ever more powerful artificial intelligence in a captivating and persuasive way, but also proposes a concrete and promising solution. * Professor Max Tegmark, MIT, author of 'Life 3.0' *Stuart Russell has long been the most sensible voice in computer science on the topic of AI risk. And he has now written the book we've all been waiting for. Human Compatible is a brilliant and utterly accessible guide to what will be either the best or worst technological development in human history. -- Sam Harris, author of five New York Times bestsellers and host of the Making Sense podcastHuman Compatible made me a convert to Russell's concerns with our ability to control our upcoming creation -- super-intelligent machines. Unlike outside alarmists and futurists, Russell is a leading authority on AI. His new book will educate the public about AI more than any book I can think of, and is a delightful and uplifting read. -- Judea Pearl, Turing Award-winner and author of 'The Book of Why'Stuart Russell, one of the most important AI scientists of the last 25 years, may have written the most important book about AI so far, on one of the most important questions of the 21st century: How to build AI to be compatible with us. The book proposes a novel and intriguing solution for this problem, while offering many thought-provoking ideas and insights about AI along the way. An accessible and engaging must-read for the developers of AI and the users of AI - that is, for all of us. -- James Manyika * Chairman and director of McKinsey Global Institute *The man set on stopping the machines taking over. * The Telegraph *In clear and compelling language, Stuart Russell describes the huge potential benefits of Artificial Intelligence, as well as the hazards and ethical challenges. It's specially welcome that a respected leading authority should offer this balanced appraisal, avoiding both hype and scaremongering. -- Professor Martin Rees, Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge, and author of 'On the Future'A strong case for planning for the day when machines can outsmart us. * Kirkus Review *Persuasively argued and lucidly imagined, Human Compatible offers an unflinching, incisive look at what awaits us in the decades ahead. Stuart Russell's diagnosis of the risks and dangers of AI is convincing, and his prescription for action is compelling. No researcher has argued more persuasively about the risks of AI, nor has shown more clearly a pathway forward. Anyone who takes the future seriously should pay attention. -- Brian Christian, author of 'Algorithms to Live By'Can we coexist happily with the intelligent machines that humans will create? "Yes," answers Human Compatible, "but first..." Through a brilliant reimagining of the foundations of artificial intelligence, Russell takes you on a journey from the very beginning, explaining the questions raised by an AI-driven society and beautifully making the case for how to ensure machines remain beneficial to humans. A totally readable and crucially important guide to the future from one of the world's leading experts. -- Tabitha Goldstaub, co-founder of CognitionX and Head of the UK Government's AI CouncilThe same mix of de-mystifying authority and practical advice that Dr. Benjamin Spock once brought to the care and raising of children, Dr. Stuart Russell now brings to the care, raising, and yes, disciplining of machines. He has written the book that most -- but perhaps not all -- machines would like you to read. -- George Dyson, author of 'Turing's Cathedral' and 'Project Orion'This beautifully written book addresses a fundamental challenge for humanity: increasingly intelligent machines that do what we ask but not what we really intend. Essential reading if you care about our future. -- Professor Yoshua Bengio, Computer Science and Operations Research, Université de Montréal, winner of the 2018 Turing AwardA book that charts humanity's quest to understand intelligence, pinpoints why it became unsafe, and shows how to course-correct if we want to survive as a species. Stuart Russell, author of the leading AI textbook, can do all that with the wealth of knowledge of a prominent AI researcher and the persuasive clarity and wit of a brilliant educator. -- Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisA speculative glimpse at the numerous possibilities of how the world will end and what happens when it does, written by VICE journalist Mike PearlTrade ReviewBrilliantly anxiety affirming...Thanks to Mike Pearl, I can now claim my constant feeling of dread is based on expert interviews and careful scientific research. * Zach Weinersmith, coauthor of Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything *A deeply entertaining-if occasionally horrifying-imagining of a world where the unlikely has become the reality. * Joshua Piven, author of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook *The Day It Finally Happens got my brain buzzing with stories that bring together fantasy and reality. The well-researched speculations induce daydreams and nightmares and mark Mike Pearl as one of his generation's most interesting writers. * Alec Ross, New York Times bestselling author of The Industries of the Future *In his fascinating book The Day It Finally Happens journalist Mike Pearl, who admits almost gleefully that he suffers from generalized anxiety disorder and extended stretches of panic, imagines the future and is shocked by what he foresees. Think Woody Allen meets Alvin Toffler. Just as Toffler's Future Shock set a standard for crystal ball gazing decades ago, Pearl's mighty oak of a book gives us a sobering, and at times humorous, assessment of what's on today's horizon. When you present a litany of dire statistics, as Pearl often does, it's wise to preserve a sense of humor. Pearl has that in abundance. He's a funny guy, but with a serious side. I came away from The Day It Finally Happens bubbling with new information, and hopeful-but not certain-of a better future. * Charles Panati, author of Panati’s Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody *The Day It Finally Happens is unlike anything I've ever read. It's a bit like losing yourself in a thrumming kaleidoscope of our favorite hypothetical futures, which range from looming hellscapes to our most durable dreams-but you'll be surprisingly well-informed when you finally come to in the present. Sharp, comic, blunt, and justifiably anxious, Pearl is the ideal tour guide to what lies ahead. You'll probably find yourself, as I did, flipping to the next scenario, and the next, long past any sane hour of the night. Pearl's investigations into the worlds of tomorrow are never anything less than engrossing. * Brian Merchant, bestselling author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone *Alternately reassuring and hair-raising, The Day It Finally Happens uncovers surprising answers to all those 'What if?' questions that keep us up at night. It's like peering through a crack in time at what lies ahead and feeling yourself unable to take your eyes away. Trust Mike Pearl to be your intrepid guide to the future. * David Feldman, author of Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? and Why Do Fish Sleep? *I was floored by the detail in this survey of looming doom. Whether you intend to survive the cataclysm or merely drown passively in a tsunami of fire you should be versed in every one of these scenarios. Remember to keep a small bag packed! * John Roderick, host of the Omnibus Project Podcast, an apocalypse primer *

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Book SynopsisWorld-renowned future forecaster, game designer, and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Jane McGonigal gives us the tools to imagine the future without fear.How can we be confident about making plans?How might we feel secure despite the future being unknown?How do we learn to feel at peace with the unexpected?Today it feels more challenging than ever to feel unafraid, hopeful, and equipped to face the future with optimism. How do we map out our lives when it seems impossible to predict what the world will be like next week, let alone next year or next decade? What we need now are strategies to help us recover our confidence and creativity in facing uncertain futures.By learning to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable you can better plan for a future you'd like to see. And by seeing what's coming faster, you can adapt to new challenges, reduce anxiety, and build hope and resilience.'An accessible, optimistic field guide to the future.'-San Francisco Chronicle'Jane McGonigal is unusually adept at anticipating events that most of us can't even fathom. In this eye-opening, actionable book, she teaches you how to widen your peripheral vision, extend your imagination farther into the future, and conceive of the inconceivable.' Adam Grant, #1 Bestselling Author of Think Again__________'Top 10 innovators to watch' Business Week10 most powerful women to watch' Forbes'Top 100 creative people in business' Fast CompanyTrade ReviewJane McGonigal is unusually adept at anticipating events that most of us can't even fathom. In this eye-opening, actionable book, she teaches you how to widen your peripheral vision, extend your imagination farther into the future, and conceive of the inconceivable. * Adam Grant, #1 bestselling author of Think Again *Reading this book is like sitting down with a creative, optimistic friend-and getting up as a new version of yourself. Jane McGonigal has long been a visionary. Now she teaches the rest of us how to be one too. * Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of When and To Sell Is Human *In Imaginable, Jane McGonigal teaches us to bring soul-stirring imagination to our daily lives. As she persuasively demonstrates, imagination training is more than just a skill set: It's a creativity boost, a mindset shift, and an emotional uplift, all rolled up in one. The life-changing techniques you'll learn in this science-packed book will help you choose your future and feel more in control of what happens next. * Nir Eyal, New York Times bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable *Imaginable is a delightful and actionable antidote to apocalypse: an invitation to play with the future as if it were limited by nothing but our own imaginative capacity. An inspiring read. * Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock and Team Human *Expertly blending practical advice and big-picture thinking, this is a stimulating guide to preparing for the future. Readers will be inspired to put their imaginations to use. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisThe Age of Intelligent Machines is upon us, and as we approach the end of human intellectual superiority, we as a species need to plan for a monumental shift. A Human Algorithm examines the immense impact intelligent technology will have on humanity. These machines, while challenging our personal beliefs and our socio-economic world order, also have the potential to transform our health and well-being, alleviate poverty and suffering, and reveal the mysteries of intelligence and consciousness. International human rights attorney Flynn Coleman deftly argues that it is critical we instill values, ethics, and morals into our robots, algorithms, and other forms of AI. Equally important, we need to develop and implement laws, policies, and oversight mechanisms to protect us from tech's insidious threats. Ultimately, A Human Algorithm is a clarion call for building a more humane future and moving conscientiously into a new frontier of our own design.Trade Review'What does artificial intelligence mean, where is it going, and how will it affect us? We’re currently on a very steep part of the technology curve, and Flynn Coleman is a wonderfully astute, perceptive, and reliable guide as we ascend into our future.' David Eagleman, author of The Brain: The Story of You

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Book SynopsisShould our priorities change when we consider allthe lives yet to come?Trade Review'I was captivated by MacAskill’s rolling out of the possibilities of a longtermist approach to the now. It is vital to do as he does, to take ethics out of the safety of lecture-hall thought experiments, paradoxes and what-ifs and into the turbulent real world, where the dynamic winds of history blow and where is massing on the horizon that monstrous, swelling tsunami that we call the future. This is a book of great daring, clarity, insight and imagination. To be simultaneously so realistic and so optimistic, and always so damn readable… well that is a miracle for which he should be greatly applauded.' —Stephen Fry'MacAskill is probably one of the most influential thinkers in the world.' —The Times, Best Books of 2022‘A brilliant book that makes clear both how much is at stake when it comes to the long term, and the incredible opportunities we have to shape it. It has changed how I think about my time on earth.’ —Max Roser‘This book is a monumental event. William MacAskill is one of the most important philosophers alive today, and this is his magnum opus.’ —Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind'No living philosopher has had a greater impact upon my ethics than Will MacAskill. And much of the good I now do is the direct result of his influence. In What We Owe The Future, MacAskill has transformed my thinking once again, by patiently dismantling the lazy intuitions that rendered me morally blind to the interests of future generations. This is an altogether thrilling and necessary book.' —Sam Harris'MacAskill’s case for “longtermism” – “the idea that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time” – is overwhelmingly persuasive. But it’s also unapologetically optimistic and bracingly realistic: this is by some distance the most inspiring book on “ethical living” I’ve ever read… a powerful argument in favour of freedom of speech and viewpoint diversity… The overall promise of this thrilling book is of a life both less burdened by ethical guilt – by beating yourself up over every choice of groceries or transportation – and much more effective at actually helping humanity.' —Guardian'An optimistic look at the future that moved me to tears.' —Joseph Gordon-Levitt'A profoundly optimistic exploration of the opportunities our descendants might enjoy, and the steps we might take to help them… there are plenty of insights and surprises along the way… MacAskill has thrust an important and neglected argument into the spotlight, while making it vivid and fun to read. He hopes that this book will change the world, and it might.' —Financial Times'Remarkable… MacAskill’s command of factual detail is admirable. So are his lightness of prose and facility in explaining tricky arguments… Is our world better off for containing William MacAskill?... I say yes… MacAskill is a worthy heir to Derek Parfit’s philosophical legacy, adding deep factual research and accessible writing to a provocative line of thought.' —TLS

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Book SynopsisNeoliberalism isn't working. Austerity is forcing millions into poverty and many more into precarious work, while the left remains trapped in stagnant political practices that offer no respite.Inventing the Future is a bold new manifesto for life after capitalism. Against the confused understanding of our high-tech world by both the right and the left, this book claims that the emancipatory and future-oriented possibilities of our society can be reclaimed. Instead of running from a complex future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams demand a postcapitalist economy capable of advancing standards, liberating humanity from work and developing technologies that expand our freedoms.This new edition includes a new chapter where they respond to their various critics.Trade ReviewA powerful book: it not only shows us how the postcapitalist world of rapidly improving technology could make us free, but it also shows us how we can organise to get there. This is a must-read. * Paul Mason, author of Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future *Inventing the Future is exactly what we need right now. With immense patience and care, it sets out a clear and compelling vision of a postcapitalist society. Equally importantly, it lays out a plausible programme which can take us from 24/7 capitalist immiseration to a world free of work. -- Mark Fisher, author of Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?Neoliberalism and austerity seem to reign supreme - the idea of a society not run for profit seems impossible. Or does it? The fascinating Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams argues for a radical transformation of society. -- Owen Jones * New Statesman *Inventing the Future is unapologetically a manifesto, and a much-overdue clarion call to a seriously disorganized metropolitan left to get its shit together, to start thinking - and arguing - seriously about what is to be done.It is hard to deny the persuasiveness with which the book puts forward the positive contents of a new and vigorous populism; in demanding full automation and universal basic income from the world system, they also demand the return of utopian thinking and serious organization from the left. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Srnicek and Williams demonstrate how a sustainable economic future is less a question of means than of imagination. The postcapitalist world they envision is utterly attainable, if we can remember that we have been inventing the economy all along. -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens NowNick Srnicek and Alex Williams' project dares to propose a different way of thinking and acting. Given the fizzling of the Occupy moment, a radical rethinking of the anarchic approach is badly needed but just not happening. This book could do a lot of work in getting that rethink going. -- Doug Henwood, author of Wall StreetA conceptual launch pad for a new socialist imagination. -- Mike Davis, author of Planet of SlumsThe most important book of 2015. -- Aaron Bastani, co-founder of Novara MediaThey argue that, in the future, the workplace won't exist in anything like the form we have now, and in any case it will have very few permanent workers. Assuming this position, they ask: What would be the social vision appropriate to a jobless future? * n+1 *Inventing the Future may be the shrewdest, sanest pipe dream of a book published since the recession. -- Nathan Heller * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisNature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives: these are the seven things that have made our world and will shape its future. In making these things cheap, modern commerce has transformed, governed, and devastated Earth. In A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore present a new approach to analyzing today's planetary emergencies. Bringing the latest ecological research together with histories of colonialism, indigenous struggles, slave revolts, and other rebellions and uprisings, Patel and Moore demonstrate that throughout history, crises have always prompted fresh strategies to make the world cheap and safe for capitalism. At a time of crisis in all seven cheap things, innovative and systemic thinking is urgently required. This book proposes a radical new way of understanding-and reclaiming-the planet in the turbulent twenty-first century.Trade ReviewIf Patel and Moore don't quite make it to Mars, their book still covers an awful lot of ground. They move rapidly between economic analysis, history and political polemic, all in service of the premise that all the cheapness has in fact been catastrophically expensive... the overall impression is one of sweeping erudition, and an impressive ability to synthesise disparate elements. -- Mark O'Connell * Guardian *Their central argument - that the inevitable trajectory of capitalism is a race to the bottom in which we all end as losers - is surely one that needs to be heard. * New Internationalist *By shifting our attention away from the question of global warming to focus on the larger ideological manoeuvrings underpinning the way capitalism seeks to organise nature, Moore and Patel persuasively demonstrate that our responses to the crises of capitalism and climate that we are facing should not be exclusively about preventing catastrophic ecological change by blocking runway expansions. Instead, their work suggests that we are potentially seeing an unravelling of a much more complicated and convoluted set of longer running crises of capital that are becoming increasingly unmanageable, and not just because of heat waves or rising sea levels. -- Andrew Key * New Socialist *[A] highly readable, heavily-sourced book -- John Fullerton * Freedom News *Making the persuasive argument that capitalism is more than just an economic system, Patel and Moore illustrate how it has succeeded in creating an overwhelming planetary ecology, separating humans from the rest of nature, organising every relationship between them and exploiting all available resources to work for it as cheaply as possible. -- Jamie Johnson * Morning Star *

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Book SynopsisIn the twentieth century, wealth and power was dictated by access to oil. This century will have different kingmakers, perhaps different wars.''A remarkably hopeful and useful book...The climate crisis leaves us no choice but to build a new world and as Sanderson makes clear, we are capable of making it a better one than the dirty and dangerous planet we’ve come to take for granted.'' Bill McKibben, Observer book of the week We depend on a handful of metals and rare earths to power our phones and computers. Increasingly, we rely on them to power our cars and our homes. Whoever controls these finite commodities will become rich beyond imagining. Sanderson journeys to meet the characters, companies, and nations scrambling for the new resources, linking remote mines in the Congo and Chile’s Atacama Desert to giant Chinese battery factories, shadowy commodity traders, secretive billionaires, a new generation of scientists attempting Trade Review'A remarkably hopeful and useful book...The climate crisis leaves us no choice but to build a new world and as Sanderson makes clear, we are capable of making it a better one than the dirty and dangerous planet we’ve come to take for granted.' -- Bill McKibben, Observer book of the week‘Sanderson deftly guides us through the convolutions of which company bought what from which, and he livens up that potentially desiccated subject matter with an eye for characterful detail… Despite the seemingly insuperable geopolitical quandaries with which it deals, the tone of Sanderson’s book is one of cautious optimism.’ -- The Times‘As we glide along serenely in our electric vehicle, recharging it with clean solar power and perhaps feeling a little smug, we prefer not to be reminded of the vast industries that got us there, industries that gouge out the landscape, exploit workers, spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and engage in ruthless geopolitical power plays. Along the way, as Henry Sanderson shows in his essential book, we have become dangerously dependent on China which now dominates global battery supply. Under President Xi Jinping, who uses economic blackmail to extract political concessions, China has got a lock on the future. All this can change and Volt Rush shows us how.’ -- Clive Hamilton, author of Hidden Hand'A fascinating study' * The Times *‘A potent reminder to green power advocates that a world running on batteries and sunshine may not fight over oil, but it won’t necessarily be free of conflict’ * Financial Times *‘It’s a vital contribution to the emerging literature that’s pulling back the curtain on energy realities.’ -- Wall Street Journal‘The urgency of a green transition means the world faces new power struggles over access to scarce metals and minerals. Sanderson carefully walks us through the minefields that are the world's finite supplies of lithium, cobalt and nickel and reveals with startling immediacy the Machiavellian machinations for control over these precious resources. A riveting guide to our perilous future.’ -- Ann Pettifor, author of The Case for the Green New Deal'An excellent book…provides much food for thought' -- Literary Review‘Takes us on a carefully considered and well explained journey to show that [the switch to electric vehicles] may not be as simple a transition as we hoped for… Sanderson does a good job of getting the reader up to speed in terms of what goes into an electric battery, and why we need to be cognisant of the environmental impacts… very informative and well written in terms of the potentially toxic brew required to power EVs… a relevant and vital book.’ -- Irish Tech News‘From China to Congo to Chile to the U.S., Sanderson lucidly reveals the global connections behind the complex processes of battery production and mining… Any reader interested in environmental studies, green politics, the global energy sector, or the mining industry will appreciate Sanderson's deep dive into the transition from fossil fuels to green and clean energy, and how this transition will affect society now and in the near future.’ -- Booklist'Sanderson’s smooth, limpid storytelling brightens the deadening business of commodities trading: attention to the bizarre, often unpleasant characters populating the industry gives his narrative a personable shine.' -- Red Pepper'Volt Rush makes a great contribution in understanding what a green future entails—and what costs it might involve right now.’ -- Foreign Policy‘This is a terrific book. Henry Sanderson brings alive one of the most fateful questions of our time: who will control the resources that power a post-carbon world? What makes the book so compelling is the cast of colourful characters he meets and the insightful judgements he makes.’ -- James Kynge, FT China editor‘A must-read book, well written and investigated, on one of the most important ecological challenges we’ll face in the next decades.’ -- Guillaume Pitron, author of The Rare Metals War

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Book SynopsisThis book predicts the decline of today''s professions and introduces the people and systems that will replace them. In an internet-enhanced society, according to Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, we will neither need nor want doctors, teachers, accountants, architects, the clergy, consultants, lawyers, and many others, to work as they did in the 20th century.The Future of the Professions explains how increasingly capable technologies - from telepresence to artificial intelligence - will place the ''practical expertise'' of the finest specialists at the fingertips of everyone, often at no or low cost and without face-to-face interaction.The authors challenge the ''grand bargain'' - the arrangement that grants various monopolies to today''s professionals. They argue that our current professions are antiquated, opaque and no longer affordable, and that the expertise of their best is enjoyed only by a few. In their place, they propose five new models for producing and distributing expertise in society.The book raises profound policy issues, not least about employment (they envisage a new generation of ''open-collared workers'') and about control over online expertise (they warn of new ''gatekeepers'') - in an era when machines become more capable than human beings at most tasks.With a new preface exploring recent critical developments, this updated edition builds on the authors'' groundbreaking research into more than a dozen professions. Illustrated with numerous examples from each, this is the first book to assess and question the relevance of the professions in the 21st century.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition Perhaps the forthcoming tidal wave of technology set to engulf us all will throw up new opportunities for the legal profession — which is probably why just about every lawyer in London, so we are told, has bought a copy of this challenging, provocative, timely and important book. If you care about the future of your profession and wish to add further comment to the raging controversies surrounding it, better get yourself a copy now. * Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richard Green Chambers *In The Future of the Professions, father-and-son authors Richard and Daniel Susskind do a remorselessly effective job of demolishing the self-deception most people engage in when comparing themselves to machines. * Richard Waters, Financial Times *The authors are undoubtedly right that the professions will change more in the next quarter-century than they have in the previous three. * The Economist *Remarkable work. * Tom Watson, The Guardian *This is a bold book ... The Future of the Professions helps us to recognise the professions' current methods as convoluted, self-serving rituals designed to wrap simple tasks in mystique. * Giles Wilkes, Prospect *The Future of the Professions is a paradox that only a human mind could appreciate: the inevitable death of the professions is presented in an expert, original and witty work by two professionals whose skills (in thinking, writing and consultancy) are unlikely any time soon to be replicated by a machine. * David Pannick, The Times *The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts, is a must read for anyone who wants to gain insights into where the legal profession is going ... Nothing else I have read more clearly and convincingly elucidates the future of legal services and how technology will transform the traditional practice of law. * Dan Pinnington, Slaw *An act of delicious iconoclasm. * Prospect Magazine *Both a good read and a good starter for strategic planning in professional firms * Chris Yapp, Future Tech Blog *I suggest that everyone who considers themselves 'professional' reads this book, especially those who are aged, say, 20-45, who need to secure their role in the new world of work. The authors predict that "our professions will be dismantled incrementally". If they are right, todays lawyers need to prepare for it, and the sooner the better. * Dan Bindman, Legal Futures *A fascinating and challenging book. * Medium *The study is exceptionally well informed and important contribution to thinking about the future of professional work * Network Review *As the saying is, the future is now and we ignore it at our peril. Please read this book. * Law Skills *The book is written in a relaxed, flowing and easily-consumable style ... a read of The Future of the Professions is time very well-spent. * Jeremy Hopkins, Future of Law *Everyone interested in the future well-being of society must read this thoroughly researched and compelling book - to understand how technology can and will be used to enable the public to do far more for themselves. In reshaping our system of justice so that it can more cost-effectively underpin our democratic society and its prosperity, I have had the benefit of the Susskinds core thesis how to use technology not simply to enable the legal professions to do better what they now do, but to reshape justice for the benefit of the public. * Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales *If the Susskinds are right we are at the start of a social revolution. Technology has begun to transform social class, economic activity, political discourse, working life and the limits of human activity. In The Future of the Professions they relentlessly and unyieldingly but also entertainingly and elegantly set about proving their point. I started knowing that their argument was important, I finished convinced that it was right. This is a necessary book. It was necessary that it be written and necessary that you read it. * Daniel Finkelstein, The Times *Impressive new book. * Edward Fennell, The Times *I know of no better book for anyone interested in the future of skilled jobs and society. Drawing on an astounding range of sources and the latest research, The Future of the Professions offers vital insights into the unprecedented disruption facing all the professions. * Professor Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development and Director of the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford *In this magisterial survey Richard and Daniel Susskind demolish each profession's faith in its immutable uniqueness. Instead they trace inexorable and universal forces that will drive disintermediation, deconstruction and disruption. Written with scholarly thoroughness, this is an urgent manifesto and practical blueprint for the leaders of every professional firm. * Philip Evans, Senior Partner & BCG Fellow, The Boston Consulting Group *Table of ContentsPreface to the Updated Edition IntroductionI: Change 1: The Grand Bargain 2: From the Vanguard 3: Patterns Across the ProfessionsII: Theory 4: Information and Technology 5: Production and Distribution of KnowledgeIII: Implications 6: Objections and Anxieties 7: After the Professions Conclusion: What Future Should We Want?

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Book Synopsis'A dazzling history of the future – Hamish McRae has given us a tour de force' - Tim Harford _______________ A bold and illuminating vision of the future, from one of Europe’s foremost speakers on global trends in economics, business and society What will the world look like in 2050? How will complex forces of change – demography, the environment, finance, technology and ideas about governance – affect our global society? And how, with so many unknowns, should we think about the future? One of Europe’s foremost voices on global trends in economics, business and society, Hamish McRae takes us on an exhilarating journey through the next thirty years. Drawing on decades of research, and combining economic judgement with historical perspective, Hamish weighs up the opportunities and dangers we face, analysing the economic tectonic plates of the past and present in order to help us chart a map of the future. A bold and vital vision of our planet, The World in 2050 is an essential projection for anyone worried about what the future holds. For if we understand how our world is changing, we will be in a better position to secure our future in the decades to come.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE WORLD IN 2050: A dazzling history of the future – Hamish McRae has given us a tour de force. * Tim Harford *Wholeheartedly recommended … exceptionally stimulating … a cornucopia of well-reasoned, insightful analysis. -- Ian Harwood * The Society of Professional Economists *Exceptionally wide ranging, deeply thoughtful and well written ... We cannot predict the future, but fortunately we can read Hamish McRae’s masterful analysis to anticipate, understand and shape it. * Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development, University of Oxford *Looking into the future takes courage and insight and fortunately Hamish McRae has both. In this engrossing book, he draws on a wealth of research to examine the great trends that are shaping our world and help us to understand where we are going -- Margaret MacMillanPraise for The World in 2020: Each page bristles with insights. Everybody who is thoughtful about the future should read this book * Sunday Times *A rare combination of economics, political judgement and human values -- Anthony SampsonBrings together a wealth of information, sound judgements and an eye for telling detail * Financial Times *The best topographical survey of the world’s economic landscape that I have read * International Herald Tribune *Thoughtful, sensible, and extremely well-written * Economist *

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Book SynopsisIn May 1997, the world watched as Garry Kasparov, the greatest chess player in the world, was defeated for the first time by the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue. It was a watershed moment in the history of technology: machine intelligence had arrived at the point where it could best human intellect. It wasn't a coincidence that Kasparov became the symbol of man's fight against the machines. Chess has long been the fulcrum in development of machine intelligence; the hoax automaton 'The Turk' in the 18th century and Alan Turing's first chess program in 1952 were two early examples of the quest for machines to think like humans -- a talent we measured by their ability to beat their creators at chess. As the pre-eminent chessmaster of the 80s and 90s, it was Kasparov's blessing and his curse to play against each generation's strongest computer champions, contributing to their development and advancing the field. Like all passionate competitors, Kasparov has taken his defeat and learned from Trade ReviewExcellent... No scientist or tech entrepreneur could make the positive case for the digital revolution with the passionate conviction that Kasparov brings. Not many tragic heroes live to tell the tale. This one did * THE TIMES *A gripping account of an intellectual battle like no other.. For fans, it will be like reading Nelson's postmatch analysis of Trafalgar . . . Deep Thinking is both a lesson in not panicking prematurely and a warning about knowing who your real opponent is * DAILY TELEGRAPH *Fascinating . . . an impressively researched history of AI and the field's ongoing obsession with chess . . . with enough detail to satisfy chess enthusiasts, while providing a thrilling narrative for the casual reader. Deep Thinking delivers a rare balance of analysis and narrative, weaving commentary about technological progress with an inside look at one of the most important chess matches ever played -- DEMIS HASSABIS * NATURE *The raw emotion of that encounter in New York bursts out of the pages of Kasparov's gripping story. What is striking, and reassuring, is that far from raging against the machine, Kasparov marvels at the capabilities of computers and is excited by the possibilities for future collaboration.This reads at times like a fast-paced psychological thriller. Chess fans will be engrossed by Kasparov's tale but the book deserves a far broader readership -- John Thornhill * FINANCIAL TIMES *An absorbing, page-turning thriller that weaves a personal account of intellectual combat with the wider picture of what it's like to come up against a powerful corporation that is determined to do whatever it takes to crush opposition. Not just a tale of human vs machine, this is also a story about one man vs The Man. * OBSERVER *As Kasparov recounts in arresting detail what it felt like to compete cognitively with a machine, he extrapolates his experience into an optimistic perspective on how computerized intelligence can enhance rather than overwhelm human brainpower, and instead of eliminating jobs and opportunities, can actually generate them. * BOOKLIST *Garry Kasparov's perspectives on artificial intelligence are borne of personal experience - and despite that, are optimistic, wise and compelling. It's one thing for the giants of Silicon Valley to tell us our future is bright; it is another thing to hear it from the man who squared off with the world's most powerful computer, with the whole world watching, and his very identity at stake. -- CHARLES DUHIGG, author of 'Smarter Faster Better'Intelligent, absorbing...thoughtful reading for anyone interested in human and machine cognition and a must for chess fans * KIRKUS (starred review) *DEEP THINKING is an absorbing, often brilliant book which no chess-lover should miss -- Edward Winter * CHESSHISTORY.COM *The great Garry Kasparov takes on the key economic issue of our time: how we can thrive as humans in a world of thinking machines. This important and optimistic book explains what we as humans are uniquely qualified to do. Instead or wringing our hands about robots, we should all read this book and embrace the future. -- WALTER ISAACSON, author of 'The Innovators'From the man at the epi-center of one of the ten defining moments of the 20th century, a fascinating and insightful overview of how computers came to surpass humans at chess, and what it means for mankind. Deeply researched and clearly exposited, it is also a revealing portrait of what it is like to be a real-life John Henry pitted against the steam hammer. -- KEN ROGOFF, author of 'This Time is Different'A highly human exploration of artificial intelligence, its exciting possibilities and inherent limits. -- MAX LEVCHIN, cofounder of PayPal and CEO of AffirmA book dripping with evangelical zeal * Sunday Business Post *At a time when fears about computer intelligence have become "existential", Kasparov has revisited the experience in a timely, thoughtful memoir. Part page-turning thriller, part meditation on the idea of thinking machines, Deep Thinking is both gripping and measured * Book of the Week, THE WEEK *This book is prompted by the accident of history that meant Garry Kasparov was the finest chess player in the world at the point at which computers exceeded the ability of humans. It is about chess and programming - but also about the wider implications of artificial intelligence * THE TIMES, Science Books of the Year *An entertainingly pugnacious mix of memoir and more general arguments about how we should learn to live with our thinking machines * DAILY TELEGRAPH, Science Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisThere should no longer be any doubt: global capitalism is fast approaching its terminal crisis. But if the end of capitalism seems to many like the end of the world, how is it possible for Western society to face up to the end times? In a major new analysis of our global situation, Zizek argues that our collective responses to economic Armageddon correspond to the stages of grief: ideological denial, explosions of anger and attempts at bargaining, followed by depression and withdrawal. For this edition, Zizek has written a long afterword that leaves almost no subject untouched, from WikiLeaks to the nature of the Chinese Communist Party.Trade ReviewThe most dangerous philosopher in the West. -- Adam Kirsch * The New Republic *Fierce brilliance ... scintillating. -- Steven Poole * The Guardian *Zizek is to today what Jacques Derrida was to the 80s: the thinker of choice for Europe's young intellectual vanguard. * The Observer *Such passion, in a man whose work forms a shaky, cartoon rope-bridge between the minutiae of popular culture and the big abstract problems of existence, is invigorating, entertaining and expanding enquiring minds around the world. -- Helen Brown * Daily Telegraph *Zizek weaves together psychoanalytic and historical materialist theories with great panache. -- Ashley Dawson * Social Text *

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Book SynopsisOur systems are failing. Old models - for education, healthcare and government, food production, energy supply - are creaking under the weight of modern challenges. As the world's population heads towards 10 billion, it's clear we need new approaches. Futurologist Mark Stevenson sets out to find them, across four continents. From Brazilian favelas to high tech Boston, from rural India to a shed inventor in England's home counties, We Do Things Differently travels the world to find the advance guard re-imagining our future. At each stop, he meets innovators who have already succeeded in challenging the status quo, pioneering new ways to make our world more sustainable, equitable and humane. Populated by extraordinary characters, We Do Things Differently paints an enthralling picture of what can be done to address the world's most pressing dilemmas, offering a much needed dose of down-to-earth optimism. It is a window on (and a roadmap to) a different and better future.Trade ReviewStevenson is an excellent storyteller ... fascinating. * The Times *Inspirational. The book works so well because Stevenson gets out there to see things for himself. * Daily Mail *An ability to express even the most complex scientific problems in terms easily understood by a layperson. * Sydney Morning Herald *Stevenson wears no blindfold. His tools are curiosity, open-mindedness, clarity and reason. That makes his journey intriguing... and ultimately exhilarating. * TED.com *Stevenson's engaging commentary has the ability to restore your faith in human ingenuity in the face of adversity * Geographical magazine *Not just a great read, but a really important one too. * Atlas of the Future *Stevenson is one of those rare visionaries who fascinates and entertains in equal measure. Do not be surprised if he becomes a household name in the not-too-distant future. * London Literature Festival *Stevenson writes with enormous warmth and humour. * Cory Doctorow *By the end of this exhilarating page-turner my faith had been restored. * EcoHustler *From the reviews of An Optimist's Tour of the Future: 'A rollicking roller-coaster ride around the cutting edge of science with dozens of laugh-out-loud moments * Scotsman *Stevenson puts the trends of tomorrow's world into perspective with a quizzical, fast-paced, quick-witted tour of the scientific horizon * The Times *Certainly one of the most interesting science books I've read for a long time * New Statesman *A grand tour of charismatic technologies and their prophets ... Stevenson bags an impressive list of interviewees * Financial Times *Essential ... illuminating and refreshingly hopeful ... an auspicious yet grounded vision * The Atlantic *

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Book SynopsisA fascinating exploration of how we can make better, accessible, mathematically-informed predictions about the world around us.

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Book Synopsis''Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum contribute significantly to one of the most important issues of our time-how to move forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution'' -Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba GroupWorld Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab offers a practical companion and field guide to his previous book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution.Today, technology is changing everything-how we relate to one another, the way we work, how our economies and governments function, and even what it means to be human. Incredible advances-from cryptocurrencies to AI to the internet of things-are already transforming society in unprecedented ways. But the Fourth Industrial Revolution is still in its infancy, says Schwab, and at a time of such tremendous uncertainty and change, it''s our actions that will determine the trajectory the future will take.Drawing on contributions from 200 top experts in fields ranging from machine learning to geo-engineering to nanotechnology, to data ethics, Schwab equips readers with the practical tools to leverage the technologies of the future to leave the world better, safer, and more resilient than we found it.''The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are extraordinary. Leadership has to be equally extraordinary to manage the complexities of systemic change'' - Eric Schmidt, Technical Advisor, AlphabetTrade ReviewThe world has fast entered a data and technology-driven era where new opportunities but also challenges are emerging. In this book, Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum contribute significantly to one of the most important issues of our time - how to move forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution -- Jack Ma * Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group Holding, People's Republic of China *It's no secret that technologies are reshaping the world's economies and societies. To manage the risks and spread the benefits, we have to act now, and in the interest of stakeholders everywhere -- Andrew McAfee * Co-Founder, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA *Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution sheds light on what's at stake for society and how leaders can play a part in shaping the course of history. Klaus makes a powerful call in the book: "We have to shake things up before technological inertia determines our future for us." Act now. -- Zhu Min * Chairman, National Institute of Financial Research, People's Republic of China *The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are extraordinary. Leadership has to be equally extraordinary to manage the complexities of systemic change -- Eric Schmidt * Technical Advisor, Alphabet, USA *This book is essential for gaining a perspective on some of the critical challenges that rapid technological change poses to us all: ensuring the wellbeing of societies, understanding the evolving role of governments, and rethinking how the global economy will work in the 21st century -- Roberto Azevêdo * Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva *The World Economic Forum shows us that improving the state of the world will mean seriously thinking about, and empowering, all of those whose lives are transformed by technologies -- Peter Maurer * President, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Geneva *Prosperity with technology means defending the rights of women on the frontline of change, defending the dignity of work for all workers and improving working conditions around the world. A Fourth Industrial Revolution that can do that would benefit us all -- Sharan Burrow * General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Brussels *The Fourth Industrial Revolution is being felt profoundly around the world. Chapter by chapter, special insights from some of the best minds from the World Economic Forum's community show just where leadership focus is needed -- Luis Alberto Moreno * President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC *The title says it all. Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution emphasizes the modern imperative to shape a development model that dramatically reduces our current unsustainable footprint on the planet, as a critical foundation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution to succeed. Or there won't be a fifth -- Marco Lambertini * Director-General, WWF International, Switzerland *The challenge is clear: if we want to create technologies which benefit us all, and help us create more just and inclusive societies, we need to ensure that the values of human dignity and equality become a core design and use principle -- Shalil Shetty * Secretary-General, Amnesty International, United Kingdom *

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Book SynopsisSUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe creator of the Gaia hypothesis and the greatest environmental thinker of our time has produced an astounding new theory about the future of life on Earth. James Lovelock argues that the anthropocene - the age in which humans acquired planetary-scale technologies - is, after three centuries, coming to an end. A new age - the novacene - has already begun.New beings will emerge from existing artificial intelligence systems. They will think 10,000 times faster than we do and will regard us as we now regard plants. The cruel, violent machine takeover imagined by sci-fi writers will not happen: these hyper-intelligent beings will be as dependent on the health of the planet as we are. They will need the planetary cooling system of Gaia to defend from the increasing heat of the sun. Gaia depends on organic life. We will be partners in this project. It is crucial, Lovelock argues, that the intelligence of Earth survives and prospers. We are at present the only beings capable of understanding the cosmos, but he speculates that the novacene could be the beginning of a process that will see intelligence suffusing the entire cosmos. At the age 100, Lovelock has produced the most compelling work of his life.Trade ReviewThe hard science is explained with beautiful clarity, and a characteristic mischievous wit ... It is a bracing corrective -- Steven Poole * Guardian *This restlessly thoughtful and forward-looking book ... is partly a defence of a lifetime's ideas, but mostly an argument about how AI is soon to overtake us - and what that means for our species -- James McConnachie * The Times *Leavened with wit and optimism ... Novacene is the collected wisdom of an elder of our tribe which more than repays the short time it takes to read. -- Stephen Cave * Financial Times *Novacene reads like undiluted Lovelock. From the start of his writing life - no matter how tortuous the narrative or complex the argument - Lovelock has written persuasively. ... if you want a sense of hyperintelligence in bipedal form, Novacene is a good place to start. -- Tim Radford * Nature *

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Book SynopsisAn imagination of possibilities, of miscalculations, of futures off-kilter “Probability is a chimera, its head is true, its tail a suggestion. Futurologists attempt to compel the head to eat the tail (ouroboros). Here, though, we will try to wag the tail.” —Vilém Flusser Two years after his Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, the philosopher Vilém Flusser engaged in another thought experiment: a collection of twenty-two “scenarios for the future” to be produced as computer-generated media, or technical images, that would break the imaginative logjam in conceiving the social, political, and economic future of the universe. What If? is not just an “impossible journey” to which Flusser invites us in the first scenario; it functions also as a distorting mirror held up to humanity. Flusser’s disarming scenarios of an Anthropocene fraught with nightmares offer new visions that range from the scientific to the fantastic to the playful and whimsical. Each essay reflects our present sense of understanding the world, considering the exploitation of nature and the dangers of global warming, overpopulation, and blind reliance on the promises of scientific knowledge and invention. What If? offers insight into the radical futures of a slipstream Anthropocene that have much to do with speculative fiction, with Flusser’s concept of design as “crafty” or slippery, and with art and the immense creative potential of failure versus reasonable, “good” computing or calculability. As such, the book is both a warning and a nudge to imagine what we may yet become and be.Trade Review"While the universe Flusser created with his previous book, Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, explores a single alternate lifeworld coherent in its mirroring of the human species by a cephalopod, each scenario in What If? suggests a variety of new ideas, given the speculative, projecting nature of their setting—in the best and most creative sense of ‘what if’—in the past, the present, or the future."—from the IntroductionTable of ContentsIntroduction: What If? Into the Slipstream of Flusser’s “Field of Possibilities”Anke FingerFirst Scenario: What If . . .Part I. Scenes from Family LifeSecond Scenario: GrandmotherThird Scenario: GrandfatherFourth Scenario: Great UncleFifth Scenario: BrothersSixth Scenario: SonSeventh Scenario: GrandchildrenEighth Scenario: Great-GrandchildrenPart II. Scenes from Economic LifeNinth Scenario: Economic MiracleTenth Scenario: Foreign AidEleventh Scenario: Mechanical EngineeringTwelfth Scenario: AgricultureThirteenth Scenario: Chemical IndustryFourteenth Scenario: Animal HusbandryPart III. Scenes from PoliticsFifteenth Scenario: WarSixteenth Scenario: Aural ObedienceSeventeenth Scenario: Perpetual PeaceEighteenth Scenario: RevolutionNineteenth Scenario: Parliamentary DemocracyTwentieth Scenario: Aryan ImperialismTwenty-First Scenario: Black Is BeautifulPart IV. ShowdownTwenty-Second Scenario: A BreatherAfterwordKenneth GoldsmithAcknowledgmentsNotes

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Book SynopsisLooking towards the future can be daunting, but with Future Hackers, the sequel to The Future Is Now, you can prepare for the exciting changes that lie ahead.From technological advancements to cultural shifts, the coming years will bring unprecedented transformations that will shape our lives in ways we can't even imagine.This book is your essential guide to understanding these changes and adapting to them with optimism and confidence. With expert insights into the latest trends in work, leadership and technology, Future Hackers is your indispensable tool for thriving in a rapidly changing world. Whether you're a business leader, a student, or just someone who wants to stay ahead of the curve, this book will help you navigate the road to 2030 and beyond.

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Book SynopsisPerfect for readers of James Rebanks, Wendell Berry and Thomas Piketty, A Small Farm Future is a refreshingly new outlook on the way forward for society. A vital resource for activists, students, policy makers and anyone looking to enact change. In a time of UNCERTAINTY, what would a truly RESILIENT SOCIETY look like? The recent pandemic has brought to light the fragility of a globalised food system. We have seen firsthand how important farmers are and how scary it can be when supply chains break down. This is precisely the type of crisis farmer and former social scientist Chris Smaje delves into in his ground-breaking debut A Small Farm Future. Destined to become a modern classic, A Small Farm Future plants a flag at the intersection between economics, agriculture and society during a time of immense crisis. Smaje makes the case for organising human societies around small-scale, local and ecological farming in order to meet the environmental and political challenges of our times.Trade Review‘Food is the core of culture, and modern industrial culture is rotting from the inside out due to its reliance on fossil-fueled agriculture. The only viable future is one based on small, ecologically regenerative, labor-intensive farming. Chris Smaje’s brilliant book presents the rationale, surveys methods and issues, and supplies an abundance of insight derived from the author’s twenty years of experience. Every young person should read this book.’—Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute ‘We are facing an existential crisis – with species extinction, climate catastrophes, desertification of soil, disappearance of water, pandemics of infectious and chronic diseases, hunger and malnutrition. Industrialized, globalized agriculture based on the myth that it feeds the world is driving the multiple, interconnected crisis. Eighty percent of the food we eat comes from small farms. Chris Smaje’s A Small Farm Future shows that the choice is clear. Either we have a small farm future, or we face collapse and extinction.’—Vandana Shiva, author of Oneness vs. the 1% and Who Really Feeds the World? ‘A Small Farm Future is a solid and truly inspiring book. I have dedicated the last 17 years of my life to creating a micro farm, and what I have learned fully confirms what Chris Smaje says: a small, ecologically inspired farm can produce high-quality, local food while also improving soil fertility, storing carbon, conserving water resources and improving biodiversity. Not to mention creating jobs and improving quality of life. A return to Mother Earth is the foundation on which we can build a new paradigm of sustainable and equitable abundance based on biological resources, renewable energies, eco-construction and solidarity – among individuals and cultures, and across generations. Getting out of a virtual and globalized economy to cultivate the land with love and respect is our only hope to pass on a viable planet to our children. This is also the secret to happiness!’—Charles Hervé-Gruyer, author of Miraculous Abundance; co-founder, Bec Hellouin Farm, France‘On one side we have science-based high tech with neoliberal economics, driven by the perceived need to control nature and to maximize material wealth; and on the other are traditional human skills and values. Whether it’s dressed in the trappings of communism or capitalism or autocracy or democracy, the former is undoubtedly winning. Governments and their chosen advisers the world over equate high tech and measurable economic “growth” with progress. ‘But the dominance of what now passes as modernity is killing us all. The methods it gives rise to and the mindset behind it are at the root of all the world’s crises. What we need now above all else is food production based on small farming – albeit assisted by excellent science and sometimes by high tech; feeding into localised economies; and deployed with true concern for the welfare of humanity and our fellow creatures. Chris Smaje, a sociologist-cum-anthropologist turned smallholder, is showing us exactly what is needed and why. A timely and valuable book – and a very readable read.’—Colin Tudge, co-founder, Oxford Real Farming Conference and the College for Real Farming and Food Culture; author of The Great Re-Think‘A Small Farm Future makes plain that the next 30 years will look very different to the last 30. Yet Smaje’s unique integration of big-picture insight and hard-won experience clears the fog, brilliantly revealing reliable and meaningful paths forward, even as the ground shifts beneath our feet.’—Shaun Chamberlin, author of The Transition Timeline; editor of Lean Logic and Surviving the Future‘This book is such a treat. In an era of generalized crisis, Chris Smaje articulates an appealing, beautiful vision of the future. Chris has walked the talk, which makes his plea all the more powerful and convincing.’—Dr. Giorgos Kallis, ICREA research professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)‘Anyone involved in political thought, agriculture, justice, or futurism who is not familiar with Chris Smaje’s writing from his blog should do themselves the favor of picking up this book as soon as possible. Smaje’s writing is pretty much always worth engaging with – whether for the wry humor, the ways he challenges us to think harder and more boldly, his relentless humanism or his ability to marry nuance with accessibility. He is a visionary in the most interesting and exciting meaning of the word. His writing consistently shows him to be an intellectual tour guide par excellence: he may or may not see further than others, but he certainly never fails to help us see what is in front of us better.’—M. Jahi Chappell, executive director, Southeastern African-American Farmers’ Organic Network (SAAFON); author of Beginning to End Hunger‘Chris Smaje brings intellectual rigour to the centuries-old demand for “three acres and a cow”.’—Simon Fairlie, author of Meat: A Benign Extravagance; editor, The Land magazine‘Superb! This book shows with great clarity why we are heading for planetary disaster and suggests ways in which new kinds of more stable social and economic practices might evolve around support for sustainable agriculture. A timely and compelling vision of a New Agrarianism. Highly recommended.’—Paul Richards, author of Indigenous Agricultural Revolution and Ebola; emeritus professor of technology and agrarian development, Wageningen University‘Time to tune in – these are powerful arguments for collective action in agriculture. We know that small farms offer solutions to the crises of our time. Stewardship, guardianship and rebuilding biodiversity is real, meaningful work. If each human engaged meaningfully, every day, in their own subsistence, imagine how much more accountable our society would become. This restoration of our food and ecosystems will take many hands, many years, and much patience and goodwill. This means that those of us already farming will need to become well versed in transmitting the why and the how to those who will join us. The coming radical shifts in ownership, tenure, settlement and structure present an incredible opportunity for sanity, subsistence and self-determination. Onward!’—Severine von Tscharner Fleming, director, Greenhorns; chair, Agrarian Trust‘As a breakdown of the climate, state power and globalized markets pushes us toward an epochal transition, Chris Smaje offers us a hopeful vision of a relocalized, self-sufficient world. With fierce intelligence and rich evidence, he explains the vital role that small farms must play in this emerging future, artfully weaving together neglected strands of economic, ecological, cultural and political thought.’—David Bollier, director, Reinventing the Commons Program, Schumacher Center for a New Economics; coauthor (with Silke Helfrich) of Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons

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Book SynopsisThis ambitious and thought-provoking new work offers an overarching analysis of decision-making in all walks of life.

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Book Synopsis A brilliant young neuroscientist explains how to preserve our minds indefinitely, enabling future generations to choose to revive usJust as surgeons once believed pain was good for their patients, some argue today that death brings meaning to life. But given humans rarely live beyond a century even while certain whales can thrive for over two hundred years it's hard not to see our biological limits as profoundly unfair. No wonder then that most people nearing death wish they still had more time.Yet, with ever-advancing science, will the ends of our lives always loom so close? For from ventilators to brain implants, modern medicine has been blurring what it means to die. In a lucid synthesis of current neuroscientific thinking, Zeleznikow-Johnston explains that death is no longer the loss of heartbeat or breath, but of personal identity that the core of our identities is our minds, and that our minds are encoded in the structure of our brains. On this basis, he explores how recently invented brain preservation techniques now offer us all the chance of preserving our minds to enable our future revival.Whether they fought for justice or cured diseases, we are grateful to those of our ancestors who helped craft a kinder world yet they cannot enjoy the fruits of the civilization they helped build. But if we work together to create a better future for our own descendants, we may even have the chance to live in it. Because, should we succeed, then just maybe, the future will love us enough to bring us back and share their world with us.

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Book SynopsisA sweeping history of and meditation on humanity''s relationship with machines, showing how we got here and what happens nextFaith in technological fixes for our problems is waning. Automation, which promised relief from toil, has reactivated the long-standing fear of job redundancy. Information technology, meant to liberate us from traditional authority, is placing unprecedented powers of surveillance and control in the hands of a purely secular Big Brother. And for the first time, artificial intelligence threatens anthropogenic disaster disaster caused by our own activities. Scientists join imaginative writers in warning us of the fate of Icarus, whose wings melted because he flew too close to the sun.This book tells the story of our fractured relationship with machines from humanity's first tools down to the present and into the future. It raises the crucial question of why some parts of the world developed a machine civilisation' and not others, and traces the interactions between capitalism and technology, and between science and religion, in the making of the modern world.Taking in the peaks of philosophy and triumphs of science, the foundation of economics and speculations of fiction, Robert Skidelsky embarks on a bold intellectual journey through the evolution of our understanding of technology and what this means for our lives and politics. Unless we understand technology as a system of ideas rather than as a necessity,' he writes, we will be powerless to choose which technology is best suited to our needs and purposes.'

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Book Synopsis''In this book, Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum contribute significantly to one of the most important issues of our time - how to move forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution'' Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group Holding, People''s Republic of China''It''s no secret that technologies are reshaping the world''s economies and societies. To manage the risks and spread the benefits, we have to act now, and in the interest of stakeholders everywhere'' Andrew McAfee, Co-Founder, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, MIT, USAWe are on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And this one will be unlike any other in human history.Characterized by new technologies fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will impact all disciplines, economies and industries - and it will do so at an unprecedented rate. World Economic Forum data predicts that by 2025 we will see: commercial use of nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than human hair; the first transplant of a 3D-printed liver; 10% of all cars on US roads being driverless; and much more besides.In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Schwab outlines the key technologies driving this revolution, discusses the major impacts on governments, businesses, civil society and individuals, and offers bold ideas for what can be done to shape a better future for all.''The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are extraordinary. Leadership has to be equally extraordinary to manage the complexities of systemic change'' Eric Schmidt, Technical Advisor, Alphabet, USATrade ReviewThe world has fast entered a data and technology-driven era where new opportunities but also challenges are emerging. In this book, Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum contribute significantly to one of the most important issues of our time - how to move forward in the Fourth Industrial Revolution * Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group Holding, People's Republic of China *It's no secret that technologies are reshaping the world's economies and societies. To manage the risks and spread the benefits, we have to act now, and in the interest of stakeholders everywhere * Andrew McAfee, Co-Founder, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, MIT, USA *Sheds light on what's at stake for society and how leaders can play a part in shaping the course of history. Klaus makes a powerful call in the book: "We have to shake things up before technological inertia determines our future for us." Act now * Zhu Min, Chairman, National Institute of Financial Research, People's Republic of China *The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are extraordinary. Leadership has to be equally extraordinary to manage the complexities of systemic change * Eric Schmidt, Technical Advisor, Alphabet, USA *This book is essential for gaining a perspective on some of the critical challenges that rapid technological change poses to us all: ensuring the wellbeing of societies, understanding the evolving role of governments, and rethinking how the global economy will work in the 21st century * Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva *The World Economic Forum shows us that improving the state of the world will mean seriously thinking about, and empowering, all of those whose lives are transformed by technologies * Peter Maurer, President, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Geneva *Prosperity with technology means defending the rights of women on the frontline of change, defending the dignity of work for all workers and improving working conditions around the world. A Fourth Industrial Revolution that can do that would benefit us all * Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Brussels *The Fourth Industrial Revolution is being felt profoundly around the world. Chapter by chapter, special insights from some of the best minds from the World Economic Forum's community show just where leadership focus is needed * Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC *The challenge is clear: if we want to create technologies which benefit us all, and help us create more just and inclusive societies, we need to ensure that the values of human dignity and equality become a core design and use principle * Shalil Shetty, Secretary-General, Amnesty International, United Kingdom *

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Book Synopsis''A terrific book - essential reading for everyone seeking to make sense of Artificial Intelligence'' Professor Sir Adrian Smith, Director and Chief Executive of the Alan Turing InstituteIn this myth-busting guide to AI past and present, one of the world''s leading researchers shows why our fears for the future are misplaced.The ultimate dream of AI is to build machines that are like us: conscious and self-aware. While this remains a remote possibility, rapid progress in AI is already transforming our world. Yet the public debate is still largely centred on unlikely prospects, from sentient machines to dystopian robot takeovers.In this lively and clear-headed guide, Michael Wooldridge challenges the prevailing narrative, revealing how the hype distracts us from both the more immediate risks that this technology poses - from algorithmic bias to fake news - and the true life-changing potential of the field. The Road to Conscious Machines elucidates the discoveries of AI''s greatest pioneers from Alan Turing to Demis Hassabis, and what today''s researchers actually think and do.''Nobody understands the past, the present, the promise and the peril of this new technology better than Michael Wooldridge. The definitive account'' Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist''Effortlessly readable. The perfect guide to the history and future of AI'' Tom Chivers, author of The AI Does Not Hate YouTrade ReviewA terrific book - essential reading for everyone seeking to make sense of Artificial Intelligence. Wooldridge provides a clear-sighted and entertaining account of both the technical development of AI and the social and ethical issues arising from its increasing deployment. -- Professor Sir Adrian Smith, Director and Chief Executive of The Alan Turing InstituteTakes us expertly by the hand through the labyrinth of Artificial Intelligence. A penetrating and lucid contribution to our digital understanding, which dispels many of the myths surrounding AI. Authoritative but accessible and highly readable. * Lord Clement-Jones CBE, Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence 2017–2018 *Calm, informative and refreshingly free of hype, Wooldridge's effortlessly readable book is the perfect guide to the history and future of AI. -- Tom Chivers, science writer and author of 'The AI Does Not Hate You'In the long and often frustrating quest for artificial intelligence, something spectacular has happened in the past decade. Nobody understands the past, the present, the promise and the peril of this new technology better than Michael Wooldridge. He has written the definitive account of the new AI. -- Lord Matt Ridley, author of 'The Rational Optimist' and 'The Evolution of Everything'The buzz around AI has unearthed many questions and in The Road to Conscious Machines you get answers. -- Tabitha Goldstaub, co-founder of CognitionX and Chair of the UK Government's AI CouncilIn an age when AI is promoted as either the greatest threat or best hope for humanity, Wooldridge gives us a text that is accessible and authoritative. A balanced and informed view of the decades-long history of AI, its methods and techniques, achievements and shortfalls. -- Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Professorial Research Fellow in Computer Science and Principal of Jesus College, OxfordIn this diligent and reassuring explanation of the immense difficulty of recreating intelligence in a machine, Michael Wooldridge succeeds not only in writing an engaging history of AI, but in telling us about the fabulously complicated structures on which our own consciousness rests -- Will Dunn * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisA greener world won't come for freeTrade Review'A remarkably hopeful and useful book...The climate crisis leaves us no choice but to build a new world and as Sanderson makes clear, we are capable of making it a better one than the dirty and dangerous planet we’ve come to take for granted.' -- Bill McKibben, Observer book of the week‘Sanderson deftly guides us through the convolutions of which company bought what from which, and he livens up that potentially desiccated subject matter with an eye for characterful detail… Despite the seemingly insuperable geopolitical quandaries with which it deals, the tone of Sanderson’s book is one of cautious optimism.’ -- The Times‘As we glide along serenely in our electric vehicle, recharging it with clean solar power and perhaps feeling a little smug, we prefer not to be reminded of the vast industries that got us there, industries that gouge out the landscape, exploit workers, spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and engage in ruthless geopolitical power plays. Along the way, as Henry Sanderson shows in his essential book, we have become dangerously dependent on China which now dominates global battery supply. Under President Xi Jinping, who uses economic blackmail to extract political concessions, China has got a lock on the future. All this can change and Volt Rush shows us how.’ -- Clive Hamilton, author of Hidden Hand'A fascinating study' * The Times *‘A potent reminder to green power advocates that a world running on batteries and sunshine may not fight over oil, but it won’t necessarily be free of conflict’ * Financial Times *‘It’s a vital contribution to the emerging literature that’s pulling back the curtain on energy realities.’ -- Wall Street Journal‘The urgency of a green transition means the world faces new power struggles over access to scarce metals and minerals. Sanderson carefully walks us through the minefields that are the world's finite supplies of lithium, cobalt and nickel and reveals with startling immediacy the Machiavellian machinations for control over these precious resources. A riveting guide to our perilous future.’ -- Ann Pettifor, author of The Case for the Green New Deal'An excellent book…provides much food for thought' -- Literary Review‘Takes us on a carefully considered and well explained journey to show that [the switch to electric vehicles] may not be as simple a transition as we hoped for… Sanderson does a good job of getting the reader up to speed in terms of what goes into an electric battery, and why we need to be cognisant of the environmental impacts… very informative and well written in terms of the potentially toxic brew required to power EVs… a relevant and vital book.’ -- Irish Tech News‘From China to Congo to Chile to the U.S., Sanderson lucidly reveals the global connections behind the complex processes of battery production and mining… Any reader interested in environmental studies, green politics, the global energy sector, or the mining industry will appreciate Sanderson's deep dive into the transition from fossil fuels to green and clean energy, and how this transition will affect society now and in the near future.’ -- Booklist'Sanderson’s smooth, limpid storytelling brightens the deadening business of commodities trading: attention to the bizarre, often unpleasant characters populating the industry gives his narrative a personable shine.' -- Red Pepper'Volt Rush makes a great contribution in understanding what a green future entails—and what costs it might involve right now.’ -- Foreign Policy‘This is a terrific book. Henry Sanderson brings alive one of the most fateful questions of our time: who will control the resources that power a post-carbon world? What makes the book so compelling is the cast of colourful characters he meets and the insightful judgements he makes.’ -- James Kynge, FT China editor‘A must-read book, well written and investigated, on one of the most important ecological challenges we’ll face in the next decades.’ -- Guillaume Pitron, author of The Rare Metals War

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Book SynopsisRay Kurzweil, one of the world's leading AI researchers, innovators and futurists, offers a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilisation: reverse-engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines.Trade Review'Kurzweil's vision of our super-enhanced future is completely sane and calmly reasoned, and his book should nicely smooth the path for the earth's robot overlords, who, it turns out, will be us' New York Times'Kurzweil foresees a disease-free world where no one ages and artificial brains make machines human-like - and he is not one to get things wrong' Daily Telegraph'Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence' Bill Gates'Kurzweil knows a lot about new technology and he knows how to make it sound fun. He is dazzling in his enthusiasm for things to come, and has a grasp of the exciting developments pulsing through the intersection of science and technology' Financial Times

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Book SynopsisLiving on a damaged planet challenges who we are and where we live. This timely anthology calls on twenty eminent humanists and scientists to revitalize curiosity, observation, and transdisciplinary conversation about life on earth.As human-induced environmental change threatens multispecies livability, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet puts forward a bold proposal: entangled histories, situated narratives, and thick descriptions offer urgent “arts of living.” Included are essays by scholars in anthropology, ecology, science studies, art, literature, and bioinformatics who posit critical and creative tools for collaborative survival in a more-than-human Anthropocene. The essays are organized around two key figures that also serve as the publication’s two openings: Ghosts, or landscapes haunted by the violences of modernity; and Monsters, or interspecies and intraspecies sociality. Ghosts and Monsters are tentacular, windy, and arboreal arts that invite readers to encounter ants, lichen, rocks, electrons, flying foxes, salmon, chestnut trees, mud volcanoes, border zones, graves, radioactive waste—in short, the wonders and terrors of an unintended epoch.Contributors: Karen Barad, U of California, Santa Cruz; Kate Brown, U of Maryland, Baltimore; Carla Freccero, U of California, Santa Cruz; Peter Funch, Aarhus U; Scott F. Gilbert, Swarthmore College; Deborah M. Gordon, Stanford U; Donna J. Haraway, U of California, Santa Cruz; Andreas Hejnol, U of Bergen, Norway; Ursula K. Le Guin; Marianne Elisabeth Lien, U of Oslo; Andrew Mathews, U of California, Santa Cruz; Margaret McFall-Ngai, U of Hawaii, Manoa; Ingrid M. Parker, U of California, Santa Cruz; Mary Louise Pratt, NYU; Anne Pringle, U of Wisconsin, Madison; Deborah Bird Rose, U of New South Wales, Sydney; Dorion Sagan; Lesley Stern, U of California, San Diego; Jens-Christian Svenning, Aarhus U.Trade Review"Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet exposes us to the active remnants of gigantic past human errors—the ghosts—that affect the daily lives of millions of people and their co-occurring other-than-human life forms. Challenging us to look at life in new and excitingly different ways, each part of this two-sided volume is informative, fascinating, and a source of stimulation to new thoughts and activisms. I have no doubt I will return to it many times."—Michael G. Hadfield, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa"Facing the perfect storm strangely named the Anthropocene, this book calls its readers to acknowledge and give praise to the many entangled arts of living which made this planet liveable and which are now unravelling. Grandiose guilt will not do, we need to learn noticing what we were blind to, a humble but difficult art. The unique welding of scholarship and affect achieved by the texts here assembled tells us that learning this art also means allowing oneself to be touched and induced to think and imagine by what touches us."—Isabelle Stengers, author of Cosmopolitics I and Cosmopolitics II"What an inventive, fascinating book about landscapes in the anthropocene! Between these book covers, rightside-up, upside-down, a concatenation of social science and natural science, artwork and natural science, ghosts of departed species and traces of our own human shrines to memory... Not a horror-filled glimpse at destruction but also not a hymn to romantic wilderness. Here, guided by a remarkable and remarkably diverse set of guides, we enter into our planetary environments as they stand, sometimes battered, sometimes resilient, always riveting in their human—and non-human—richness. Arts of Living On a Damaged Planet is truly a book for our time."—Peter Galison, Harvard University"Calling a book ‘mandatory reading’ usually feels hyperbolic, but it's justified in the case of Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. A stunning collection of essays from scientists, writers and artists on humankind's impact on the planet, and how we all can survive it."—Shelf Awareness"This vibrant, moving, and philosophical two-sided essay collection reminds us of all the ways that human beings and the natural world are interconnected. Deborah Bird Rose’s piece on the “shimmer of life” alone makes the book worth reading."—Chicago Review of Books"There’s a poetry in facts. And as this book reveals, there is an increasing amount of courage and acceptance to be found in understanding even the most destructive changes in plant and wildlife that the overheated Anthropocene will bring us."—Santa Fe New Mexican"Well worth reading: a frank, luminous set of dispatches from future worlds and fractured pasts."—Full Stop"Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet is a strikingly aesthetic object, carefully curated at the level of form as well as content. It makes a convincing case for the relevance of ‘hard science’ to art and politics."—Glasgow Review of Books"The Anthropocene is characterised by extreme and irreversible changes to the environment, resulting in an exponential scarcity of living beings and threats to most life systems on earth. In response to this precarity, the editors and contributors to Arts suggest that we must collectively observe and study the world around us to attune our co-existence more authentically to these ecologies, through increased knowledge about both the impacts of past actions and our embeddedness in multispecies webs."—Environmental Values"By focusing on entanglement and haunting in this double-sided book, the contributors in Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet demand a reconceptualisation of what it means to be active participants in the Anthropocene. They also want us to recognise that our standing is not at all separate from nature, time, or matter."—Gothic Nature Journal"The editors of Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet set out to illustrate through storytelling the ambivalent entanglements of ghosts and monsters in the Anthropocene as a practical means toward broadening our knowledge-creation of the challenges of a world in the making. If the scientific community takes to heart their offering (and the offerings of those who came before them), the scientific paradigm-shift (that started with feminist science studies, the civil rights movement, and environmentalism) from objectivity to subjectivity might just take hold as a dominant epistemology."—Hypatia Reviews"Arts of Living is a provocative dispatch from the edges of humanity’s new condition."—Sedimenta Table of ContentsContentsGhosts on a Damaged PlanetIntroduction: Haunted Landscapes of the AnthropoceneElaine Gan, Nils Bubandt, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, and Heather Anne Swanson1. A Garden or a Grave?: The Canyonic Landscape of the Tijuana-San Diego RegionLesley SternIn the Midst of Damage2. Marie Curie's Fingerprint: Nuclear Spelunking in the Chernobyl ZoneKate Brown3. Shimmer: When All You Love Is Being TrashedDeborah Bird RoseFootprints of the Dead4. Future Megafaunas: A Historical Perspective on the Scope for a Wilder AnthropoceneJens-Christian Svenning5. Ladders, Trees, Complexity, and Other Metaphors in Evolutionary ThinkingAndreas Hejnol6. No Small Matter: Mushroom Clouds, Ecologies of Nothingness, and Strange Topologies of SpacetimematteringKaren Barad7. Haunted Geologies: Spirits, Stones, and the Necropolitics of the AnthropoceneNils BubandtWhat Remains8. Ghostly Forms and Forest HistoriesAndrew S. Mathews9. Establishing New Worlds: The Lichens of PetershamAnne PringleCoda: Concept and ChronotopeMary Louise PrattContributorsIndexContentsMonsters and the Arts of LivingAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Bodies Tumbled into BodiesHeather Anne Swanson, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Nils Bubandt, and Elaine Gan1. Deep in AdmirationUrsula K. Le Guin Inhabiting Multispecies Bodies2. Symbiogenesis, Sympoiesis, and Art Science Activisms for Staying with the TroubleDonna Haraway 3. Noticing Microbial Worlds: The Post Modern Synthesis in BiologyMargaret McFall-NgaiBeyond Individuals4. Holobiont by Birth: Multilineage Individuals as the Concretion of Cooperative ProcessesScott F. Gilbert5. Wolf, or Homo Homini LupusCarla Freccero6. Unruly Appetites: Salmon Domestication “All the Way Down”Marianne Elisabeth Lien7. Without Planning: The Evolution of Collective Behavior in Ant ColoniesDeborah M. GordonAt the Edge of Extinction8. Synchronies at Risk: The Intertwined Lives of Horseshoe Crabs and Red Knot BirdsPeter Funch9. Remembering in Our Amnesia, Seeing in Our BlindnessIngrid M. ParkerCoda. Beautiful Monsters: Terra in the Cyanocene Dorion SaganContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisRead this gripping, timely book about the transmission of deadly viruses from animal to human populations, and how we can fight the current Covid-19 pandemic.WITH A NEW AFTERWORD ON CORONAVIRUSAs globalization spreads and as we destroy the ancient ecosystems, we encounter strange and dangerous infections that originate in animals but that can be transmitted to humans. Diseases that were contained are being set free and the results are potentially catastrophic.In a journey that takes him from southern China to the Congo, from Bangladesh to Australia, David Quammen tracks these infections to their source, and asks what we can do to prevent some new pandemic spreading across the face of the earth. As we continue to feel the global impact of Covid-19, discover the book that predicted this viral disaster and the science that could stop the next one in its tracks.''A tremendous book...this gives you all you need to know and aTrade ReviewA frightening and fascinating masterpiece of science reporting that reads like a detective story -- Walter IsaacsonIt may have been eight years since David Quammen's Spillover was first published, but its prescience is spookily topical this plague year -- Richard Dawkins * New Statesman *Travelling deep into the rainforest with the scientists hoping to identify the next pandemic pathogen, Quammen's book is plotted like a detective thriller -- Gaia Vince * Guardian *Quammen’s book is compelling and shows that there are many candidates out there vying to be the next pandemic -- Euan Lawson * British Journal of General Practice *Quammen has a wide range of knowledge, an agile pen, and a generous heart -- James Gorman * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisWe may have fallen out of love with our city homes, but cities are still going to be essential dwelling places for a growing population. International sustainability and wellbeing advocate, Claire Bradbury explores what we need to do to fall back in love with the city, and find our city homes again.Trade Review‘Bradbury offers a timely reminder of why it is vitally important that we fall back in love with our cities, as habitats and hubs for the regenerative future we must create, for if we don’t create that in cities, we won’t create it at all.’ -- Tony Juniper CBE‘Dwellbeing comes to us at the most critical of times. Bradbury gracefully articulates the very desperate need for “conscious living” vs the seemingly unconscious current human condition. Bradbury’s wisdom, research and deep emotional intelligence help us realize what is at stake. Her plea for us to use our voices in shaping our urban future is an alarming and vital call to action. An essential read before it’s too late.’ -- Deborah Calmeyer‘Reminds us of the humanity that underpins our daily lives as urbanites.’ -- Leo Johnson

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Book Synopsis'Amazing. It would be my desert island choice' Martin Rees'Fascinating, beautiful, alarming and revelatory use of mapping and infographics' Stephen Fry on EarthTime maps'An indispensable read' Arianna Huffington From the global impact of the Coronavirus to exploring the vast spread of the Australian bushfires, join authors Ian Goldin and Robert Muggah as they trace the ways in which our world has changed and the ways in which it will continue to change over the next hundred years. Map-making is an ancient impulse. From the moment homo sapiens learnt to communicate we have used them to make sense of our surroundings. But as Albert Einstein once said, 'you can't use old maps to explore a new world.' And now, when the world is changing faster than ever before, our old maps are no longer fit for purpose.Welcome to Terra Incognita. Based on decades of research, and combining mesmerising, state-of-the-art satellite maps with enlightening and passionately argued analysis, Ian and Robert chart humanity's impact on the planet, and the ways in which we can make a real impact to save it, and to thrive as a species.Learn about: fires in the arctic; the impact of sea level rise on cities around the world; the truth about immigration - and why fears in the West are a myth; the counter-intuitive future of population rise; the miracles of health and education that are waiting around the corner, and the reality about inequality, and how we end it. The book traces the paths of peoples, cities, wars, climates and technologies, all on a global scale. Full of facts that will confound you, inform you, and ultimately empower you, Terra Incognita guides readers to a new place of understanding, rather than to a physical location.Trade ReviewAmidst an abundance of global crisis and unrest, it's easy to feel as if there's no prescription for the future. But Terra Incognita provides us with just that, through stunning maps and visual aides that illuminate the most pressing issues of our time. -- Chris Anderson, New York Times Bestselling author of Ted Talks and Head and Curator of TedA completely brilliant guide to global survival * Jon Snow *Terra Incognita take us on an exhilarating journey of the mega-trends that are remaking our world. Using powerful maps and graphics, it provides much-needed guideposts to the incredible shifts and challenges going on all around us. Ian Goldin and Robert Muggah provide a necessary antidote to the paralyzing uncertainty and pessimistic fatalism that threatens to overwhelm us all. This book offers a bold new perspective not just on the challenges we face, but how, armed with the right data and information, we can go about fixing them -- Richard Florida, University of Toronto Professor and author of The Rise of the Creative ClassAmazing . . . it would be my desert island choice! This extraordinary book - with 100 fascinating maps, embedded in a richly informative text - offers a comprehensive perspective on global trends. It is amazing how much analysis the distinguished authors have distilled into a single volume. The book is especially welcome at a time when COVID-19 is disrupting our interconnected planet. It would be hard to imagine a better text to guide and enlighten us as we aim to 'remake' a better world. It deserves a very wide readership. -- Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and author of On the FutureTerra Incognita draws readers into multiple worlds and provides the tools to navigate between them. Goldin and Muggah use powerfully-engaging maps to help understand and confront our biggest challenges - from climate change to inequality. By inviting readers to traverse a vast range of disciplines and ideas, their volume helps each of us better appreciate how our problems are interconnected. This is a must read for everyone striving to make a better world. -- Saskia Sassen, Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, author of Expulsions and The Global CityEvery young person must read this book. Full of mesmerizing maps and powerful story-telling, Terra Incognita is an indispensable guide to change our futures for the better. -- Marvin Rees, Mayor of BristolFascinating, beautiful, alarming and revelatory use of mapping and infographicsA riveting account of humanity´s most pressing challenges and innovative solutions, fusing mesmerizing maps and compelling analysis to help navigate our complex future.An indispensable read. Ian Goldin and Robert Muggah´s hypnotic maps surprise and amaze. This book offers a future-looking guide to navigate our uncertain times. Offering an unflinching account of our challenges and ways to fix them, it willleave you optimistic about the future.A stunning account of our fast-changing world. Earth Time is a wake-up call and blueprint for future change. Ian Goldin and Robert Muggah´s extraordinary maps offer an entirely new perspective on some of our most urgent environmental and geopolitical conundrums.The mapmakers of old wrote "Here Be Dragons" to designated unknown and uncharted areas. Terra Incognita simultaneously shows us how much of our world we can see and map and how many dark places still remain to be explored. Most important, it is a vital tool for teaching students, researchers, and analysts how to change our mental models -- our imagined maps -- of the worlds we think we inhabit. Our future depends on it. -- Anne-Marie SlaughterTerra Incognita is a terrific achievement. It utilises maps as a graphic foil to a wide-ranging and deeply informed argument about our current international challenges and the possibilities for future collective action. The result is both compelling and subtle. Situating the argument within the current pandemic is very powerful and timely. Essential reading-and viewing-for anyone engaged in the global state we are in. -- Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in 12 MapsIt not only charts the mesmerising development of geographical maps, [...] but also contains maps that reveal insights into global cultural developments, including the incredible rise of McDonald's and Netflix. * Mail Online *

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Book Synopsis''A fascinating and enticing vision of the utopian New World that Robert Zubrin believes could and should be created on the Red Planet' Martin ReesThe world''s leading expert on the human settlement of Mars explains what Martian societies will look like - sooner than we thinkWithin a few years, humans will be able to voyage to Mars. SpaceX is at the forefront of companies already building fleets of spaceships to make interplanetary travel as affordable as Old-World passage to America to the then New World. We will settle the red planet, transforming its raw materials into resources and tackling the challenges that await us, creating a new frontier for humankind.Dr Robert Zubrin explains how populous Martian city-states will emerge, producing their own air, water, food, power and more. How they must be beautiful to attract settlers, and what that might look like. How the primary exports are unlikely to be material goods but intellectual products, creat

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Book Synopsis This book offers critical scenarios of dark tourism futures and how our significant dead will be remembered in future visitor economies. It outlines key features of difficult heritage and future cultural trauma and highlights the role of technology, immersive visitor experiencesand the thanatological condition of future dark tourism.

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Book Synopsis_______'Excellent' Martin Wolf, Financial Times Books of the Year'Essential' Daniel Pink, author of Drive'Wonderful' Martin Ford, author of The Rise of the Robots_______Profit. Innovation. Greed.Welcome to the gig economy.Between Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts, freelance jobs are becoming an increasingly prominent part of our economy.Gigged goes inside the Silicon Valley companies leading the way to this emerging 'gig economy'. It tells the stories of the workers - from computer programmers to online comment moderators - who are getting by in a new wave of precarious, short-term employment. And it sketches out what tomorrow's economy might look like: one where the fortunate get to work when they want, how they want, while the rest live lives of extraordinary hardship.It might just be the future of work for all of us.*Longlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award*Praise for Gigged'Well researched and beautifully written . . . Essential reading for anyone who is interested in understanding the future of our economy and society.' Ha-Joon Chang, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism'Well crafted . . . a multitude of anecdotes supported by data and extensive reporting.' Forbes'Kessler's timely book explores the personal, corporate and societal stories behind a massive tech-driven shift away from permanent office-based employment.' Books of the Month, Financial Times'Kessler illuminates a great divide: For people with desirable skills, the gig economy often permits a more engaging, entrepreneurial lifestyle; but for the unskilled who turn to such work out of necessity, it's merely "the best of bad options".' Harvard Business Review'Sarah Kessler writes like a dream. If you want to know how work is changing and how you too must change to keep up, you must read this book.' Dan Lyons, author of DisruptedTrade ReviewWhat does working in the new “gig economy” of flexibility combined with insecurity feel like? This excellent book by the journalist Sarah Kessler will help those who have no experience of this way of earning a living appreciate the answer. This new labour market offers a measure of freedom and opportunity. But it also does not allow people to make the plans they need if they are to lead a fulfilled life. Reform must come. -- Martin Wolf, Books of the Year * Financial Times *Sarah Kessler’s wonderful book offers unprecedented illumination of the promise, and the peril, of the gig economy by taking a deep and intimate dive into the day-to-day lives of the workers who rely on it. The resulting insights are important and often troubling. -- Martin Ford, author of RISE OF THE ROBOTSWith deep reporting and graceful storytelling, Sarah Kessler reveals the ground truth of a key part of the American workforce. Her analysis is both astute and nuanced, making Gigged essential reading for anyone interested in the future of work. -- Daniel H. Pink, author of WHEN and DRIVEIn this well-researched and beautifully written book, Sarah Kessler provides a very accessible but sophisticated analysis of the “gig economy”. While vividly telling moving stories about individual hardships and achievements, it provides a broad perspective that helps us see the gig economy as the latest manifestation of the long-running historical struggle over power, security and risk between different classes. It is essential reading for anyone who is interested in understanding the future of our economy and society. -- Ha-Joon Chang, author of 23 THINGS THEY DON’T TELL YOU ABOUT CAPITALISMKessler illuminates a great divide: For people with desirable skills, the gig economy often permits a more engaging, entrepreneurial lifestyle; but for the unskilled who turn to such work out of necessity, it’s merely ‘the best of bad options.’ * Harvard Business Review *

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Book SynopsisA radical vision for a better future: an economy that works for us, rather than the other way around. As this major German bestseller reports, our world is at a tipping point, and we feel it every day. Costs are rising, the gap between the rich and poor is increasing, natural resources are depleted, and the effects of climate change are starting to take hold. We are under increasing social and environmental stress. But, as leading economist Maja Göpel argues here, there is another path forward. She invites us to imagine what we want our future to look like, and offers solutions that will help us to get there. It’s time to question our principles, set new goals, and re-evaluate our priorities. Time to rethink our world and find new ways of living that don’t drain our planet any further. We need a fair distribution of wealth, and a way to reconcile the social with the ecological. We need to work smarter, not harder. Critical, yet full of encouragement, Maja Göpel chooses surprising and enlightening examples to illustrate how we can leave behind our familiar ways of living to achieve a better future.Trade Review‘After so much fake information born of post-factual hoaxes, this level-headedly argued book by economist Maja Göpel for a reform of our economic system is an insanely soothing read … Maja Göpel’s pleasantly calmly written book helps to understand this new reality.’ -- Denis Scheck, ARD broadcasting service‘Maja Göpel’s book is a successful attempt to pack human history from the evolution of Homo sapiens to Greta Thunberg, economic theory from Adam Smith to Thomas Piketty, environmental research and system criticism into a concise space in an entertaining read — and she does it well.’ -- Jessica von Blazekovic * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *‘At some point, the central ideas of the English thought leaders were taken out of context and elevated to “supposed universal laws of economics”, according to Göpel’s thesis. Göpel’s invitation is to see through the laws of this “illusory world” and to question them. Like a patient teacher, she tries to steer readers from chapter to chapter: with repetitions (“You remember …”) and interposed questions (“How does that sound to you?”) as well as catchy examples by means of which the problems of the neoliberal world quickly become obvious. A big plus in this context is the renunciation of the flood of numbers that is seemingly unavoidable in such books.’ -- Robert Probst * Süddeutsche Zeitung *‘Her findings are precise, her book comes at the right time — a time when the consequences of climate change are just as unmistakable as the half-heartedness of politics. It is a forcefully presented plea for future-oriented thinking, “an invitation” that one wishes many would accept.’ -- Ralph Gerstenberg * Deutschlandfunk Kultur *‘A stirring blueprint for radical reforms to save the planet.’ -- Andreas Bocher, Emma magazine‘The book of the hour.’ * ARD *‘Göpel rigorously analyses traditional theories of economic growth, privatisation, consumption, and the infallibility of ‘the market’ … she is skilfully bringing together ideas from psychology, economics, philosophy, science and history to create a highly readable interdisciplinary summary of the crisis at hand … Göpel reminds us that awareness is one of the first steps, and the knowledge and belief that business as usual is not an option can be a powerful place to start.’ -- Kara Nicholson * Readings *‘[A]ccording to German political economist Maja Göpel, the days of “business as usual” are over. There is a new reality caught in the phrase “overshoot day” — when the demand for ecological resources and services exceeds what the earth can give. We’re already there and, among other things, progress and capitalism as we’ve known them need to be reconfigured to create a fairer, less exploitative society. This sounds like a dire read, but it’s strangely upbeat and, using often telling examples, Göpel calmly makes her dramatic point.’ -- Steven Carroll * The Sydney Morning Herald *‘[Rethinking Our World] is an easy read, challenges the standard economic models and has encouraging suggestions.’ -- Paul Costigan * City News *‘Göpel explains things well. She is lucid, succinct, and avoids strident polemic. And she enforces her argument with compelling narratives.’ -- Jane Goodall * The Conversation *

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Book SynopsisIf man’s next big step is to live and work in space, then what will everyone do out there that is so different from what we are now doing here on Earth? As the future of space comes into focus it is clear that profit and power are the core elements of the new space economy. This entertaining and informative book looks at human settlement in space as a mainstream business opportunity for investors, entrepreneurs and far-sighted individuals seeking to secure their place in the innovative commercial space sector. Dr. Jack Gregg presents a unique 5-phase development roadmap that shows how space will grow from a frontier economy to a mature integrated market. Written in simple, non-technical language, this book answers such questions as:• What is the new industrial space economy?• What are the challenges and roadblocks on the way to a robust space economy?• How will the rapid growth of the new space economy impact commerce back on Earth?• How can one best invest in profitable space-related enterprises? The Cosmos Economy is for readers who hope to be better equipped and more informed about the new space economy; and Investors, entrepreneurs, and futurists who wants to learn how to take part in the business opportunities of the new high frontier of commercial space.Trade Review“The Cosmos Economy, will help readers understand what is going on in the space business and why it is happening. The book will also explain how the industry could be valued at $3 trillion by mid-century. … Gregg mentions industries such as space-based energy generation, agriculture and food production, mining, and manufacturing. These are all things NSS members will recognize, but it is worth repeating for those unaware of what might one day be possible in space.” (Casey Suire, space.nss.org, April 9, 2022)Table of ContentsChapter 1. The Cosmos Economy.- Chapter 2. Blue oceans and greenfields in space.- Chapter 3. The importance of frontiers.- Chapter 4. Coming into the cosmos.- Chapter 5. No country for Earthmen.- Chapter 6. Turning over [space] rocks…Assumptions about space business.- Chapter 7 Planning on purpose Section.- Chapter 8. Settlement communities.- Chapter 9. Forever frontiers.- Chapter 10. Pushback and challenges.- Chapter 11. Visions of space.- Chapter 12. The space economy is already here.- Chapter 13. The new space merchants.- Chapter 14. The industrialization of space.- Chapter 15. Space biz.- Chapter 16. Space mining.- Chapter 17. Space manufacturing.- Chapter 18. No country for Earth men.- Chapter 19. Colonies, outposts, settlements, and stations.- Chapter 20. Don’t Look Back.- Chapter 21. The new 49-ers rush to space.- Chapter 22.- A competitive solar system.- Chapter 23. The rules of the game.- Chapter 24. Trouble in paradise.- Chapter 25. Industrial space.- Chapter 26. Business models.- Chapter 27. Diffusion of Innovations: The 5-Phase adoption model.- Chapter 28. Phase 1: Innovators/ The frontier phase of the new space economy.- Chapter 29. Phase 2: Early Adopter Phase.- Chapter 30. Phase 3: Early Mainstream Phase.- Chapter 31. Phase 4: Late Mainstream Phase.- Chapter 32. Phase 5: Late Adopters - Market Maturity Phase.- Chapter 33. Connecting the dots.- Chapter 34. A new generation of pilgrims.- Chapter 35. Questions and Answers.- Chapter 36. Lessons learned.- Chapter 37. How to be part of the new cosmos economy.

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Book SynopsisOUT NOW: the new book from the bestselling authors and hosts of the wildy popular ''The Skeptics Guide to the Universe''__________Our predictions of the future are a wild fantasy, inextricably linked to our present hopes and fears, biases and ignorance. Whether they be the outlandish leaps predicted in the 1920s, like multi-purpose utility belts with climate control capabilities and planes the size of luxury cruise ships, or the forecasts of the ''60s, which didn''t anticipate the sexual revolution or women''s liberation, the path to the present is littered with failed predictions and incorrect estimations.The best we can do is try to absorb from futurism''s checkered past, perhaps learning to do a little better.In The Skeptics'' Guide To The Future, Steven Novella and his co-authors build upon the work of futurists of the past by examining what they got right, what they got wrong, and how they came to those conclusi

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Book SynopsisAn imagination of possibilities, of miscalculations, of futures off-kilter “Probability is a chimera, its head is true, its tail a suggestion. Futurologists attempt to compel the head to eat the tail (ouroboros). Here, though, we will try to wag the tail.” —Vilém Flusser Two years after his Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, the philosopher Vilém Flusser engaged in another thought experiment: a collection of twenty-two “scenarios for the future” to be produced as computer-generated media, or technical images, that would break the imaginative logjam in conceiving the social, political, and economic future of the universe. What If? is not just an “impossible journey” to which Flusser invites us in the first scenario; it functions also as a distorting mirror held up to humanity. Flusser’s disarming scenarios of an Anthropocene fraught with nightmares offer new visions that range from the scientific to the fantastic to the playful and whimsical. Each essay reflects our present sense of understanding the world, considering the exploitation of nature and the dangers of global warming, overpopulation, and blind reliance on the promises of scientific knowledge and invention. What If? offers insight into the radical futures of a slipstream Anthropocene that have much to do with speculative fiction, with Flusser’s concept of design as “crafty” or slippery, and with art and the immense creative potential of failure versus reasonable, “good” computing or calculability. As such, the book is both a warning and a nudge to imagine what we may yet become and be.Trade Review"While the universe Flusser created with his previous book, Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, explores a single alternate lifeworld coherent in its mirroring of the human species by a cephalopod, each scenario in What If? suggests a variety of new ideas, given the speculative, projecting nature of their setting—in the best and most creative sense of ‘what if’—in the past, the present, or the future."—from the IntroductionTable of ContentsIntroduction: What If? Into the Slipstream of Flusser’s “Field of Possibilities”Anke FingerFirst Scenario: What If . . .Part I. Scenes from Family LifeSecond Scenario: GrandmotherThird Scenario: GrandfatherFourth Scenario: Great UncleFifth Scenario: BrothersSixth Scenario: SonSeventh Scenario: GrandchildrenEighth Scenario: Great-GrandchildrenPart II. Scenes from Economic LifeNinth Scenario: Economic MiracleTenth Scenario: Foreign AidEleventh Scenario: Mechanical EngineeringTwelfth Scenario: AgricultureThirteenth Scenario: Chemical IndustryFourteenth Scenario: Animal HusbandryPart III. Scenes from PoliticsFifteenth Scenario: WarSixteenth Scenario: Aural ObedienceSeventeenth Scenario: Perpetual PeaceEighteenth Scenario: RevolutionNineteenth Scenario: Parliamentary DemocracyTwentieth Scenario: Aryan ImperialismTwenty-First Scenario: Black Is BeautifulPart IV. ShowdownTwenty-Second Scenario: A BreatherAfterwordKenneth GoldsmithAcknowledgmentsNotes

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This is an emotional and passionate book, raw in its grief and anger, but also imbued with hope for redemption. Based on objective his­torical fact and subjective experience, Of Greed and Glory has the power of a sermon and the urgency of a manifesto.” — Deborah Mason, BookPage "As indispensable to understanding the Americas as Edward E. Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told. Of Greed and Glory powerfully demonstrates that though we as Black Americans are far from faultless in some of our most egregious behavior on the mean plantations and streets of antebellum and modern America, we nonetheless have had to grow our dignity beneath the pitiless boot of those who looked into the tiny faces of our infants and saw only dollar signs. Powerful and necessary." — Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award winning author of The Color Purple and Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart “If you want to understand the current issues surrounding race, social justice, and inequality, you have to read Deborah Plant’s book, Of Greed and Glory. Deborah understands that the issues surrounding race, unfolding before us now in America, are deeply rooted in the legacy of the African American past. She writes eloquently and beautifully about that past. Of Greed and Glory is a must-read book for socially conscious citizens.” — Clyde W. Ford, Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award in African American fiction—winning author of Of Blood and Sweat and Think Black "Of Greed and Glory is impossible to put down. It’s a searing, provocative analysis of how the roots of slavery in the US still infiltrate so many of our social institutions. Plant’s vivid prose will leave you affected, challenged, and thinking about this book long after you’re done reading." — Adia Wingfield, author of Gray Areas, Flatlining, and No More Invisible Man "Deborah G. Plant courageously and painstakingly provides insight into the devastation and trauma experienced generations of African Americans, persons of color, and the poor … This is a must read that challenges us to become active in the movement to abolish slavery, patriarchy, and other forms of oppression that exist in our nation." — Diane D. Turner, author of Feeding the Soul and curator of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University Libraries

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Book Synopsis**SUNDAY TIMES AND THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**''An epoch-defining book'' Matt Haig''If you read just one work of non-fiction this year, it should probably be this'' David Sexton, Evening StandardSelected as a Book of the Year 2019 by the Sunday Times, Spectator and New StatesmanA Waterstones Paperback of the Year and shortlisted for the Foyles Book of the Year 2019Longlisted for the PEN / E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award It is worse, much worse, than you think. The slowness of climate change is a fairy tale, perhaps as pernicious as the one that says it isn''t happening at all, and if your anxiety about it is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today.Over the past decades, the term Anthropocene has climbed into the popular imagination - a name given to the geologic era we live in now, one defined by human intervention in the life of the planet. But however sanguine you might be about the proposition that we have ravaged the natural world, which we surely have, it is another thing entirely to consider the possibility that we have only provoked it, engineering first in ignorance and then in denial a climate system that will now go to war with us for many centuries, perhaps until it destroys us. In the meantime, it will remake us, transforming every aspect of the way we live-the planet no longer nurturing a dream of abundance, but a living nightmare.Trade ReviewIn crystalline prose, Wallace-Wells provides a devastating overview of where we are in terms of climate crisis and ecological destruction, and what the future will hold if we keep on going down the same path. Urgently readable, this is an epoch-defining book. -- Matt Haig, 'The Book that Changed My Mind' * The Guardian *'Clear, engaging and often dazzling' * The Telegraph *'A masterly analysis' * Nature *Relentless, angry journalism of the highest order. Read it and, for the lack of any more useful response, weep. . . .The article was a sensation and the book will be, too. -- Bryan Appleyard * The Sunday Times *The most terrifying book I have ever read . . . a meticulously documented, white-knuckled tour through the cascading catastrophes that will soon engulf our warming planet. * The New York Times *This is what I'm reading now: The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. It focuses on the range of realistic possibilities with climate change. It does not sugarcoat, and can be quite scary -- that's without primarily focusing on the worstcase scenario. When people ask 'What can I do? - Read! What we need right now, in this country, is for all of us to be better, including ourselves.A must-read. It's not only the grandkids and the kids: it's you. And it's not only those in other countries: it's you. -- Margaret Atwood * Twitter *I've not stopped talking about The Uninhabitable Earth since I opened the first page. And I want every single person on this planet to read it.Riveting . . . Some readers will find Mr Wallace-Wells's outline of possible futures alarmist. He is indeed alarmed. You should be, too. * The Economist *Skipping the scientific jargon and relaying the facts in urgent and elegant prose, the magazine editor crafts a stirring wake-up call to recognize how global warming will permanently alter every aspect of human life. -- Best Nonfiction Books of 2019 So Far * Time *Wallace-Wells is an extremely adept storyteller, simultaneously urgent and humane . . . [he] does a terrifyingly good job of moving between the specific and the abstract. * Slate *Enough to induce an honest-to-God panic attack ... The margins of my review copy of the book are scrawled with expressions of terror and despair, declining in articulacy as the pages proceed, until it's all just cartoon sad faces and swear words ... To read The Uninhabitable Earth is to understand the collapse of the distinction between alarmism and plain realism -- Mark O'Connell * The Guardian *There is much to learn from this book. From media and scientific reports of the past decade, Wallace-Wells sifts key predictions and conveys them in vivid prose. -- David George Haskell * The Observer *Brilliant ... At the heart of Wallace-Wells's book is a remorseless, near-unbearable account of what we are doing to our planet * The New York Times *Not since Bill McKibben's "The End of Nature" 30 years ago have we been told what climate change will mean in such vivid terms. -- Fred Pearce * The Washington Post *Everyone should stop what they're doing and read The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells. This is our future if we don't act now. -- Johann Hari * Twitter *Wake up! Get educated - The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace Wells is a great place to start. -- Paris Lees * Vogue *A book that's by turns alarming, terrifying and just downright bleak . . . a sustained piece of informed polemic. * The Evening Standard *A very accessible and compelling read . . . a much more nuanced and a much more hopeful vision than you might expect. * The Irish Times *I think everyone should probably right now read David Wallace-Wells's The Uninhabitable Earth, which tells the grim story with as much optimism as possible, and which gives all the facts. -- Daniel Swift * The Spectator, Books of the Year *Well-written, captivating, occasionally wry and utterly petrifying * i News *In his gripping new book ... Wallace-Wells shocks us out of complacency' * Prospect *If you read just one work of non-fiction this year, it should probably be [this] . . . What this book forces you to face is more important than any other subject you could be informing yourself about. * The Evening Standard *Exceptionally well researched and written. . . . This short, concise book pulls no punches.Yes, this book will scare you, but it will also prompt you to take action to ensure the damage we as humans have done to the planet is stopped. * Stylist, ‘Your guide to 2019’s best non-fiction books’ *Most of us known the gist, if not the details, of the climate change crisis. And yet it is almost impossible to sustain strong feelings about it. David Wallace-Wells has now provided the details, and with writing that is not only clear and forceful, but often imaginative and even funny, he has found a way to make the information deeply felt. This is a profound book, which simultaneously makes me terrified and hopeful about the future, full of regret and new will.Harrowing. -- Jonathan Franzen * The New Yorker *The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending armageddon.Just finished The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells. Everyone, everywhere, should read it. Can't remember the last time a book had such an impact on me. * Twitter *Yes, this book will scare you, but it will also prompt you to take action to ensure the damage we as humans have done to the planet is stopped. * Stylist, Your Guide to the Best Books of 2019 *On [Alexandra] Ocasio-Cortez's office bookshelf, near a picture of her late father and a photo of her with a local Girl Scout troop, two books nestle together in uneasy union. One is the Federalist papers. The other is The Uninhabitable Earth. * Time magazine profile on Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez *If there are people around to write history books in the future, they will look back at the @ExtinctionR protestors and think they were the sanest people of our time. Read The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells if you don't know why. * Johann Hari, Twitter *If we don't want our grandchildren to curse us, we had better read this book.David Wallace-Wells argues that the impacts of climate change will much graver than most people realize, and he's right. The Uninhabitable Earth is a timely and provocative work.Trigger warning: when scientists conclude that yesterday's worst-case scenario for global warming is probably unwarranted optimism, it's time to ask Scotty to beam you up. At least that was my reaction upon finishing Wallace-Wells' brilliant and unsparing analysis of a nightmare that is no longer a distant future but our chaotic, burning present.A lucid and thorough description of our unprecedented crisis, and of the mechanisms of denial with which we seek to avoid its fullest recognition.

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Book SynopsisIn Human-Centered AI, Professor Ben Shneiderman provides an optimistic realist's guide to how artificial intelligence can be used to augment and enhance humans' lives.

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