-Titulo Original : More Money Than God Hedge Funds And The Making Of A New Elite (council On Foreign Relations Books (penguin Press))-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: The New York Times bestseller“The bright light shed by More Money Than God is particularly welcome. Mr. Mallaby . . . brings a keen sense of financial theory to his subject and a vivid narrative style.” -Wall Street Journal“Splendid . . . the definitive history of the hedge fund history, a compelling narrative full of larger-than-life characters and dramatic tales of their financial triumphs and reversals.” -The Washington Post The first authoritative history of hedge funds-from their rebel beginnings to their role in defining the future of finance, from the author of The Power LawWealthy, powerful, and potentially dangerous, hedge fund moguls have become the It Boys of twenty-first-century capitalism. Beating the market was long thought to be impossible, but hedge funds cracked its mysteries and made fortunes in the process. Drawing on his unprecedented access to the industry, esteemed financial writer Sebastian Mallaby tells the inside story of the hedge funds, from their origins in the 1960s to their role in the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009-and explains why understanding the history of hedge funds is key to predicting the future of finance. Review “The bright light shed by More Money Than God is particularly welcome. Mr. Mallaby . . . brings a keen sense of financial theory to his subject and a vivid narrative style.” -Wall Street Journal “Splendid . . . the definitive history of the hedge fund history, a compelling narrative full of larger-than-life characters and dramatic tales of their financial triumphs and reversals . . . Mallaby weaves into his narrative just the right amount of economic theory and market history, and he has a wonderful knack for explaining complex trading strategies in simple and elegant prose.” -The Washington Post“[A] splendid account of the ups and downs of an industry in which few of the twenty-something hedge-fund wannabes know their history. They, and meddling politicians, should read this book before they are condemned to repeat it.” -The Financial Times“Mallabys book is informative and entertaining.” -Newsweek“More Money Than God is an expert primer on Americas most obscenely lucrative investment tool . . . [Mallaby is] incisive, informative, and as good a financial writer as he is a storyteller.” -NPRs All Things Considered“In More Money Than God, his smart history of the hedge fund business, Mallaby does more than explain how finances richest moguls made their loot. He argues that the obsessive, charismatic oddballs of the hedge fund world are Wall Streets future-and possibly its salvation.” -The New York Times Book Review“Sebastian Mallabys history of hedge funds is well written, smart, and balanced.” -Greg Mankiw“Sebastian Mallabys in-depth research and clear writing style is engaging . . . With great insight into the lucrative world of hedge funds, More Money Than God is one of the best, most engrossing of the current financial books.” -The Finance Professionals Post (A publication of the New York Society of Security Analysts) “[A] superb book.” -David Brooks, The New York Times“Mallaby . . . effectively combines an insiders knowledge with a colorful storytelling ability . . . A lively, provocative examination of a little-understood financial realm.” -Kirkus“A superbly researched history of hedge-fund heroes stretching back to the 1950s, it is a fascinating tale of the contrarian and cerebral misfits who created successful, flexible businesses in an otherwise conventional financial world.” -The Economist “More Money Than God shines a fascinating light on what is still the most obscure route to becoming a billionaire-the mysterious world of hedge funds. Sebastian Mallabys rollicking tour of industry legends-famous and otherwise-tells the improbable story of A.W. Jones, the vagabond journalist-sociologist and daring anti-Nazi activist who, after the war, would create the first hedged investment fund. From there, we get rip-roaring profile...

-Titulo Original : The Beginning Of Infinity Explanations That Transform The World-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Review Brilliant and exhilarating . . . Deutsch is so smart, and so strange, and so creative, and so inexhaustibly curious, and so vividly intellectually alive, that it is a distinct privilege to spend time in his head. --The New York Times Book Review [Deutsch] makes the case for infinite progress and such passion, imagination, and quirky brilliance that I couldnt help enjoying his argument. . . . [He] mounts a compelling challenge to scientific reductionism. --The Wall Street Journal “A deep theory of why humanity is destined to make progress may be found in David Deutsch’s dazzling The Beginning of Infinity. Deutsch presents science as a force for betterment, since it impels us to explain the world while forcing us to acknowledge our fallibility.” - Steven Pinker, The GuardianProvocative and persuasive . . . Address[es] subjects from artificial intelligence to the evolution of culture and creativity. --The Economist “[Deutsch’s books] are among the most ambitious works of nonfiction I have read, in that their aim is no less than an explanation of all reality. . . . They are treatises that weave together not just physics and astronomy but biology, mathematics, computer science, political science, psychology, philosophy, aesthetics, and-most important for Deutsch-epistemology, among other fields, in fashioning a profound new view of the world and the universe.” --The New Yorker’s Book Bench“Deutsch has an important message . . . that our destiny is to be explainers of the world around us, and explaining is the key to our mastery. . . . He writes clearly and thinks wisely. His book could help the world toward better ways of dealing with its problems.” --Freeman Dyson, The New York Review of Books The New York Times bestseller: A provocative, imaginative exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge “Dazzling.” - Steven Pinker, The GuardianIn this groundbreaking book, award-winning physicist David Deutsch argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe-and that improving them is the basic regulating principle of all successful human endeavor. Taking us on a journey through every fundamental field of science, as well as the history of civilization, art, moral values, and the theory of political institutions, Deutsch tracks how we form new explanations and drop bad ones, explaining the conditions under which progress-which he argues is potentially boundless-can and cannot happen. Hugely ambitious and highly original, The Beginning of Infinity explores and establishes deep connections between the laws of nature, the human condition, knowledge, and the possibility for progress. About the Author Born in Haifa, Israel, David Deutsch was educated at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a professor of physics at the University of Oxford, where he is a member of the Centre for Quantum Computation. His papers on quantum computation laid the foundations for that field, and he is an authority on the theory of parallel universes. His honors include the Institute of Physics Paul Dirac Prize and Medal. The author of The Fabric of Reality, he lives in England...

-Titulo Original : The Wages Of Destruction The Making And Breaking Of The Nazi Economy-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Masterful . . . [A] painstakingly researched, astonishingly erudite study…Tooze has added his name to the roll call of top-class scholars of Nazism. -Financial TimesAn extraordinary mythology has grown up around the Third Reich that hovers over political and moral debate even today. Adam Toozes controversial book challenges the conventional economic interpretations of that period to explore how Hitlers surprisingly prescient vision--ultimately hindered by Germanys limited resources and his own racial ideology--was to create a German super-state to dominate Europe and compete with what he saw as Americas overwhelming power in a soon-to- be globalized world. The Wages of Destruction is a chilling work of originality and tremendous scholarship that set off debate in Germany and will fundamentally change the way in which history views the Second World War. Review One of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years. A tour de force. -Niall Ferguson Tooze has produced the most striking history of German strategy in the Second World War that we possess. This is an extraordinary achievement, and it places Adam Tooze in a very select company of historians indeed ... Tooze has given us a masterpiece which will be read, and admired; and it will stimulate others for a long time to come. -Nicholas Stargardt, History Today It is among Adam Toozes many virtues, in The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy, that he can write about such matters with authority, explaining the technicalities of bombers and battleships. Hovering over his chronicle are two extraordinary questions: how Germany managed to last as long as it did before the collapse of 1945 and why, under Hitler, it thought it could achieve supremacy at all. -Norman Stone, The Wall Street Journal Virtually every page of his book contains something new and thought-provoking, making the whole an impressive achievement, in which original research has been combined with critical scrutiny of a vast literature that seems ripe for such a re-examination. -Michael Burleigh, The Sunday Times (London) A magnificent demonstration of the explanatory power of economic history. -The Times (London) Masterful . . . Tooze has added his name to the roll call of top-class scholars of Nazism. -Financial Times About the Author Adam Tooze is the author of The Deluge, winner of the Los Angeles Times book prize in history.. He is the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University. He formerly taught at Yale University, where he was Director of International Security Studies, and at the University of Cambridge. He has worked in executive development with several major corporations and contributed to the National Intelligence Council. He has written and reviewed for Foreign Affairs, the Financial Times, The Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, Die Zeit, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Tageszeitung and Spiegel Magazine, New Left Review, and the London Review of Books...

-Titulo Original : Human Compatible Artificial Intelligence And The Problem Of Control-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: A leading artificial intelligence researcher lays out a new approach to AI that will enable us to coexist successfully with increasingly intelligent machinesIn the popular imagination, superhuman artificial intelligence is an approaching tidal wave that threatens not just jobs and human relationships, but civilization itself. Conflict between humans and machines is seen as inevitable and its outcome all too predictable.In this groundbreaking book, distinguished AI researcher Stuart Russell argues that this scenario can be avoided, but only if we rethink AI from the ground up. Russell begins by exploring the idea of intelligence in humans and in machines. He describes the near-term benefits we can expect, from intelligent personal assistants to vastly accelerated scientific research, and outlines the AI breakthroughs that still have to happen before we reach superhuman AI. He also spells out the ways humans are already finding to misuse AI, from lethal autonomous weapons to viral sabotage.If the predicted breakthroughs occur and superhuman AI emerges, we will have created entities far more powerful than ourselves. How can we ensure they never, ever, have power over us? Russell suggests that we can rebuild AI on a new foundation, according to which machines are designed to be inherently uncertain about the human preferences they are required to satisfy. Such machines would be humble, altruistic, and committed to pursue our objectives, not theirs. This new foundation would allow us to create machines that are provably deferential and provably beneficial. Review Praise for Human Compatible:“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 “A must-read: this intellectual tour-de-force by one of AIs 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.” -Max Tegmark, author of Life 3.0“A thought-provoking and highly readable account of the past, present and future of AI . . . Russell is grounded in the realities of the technology, including its many limitations, and isn’t one to jump at the overheated language of sci-fi . . . If you are looking for a serious overview to the subject that doesn’t talk down to its non-technical readers, this is a good place to start . . . [Russell] deploys a bracing intellectual rigour . . . But a laconic style and dry humour keep his book accessible to the lay reader.” -Financial Times “A carefully written explanation of the concepts underlying AI as well as the history of their development. If you want to understand how fast AI is developing and why the technology is so dangerous, Human Compatible is your guide.” -TechCrunch“Sound[s] an important alarm bell . . . Human Compatible marks a major stride in AI studies, not least in its emphasis on ethics. At the book’s heart, Russell incisively discusses the misuses of AI.” -Nature“An AI expert’s chilling warning . . . Fascinating, and significant . . . Russell is not warning of the dangers of conscious machines, just that superintelligent ones might be misused or might misuse themselves.” -The Times (UK)“An excellent, nuanced history of the field.” -The Telegraph (UK)“A brillantly clear and fascinating exposition of the history of computing thus far, and how very difficult true AI will be to build.” -The Spectator (UK)“Human Compatible made me a convert to Russells 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 up...

-Titulo Original : Scale The Universal Laws Of Life, Growth, And Death In Organisms, Cities, And Companies-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: This is science writing as wonder and as inspiration. -The Wall Street JournalWall Street JournalFrom one of the most influential scientists of our time, a dazzling exploration of the hidden laws that govern the life cycle of everything from plants and animals to the cities we live in.Visionary physicist Geoffrey West is a pioneer in the field of complexity science, the science of emergent systems and networks. The term “complexity” can be misleading, however, because what makes West’s discoveries so beautiful is that he has found an underlying simplicity that unites the seemingly complex and diverse phenomena of living systems, including our bodies, our cities and our businesses. Fascinated by aging and mortality, West applied the rigor of a physicist to the biological question of why we live as long as we do and no longer. The result was astonishing, and changed science: West found that despite the riotous diversity in mammals, they are all, to a large degree, scaled versions of each other. If you know the size of a mammal, you can use scaling laws to learn everything from how much food it eats per day, what its heart-rate is, how long it will take to mature, its lifespan, and so on. Furthermore, the efficiency of the mammal’s circulatory systems scales up precisely based on weight: if you compare a mouse, a human and an elephant on a logarithmic graph, you find with every doubling of average weight, a species gets 25% more efficient-and lives 25% longer. Fundamentally, he has proven, the issue has to do with the fractal geometry of the networks that supply energy and remove waste from the organism’s body. West’s work has been game-changing for biologists, but then he made the even bolder move of exploring his work’s applicability. Cities, too, are constellations of networks and laws of scalability relate with eerie precision to them. Recently, West has applied his revolutionary work to the business world. This investigation has led to powerful insights into why some companies thrive while others fail. The implications of these discoveries are far-reaching, and are just beginning to be explored. Scale is a thrilling scientific adventure story about the elemental natural laws that bind us together in simple but profound ways. Through the brilliant mind of Geoffrey West, we can envision how cities, companies and biological life alike are dancing to the same simple, powerful tune. Review “An enchanting intellectual odyssey…also a satisfying personal and professional memoir of a distinguished scientist whose life’s work came to be preoccupied with finding ways to break down traditional boundaries between disciplines to solve the long-term global challenges of sustainability…. Mr. West manages to deliver a lot of theory and history accessibly and entertainingly… Provocative and fascinating.”-The New York Times“Scale, a grand synthesis of topics [Geoffrey West] has studied for several decades, makes an important and eloquent case for the significance [of universal laws of size and growth] in an ecology of the natural and human world - and in understanding whether the two can fit together.” -Nature“West’s insightful analysis and astute observations patiently build an intellectual framework that is ultimately highly rewarding, offering a new perspective on the many scales with which nature and society challenge us…A fascinating journey.” - Science MagazineThis is the sort of big-ideas book that comes along only every few years, the kind that changes the conversation in boardroom, common room and dining room....A book full of thrilling ideas. -The Sunday Times (London)“From a dean of complexity theory comes a sharp consideration of the pace and pattern of life in a universe of complex adaptive systems” …Wests book is a succession of charts, graphs, and aha moments, all deeply learned but lightly worn. By the end of the book, readers will understand such oddments as why it is that the hearts ...

-Titulo Original : An American Sickness How Healthcare Became Big Business And How You Can Take It Back-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: A New York Times bestseller/Washington Post Notable Book of 2017/NPR Best Books of 2017/Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017 This book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America.”-Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene At a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system - and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems. In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast? Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries-the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers-that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry? Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw. The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesnt just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship and to hospital C-suites, explaining step-by-step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far-reaching reform. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well-being at heart. Review “An eye opening discussion . . . [An] important book. . . . Rosenthal told an interviewer her goal was to “start a very loud conversation” that will be “difficult politically to ignore.” We need such a conversation - not just about how the market fails, but about how we can change the political realities that stand in the way of fixing it.”-The New York Times Book Review “Patients can save thousands of dollars by purchasing An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal.”-New York Journal of BooksAn authoritative account of the distorted financial incentives that drive medical care in the United States . . . Every lawmaker and administration official should pick up a copy of An American Sickness. Then, at last, the serious debate could begin.” -The Washington Post “Bold, insightful, well-researched analysis.” -Nature “Truly remarkable for the extensive interviews and range of documentation it provides.”-American Psychological Association“In this in-depth analysis of a malfunctioning system, Rosenthal makes a compelling case against the hospital and pharmaceutical executives behind the “money chase,” and it’s hard to imagine a more educated, credible guide…The patients she interviewed share min...

-Titulo Original : On Grand Strategy-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: A master class in strategic thinking, distilled from the legendary Yale course co-taught by the author for decadesFor almost two decades, Yale students have competed for admission each year to the Studies in Grand Strategy seminar taught by John Lewis Gaddis, Paul Kennedy, and Charles Hill. Its purpose has been to prepare future leaders for responsibilities they will face, through lessons drawn from history and the classics. Now, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Gaddis has distilled that teaching into a succinct, sharp, and transformational book, surveying statecraft from Xerxes of Persia to Franklin D. Roosevelt and beyond. On Grand Strategy is an unforgettable expert guide to the art of leadership. Review “[T]he best education in grand strategy available in a single volume . . . a long walk with a single, delightful mind . . . On Grand Strategy is a book that should be read by every American leader or would-be leader.” - John Nagl, Wall Street Journal “A remarkably erudite volume…[that] renders nuanced verdicts on an eclectic cohort of thinkers, writers, monarchs and conquerors…Gaddis has indisputably earned the right to plow different fields of historical inquiry, which he does in On Grand Strategy with self-evident glee and peripatetic curiosity.” -Washington Post“Thought-provoking…The approach is highly idiosyncratic and the structure loose; it has something of the feel of a personal manifesto or intellectual memoir.” -Weekly Standard“[An] eminently readable book by a master historian…It is a brilliant book-learned, seductively written, deep.” -The New Criterion “Lively…Gaddis concludes with an invaluable warning that true morality embraces neither messianic interventionism nor the quest for utopianism…Instead, ethical leadership pursues the art of the possible for the greater (not the greatest) good…On Grand Strategy is many things-a thoughtful validation of the liberal arts, an argument for literature over social science, an engaging reflection on university education and some timely advice to Americans that lasting victory comes from winning what you can rather than all that you want.” -The New York Times Book Review “An extraordinary treatise on the need to teach the principles of sound strategy to today’s leaders…The book…is a rich one. It makes sense of our world, but is also capable of beautifully crafted pithy historical judgments…It is a book that cares about liberty, choice and a moral compass, that warns against the hubris of an angry Bonaparte on the turn in a Russian winter, against leaders who do not listen or learn. A training manual for our troubled times.” -The Times (UK)“A fine summary of the complex concepts explored in [Gaddis’s] Grand Strategy seminar, full of vivid examples of leadership and strategic thinking, from the Persian king Xerxes to Churchill’s and Roosevelt’s WWII strategies…Gaddis brings a deep knowledge of history and a pleasingly economical prose style to this rigorous study of leadership.” -Publishers Weekly “A capacious analysis of how leaders make strategic decisions…A lively, erudite study of the past in service of the future.” -Kirkus Reviews On The Cold War: A New History “Outstanding . . . The most accessible distillation of that conflict yet written.” - The Boston Globe “Energetically written and lucid, it makes an ideal introduction to the subject.” - The New York Times “A fresh and admirably concise history . . . Gaddis’s mastery of the material, his fluent style and eye for the telling anecdote make his new work a pleasure.” - The Economist On George F. Kennan: An American Life Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Magisterial . . . [Kennan] bids fair to be as close to the final word as possible on one of the most important, complex, moving, challenging, and exasperating American public servants . . . We can be grateful to John Lewis Gaddis for bringing Kennan back to us, thoughtful, human, self-centered, contradictory, inspira...

-Titulo Original : 60 Seconds And Youre Hired! Revised Edition-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Fully revised and updated-the must-have guide to acing the interview and landing the dream job, from “America’s top career expert” (The Los Angeles Times)60 Seconds & Youre Hired! has already helped thousands of job seekers get their dream jobs by excelling in crucial interviews. Americas top job search expert Robin Ryan draws on her 20 years as a career counselor, 30 years of direct hiring, and extensive contact with hundreds of recruiters, decisions makers, and HR professionals to teach you proven strategies to help you take charge of the interview process and get the job you want. Brief, compact, and packed with insightful direction to give you the cutting edge to slip past the competition, 60 Seconds & Youre Hired! is here to help you succeed! This newly revised edition features: * Unique techniques like The 60 Second Sell and The 5-Point Agenda * Over 125 answers to tough, tricky interview questions employers often ask * How to handle structured or behavioral interview questions * Questions you should always ask, and questions you should never ask * How to deal effectively with any salary questions to preserve your negotiating power * 20 interview pitfalls to avoid * Proven negotiation techniques that secure higher salaries - and much more!“Robin Ryan has the inside track on how to get hired.” -ABC News Review “This is the MUST HAVE interview book” - HR “Targeted and strategic--a real winner to help you land a new job. - Business Radio Network “This book is your secret weapon for job search success.” - Dallas Business Journal “Must use interview guide.” - Minneapolis Star Tribune “Ryan offers your quickest route to getting the job and salary you want.” - WATD Radio If you use Robin Ryan’s advice, you definitely fly by the competition. - KING-TV News Robin Ryan is America’s foremost authority on job search and hiring. - Kansas City Star If you are looking for an edge to get hired, use this book! - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Valuable advice on HOW to land the job.” -The Providence Journal “This book offers outstanding advice that has aided many in landing a new job.” -The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Remarkable book to help you ace the job interview.” - WTBQ Radio “Robin Ryan is America’s Top Job Search Expert.” - The Boston Globe “Robin Ryan is the top job search expert in the nation today.” - NPR “Robin Ryan is Americas foremost expert on how to get hired in today’s competitive marketplace.” - The Arizona Republic Robin Ryan is Americas top expert on how to advance you career and land better paying job. - Los Angeles Business Journal “If you are looking to find a great paying job, Robin Ryan will show you how.” - KOMO TV About the Author Robin Ryan is the bestselling author of seven career books and has been a career counselor for over 20 years, and has been hailed by the Boston Globe as “America’s top job search expert”. She has appeared on over 1,500 TV and Radio shows including Oprah, Dr. Phil, CNN, ABC News, Fox News, NBC Nightly News, and NPR; and has spoken to over a thousand live audiences on improving their lives and achieving greater career success.Her advice has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The LA Times, Business Week, Money, Fortune, and Good Housekeeping. Based in Seattle, Ryan has a busy career counseling practice offering individual career coaching and job search services to clients nationwide. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Education and a Bachelor’s Degree from Boston College...

-Titulo Original : Reclaiming Conversation The Power Of Talk In A Digital Age-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Review “Turkle is by no means antitechnology. But after a career examining relations between people and computers, she blends her description with advocacy. She presents a powerful case that a new communication revolution is degrading the quality of human relationships.” -Jacob Weisberg, The New York Review of Books“Turkle deftly explores and explains the good and bad of this ‘flight from conversation’ while encouraging parents, teachers and bosses to champion conversation, use technology more intentionally and serve as role models.” -Success, A Best Book of 2015 “Reclaiming Conversation reminds readers what’s at stake when devices win over face-to-face conversation, and that it’s not too late to conquer those bad habits.” -Seattle Times “Turkle’s witty, well-written book offers much to ponder. . . . This is the season of polls and sound bites, of updates extolling the perceived virtues or revealing the assumed villainy of opinions. Talk is cheap, but conversation is priceless.” -Boston Globe“Drawing from hundreds of interviews, [Turkle] makes a convincing case that our unfettered ability to make digital connections is leading to a decline in actual conversation-between friends and between lovers, in classrooms and in places of work, even in the public sphere. In having fewer meaningful conversations each day, Turkle argues, we’re losing the skills that made them possible to begin with-the ability to focus deeply, think things through, read emotions, and empathize with others.” -The American Scholar “This is a persuasive and intimate book, one that explores the minutiae of human relationships. Turkle uses our experiences to shame us, showing how, phones in hand, we turn away from our children, friends and co-workers, even from ourselves.” -Washington Post“Reclaiming Conversation is best appreciated as a sophisticated self-help book. It makes a compelling case that children develop better, students learn better, and employees perform better when their monitors set good examples and carve our spaces for face-to-face interactions.” -Jonathan Franzen, The New York Times Book Review“Nobody has thought longer or more profoundly than Sherry Turkle about how our brave new world of social media affects the way we confront each other and ourselves. Hers is a voice-erudite and empathic, practical and impassioned-that needs to be heeded.” -Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Wont Go Away “This book makes a winning case for conversation, at the family dinner table or in the office, as the ‘talking cure’ for societal and emotional ills.” -Publishers Weekly “A timely wake-up call urging us to cherish the intimacy of direct, unscripted communication.” -Kirkus“Only connect! wrote E. M. Forster in 1910. In this wise and incisive book, Sherry Turkle offers a timely revision: Only converse!” -Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows and The Glass Cage “Smartphones are the new sugar and fat: They are so potent they can undo us if we don’t limit them. Sherry Turkle introduces a lifesaving principle for the twenty-first century: face-to-face conversation first. This heuristic really works; your life, your family life, your work life will all be better. Turkle offers a thousand beautifully written arguments for why you should lift your eyes up from the screen.” -Kevin Kelly, senior maverick for Wired; author of What Technology Wants“Digital media were supposed to turn us from passive viewers to interactive participants, but Turkle reveals how genuine human interaction may be the real casualty of supposedly social technologies. Without conversation, there is no syntax, no literacy, no genuine collaboration, no empathy, no civilization. With courage and compassion, Turkle shows how the true promise of social media would be to reacquaint us with the lost of art making meaning together.” -Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock“To reclaim conversation is to reclaim our humanity. We all know ...

-Titulo Original : The Signal And The Noise Why So Many Predictions Fail--but Some Dont-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: UPDATED FOR 2020 WITH A NEW PREFACE BY NATE SILVEROne of the more momentous books of the decade. -The New York Times Book ReviewNate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair’s breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger-all by the time he was thirty. He solidified his standing as the nations foremost political forecaster with his near perfect prediction of the 2012 election. Silver is the founder and editor in chief of the website FiveThirtyEight. Drawing on his own groundbreaking work, Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe of noisy data. Most predictions fail, often at great cost to society, because most of us have a poor understanding of probability and uncertainty. Both experts and laypeople mistake more confident predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence is often the reason for failure. If our appreciation of uncertainty improves, our predictions can get better too. This is the “prediction paradox”: The more humility we have about our ability to make predictions, the more successful we can be in planning for the future.In keeping with his own aim to seek truth from data, Silver visits the most successful forecasters in a range of areas, from hurricanes to baseball to global pandemics, from the poker table to the stock market, from Capitol Hill to the NBA. He explains and evaluates how these forecasters think and what bonds they share. What lies behind their success? Are they good-or just lucky? What patterns have they unraveled? And are their forecasts really right? He explores unanticipated commonalities and exposes unexpected juxtapositions. And sometimes, it is not so much how good a prediction is in an absolute sense that matters but how good it is relative to the competition. In other cases, prediction is still a very rudimentary-and dangerous-science.Silver observes that the most accurate forecasters tend to have a superior command of probability, and they tend to be both humble and hardworking. They distinguish the predictable from the unpredictable, and they notice a thousand little details that lead them closer to the truth. Because of their appreciation of probability, they can distinguish the signal from the noise.With everything from the health of the global economy to our ability to fight terrorism dependent on the quality of our predictions, Nate Silver’s insights are an essential read. Review “Not so different in spirit from the way public intellectuals like John Kenneth Galbraith once shaped discussions of economic policy and public figures like Walter Cronkite helped sway opinion on the Vietnam War . . . could turn out to be one of the more momentous books of the decade.” -New York Times Book Review“Mr. Silver, just 34, is an expert at finding signal in noise . . . Lively prose-from energetic to outraged . . . illustrates his dos and don’ts through a series of interesting essays that examine how predictions are made in fields including chess, baseball, weather forecasting, earthquake analysis and politics… [the] chapter on global warming is one of the most objective and honest analyses I’ve seen . . . even the noise makes for a good read.” -New York TimesA serious treatise about the craft of prediction-without academic mathematics-cheerily aimed at lay readers. Silvers coverage is polymathic, ranging from poker and earthquakes to climate change and terrorism. -New York Review of BooksMr. Silvers breezy style makes even the most difficult statistical material accessible. What is more, his arguments and examples are painstakingly researched . . . -Wall Street JournalNate Silver is the Kurt Cobain of statistics . . . His ambitious new book, The Signal and the Noise, is a practical handbook and a philosophical manifesto in one, following the theme of prediction through a series of case studies ranging...

-Titulo Original : A Short History Of Financial Euphoria-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: The world-renowned economist offers dourly irreverent analyses of financial debacle from the tulip craze of the seventeenth century to the recent plague of junk bonds. -The Atlantic.With incomparable wisdom, skill, and wit, world-renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith traces the history of the major speculative episodes in our economy over the last three centuries. Exposing the ways in which normally sane people display reckless behavior in pursuit of profit, Galbraith asserts that our notoriously short financial memory is what creates the conditions for market collapse. By recognizing these signs and understanding what causes them we can guard against future recessions and have a better hold on our countrys (and our own) financial destiny. From Publishers Weekly The renowned Harvard economist examines reckless speculative episodes in American financial history. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review Galbraiths long historical view is refreshing ... Easily read and enterraining. -Washington Post Book World About the Author John Kenneth Galbraith was born in 1908 in Ontario, Canada. He earned a PhD at the University of California in 1934 and later took a fellowship at Cambridge, where he first encountered Keynesian economics. At different points in his life he taught at both Harvard and Princeton, and wrote more than forty books on an array of economic topics. During World War II he served as deputy head of the Office of Price Administration, charged with preventing inflation from crippling the war efforts, and also served as the US Ambassador to India during the Kennedy administration. He passed away in 2006...

-Titulo Original : The Broken Ladder How Inequality Affects The Way We Think, Live, And Die-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: A persuasive and highly readable account. -President Barack Obama“Brilliant. . . . an important, fascinating read arguing that inequality creates a public health crisis in America.” -Nicholas Kristof, New York Times“The Broken Ladder is an important, timely, and beautifully written account of how inequality affects us all.” -Adam Alter, New York Times bestselling author of Irresistible and Drunk Tank PinkA timely examination by a leading scientist of the physical, psychological, and moral effects of inequality. The levels of inequality in the world today are on a scale that have not been seen in our lifetimes, yet the disparity between rich and poor has ramifications that extend far beyond mere financial means. In The Broken Ladder psychologist Keith Payne examines how inequality divides us not just economically; it also has profound consequences for how we think, how we respond to stress, how our immune systems function, and even how we view moral concepts such as justice and fairness.Research in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics has not only revealed important new insights into how inequality changes people in predictable ways but also provided a corrective to the flawed view of poverty as being the result of individual character failings. Among modern developed societies, inequality is not primarily a matter of the actual amount of money people have. It is, rather, peoples sense of where they stand in relation to others. Feeling poor matters-not just being poor. Regardless of their average incomes, countries or states with greater levels of income inequality have much higher rates of all the social maladies we associate with poverty, including lower than average life expectancies, serious health problems, mental illness, and crime. The Broken Ladder explores such issues as why women in poor societies often have more children, and why they have them at a younger age; why there is little trust among the working class in the prudence of investing for the future; why peoples perception of their social status affects their political beliefs and leads to greater political divisions; how poverty raises stress levels as effectively as actual physical threats; how inequality in the workplace affects performance; and why unequal societies tend to become more religious. Understanding how inequality shapes our world can help us better understand what drives ideological divides, why high inequality makes the middle class feel left behind, and how to disconnect from the endless treadmill of social comparison. Review A persuasive and highly readable account of how rising inequality, and not just absolute poverty, is undermining our politics, social cohesion, long term prosperity, and general well-being.-President Barack Obama“Brilliant. . . . an important, fascinating read arguing that inequality creates a public health crisis in America. . . . Payne challenges a common perception that the real problem isn’t inequality but poverty, and he’s persuasive that societies are shaped not just by disadvantage at the bottom but also by inequality across the spectrum. . . . So much of the national conversation now is focused on President Trump, for understandable reasons. But I suspect that he is a symptom as well as a cause, and that to uncover the root of our national dysfunctions we must go deeper than politics, deeper than poverty, deeper than demagoguery, and confront the inequality that is America today.” -Nicholas Kristof, New York Times“Authoritative, thought provoking, accessible and well worth a spot on your summer reading list. . . . Payne embraces the egalitarian view that inequality of income is problem in and of itself-economically, morally, politically. . . . Demonstrate[s] how much more interesting and enlightening the inequality debate has become since those early days when it was mostly labor economists debating how much inequality had increased and whether we should blame...

-Titulo Original : Bourbon Empire The Past And Future Of Americas Whiskey-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: “Pulls aside the curtain of puffery to show . . . the business of liquor to be every bit as fascinating as the fictions in which the distillers love to swaddle themselves.” -Wayne Curtis, The Wall Street Journal Walk into a well-stocked liquor store and you’ll see countless whiskey brands, each boasting an inspiring story of independence and heritage. And yet, more than 95% of the nation’s whiskey comes from a small handful of giant companies with links to organized crime, political controversy, and a colorful history that is far different than what appears on modern labels. In Bourbon Empire, Reid Mitenbuler shows how bourbon, America’s most iconic style of whiskey, and the industry surrounding it, really came to be-a saga of shrewd capitalism as well as dedicated craftsmanship. Mitenbuler traces the big names-Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Evan Williams, and more-back to their origins, exploring bourbon’s founding myths and great successes against the backdrop of America’s economic history. Illusion is separated from reality in a tale reaching back to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, when the ideologies of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton battled to define the soul of American business. That debate continues today, punctuated along the way by Prohibition-era bootleggers, the liquor-fueled origins of NASCAR, intense consolidation driven by savvy lobbying, and a Madison Avenue plot to release five thousand parrots-trained to screech the name of a popular brand-into the nation’s bars. Today, the whiskey business takes a new turn as a nascent craft distilling movement offers the potential to revolutionize the industry once again. But, as Mitenbuler shows, many take advantage of this excitement while employing questionable business practices, either by masquerading whiskey made elsewhere as their own or by shortcutting the proven production standards that made many historic brands great to begin with. A tale of innovation, success, downfall, and resurrection, Bourbon Empire is an exploration of the spirit in all its unique forms, creating an indelible portrait of both American whiskey and the people who make it. Review Reid Mitenbuler pulls aside the curtain of puffery to show us the spirit’s history, as well as how the stuff is actually made, who controls the industry and where it might be headed.... [Shows] the business of liquor to be every bit as fascinating as the fictions in which the distillers love to swaddle themselves.-Wayne Curtis, Wall Street JournalAn engaging and thorough exploration of the history of Americas national booze.-PlayboyBourbon Empire digs deep to divulge the truth about the people donning bourbon labels-James C. Crow, Elijah Craig and Evan Williams, to name a few-and unravels the often-questionable practices of bourbon business. It’s in these moments of historical shenanigans that we find Mitenbuler’s true talent. He doesn’t slam bourbon brands for misleading consumers with marketing. Mitenbuler simply writes the truth.-Fred Minnick, Parade“An illuminating, well-paced narrative that will interest students and imbibers of the wee drap, American-style.”-Kirkus “Mitenbuler’s prose is relaxed and mellow with a shot of wry; his entertaining, loose-limbed narrative revels in the colorful characters and droll hypocrisies of capitalism at its booziest.”-Publishers Weekly Abundant and even surprising detail is bundled with sharp writing that doesn’t hesitate to criticize.... This terrific account of the rich heritage behind a classic American beverage is recommended for those who enjoy reading histories of foodstuffs of all sorts.-Library Journal “Bourbon Empire is a lively, rowdy tale of swindlers and smugglers, connoisseurs and craftsmen. Reid Mitenbuler is a talented storyteller whose wide-ranging curiosity takes us to Civil War battlefields and prison cells as well as cornfields and world-famous distilleries. Truly fascinating, and a must-read for whiskey...

-Titulo Original : Streetfight Handbook For An Urban Revolution-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Like a modern-day Jane Jacobs, Janette Sadik-Khan transformed New York Citys streets to make room for pedestrians, bikers, buses, and green spaces. Describing the battles she fought to enact change, Streetfight imparts wisdom and practical advice that other cities can follow to make their own streets safer and more vibrant. As New York City’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan managed the seemingly impossible and transformed the streets of one of the world’s greatest, toughest cities into dynamic spaces safe for pedestrians and bikers. Her approach was dramatic and effective: Simply painting a part of the street to make it into a plaza or bus lane not only made the street safer, but it also lessened congestion and increased foot traffic, which improved the bottom line of businesses. Real-life experience confirmed that if you know how to read the street, you can make it function better by not totally reconstructing it but by reallocating the space that’s already there. Breaking the street into its component parts, Streetfight demonstrates, with step-by-step visuals, how to rewrite the underlying “source code” of a street, with pointers on how to add protected bike paths, improve crosswalk space, and provide visual cues to reduce speeding. Achieving such a radical overhaul wasn’t easy, and Streetfight pulls back the curtain on the battles Sadik-Khan won to make her approach work. She includes examples of how this new way to read the streets has already made its way around the world, from pocket parks in Mexico City and Los Angeles to more pedestrian-friendly streets in Auckland and Buenos Aires, and innovative bike-lane designs and plazas in Austin, Indianapolis, and San Francisco. Many are inspired by the changes taking place in New York City and are based on the same techniques. Streetfight deconstructs, reassembles, and reinvents the street, inviting readers to see it in ways they never imagined. Review No one has done more in less time to rewrite the future of New York’s streets.-Reclaim“An inspiring read… The sort of book that should be read by every officeholder…But it is also a read for the rest of us. Anyone whose memory is longer than a New York minute who can remember when New York wasnt the pedestrian and bike friendly envy of cities the world over.”-The Huffington Post“Janette Sadik-Khan is like the child that Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs never had: an urban visionary determined to reshape the streets of New York, but with an abiding concern for the health of neighborhoods and the safety of their residents. If you care about the future of cities, read Streetfight.”-Michael Bloomberg, former New York City Mayor “Cities are where innovation, creativity and the unexpected happens, and Janette has helped make ours, New York City, safer, more livable and more profitable all at once. I watched these exciting changes happen, but the really interesting part is how she managed to implement these changes quickly and cheaply. That’s where other cities can use this as a manual for change on issues like health reform, education and the arts. This, then, is not just a book about transportation.”-David Byrne, musician, artist “This book is an urban epic as audacious as the changes Janette Sadik-Khan made to the map of New York City. She is a superhero for cities and an inspiration that streets built to human scale aren’t impossible, but merely awaiting those who dare.”-Jan Gehl, Urbanist, architect, author “To create safe and inclusive cities, being a visionary is not enough. You must also be an advocate, a communicator, a doer and, perhaps most importantly, a street fighter. Janette is that person and this is a book that provides the proof of the possible for citizens and their elected leaders everywhere.”-Enrique Peñalosa, Mayor of BogotaSadik-Khans work will serve as a guidebook to city planners and traffic engineers everywhere, and motivate disenchanted urban dweller...

-Titulo Original : Lords Of Finance The Bankers Who Broke The World-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize“Erudite, entertaining macroeconomic history of the lead-up to the Great Depression as seen through the careers of the West’s principal bankers . . . Spellbinding, insightful and, perhaps most important, timely.” -Kirkus Reviews (starred)“There is terrific prescience to be found in [Lords of Finance’s] portrait of times past . . . [A] writer of great verve and erudition, [Ahamed] easily connects the dots between the economic crises that rocked the world during the years his book covers and the fiscal emergencies that beset us today. -The New York TimesIt is commonly believed that the Great Depression that began in 1929 resulted from a confluence of events beyond any one persons or governments control. In fact, as Liaquat Ahamed reveals, it was the decisions made by a small number of central bankers that were the primary cause of that economic meltdown, the effects of which set the stage for World War II and reverberated for decades. As we continue to grapple with economic turmoil, Lords of Finance is a potent reminder of the enormous impact that the decisions of central bankers can have, their fallibility, and the terrible human consequences that can result when they are wrong. Review “A magisterial work . . . As you learn how the world spiraled into depression . . . you can’t help thinking about the economic crisis we’re living through now.” -The New York Times Book Review “The rich and charming story of the end of the world.” -Time “Lords of Finance is highly readable . . . That it should appear now, as history threatens to repeat itself, compounds its appeal.” -Niall Ferguson, Financial Times “There is terrific prescience to be found in [Lords of Finance’s] portrait of times past . . . [A] writer of great verve and erudition, [Ahamed] easily connects the dots between the economic crises that rocked the world during the years his book covers and the fiscal emergencies that beset us today. He does this winningly enough to make his book about an international monetary horror story seem like a labor of love . . . Mr. Ahamed does a superlative job of explaining the ever-germane way the problems of one shyster, one bank, one treasury or one economy can set off repercussions all around the globe.” -Janet Maslin, The New York Times “This absorbing study of the first collective of central bankers is provocative, not least because it is still relevant.” -The Economist “This is narrative history at its most vivid, an epic portrait of how the predecessors of Ben Bernanke, Jean-Claude Trichet and Mervyn King helped shove economies into the abyss in 1929 . . . His reportorial style has the Barbara Tuchman touch. Learned yet unpretentious, he dips into diaries, letters and cables to pull out evocative vignettes . . . Central bankers, [Ahamed] says, can resemble Sisyphus in Greek mythology-condemned to roll a boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll down again. Like Alan Greenspan, the four men described here saw their apparent successes melt into failure.” -Bloomberg News “The parallels evidenced by Ahamed between state of the world financial system then and now add to the fascination of this remarkable achievement in history, biography and analysis.” -Fort Worth Star Telegram “An outstanding book . . . [Ahamed] found a fascinating frame for relating global economic history from the beginning of World War I until the dying days of World War II.” -The Houston Chronicle “[Ahamed’s] protagonists’ high-wire efforts to stave off national bankruptcies furnish Ahamed with plenty of drama to highlight his engrossing analysis of the complexities of monetary policy.” -Publishers Weekly “Erudite, entertaining macroeconomic history of the lead-up to the Great Depression as seen through the careers of the West’s principal bankers . . . Spellbinding, insightful and, perhaps most important, timely.” -Kirkus Reviews (starred) “Books grounded in history sometimes offer ...

-Titulo Original : The Deluge The Great War, America And The Remaking Of The Global Order, 1916-1931-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: A searing and highly original analysis of the First World War and its anguished aftermath-from the prizewinning economist and author of Shutdown, Crashed and The Wages of Destruction Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize - History Finalist for the Kirkus Prize - Nonfiction In the depths of the Great War, with millions dead and no imaginable end to the conflict, societies around the world began to buckle. The heart of the financial system shifted from London to New York. The infinite demands for men and materiel reached into countries far from the front. The strain of the war ravaged all economic and political assumptions, bringing unheard-of changes in the social and industrialorder. A century after the outbreak of fighting, Adam Tooze revisits this seismic moment in history, challenging the existing narrative of the war, its peace, and its aftereffects. From the day the United States enters the war in 1917 to the precipice of global financial ruin, Tooze delineates the world remade by American economic and military power. Tracing the ways in which countries came to terms with America’s centrality-including the slide into fascism-The Deluge is a chilling work of great originality that will fundamentally change how we view the legacy of World War I. Review Winner of the 2015 Los Angeles Times Book Prize -- History “For anyone seeking to understand how American predominance was achieved in the years after World War I, and why it catastrophically failed to keep the hard-won peace, Adam Tooze has written an essential book. Epic in scope, boldly argumentative, deftly interweaving military and economic narratives, The Deluge is a splendid interpretive history.” - The New York Times Book Review “A grand and groundbreaking reinterpretation of World War I and its aftermath.”-Minneapolis Star Tribune “A globe-spanning and wide-ranging examination of how America’s historic decision to join that epochal war changed the U.S. as well as the entire world order, ‘The Deluge’ is also a look at a past that is both terribly remote and hauntingly familiar.”-Salon “Massive, well-researched and eminently readable.”-The Washington Times“Tooze guides us through the numerous diplomatic and economic catastrophes that emerged from World War I. Eventually we start to get a well-rounded and extremely comprehensive insight into why Wilson’s American foreign policy was so misguided.... Excellent... provide[s] us with a superb insight into the collapse of a stable Europe.”-The Daily Beast “Tooze’s analysis, particularly of fears the American capitalist juggernaut provoked, should spark debate, especially in scholarly circles.”-Booklist “A thoroughly researched, much-needed reexamination of America’s role in the aftermath of World War I that will appeal to any reader interested in the interwar period.”- Library Journal, Michael Farrell, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, FL “In this landmark study, Tooze offers an elegant account of the reordering of great-power relations that took place after World War I, at the dawn of ‘the American century.’”- Foreign Affairs, G. John Ikenberry “Adam Tooze’s utterly hypnotic study reaches back to a time in which fragile economies across the world were every bit as intertwined and acutely vulnerable, and where unforeseen economic shocks could be enough to trigger apocalyptic bloodshed. What Adam Tooze has done-a huge, formidable achievement-is to reconstruct a vast global web, and to show how the slightest vibrations on its threads had consequences everywhere, almost regardless of individual fears and hates or venomous ideologies. The breadth of his scholarship also frighteningly illuminates the fragility of peace.” - The Telegraph (UK) “Tooze shows, more emphatically than any other scholar I have read, how decisively and how sweepingly the First World War ended this state of affairs….Toozes brilliant account also offers much food for thought for any observer of the current...

-Titulo Original : The Idea Factory Bell Labs And The Great Age Of American Innovation-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: The definitive history of America’s greatest incubator of innovation and the birthplace of some of the 20th century’s most influential technologies“Filled with colorful characters and inspiring lessons . . . The Idea Factory explores one of the most critical issues of our time: What causes innovation?” -Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review“Compelling . . . Gertners book offers fascinating evidence for those seeking to understand how a society should best invest its research resources.” -The Wall Street JournalFrom its beginnings in the 1920s until its demise in the 1980s, Bell Labs-officially, the research and development wing of AT&T-was the biggest, and arguably the best, laboratory for new ideas in the world. From the transistor to the laser, from digital communications to cellular telephony, its hard to find an aspect of modern life that hasnt been touched by Bell Labs. In The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner traces the origins of some of the twentieth centurys most important inventions and delivers a riveting and heretofore untold chapter of American history. At its heart this is a story about the life and work of a small group of brilliant and eccentric men-Mervin Kelly, Bill Shockley, Claude Shannon, John Pierce, and Bill Baker-who spent their careers at Bell Labs. Today, when the drive to invent has become a mantra, Bell Labs offers us a way to enrich our understanding of the challenges and solutions to technological innovation. Here, after all, was where the foundational ideas on the management of innovation were born. Review “Filled with colorful characters and inspiring lessons . . . The Idea Factory explores one of the most critical issues of our time: What causes innovation?” -Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review“Riveting . . . Mr. Gertner’s portraits of Kelly and the cadre of talented scientists who worked at Bell Labs are animated by a journalistic ability to make their discoveries and inventions utterly comprehensible-indeed, thrilling-to the lay reader. And they showcase, too, his novelistic sense of character and intuitive understanding of the odd ways in which clashing or compatible personalities can combine to foster intensely creative collaborations.” -Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times“One of the best innovation-focused books Ive read: Its a wide-ranging, detailed, and deeply fascinating look at the New Jersey lab which has been churning out useful discoveries since the early 1900s.” -The Boston Globe“Fascinating history . . . the research behind The Idea Factory is astonishing.” -Slate Book Review“Compelling . . . Gertners book offers fascinating evidence for those seeking to understand how a society should best invest its research resources.” -The Wall Street Journal“An expansive new history . . . does an impressive job of illuminating many of Bell Labs’ key technological triumphs.” -Wired About the Author Jon Gertner grew up in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, just a few hundred yards away from Bell Labs. He has been a writer for the New York Times Magazine since 2004 and is an editor at Fast Company magazine. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with his wife and two children...

-Titulo Original : Four Fish The Future Of The Last Wild Food-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: “A necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why.” -Sam Sifton, The New York Times Book ReviewAcclaimed author of American Catch and The Omega Princple and life-long fisherman, Paul Greenberg takes us on a journey, examining the four fish that dominate our menus: salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna. Investigating the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, Greenberg reveals our damaged relationship with the ocean and its inhabitants. Just three decades ago, nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild. Today, rampant overfishing and an unprecedented biotech revolution have brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex marketplace. Four Fish offers a way for us to move toward a future in which healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception. Review “‘The passion to save bluefin is as strong as the one to kill them,‘ Greenberg writes, ‘and these dual passions are often contained within the body of a single fisherman.‘ Four Fish is a marvelous exploration of that contradiction, one that is reflected in the stance and behavior of all nations that fish. It is a necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why.” -The New York Times Book Review About the Author Paul Greenberg is the author of the James Beard Award-winning Four Fish and American Catch and a regular contributor to The New York Times. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, and GQ, among other publications, and he has lectured widely on ocean issues at institutions ranging from Google to Yale to the U.S. Senate. He lives in New York.Twitter: @4fishgreenberg : /fourfish Web: paulgreenberg Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Introduction In 1978 all the fish I cared about died. They were the biggest largemouth bass I had ever seen, and they lived in a pond ten minutes’ walk from my house on a large estate in the backwoods of Greenwich, Connecticut, perhaps the most famously wealthy town in America. We did not own the house, the estate, the pond, or the largemouth bass, but I still thought of the fish as my fish. I had found them, and the pond was my rightful hunting ground. My mother had rented the house as she would three other homes in Greenwich, because it gave the illusion of magnificent proprietorship. She tended toward small cottages on large estates- converted stables, liverymen’s accommodations that were the unclaimed, declining appendages of older, fading wealth, unsold because of divorces or other family complications, rented out to us for a reasonable fee that would become unreasonable and impel our moving on to other cottages on other collapsing estates. Fishing was the one constant during these years. Sensing in it a masculine, character-building quality, my mother arranged it so that the cottages we rented always had access to streams and lakes or abutted other properties we could trespass upon that had such resources. She trusted my instincts for spotting fishy water and used me as a kind of divining rod before signing a lease. And for most of my childhood, we were within a short walk of a potentially fruitful cast. Our longest residence was in the aforementioned house near the giant largemouth bass. In the first two years we lived there, I spent all my summer evenings and weekend mornings pursuing them. In the winter of 1978, though, a fierce blizzard hit southern Connecticut. Temperatures were often below zero and at one point it snowed for thirty-three hours straight. Perhaps it was the cold that killed the fish, or the copper sulfate I helped the caretaker drag through the pond the previous summer to manage the algal blooms, or maybe even the fishermen I’d noticed trespassing on the estate one day, scoping out my grounds. But whatever caused it, after that winter never a...

-Titulo Original : The White Mans Burden Why The Wests Efforts To Aid The Rest Have Done So Much Ill And So Little Good-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: From one of the world’s best-known development economists-an excoriating attack on the tragic hubris of the West’s efforts to improve the lot of the so-called developing world.Brilliant at diagnosing the failings of Western intervention in the Third World. -BusinessWeekIn his previous book, The Elusive Quest for Growth, William Easterly criticized the utter ineffectiveness of Western organizations to mitigate global poverty, and he was promptly fired by his then-employer, the World Bank. The White Man’s Burden is his widely anticipated counterpunch-a brilliant and blistering indictment of the West’s economic policies for the world’s poor. Sometimes angry, sometimes irreverent, but always clear-eyed and rigorous, Easterly argues that we in the West need to face our own history of ineptitude and draw the proper conclusions, especially at a time when the question of our ability to transplant Western institutions has become one of the most pressing issues we face. From Publishers Weekly No one who attacks the humanitarian aid establishment is going to win any popularity contests, but, neither, it seems, is that establishment winning any contests with the people it is supposed to be helping. Easterly, an NYU economics professor and a former research economist at the World Bank, brazenly contends that the West has failed, and continues to fail, to enact its ill-formed, utopian aid plans because, like the colonialists of old, it assumes it knows what is best for everyone. Existing aid strategies, Easterly argues, provide neither accountability nor feedback. Without accountability for failures, he says, broken economic systems are never fixed. And without feedback from the poor who need the aid, no one in charge really understands exactly what trouble spots need fixing. True victories against poverty, he demonstrates, are most often achieved through indigenous, ground-level planning. Except in its early chapters, where Easterly builds his strategic platform atop a tower of statistical analyses, the books wry, cynical prose is highly accessible. Readers will come away with a clear sense of how orthodox methods of poverty reduction do not help, and can sometimes worsen, poor economies. (Mar. 20) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review Brilliant at diagnosing the failings of Western intervention in the Third World. -BusinessWeek About the Author William Easterly is a professor of economics at New York University and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. He was a senior research economist at the World Bank for more than sixteen years. In addition to his academic work, he has written widely in recent years for The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, and Foreign Policy, among others. He is the author of the acclaimed book The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics. He has worked in many areas of the developing world, most extensively in Africa, Latin America, and Russia...

-Titulo Original : Here Comes Everybody The Power Of Organizing Without Organizations-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: “A fascinating survey of the digital age . . . An eye-opening paean to possibility.” -The Boston Globe“Mr. Shirky writes cleanly and convincingly about the intersection of technological innovation and social change.” -New York ObserverAn extraordinary exploration of how technology can empower social and political organizersFor the first time in history, the tools for cooperating on a global scale are not solely in the hands of governments or institutions. The spread of the internet and mobile phones are changing how people come together and get things done-and sparking a revolution that, as Clay Shirky shows, is changing what we do, how we do it, and even who we are. Here, we encounter a whoman who loses her phone and recruits an army of volunteers to get it back from the person who stole it. A dissatisfied airline passenger who spawns a national movement by taking her case to the web. And a handful of kids in Belarus who create a political protest that the state is powerless to stop. Here Comes Everybody is a revelatory examination of how the wildfirelike spread of new forms of social interaction enabled by technology is changing the way humans form groups and exist within them. A revolution in social organization has commenced, and Clay Shirky is its brilliant chronicler. Review “A fascinating survey of the digital age . . . An eye-opening paean to possibility.” -The Boston Globe“Drawing from anthropology, economic theory and keen observation, [Shirky] makes a strong case that new communication tools are making once-impossible forms of group action possible . . . [an] extraordinarily perceptive new book.” -Minneapolis Star Tribune“Mr. Shirky writes cleanly and convincingly about the intersection of technological innovation and social change.” -New York Observer“Clay has long been one of my favorite thinkers on all things Internet-not only is he smart and articulate, but hes one of those people who is able to crystallize the half-formed ideas that Ive been trying to piece together into glittering, brilliant insights that make me think, yes, of course, thats how it all works.” -Cory Doctorow, co-editor of Boing Boing and author of Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present“Clear thinking and good writing about big changes.” -Stewart Brand“Clay Shirky may be the finest thinker we have on the Internet revolution, but Here Comes Everybody is more than just a technology book; its an absorbing guide to the future of society itself. Anyone interested in the vitality and influence of groups of human beings-from knitting circles, to political movements, to multinational corporations-needs to read this book.” -Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad Is Good for You and Emergence “How do trends emerge and opinions form? The answer used to be something vague about word of mouth, but now its a highly measurable science, and nobody understands it better than Clay Shirky. In this delightfully readable book, practically every page has an insight that will change the way you think about the new era of social media. Highly recommended.” -Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail “In story after story, Clay masterfully makes the connections as to why business, society and our lives continue to be transformed by a world of net- enabled social tools. His pattern-matching skills are second to none.” -Ray Ozzie, Microsoft Chief Software Architect About the Author Clay Shirky teaches at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, where he researches the interrelated effects of our social and technological networks. He has consulted with a variety of Fortune 500 companies working on network design, including Nokia, Lego, the BBC, Newscorp, Microsoft, as well as the Library of Congress, the U.S. Navy, and the Libyan government. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, Harvard Business Review, Business 2....

-Titulo Original : American Prison A Reporters Undercover Journey Into The Business Of Punishment-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: An enraging, necessary look at the private prison system, and a convincing clarion call for prison reform.” -NPR.orgNew York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018 * One of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2018 * Winner of the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize * Winner of the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism * Winner of the 2019 RFK Book and Journalism Award * A New York Times Notable Book A ground-breaking and brave inside reckoning with the nexus of prison and profit in America: in one Louisiana prison and over the course of our countrys history.In 2014, Shane Bauer was hired for $9 an hour to work as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana. An award-winning investigative journalist, he used his real name; there was no meaningful background check. Four months later, his employment came to an abrupt end. But he had seen enough, and in short order he wrote an expose about his experiences that won a National Magazine Award and became the most-read feature in the history of the magazine Mother Jones. Still, there was much more that he needed to say. In American Prison, Bauer weaves a much deeper reckoning with his experiences together with a thoroughly researched history of for-profit prisons in America from their origins in the decades before the Civil War. For, as he soon realized, we cant understand the cruelty of our current system and its place in the larger story of mass incarceration without understanding where it came from. Private prisons became entrenched in the South as part of a systemic effort to keep the African-American labor force in place in the aftermath of slavery, and the echoes of these shameful origins are with us still.The private prison system is deliberately unaccountable to public scrutiny. Private prisons are not incentivized to tend to the health of their inmates, or to feed them well, or to attract and retain a highly-trained prison staff. Though Bauer befriends some of his colleagues and sympathizes with their plight, the chronic dysfunction of their lives only adds to the prisons sense of chaos. To his horror, Bauer finds himself becoming crueler and more aggressive the longer he works in the prison, and he is far from alone. A blistering indictment of the private prison system, and the powerful forces that drive it, American Prison is a necessary human document about the true face of justice in America. Review One of Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2018 One of San Francisco Chronicle’s 10 Best Books of 2018 One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018Featured in Mother Jones’ Favorite Nonfiction of 2018 “American Prison reprises [Bauer’s] page-turning narrative [as reported in Mother Jones], and adds not only the fascinating back story of CCA, the nation’s first private prison company, but also an eye-opening examination of the history of corrections as a profit-making enterprise . . . Bauer is a generous narrator with a nice ear for detail, and his colleagues come across as sympathetic characters, with a few notable exceptions . . . The sheer number of forehead-slapping quotes from Bauer’s superiors and fellow guards alone are worth the price of admission.” -The New York Times Book Review “American Prison is both the remarkable story of a journalist who spent four months working as a corrections officer, and a horrifying expose of how prisoners were treated by a corporation that profited from them. . . . It’s Bauer’s investigative chops, though, that make American Prison so essential. He dedicated his time at Winn to talking with prisoners and guards, who were unaware that he was a journalist . . . Based on his first-hand experience and these conversations, he paints a damning picture of prisoner mistreatment and under-staffing at the prison, where morale among the incarcerated and the employees was poor. The stories he tells are deeply sad and consistently infuriating . . . An enraging, necess...

-Titulo Original : The Art Of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion To Sell Your Ideas-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: You may need The Art of War to defeat your enemies, but if you prefer to win them over, read The Art of WooG. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa know what it takes to drive new ideas through complex organizations. They have advised thousands of executives from companies such as Google, Microsoft, and General Electric to organizations like the World Bank and even the FBIs hostage rescue training program. In The Art of Woo, they present their systematic, four- step process for winning over even the toughest bosses and most skeptical colleagues. Beginning with two powerful self-assessments to help readers find their Woo IQ, they show how relationship-based persuasion works to open hearts and minds.Ranging across history, from Charles Lindbergh to Sam Walton, the authors examine how savvy negotiators use persuasion - not confrontation-to achieve goals. -U.S. News & World Report Review Ranging across history, from Charles Lindbergh to Sam Walton, the authors examine how savvy negotiators use persuasion - not confrontation-to achieve goals. -U.S. News & World ReportShell and Moussa have done something remarkable here, turning a mysterious, intuitive art into a clear, systematic science. -Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence: Science and PracticeDale Carnegies classic How to Win Friends and Influence People remains a standard for salespeople to this day, but [The Art of Woo] is more . . . relevant in ways that Carnegies 70-year-old book cannot be. -Library JournalMany motivational books exhort readers to sell yourself to bosses and colleagues. This one counsels you to do so with self-awareness, finding a style that suits your strengths and weaknesses. The bottom line: woo wisely. -TimeA fascinating book about how to pitch for gain and maintain long-term client relationships that are keys to success...Essential reading for anyone trying to get ahead of the pack in our competitive, global marketplace. -Robert Wolf, Former Chairman & CEO of UBS About the Author G. Richard Shell teaches negotiation at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is professor of legal studies, business ethics, and management and academic director of the Wharton Executive Negotiation Workshop...

-Titulo Original : Golden Gates The Housing Crisis And A Reckoning For The American Dream-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: A Time 100 Must-Read Book of 2020 * A New York Times Book Review Editors Choice * California Book Award Silver Medal in Nonfiction * Finalist for The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism *Named a top 30 must-read Book of 2020 by the New York Post * Named one of the 10 Best Business Books of 2020 by Fortune * Named A Must-Read Book of 2020 by Apartment Therapy *Runner-Up General Nonfiction: San Francisco Book Festival * A Planetizen Top Urban Planning Book of 2020 *Shortlisted for the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice“Tells the story of housing in all its complexity.” -NPRSpacious and affordable homes used to be the hallmark of American prosperity. Today, however, punishing rents and the increasingly prohibitive cost of ownership have turned housing into the foremost symbol of inequality and an economy gone wrong. Nowhere is this more visible than in the San Francisco Bay Area, where fleets of private buses ferry software engineers past the tarp-and-plywood shanties of the homeless. The adage that California is a glimpse of the nation’s future has become a cautionary tale.With propulsive storytelling and ground-level reporting, New York Times journalist Conor Dougherty chronicles America’s housing crisis from its West Coast epicenter, peeling back the decades of history and economic forces that brought us here and taking readers inside the activist movements that have risen in tandem with housing costs. Review “[I] seriously admir[ed Golden Gates]. It focuses on the acute shortage of affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area-a topic you might expect to read about dutifully, not for pleasure. But Dougherty has a gift for making complex policy problems both clear and compellingly readable, and for rendering his characters with unsentimental sympathy.” -Jonathan Franzen, author of Crossroads “A tour de force. It’s a rare book that mixes careful, nuanced reporting, painless economics lessons, interesting history of California, and pitch perfect humor, but Dougherty has written one.” -Cato Institute “Dougherty, Bay Area native and an economics reporter for The New York Times, is the exact right person to unpack the causes and consequences of housing cost insanity. Golden Gates is a beautifully written piece of long-form journalism, as Dougherty takes us beyond the macroeconomic and policy forces that undergird the SF area housing crisis and introduces us to the people trying to solve a likely unsolvable problem.” -Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed“Dougherty investigates and interviews residents who share their own stories that prove that some gates may not ever be open for all-and that must change.” -Gina Vaynshteyn, Apartment Therapy’s Must-Read Books of 2020“[A] striking book about the history and politics of the dire housing shortage in San Francisco. [Dougherty] nimbly, and with significant humanity, covers a lot of ground.” -Time“Skillfully exploring everything from the yes in my backyard (YIMBY) movement, which promotes more housing development, to anti-gentrification activism, the normalization of homelessness, and the factors that have made it so prohibitively expensive to build anything new . . . [Golden Gates] look[s] squarely at the politics of trying to respond to this disaster. By examining the inertia and ineffectiveness of political leaders who largely agree on what needs to be done, [Dougherty] makes a sobering case for how and why our politics have failed. While not so much a book of specific policy prescriptions, Golden Gates helps clarify why we have a housing crisis in the first place.” -Rachel M. Cohen, The Nation“The Bay Area’s housing crisis is about more than exorbitant prices, and its multifaceted nature is reflected in the variety of stories Dougherty tells.” -Sasha Perigo, Curbed“Deeply reported and complete . . . The beat-by-beat developments of California’s decades-long growth of income inequal...

-Titulo Original : The Fifth Domain Defending Our Country, Our Companies, And Ourselves In The Age Of Cyber Threats-Fabricante : Penguin Books-Descripcion Original: An urgent warning from two bestselling security experts--and a gripping inside look at how governments, firms, and ordinary citizens can confront and contain the tyrants, hackers, and criminals bent on turning the digital realm into a war zone. In the battle raging between offense and defense in cyberspace, Clarke and Knake have some important ideas about how we can avoid cyberwar for our country, prevent cybercrime against our companies, and in doing so, reduce resentment, division, and instability at home and abroad.--Bill ClintonThere is much to fear in the dark corners of cyberspace: we have entered an age in which online threats carry real-world consequences. But we do not have to let autocrats and criminals run amok in the digital realm. We now know a great deal about how to make cyberspace far less dangerous--and about how to defend our security, economy, democracy, and privacy from cyber attack. Our guides to the fifth domain -- the Pentagons term for cyberspace -- are two of Americas top cybersecurity experts, seasoned practitioners who are as familiar with the White House Situation Room as they are with Fortune 500 boardrooms. Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake offer a vivid, engrossing tour of the often unfamiliar terrain of cyberspace, introducing us to the scientists, executives, and public servants who have learned through hard experience how government agencies and private firms can fend off cyber threats. With a focus on solutions over scaremongering, and backed by decades of high-level experience in the White House and the private sector, The Fifth Domain delivers a riveting, agenda-setting insider look at what works in the struggle to avoid cyberwar. Review “A sobering but hopeful exploration of defenses against the weaponization of the internet . . . Clarke and Knake, drawing on interviews with experts, explain cybersecurity’s intricacies in a lucid, engaging manner that avoids the alarmism that often surrounds the subject. The result is a fine survey that will interest policy makers, executives, and ordinary readers alike.”-Publishers Weekly “Clarke and Knake, both of whom logged time inside the cybersecurity arms of presidential administrations, have much to say about the ways in which governments and companies have tried to make themselves safe from the legions of hackers out there, from your ordinary black hats to agents of Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and other entities. . . . The authors counsel reassuringly [that] as companies finally make the transition to more secure systems of transmission, encryption, and data storage, there is hope that the threats of old will one day be a footnote. . . . Largely of interest to policymakers and security experts, though with much for the Wired crowd as well.” -Kirkus Reviews “In the battle raging between offense and defense in cyberspace, Clarke and Knake have some important ideas about how we can avoid cyberwar for our country, prevent cybercrime against our companies, and in doing so, reduce resentment, division, and instability at home and abroad.”-Bill Clinton “Cyberspace is the battlefield of the future. Our national security is dependent on whether we wake up and recognize the nature of this threat. In The Fifth Domain, Richard Clarke and Robert Knake are issuing a strong wake-up call. As they conclude, ‘what is missing is national consensus, will, and priority setting.’ If we fail to take the necessary steps to defend ourselves, we may lose not just the battle but the war.” -Leon Panetta“In The Fifth Domain, two of America’s top cybersecurity experts reach a surprising and encouraging conclusion: it is within our power to manage cyber threats. Clarke and Knake offer a wealth of practical and achievable ideas for how the U.S. government, American companies, and private citizens can deter and thwart attacks.”-Susan Rice About the Author Richard A. Clarke is one of the worlds leading experts on secur...