-Titulo Original : Radical Abundance How A Revolution In Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: K. Eric Drexler is the founding father of nanotechnology -- the science of engineering on a molecular level. In Radical Abundance, he shows how rapid scientific progress is about to change our world. Thanks to atomically precise manufacturing, we will soon have the power to produce radically more of what people want, and at a lower cost. The result will shake the very foundations of our economy and environment. Already, scientists have constructed prototypes for circuit boards built of millions of precisely arranged atoms. The advent of this kind of atomic precision promises to change the way we make things -- cleanly, inexpensively, and on a global scale. It allows us to imagine a world where solar arrays cost no more than cardboard and aluminum foil, and laptops cost about the same. A provocative tour of cutting edge science and its implications by the fields founder and master, Radical Abundance offers a mind-expanding vision of a world hurtling toward an unexpected future. Review Kirkus “A stimulating tour through current thinking about and future possibilities for nanotechnology, from one of its creators… A crackerjack piece of science and technology writing.” Albany Times Union “K. Eric Drexler writes in his accessible new book Radical Abundance that the digital revolution is about to give way to a form of production that will radically transform the world economy and that could also save the environment: nanotechnology, or more specifically, atomically precise manufacturing.” Nature Magazine “Nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler bids us to leap in at the technological deep end. We can transform the way we make everything from bridges to circuit boards, he argues, by harnessing molecular machines that operate on digital principles. The result? Desktop or garage facilities that use less fuel, land and energy than today’s vast factories and supply chains. The technical and political challenges of unleashing ‘atomically precise manufacturing’ are substantial, but Drexler cuts deftly through the complexities.” About the Author K. Eric Drexler developed, named, and popularized the concept of nanotechnology. Currently at the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology at Oxford University, Drexler is a frequent public speaker on scientific issues, addressing audiences of politicians, business leaders, scientists, and engineers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia...

-Titulo Original : Street Smart The Rise Of Cities And The Fall Of Cars-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: On a Saturday morning in December 1973, a section of New Yorks West Side Highway collapsed under the weight of a truck full of asphalt. The road was closed, seemingly for good, and the 80,000 cars that traveled it each day had to find a new way to their destinations. It ought to have produced traffic chaos, but it didnt. The cars simply vanished. It was a moment of revelation: the highway had induced the demand for car travel. It was a classic case of build it and they will come, but for the first time the opposite had been shown to be true: knock it down and they will go away. Samuel I. Schwartz was inspired by the lesson. He started to reimagine cities, most of all his beloved New York, freed from their obligation to cars. Eventually, he found, he was not alone. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, a surreptitious revolution has taken place: every year Americans are driving fewer miles. And the generation named for this new century -- the Millennials -- are driving least of all. Not because they cant afford to; they dont want to. They have better ideas for how to use their streets. An urban transformation is underway, and smart streets are at the heart of it. They will boost property prices and personal fitness, roll back years of congestion and smog, and offer a transformative experience of American urban life. From San Francisco to Salt Lake, Charleston to Houston, the American city is becoming a better and better place to be. Schwartzs Street Smart is a dazzling and affectionate history of the struggle for control of American cities, and an inspiring off-road map to a more vibrant, active, and vigorous urban future. Review Equal parts transportation-planning compendium, autobiography and love letter to New York City, Street Smart lays out Sam Schwartzs vision for the future of multimodal and multinodal transportation systems . Touching on everything from the rise of the automobile and the decline and resurrection of streetcars to traffic calming, ride-sharing and the advent of driverless cars, Schwartz combines an engineers precise logic with broader societal and cultural considerations and plenty of wry Brooklyn humor to provide an engaging examination of once and future urban transportation trends.” Engineering News-Record Nobody is more qualified to write a book about transportation than Schwartz.” City Journal A delightful new book. Michael Sorkin, The Nation An engaging trip down memory lane, where trolleys and pedestrians and bicycles intersect and collide with cars in what Schwartz calls an accident of history, replete with a promising path toward a multi-modal urban revival.” MoveNY Schwartz sees the writing on the asphalt, even if the federal government, intent on building ever more highways, does not. The future isnt on four wheels. If you want your area to attract young people, entrepreneurs, and capital, you have to make it walkable. Downtown Express Street Smart doesnt read as if you were stuck on the Cross-Bronx Expressway (the most congested corridor in the entire country, [Scwartz] writes). Rather, its mostly accessible, discerning and even revealing.” Sam Roberts, New York Times A snappy read [Schwartzs] account of President Eisenhowers creation of the interstate highway system is riveting, as is his informed discussion of the rise and fall of streetcars.” Wall Street Journal Schwartz chronicles in Street Smart the history of urban transportation in the U.S. (growing up in Brooklyn, he has lived through a lot of it). He takes a strong stand, in some cases calling upon personal experiences that streets belong to communities, not cars, and that sustainable transportation planning is helping to revitalize cities.” Chicago Tribune About the Author Sam Schwartz, a.k.a. Gridlock Sam, is one of the leading transportation experts in the United States today. He served as New York Citys traffic commissioner ...

-Titulo Original : A Bright Future How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change And The Rest Can Follow-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The first book to offer a proven, fast, inexpensive, and practical way to cut greenhouse gas emissions and prevent catastrophic climate change. As climate change quickly approaches a series of turning points that guarantee disastrous outcomes, a solution is hiding in plain sight. Several countries have already replaced fossil fuels with low-carbon energy sources, and done so rapidly, in one to two decades. By following their methods, we could decarbonize the global economy by midcentury, replacing fossil fuels even while world energy use continues to rise. But so far we have lacked the courage to really try. In this clear-sighted and compelling book, Joshua Goldstein and Staffan Qvist explain how clean energy quickly replaced fossil fuels in such places as Sweden, France, South Korea, and Ontario. Their people enjoyed prosperity and growing energy use in harmony with the natural environment. They didnt do this through personal sacrifice, nor through 100 percent renewables, but by using them in combination with an energy source the Swedes call kA¤kraft, hundreds of times safer and cleaner than coal. Clearly written and beautifully illustrated, yet footnoted with extensive technical references, Goldstein and Qvists book will provide a new touchstone in discussions of climate change. It could spark a shift in world energy policy that, in the words of Steven Pinkers foreword, literally saves the world. Review The most important book about climate change since An Inconvenient Truth. from the foreword by Steven Pinker A Bright Future starts with a bang. Few books can credibly claim to offer a way to save the world, but this one does, the psychologist Steven Pinker writes in his foreword. That is a bold assertion, but by the time I had finished the book, I was half-convinced he was right. Ed Crooks, Financial Times A Bright Future addresses the fears that people have around nuclear as an energy source and illuminates a path to making it a more significant part of our energy portfolio. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to preserve the planet for our children and grandchildren. Christine Todd Whitman, former head of the EPA A Bright Future lays out the only viable path that has been proposed for rapid global decarbonization. James Hansen, climate scientist, Columbia University A Bright Future comes along at a critical time for our planet. Its key message: the climate is changing, the consequences are serious, and we can and must take action. George P. Shultz A rational if somewhat unlikely strategy to reverse global warming using current technology and without self-denial... The authors argue for nuclear power, and the facts are certainly on their side....A reasonable argument directed at a lay audience. Kirkus Reviews Goldstein and Qvist offer food for thought, making this a viable resource in the arsenal of arguments for and against the best methods of staving off a global energy crisis. Booklist About the Author Joshua S. Goldstein is an International Relations professor who writes about the big issues facing humanity. He is the author of six books about war, peace, diplomacy, and economic history, and a bestselling college textbook, International Relations. Among other awards, his book War and Gender (2001) won the International Studies Associations Book of the Decade Award in 2010. Goldstein has a B.A. from Stanford and a Ph.D. from M.I.T. He is professor emeritus at American University in Washington, DC, and research scholar at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he lives. See joshuagoldstein . Staffan A. Qvist is a Swedish engineer, scientist and consultant to clean energy projects around the world. He has lectured and authored numerous studies in the scientific literature on various topics relating to energy technology and policy, nuclear reactor design and safety, and climate change mitigation strategies -- rese...

-Titulo Original : Gracefully Insane Life And Death Inside Americas Premier Mental Hospital-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: Its landscaped ground, chosen by Frederick Law Olmsted and dotted with Tudor mansions, could belong to a New England prep school. There are no fences, no guards, no locked gates. But McLean Hospital is a mental institution-one of the most famous, most elite, and once most luxurious in America. McLean alumni include Olmsted himself, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, James Taylor and Ray Charles, as well as (more secretly) other notables from among the rich and famous. In its golden age, McLean provided as genteel an environment for the treatment of mental illness as one could imagine. But the golden age is over, and a downsized, downscale McLean-despite its affiliation with Harvard University-is struggling to stay afloat. Gracefully Insane, by Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam, is a fascinating and emotional biography of McLean Hospital from its founding in 1817 through today. It is filled with stories about patients and doctors: the Ralph Waldo Emerson protg whose brilliance disappeared along with his madness; Anne Sextons poetry seminar, and many more. The story of McLean is also the story of the hopes and failures of psychology and psychotherapy; of the evolution of attitudes about mental illness, of approaches to treatment, and of the economic pressures that are making McLean-and other institutions like it-relics of a bygone age. This is a compelling and often oddly poignant reading for fans of books like Plaths The Bell Jar and Susanna Kaysens Girl, Interrupted (both inspired by their authors stays at McLean) and for anyone interested in the history of medicine or psychotherapy, or the social history of New England. Review Touching, humorous, illuminating--in short, irresistible. -- Chicago Tribune [Beam] elicits fascinating stories from both residents and staff...[and]...has nicely traced the history of this institution and its inhabitants. -- Entertainment Weekly About the Author Alex Beam is a columnist for the Boston Globe and for the International Herald Tribune. He is the author of two works of nonfiction, Gracefully Insane and A Great Idea at the Time, both New York Times Notable Books. He has also written for the Atlantic Monthly, Slate, and Forbes/FYI. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts with his wife and three sons...

-Titulo Original : The Cryptopians Idealism, Greed, Lies, And The Making Of The First Big Cryptocurrency Craze-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The story of the idealists, technologists, and opportunists fighting to bring cryptocurrency to the masses.In their short history, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms, busts, and internecine wars, recently reaching a market valuation of more than $2 trillion. The central promise of crypto endures-vast fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity and not yet regulated by many governments.The recent growth of crypto would have been all but impossible if not for a brilliant young man named Vitalik Buterin and his creation: Ethereum. In this book, Laura Shin takes readers inside the founding of this novel cryptocurrency network, which enabled users to launch their own new coins, thus creating a new crypto fever. She introduces readers to larger-than-life characters like Buterin, the Web3 wunderkind; his short-lived CEO, Charles Hoskinson; and Joe Lubin, a former Goldman Sachs VP who became one of crypto’s most well-known billionaires. Sparks fly as these outsized personalities fight for their piece of a seemingly limitless new business opportunity.This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really is: a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power. Review “Deeply researched, this book is an important body of work and must-read for the inside story of Ethereum, complete with all of its grit and drama.” Willy Woo, Bitcoin analyst“The most authoritative account yet of Ethereum. Laura Shin is deeply sourced in the crypto world and this is reflected on every page. The Cryptopians also casts new light on Vitalik Buterin, showing the human side of Ethereum’s founding genius as never before.” Jeff John Roberts, executive editor of Decrypt and author of Kings of Crypto“A story of high drama played out in the big stakes world of crypto currencies and cutting-edge technologies with a cast of characters worthy of a thriller novel. Except: this incredible tale is all true and the hero of the story-Ethereum-has gone on to even greater things.” Raoul Pal, cofounder and CEO of Real Vision“Shin’s compelling, blow-by-blow account of the remarkable birth and growth of Ethereum shows that its spectacular wealth generation was not without struggle. By Shin’s telling, the story of Ethereum is a grand human drama. For all the talk of decentralized, code-based ‘virtual machines,’ a successful crypto project’s biggest challenge is surviving internecine conflicts and the egos of its brilliant but humanly flawed founders.” Michael J. Casey, chief content officer at CoinDesk and coauthor of The Age of Cryptocurrency and The Truth Machine“A financial journalist and podcaster looks into the tangled rise of cryptocurrency. Imagine the internecine politics that Alexander Hamilton had to endure in piecing together a dollar-based treasury. Amplify it with backchannel drama, dark web intrigues, and head-butting mad scientists.” Kirkus Reviews“This isnt the first book on Ethereum but, thanks to author Laura Shin’s meticulous research and deep crypto pedigree, its the most authoritative…There will be dozens more books about crypto in the coming years, but Shin has written the definitive one on early Ethereum.” Decrypt“Worth the cost of admission.” Publishers Weekly About the Author Laura Shin is a writer, crypto journalist, and podcaster. A former senior editor at Forbes, she left the magazine in 2018 to commit to her podcasts and videos, Unchained and Unconfirmed, which have had over 14 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about and led discussions on cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the IMF, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum. She lives in New York City...

-Titulo Original : The Dictators Handbook Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: Review Simply the best book on politics written.... Every citizen should read this book. CGP GreyA lucidly written, shrewdly argued meditation on how democrats and dictators preserve political authority...Bueno de Mesquita and Smith are polymathic, drawing on economics, history, and political science to make their points...The reader will be hard-pressed to find a single government that doesnt largely operate according to Messrs. Bueno de Mesquita and Smiths model. So the next time a hand-wringing politician, Democrat or Republican, claims to be taking a position for the good of his country,remember to replace the word country with career. Wall Street JournalMachiavellis The Prince has a new rival. Its The Dictators Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith.... This is a fantastically thought-provoking read. I found myself not wanting to agree but actually, for the most part, being convinced that the cynical analysis is the true one. Enlightenment EconomicsIn this fascinating book Bueno de Mesquita and Smith spin out their view of governance: that all successful leaders, dictators and democrats, can best be understood as almost entirely driven by their own political survival-a view they characterize as cynical, but we fear accurate. Yet as we follow the authors through their brilliant historical assessments of leaders choices-from Caesar to Tammany Hall and the Green Bay Packers-we gradually realize that their brand of cynicism yields extremely realistic guidance about spreading the rule of law, decent government, and democracy. James Madison would have loved this book. R. James Woolsey Director of Central Intelligence, 1993-1995, and Chairman, Foundation for Defense of DemocraciesIn this book, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith teach us to see dictatorship as just another form of politics, and from this perspective they deepen our understanding of all political systems. Roger Myerson, Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Now featuring a new chapter on the rise of illiberalism worldwide.The essential book that lays out the real rules of politics: leaders do whatever keeps them in power, regardless of the national interest.As featured in the viral video “Rules for Rulers,” which has been viewed over fifteen million times.Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith’s canonical book on political science turned conventional wisdom on its head. They started from a single assertion: leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don’t care about the “national interest”-or even their subjects-unless they must.Newly updated to reflect the global rise of authoritarianism, this clever and accessible book illustrates how leaders amass and retain power. As Bueno de Mesquita and Smith show, democracy is essentially just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind, but only in the number of essential supporters or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them. And it is also the key to returning power to the people. About the Author Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is the Julius Silver Professor of Politics and director of the Alexander Hamilton Center for Political Economy at New York University. He is the author of sixteen books, including The Predictioneers Game.Alastair Smith is professor of politics at New York University. The recipient of three grants from the National Science Foundation and author of three books, he was chosen as the 2005 Karl Deutsch Award winner, given biennially to the best international relations scholar under the age of forty. They are also the authors of The Spoils of War: Greed, Power, and the Conflicts That Made Our Greatest Presidents...

-Titulo Original : Which Country Has The Worlds Best Health Care?-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: Review Valuable... Its hard to imagine anyone better suited to rank the worlds health care systems than an oncologist with a Harvard medical degree and a Harvard Ph.D. in political philosophy who was deeply involved in crafting the Affordable Care Act and currently chairs the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. The New York Review of Books The preeminent doctor and health policy expert Ezekiel J. Emanuel gives an incisive tour of eleven health care systems across the globe, including our own, in search of whose is best-and how we can be more like them.One thing we can all agree on: the United States does not have the world’s best health care, at least not for all its citizens across fifty very different states. But which country does, and what can they teach the US?After analyzing the US and ten other countries-Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the UK-the results are in. No health care system is perfect, whether the problem is too many hospital beds in Germany or treating chronic illness in France, and some problems are shared across many countries, from addressing mental health care to containing the rising costs of chronic care. With a new coda that examines the handling of COVID-19 around the world, Dr. Emanuel offers evidence of the flaws and triumphs of health systems in the US and globally, and the lessons we can learn from each other. About the Author Ezekiel J. Emanuel is the Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, the Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor, and Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Dr. Emanuel was the founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health and held that position until August of 2011. Until January 2011, he served as a Special Advisor on Health Policy to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and National Economic Council. He is a breast oncologist and author of several books, including Healthcare Guaranteed and Reinventing American Healthcare (both PublicAffairs)...

-Titulo Original : Eagle Down American Special Forces At The End Of Afghanistans War-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: A Wall Street Journal national security reporter takes readers into the lives of U.S. Special Forces who were on the front lines against the Taliban and Islamic State at the end of the war in Afghanistan. “Powerful, important, and searing. -General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (ret.), former commander, U.S. Central Command, former CIA director In 2015, the White House claimed triumphantly the longest war in American history is over. But for some, it was just the beginning of a new and covert war, fought far from public view, with limited resources, little governmental oversight, and contradictory orders. Take Hutch, a battle-worn Green Beret on his fifth combat tour in 2015, tasked with a high-stakes mission: lead a small band of men into Kunduz, recapture the city from the Taliban, and turn it over to the Afghan government. The U.S. role was meant to be a secret-after all, the war was over. Then, disaster struck. He called in an airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing dozens of doctors and patients. Or Caleb, who stepped on a bomb during a raid on a Taliban hideout in notorious Sangin. Or Andy, trapped in Marjah with a crashed Black Hawk and no air support. From Hutch to Caleb to Andy, Eagle Down is a dramatic and intimate portrayal of this ongoing forgotten war that moves from the desperate battlegrounds in muddy Afghan villages all the way to the White House. Pulitzer Prize Finalist Jessica Donati, with big picture insight and on-the-ground grit, reveals how America came to rely on U.S. Special Forces, through successive policy directives that ramped up the war under the Obama and Trump administrations. Donati shows how the covert war failed to stabilize Afghanistan, and undermined U.S. interests both at home and abroad. Relying on Donatis daring on-the-ground reporting, first-hand accounts from Special Forces, military documents, and declassified reports, Eagle Down is an account of the heroism, sacrifice, and tragedy experienced by those that fought Americas longest war. About the Author Jessica Donati covers foreign affairs for the Wall Street Journal in Washington DC, and has reported from more than a dozen countries in the role. She joined the paper as the bureau chief in Kabul in 2015, and lived in Afghanistan for more than four years. Previously, she worked for Reuters in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, covering both the conflicts in Libya and Afghanistan. She co-authored a series on the war in Libya that was chosen as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2012. She is also the recipient of a New York Press Club award for her reporting in Libya . She is British-Italian, and grew up in Italy. She lives with her husband and son in Washington DC...

-Titulo Original : Hero Of Two Worlds: The Marquis De Lafayette In The Age Of Revolution-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: From the bestselling author of The Storm Before the Storm and host of the Revolutions podcast comes the thrilling story of the Marquis de Lafayette’s lifelong quest to defend the principles of liberty and equalityA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA #1 ABA INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE BESTSELLER Few in history can match the revolutionary career of the Marquis de Lafayette. Over fifty incredible years at the heart of the Age of Revolution, he fought courageously on both sides of the Atlantic. He was a soldier, statesman, idealist, philanthropist, and abolitionist. As a teenager, Lafayette ran away from France to join the American Revolution. Returning home a national hero, he helped launch the French Revolution, eventually spending five years locked in dungeon prisons. After his release, Lafayette sparred with Napoleon, joined an underground conspiracy to overthrow King Louis XVIII, and became an international symbol of liberty. Finally, as a revered elder statesman, he was instrumental in the overthrow of the Bourbon Dynasty in the Revolution of 1830. From enthusiastic youth to world-weary old age, from the pinnacle of glory to the depths of despair, Lafayette never stopped fighting for the rights of all mankind. His remarkable life is the story of where we come from, and an inspiration to defend the ideals he held dear. Review “My favorite history book I’ve read this year so far! Jeff Glor, CBS This Morning: Saturday“Pleasingly informal….Duncan’s biography is written in a loose, colloquial style that sometimes startles with its informality but more often delights with its directness.” Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker“Mr. Duncan’s ‘Hero of Two Worlds’ offers, in readable prose, much informative description alongside measured interpretation. The author’s sympathetic yet balanced and sensible rendering, some may think, mirrors Lafayette’s eventful life in a revolutionary age.” The Wall Street Journal“[I]n an age of self-indulgent polemics, deranged conspiracy theories, and pervasive disinformation, to listen to Duncan while washing dishes or folding laundry is to believe that facts are knowable, that historical events of immense complexity can be made legible, and-to attempt to answer the question with which I started this review-that history is made neither by singular individuals nor by social forces, but by the idiosyncratic interplay of decisions within well-placed vanguard classes….This is the kind of detail-oriented storytelling that Duncan excels at.” The New Republic“An immensely compelling biography of Lafayette and a disquisition on the limits of bourgeois liberalism.” Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times“Mike Duncan has dug deep into the world of revolutions, and the richness of detail in this book is beguiling. But Mike’s superpower is his storytelling skill. Hero Of Two Worlds hooks you from page one with humor, a sly perspective and a page turning narrative drive worthy of a life like Lafayette’s.” Rian Johnson, award-winning filmmaker“Duncan displays impressive skill in keeping his Lafayette an admirable figure…. An outstanding account of an almost impossibly eventful life.” Kirkus Reviews, starred“Engrossing… Duncan effectively balances Lafayette the man with Lafayette the public figure and helps delineate the relationship between the United States and France….His impressive biography provides an insightful look at the American Revolution that can be appreciated by history lovers and general readers alike.” BookPageMike Duncan’s excellent, well-researched book portrays Lafayette’s extraordinary life as a fascinating, transatlantic drama with three great revolutions and transitional interludes that carry the reader through seven explosive decades of historical change. The hero of this drama plays starring public roles in the American Revolution and the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1830. But Duncan weaves the people, conflicts, and legacies of these vast public events into stories about a persona...

-Titulo Original : Permanent Distortion How The Financial Markets Abandoned The Real Economy Forever-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: A riveting expose of a permanent financial dystopia, its causes, and real-world consequences It is abundantly clear that our world is divided into two very different economies. The real one, for the average worker, is based on productivity and results. It behaves according to traditional rules of money and economics. The other doesn’t. It is the product of years of loose money, poured by central banks into a system dominated by financial titans. It is powerful enough to send stock markets higher even in the face of a global pandemic and threats of nuclear war. This parting from reality has its roots in an emergency response to the financial crisis of 2008. “Quantitative Easing” injected a vast amount of cash into the economy-especially if you were a major Wall Street bank. What began as a short-term dependency became a habit, then a compulsion, and finally an addiction. Nomi Prins relentlessly exposes a world fractured by policies crafted by the largest financial institutions, led by the Federal Reserve, that have supercharged the financial system while selling out regular citizens and leading to social and political reckonings. She uncovers a newly polarized world of the mega rich versus the never rich, the winners and losers of an unprecedented distortion that can never return to “normal.” Review “Prins has done it again. In her newest book, Permanent Distortion, [she] takes a hard look at the conflicts and corruption in the global financial system and banks in particular. She provides a tour d’horizon of the past ten years. . . . This book is a must-read for anyone looking to understand what’s really behind the financial chaos of the past decade.” James Rickards, author of Sold Out “Prins breaks through the noise like no other historian. When I am looking to understand what’s really unfolding in the economy and finance, she’s where I turn. She’s from Wall Street and knows Washington-yet tells the truths that Main Street needs to hear.” Robert Kiyosaki, bestselling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad “Prins is one of the only people in the world qualified to explain one of the biggest stories in the world, if not the biggest: the manipulation of central banking policies around the world. . . . Permanent Distortion describes the gradual replacement of the real economy with a kind of permanent Ponzi scheme, fueled by cheap money and selective regulation, that rewards insiders and disburses riches by access, not merit.” Matt Taibbi, award-winning author and investigative reporter “Prins knows Wall Street. When she speaks, we should all listen. The story of Permanent Distortion exposes how corrupt our financial system is.” Richard D. Wolff, professor of economics emeritus, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and founder of democracyatwork.info “A hard-hitting survey of the forces . . . that fuel financial markets at the expense of destabilizing the real economy. . . . Nomi Prins effectively dismantles the machinery of financial markets and explains how they operate in a secret world of their own.” Kirkus “Prins, former Goldman Sachs big shot, has come out of the cold to let you in on the con-and the clear and present danger that the Magic Money junkies and their central-bank pushermen are pulling us into a strange counter-reality where fantastical finance creatures copulate with finance fairy dust, creating a cancerous economic monstrosity. Yet, it’s weirdly fun to fly through the crazed new world Prins reveals. Every chapter is a new freaky adventure. She even makes the words ‘Quantitative Easing’ and ‘crypto blockchain ETFs’ into a fascinating game show . . . where They win and you, Mr. and Ms. go-to-work schmuck, lose. Jump in, I guarantee you a helluva ride.” Greg Palast, author of The Best Money Democracy Can Buy “The timing of the release of Prins’ book could not be more appropriate as signs mount of how entrenched corruption has distorted the world in which we live to the point that it increasing...

-Titulo Original : When Money Dies The Nightmare Of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, And Hyperinflation In Weimar Germany-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: When Money Dies is the classic history of what happens when a nations currency depreciates beyond recovery. In 1923, with its currency effectively worthless (the exchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4,200,000,000,000 marks), the German republic was all but reduced to a barter economy. Expensive cigars, artworks, and jewels were routinely exchanged for staples such as bread; a cinema ticket could be bought for a lump of coal; and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt. People watched helplessly as their life savings disappeared and their loved ones starved. Germanys finances descended into chaos, with severe social unrest in its wake. Money may no longer be physically printed and distributed in the voluminous quantities of 1923. However, quantitative easing, that modern euphemism for surreptitious deficit financing in an electronic era, can no less become an assault on monetary discipline. Whatever the reason for a countrys deficit -- necessity or profligacy, unwillingness to tax or blindness to expenditure -- it is beguiling to suppose that if the day of reckoning is postponed economic recovery will come in time to prevent higher unemployment or deeper recession. What if it does not? Germany in 1923 provides a vivid, compelling, sobering moral tale. Review Daily Express (London) “Engrossing and sobering.” Allen Mattich, Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2010 “One of the most blood chilling economics books I’ve ever read.” Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2011 “Every body ought to read this book. But baby boomers must.” The Guardian ”a brilliant account of how Germanys Weimar Republic was consumed by hyperinflation....

-Titulo Original : The Avoidable War The Dangers Of A Catastrophic Conflict Between The Us And Xi Jinpings China-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: Review “[P]enetrating and sensible… [a] worthy and ambitious intellectual re-creation. Kevin Peraino, New York Times “Rudd’s book provides a rich and realistic portrayal of China’s motivations, as well as a stark warning to a world standing on the edge of a conflict potentially far more devastating than Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine.” Financial Times “Rudd directly confronts the growing possibility of war and offers well-thought-out proposals to prevent that catastrophic outcome and the ‘global carnage’ it would cause.” New York Review of Books “[O]ne of the best primers on US-China relations.” The Telegraph “Rudd has become one of the most influential Western commentators on relations between China and the West. He correctly takes the prospect of a war between the US and China very seriously and comes up with a plan to avert disaster.” Gideon Rachman, Financial Times, best summer books of 2022 “[A] probing analysis of the risks of war between China and the United States.” Irish Times “Rudd, the former prime minister of Australia, debuts with an incisive analysis of the rising tensions between the U.S. and China. Surveying the cultural, historical, and ideological roots of the conflict, Rudd makes a convincing case that the two sides now regard ‘some form of armed conflict or confrontation’ as inevitable…. Shot through with reasoned analysis and evenhanded appraisals of both countries’ strengths and weaknesses, this is a valuable guide to de-escalating a global flashpoint.” Publishers Weekly “An exploration of one of the world’s most significant and fraught international relationships… An accessible primer on the evolving China-U.S. rivalry.” Kirkus “A lifelong student of China, Kevin Rudd has become one of today’s most thoughtful analysts of China’s development. The Avoidable War focuses on the signal challenge posed by China’s evolution to America and to world order. Can the US and China avoid sleepwalking into a conflict? Rudd offers constructive steps for the two powers to stabilize their relations.” Henry A. Kissinger “Wise counsel from a seasoned statesman who recognizes the real risk of catastrophic war and illuminates a promising path the US and China could take to avoid it.” Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, and author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? “An extraordinary tour de force that analyzes the most important geopolitical relationship of the twenty-first-century. Organized, like Dante’s Inferno, into concentric circles that describe in brilliant detail the challenges ahead and a timely prescription to avoid a catastrophe. Let us truly hope that we can indeed avoid a war that looms upon us like a dark tower, threatening all the progress we have made.” Admiral James Stavridis, 16th supreme Allied Commander of NATO, former dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University “Based on a lifetime of observation and experience of China and America, Kevin Rudd has produced a rare book of wisdom and a detailed roadmap for how the two countries can manage their strategic competition and avoid a disastrous war.” Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus “This is an important book and Mr Rudd, now president of the US-based Asia Society, makes his case powerfully.” The National (UAE) A war between China and the US would be catastrophic, deadly, and destructive. Unfortunately, it is no longer unthinkable. The relationship between the US and China, the world’s two superpowers, is peculiarly volatile. It rests on a seismic fault-of cultural misunderstanding, historical grievance, and ideological incompatibility. No other nations are so quick to offend and be offended. Their militaries play a dangerous game of chicken, corporations steal intellectual property, intelligence satellites peer, and AI technicians plot. The capacity for either country to...

-Titulo Original : The Titanium Economy How Industrial Technology Can Create A Better, Faster, Stronger America-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The future of the American economy is hiding in an unlikely place: the manufacturing sector While Silicon Valley titans dominate headlines, many of the fastest-growing, most profitable companies in the United States are firms you’ve likely never heard of, such as HEICO, Trex, and Casella. These booming companies belong to a burgeoning sector-industrial tech-that offers surprising hope to workers, consumers, and investors alike. Their role: to make a range of products-aerospace parts, for example, or recycled plastic lumber-that quietly form the backbone of America’s biggest industries. In an age of instability, industrial tech is a cornerstone of our economic future. In this book, McKinsey veterans Asutosh Padhi, Gaurav Batra, and Nick Santhanam reveal the “titanium economy,” a modern, reinvented industrial sector complete with high-paying, domestic jobs;, soaring stock prices;, and critical infrastructure. They dispel the myth that the best of American manufacturing is behind us and illuminate an opportunity for a brighter future-if we can seize it. Review “A brilliant and incisive look at what could be the real key to America’s future economic growth-its industrial manufacturing base.” David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman, the Carlyle Group “In their fascinating new book, The Titanium Economy, Asutosh Padhi, Gaurav Batra, and Nick Santhanam show that manufacturing is in the midst of a renaissance in the US. The stage is set for a resurgence in America’s industrial prowess, but getting there will require some critical changes in both business and government. The Titanium Economy provides the necessary playbook.” Alan Murray, CEO, Fortune Media “Technology is more than headline-grabbing Silicon Valley founders, viral smartphone apps, and sleek products. Technology is the driving force behind a renaissance in many sectors-including manufacturing. The Titanium Economy artfully explores the ways technology and manufacturing are intertwined, and the investments needed-especially in a diverse workforce-to help the sector actualize its potential.” Reshma Saujani, founder, Girls Who Code, and founder and CEO, Marshall Plan for Moms “This book not only amplifies how important manufacturing is to national success, but it also inspires the reader to innovate for customer and stockholder value while advocating for a more adaptive, sustainable planet.” David Burritt, president and CEO, US Steel “America, take note: it turns out the invisible, mid-cap industrial technology sector is an engine for jobs, innovation, growth, and high returns. The Titanium Economy makes a compelling case and provides a prescription for regaining US-manufacturing leadership. It is a call to action and a great read!” Linda Fayne Levinson, chair, Clearpath Robotics, and former director, Jacobs, NCR, Hertz, Western Union, Ingram Micro “The Titanium Economy illustrates the tremendous possibilities advanced technology brings to our world. The sector presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redefine what it means to deliver value to our customers, communities, employees, and stakeholders. As this book proves, tech-enabled industrial businesses have an opportunity to lay a new cornerstone as we build America’s economic future. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of our collective potential to make communities more livable, strengthen national security, and advance human discovery on Earth, and beyond.” Kathy Warden, chair, CEO and president, Northrop Grumman “Innovation in manufacturing has been the backbone of the American economy. This is a timely, compelling, and practical exploration of the underappreciated and arguably misunderstood sector-one that is critical to driving inclusive economic growth for the future.” Michael Lamach, former chairman and CEO, Trane Technologies “Manufacturing could become the next great driver of economic growth. The Titanium Economy offers a wonderful recounting of the opportunity at h...

-Titulo Original : Soft Power: The Means To Success In World Politics-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: Acerca del autor Joseph S. Nye, Jr., decano de la Escuela de Gobierno Kennedy de la Universidad de Harvard, fue presidente del Consejo Nacional de Inteligencia y subsecretario de Defensa en la administración Clinton. Es autor de varios libros, incluido The Paradox of American Power: Why the Worlds Only Superpower Cant Go It Soly and Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power. PublicAffairs también publicó su thriller político, The Power Game. Descripción del producto Joseph Nye acuñó el término poder blando a fines de la década de 1980. En la actualidad, líderes políticos, editorialistas y académicos de todo el mundo lo utilizan con frecuencia y, a menudo, de forma incorrecta. Entonces, ¿qué es el poder blando? El poder blando reside en la capacidad de atraer y persuadir. Mientras que el poder duro, la capacidad de coerción, surge del poder militar o económico de un país, el poder blando surge del atractivo de la cultura, los ideales políticos y las políticas de un país. El poder duro sigue siendo crucial en un mundo de estados que intentan proteger su independencia y de grupos no estatales dispuestos a recurrir a la violencia. Forma el núcleo de la nueva estrategia de seguridad nacional de la administración Bush. Pero según Nye, los neoconservadores que asesoran al presidente están cometiendo un gran error de cálculo: se enfocan demasiado en usar el poder militar de Estados Unidos para obligar a otras naciones a hacer nuestra voluntad, y prestan muy poca atención a nuestro poder blando. Es el poder blando lo que ayudará a evitar que los terroristas recluten partidarios entre la mayoría moderada. Y es el poder blando lo que nos ayudará a lidiar con problemas globales críticos que requieren la cooperación multilateral entre los estados. Por eso es tan esencial que Estados Unidos comprenda y aplique mejor nuestro poder blando. Este libro es nuestra guía. Reseña Joe Nye es uno de los observadores más astutos de la naturaleza cambiante de las políticas internacionales...

-Titulo Original : For The Culture The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, And Who We Want To Be-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The architect of some of the most famous ad campaigns of the last decade argues that culture is the most powerful vehicle for influencing behavior, and shows readers how to harness culture to inspire other people to share their vision. We all try to influence others in our daily lives. Whether you are a manager motivating your team, an employee making a big presentation, an activist staging a protest, or an artist promoting your music, you are in the business of getting people to take action. In For the Culture, Marcus Collins argues true cultural engagement is the most powerful vehicle for influencing behavior. If you want to get people to move, you must first understand the underlying cultural forces that make them tick. Collins uses stories from his own work as an award-winning marketer-from spearheading digital strategy for Beyonce, to working on Apple and Nike collaborations, to the successful launch of the Brooklyn Nets NBA team-to break down the ways in which culture influences behavior and how readers can do the same. With a deep perspective, and built on a century’s worth of data, For the Culture gives readers the tools they need to inspire collective change by leveraging the cheat codes used by some of the biggest brands in the world. This is the only book you’ll need if you want to influence people to take action...

-Titulo Original : Plunder Private Equitys Plan To Pillage America-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The authoritative expose of private equity: what it is, how it kills businesses and jobs, how the government helps, and how we stop it Private equity surrounds us. Firms like Blackstone, Carlyle, and KKR are among the largest employers in America and hold assets that rival those of small countries. Yet few understand what these firms are or how they work. In Plunder, Brendan Ballou explains how private equity has reshaped American business by raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, and shifting resources from productive to unproductive parts of the economy. Ballou vividly illustrates how many private equity firms buy up retailers, medical practices, prison services, nursing-home chains, and mobile-home parks, among other businesses, using little of their own money to do it and avoiding debt and liability for their actions. Forced to take on huge debts and pay extractive fees, companies purchased by private equity firms are often left bankrupt, or shells of their former selves, with consequences to communities that long depended on them. Perhaps most startling is Ballou’s insight into how this is happening with the active support of various arms of the government. But, as Ballou reveals in an agenda for reining in the industry, private equity can be stopped from wreaking further havoc...

-Titulo Original : Power And Progress Our Thousand-year Struggle Over Technology And Prosperity-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The bestselling co-author of Why Nations Fail and the bestselling co-author of 13 Bankers deliver a bold reinterpretation of economics and history that will fundamentally change how you see the world A thousand years of history and contemporary evidence make one thing clear: progress depends on the choices we make about technology. New ways of organizing production and communication can either serve the narrow interests of an elite or become the foundation for widespread prosperity. The wealth generated by technological improvements in agriculture during the European Middle Ages was captured by the nobility and used to build grand cathedrals, while peasants remained on the edge of starvation. The first hundred years of industrialization in England delivered stagnant incomes for working people. And throughout the world today, digital technologies and artificial intelligence undermine jobs and democracy through excessive automation, massive data collection, and intrusive surveillance. It doesn’t have to be this way. Power and Progress demonstrates the path of technology was once-and may again-be brought under control. Cutting-edge technological advances can become empowering and democratizing tools, but not if all major decisions remain in the hands of a few hubristic tech leaders. With their bold reinterpretation of economics and history, Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson fundamentally change how we see the world, providing the vision needed to redirect innovation so it again benefits most people...

-Titulo Original : Lessons From The Covid War An Investigative Report-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: This powerful report on what went wrong-and right-with America’s Covid response, from a team of 34 experts, shows how Americans faced the worst peacetime catastrophe of modern times Our national leaders have drifted into treating the pandemic as though it were an unavoidable natural catastrophe, repeating a depressing cycle of panic followed by neglect. So a remarkable group of practitioners and scholars from many backgrounds came together determined to discover and learn lessons from this latest world war. Lessons from the Covid War is plain-spoken and clear sighted. It cuts through the enormous jumble of information to make some sense of it all and answer: What just happened to us, and why? And crucially, how, next time, could we do better? Because there will be a next time. The Covid war showed Americans that their wondrous scientific knowledge had run far ahead of their organized ability to apply it in practice. Improvising to fight this war, many Americans displayed ingenuity and dedication. But they struggled with systems that made success difficult and failure easy. This book shows how Americans can come together, learn hard truths, build on what worked, and prepare for global emergencies to come. A joint effort from: Danielle Allen * John M. Barry * John Bridgeland * Michael Callahan * Nicholas A. Christakis * Doug Criscitello * Charity Dean * Victor Dzau * Gary Edson * Ezekiel Emanuel * Ruth Faden * Baruch Fischhoff * Margaret “Peggy” Hamburg * Melissa Harvey * Richard Hatchett * David Heymann * Kendall Hoyt * Andrew Kilianski * James Lawler * Alexander J. Lazar * James Le Duc * Marc Lipsitch * Anup Malani * Monique K. Mansoura * Mark McClellan * Carter Mecher * Michael Osterholm * David A. Relman * Robert Rodriguez * Carl Schramm * Emily Silverman * Kristin Urquiza * Rajeev Venkayya * Philip Zeliko...

-Titulo Original : Jimmy The King Murder, Vice, And The Reign Of A Dirty Cop-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: An incredible four-decade account of murder, power, and corruption in one of the country’s largest police departments In 1979, the gruesome slaying of a thirteen-year-old boy riveted the suburbs of Suffolk County, New York. As the county hustled to bring the case to a dubious resolution, a wayward local teenager emerged with a convenient story to tell. For his cooperation, Jimmy Burke was rewarded with a job as a cop. Thus began Burke’s unlikely ascent to the top of one of the country’s largest law enforcement jurisdictions. He and a crew of likeminded allies utilized vengeance, gangster tactics, and political leverage to become the most powerful and feared figures in their suburban empire. Until a pilfered bag of sex toys brought it all crashing down. Jimmy the King is the story of the rise, reign, and paranoiac fall of a corrupt cop and his regime-a crime family with badges and guaranteed pensions. Novelistic in detail and piercing in its political insight, this book will leave you questioning who modern policing serves, who it protects, and who it preys upon and abandons...

-Titulo Original : The Jakarta Method Washingtons Anticommunist Crusade And The Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2020 BY NPR, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, AND GQ The hidden story of the wanton slaughter -- in Indonesia, Latin America, and around the world -- backed by the United States. In 1965, the U.S. government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the twentieth century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile. But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the CIAs secret interventions were so successful. In this bold and comprehensive new history, Vincent Bevins builds on his incisive reporting for the Washington Post, using recently declassified documents, archival research and eye-witness testimony collected across twelve countries to reveal a shocking legacy that spans the globe. For decades, its been believed that parts of the developing world passed peacefully into the U.S.-led capitalist system. The Jakarta Method demonstrates that the brutal extermination of unarmed leftists was a fundamental part of Washingtons final triumph in the Cold War...

-Titulo Original : The End Of Reality How Four Billionaires Are Selling A Fantasy Future Of The Metaverse, Mars, And Crypto-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: A brilliant takedown and expose of the great con job of the twenty-first century-the metaverse, crypto, space travel, transhumanism-being sold by four billionaires (Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreesen, Elon Musk), leading to the degeneration and bankruptcy of our society. At a time when the crises of income inequality, climate, and democracy are compounding to create epic wealth disparity and the prospect of a second American civil war, four billionaires are hyping schemes that are designed to divert our attention away from issues that really matter. Each scheme-the metaverse, cryptocurrency, space travel, and transhumanism-is an existential threat in moral, political, and economic terms. In The End of Reality¸ Jonathan Taplin provides perceptive insight into the personal backgrounds and cultural power of these billionaires-Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreesen (“The Four”) -and shows how their tech monopolies have brought middle-class wage stagnation, the hollowing out of many American towns, a radical increase in income inequality, and unbounded public acrimony. Meanwhile, the enormous amount of taxpayer money to be funneled into the dystopian ventures of The Four, the benefits of which will accrue to billionaires, exacerbate these disturbing trends. The End of Reality is both scathing critique and reform agenda that replaces the warped worldview of The Four with a vision of regenerative economics that seeks to build a sustainable society with healthy growth and full employment...

-Titulo Original : If We Burn The Mass Protest Decade And The Missing Revolution-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The story of the recent uprisings that sought to change the world - and what comes next From 2010 to 2020, more people participated in protests than at any other point in human history. Yet we are not living in more just and democratic societies as a result. IF WE BURN is a stirring work of history built around a single, vital question: How did so many mass protests lead to the opposite of what they asked for? From the so-called Arab Spring to Gezi Park in Turkey, from Ukraine’s Euromaidan to student rebellions in Chile and Hong Kong, acclaimed journalist Vincent Bevins provides a blow-by-blow account of street movements and their consequences, recounted in gripping detail. He draws on four years of research and hundreds of interviews conducted around the world, as well as his own strange experiences in Brazil, where a progressive-led protest explosion led to an extreme-right government that torched the Amazon. Careful investigation reveals that conventional wisdom on revolutionary change is gravely misguided. In this groundbreaking study of an extraordinary chain of events, protesters and major actors look back on successes and defeats, offering urgent lessons for the future...

-Titulo Original : Sedition Hunters How January 6th Broke The Justice System-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The January 6th attack is an unprecedented crime in American history. Sprawling and openly political, it cant be handled by the traditional rules and norms of law enforcement--threatening the very idea of justice and its role in society. The attack on the Capitol building following the 2020 election was an extraordinarily large and brazen crime. Conspiracies were formed on social media in full public view, the law-breakers paraded on national television with undisguised faces, and with outgoing President Donald Trump openly cheering them on. The basic concept of law enforcement--investigators find criminals and serve justice--quickly breaks down in the face of such an event. The system has been strained by the sheer volume of criminals and the widespread perception that what they did wasnt wrong. A mass of online tipsters--sedition hunters--have mobilized, simultaneously providing the FBI with valuable intelligence and creating an ethical dilemma. Who gets to serve justice? How can law enforcement still function as a pillar of civil society? As the foundations of our government are questioned, the FBI and Department of Justice are the first responders to a crisis of democracy and law that threatens to spread, and fast. In this work of extraordinary reportage, Ryan Reilly gets to know would-be revolutionaries, obsessive online sleuths, and FBI agents, and shines a light on a justice system thats straining to maintain order in our polarized country. From the moment the police barriers were breached on January 6th, 2021, Americans knew something had profoundly changed. Sedition Hunters is the fascinating, high-stakes story of what happens next...

-Titulo Original : The Greatest Capitalist Who Ever Lived Tom Watson Jr. And The Epic Story Of How Ibm Created The Digital Age-Fabricante : PublicAffairs-Descripcion Original: The enduring story of Thomas Watson Jr.-a figure more important to the creation of the modern world than Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Morgan Nearly fifty years into IBM’s existence, Thomas Watson Jr. undertook the biggest gamble in business history when he “bet the farm” on the creation of the IBM System/360, the world’s first fully integrated and compatible mainframe computer. As CEO, Watson drove a revolution no other company-then or now-would dare, laying the foundation for the digital age that has transformed every society, corporation, and government. The story of Watson being “present at the creation” of the digital age is intertwined with near-Shakespearean personal drama. While he put IBM and its employees at risk, Watson also carried out a family-shattering battle over the future of the company with his brother Dick. This titanic struggle between brothers led to Dick’s death and almost killed Watson Jr. himself. Though he was eventually touted by Fortune magazine as “the greatest capitalist who ever lived,” Watson’s directionless, playboy early years made him an unlikely candidate for corporate titan. How he pulled his life together and, despite personal demons, paved the way for what became a global industry is an epic tale full of drama, inspiration, and valuable lessons in leadership, risk-taking, and social responsibility...