Category Archives: Books
Surviving Autocracy: Can American democracy survive Trump’s autocratic transformation?
Most people in the US today have never lived under a dictatorship. Maybe we’ve heard stories from our parents or grandparents who immigrated from such places, but we don’t have personal experience with autocratic rulers. This is truly one of … Continue reading
White Fragility
White Fragility By Robin DiAngelo Beacon Press, Boston, 2018 “White Fragility” sounds like a paradox. How can whites be fragile when we’re supposed to be the largest and smost dominant segment of US society? As author Robin DiAngelo explains it, … Continue reading
So you want to talk about race
So you want to talk about race By Ijeoma Oluo Seal Press, New York, 2018 In the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis, and the nation-wide protests that followed, many white people, … Continue reading
Good Economics for Hard Times
Good Economics for Hard Times By Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo Hachette Book Group, New York, 2019 Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics for their research into alleviating global poverty. In Good Economics … Continue reading
Together
You can die of loneliness. It’s not just poetic sentiment, it’s a medical fact. Research shows that lack of social connection is just as hazardous to life expectancy as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Humans are social beings. We are … Continue reading
The Storm Before the Calm
I can’t decide whether George Friedman is a genius or a crackpot. Friedman has made a career of geopolitical forecasting. He’s founded a couple of consulting companies that specialize in the field. He’s the author of several bestselling books including … Continue reading
The Optimist’s Telescope
Bina Venkataraman thinks we need to get way better at thinking ahead. The decisions we make today will impact ourselves and our planet for generations to come. Her book, The Optimist’s Telescope, is about why we make reckless decisions and how we can develop the foresight to make better ones. Continue reading
Doughnut Economics
How do we shift our economy from a focus on never-ending GDP growth to living within the “Doughnut?” Continue reading
20/20 Foresight
What better way to start 2020 than a book called 20/20 Foresight? There’s an old Danish proverb that says, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Difficult for sure, but we do it all the time anyway. … Continue reading
Range
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World By David Epstein Riverhead Books, New York, 2019 I didn’t finish Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World for the same reason I don’t eat chicken wings: too much effort for … Continue reading
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