New Books in Brief
Summary: Keeping you connected to the best ideas in the world of new non-fiction
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- Artist: Aaron and Cristina
- Copyright: Copyright 2012 Aaron Thibeault. All rights reserved.
Podcasts:
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by Michio Kaku called The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind.Topic of discussion: How scientists are able to read and recreate thoughts, scenes, and even dreams and imaginings directly from the brain.
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by Alex Pentland called Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread--The Lessons from a New Science.Topic of discussion: How digital sensors and big data are revolutionizing the social sciences; and an explanation of the one social interaction pattern that has been shown to be most effective in generating creativity and productivity in individuals, groups and cities.
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by Mckenzie Funk called Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming.Topic of discussion: The 3 ways people are making a profit off climate change, with a focus on 2 technologies that are designed to help us adapt to rising sea levels and stronger storms: storm-surge sea walls, and floating infrastructure.
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee called The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies.Topic of discussion: How digital technology contributes to the growing gap between the rich and the rest, and what we can do about it.
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by Dan Hurley called Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power.Topic of discussion: The brain-boosting wonders of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS).
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by J. Craig Venter called Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life.Topic of discussion: How synthetic genomics stands to revolutionize the development, manufacture and dissemination of influenza vaccines.
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by Charles Montgomery called Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design.Topic of discussion: The trouble with suburban sprawl.
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by David Epstein called The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance.Topic of discussion: Nature and nurture in bone structure, muscle mass, aerobic capacity and motivation to train.
On this episode, Breanne and I discuss the new book by Amanda Ripley called The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way.Topic of discussion: The South Korean education system, and the obsessive studying of South Korean students.
On this episode, Breanne and I discuss the new book by Uri Gneezy and John A. List called The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life.Topic of discussion: Applying controlled field experimentation to early childhood education.
On this episode Cristina and I discuss the new book by Malcolm Gladwell called David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants.Topic of discussion: Advantages that become disadvantages, disadvantages that become advantages, and how underdog armies defeat giants.
On this episode, Cristina and I discuss the new book by William D. Eggers called 'The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems'.Topic of Discussion: Unilever in India, and how governments in the developed world are serving up their social services in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.
Topic of discussion: How complex networks evolve, how the internet has evolved to this point, and how the internet is likely to evolve moving forward.
On this episode, Cristina and I discuss the new book by Ben Way called Jobocalypse: The End of Human Jobs and How Robots Will Replace Them.Topic of Discussion: How robots and other automated technologies will increasingly take our jobs, and what we should do about this.
On this episode, Cristina and I discuss the new book by Adam Rutherford called Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself.Topic of discussion: The latest advances in 2 topics in genetics: 1) answering the question of how life began in the first place; and 2) synthetic biology (genetic engineering 2.0).
