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Book Picks

Forces of Nature: Our Quest to Conquer the Planet

Posted on March 1, 2012
Image of Forces of Nature: Our Quest to Conquer the Planet
Author(s): Barry A. Vann
Publisher: Prometheus Books (2012)
Binding: Hardcover, 342 pages
List Price: $26.00

Human population trends have always been at the mercy of Earth’s climate, says geographer Barry A. Vann. Since prehistoric times, nomadic people have migrated to where food and water were plentiful. When scarcities made hunting and gathering no longer an option; then they would settle and commence farming.

Four Scenarios for 2030

Posted on February 11, 2013
Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds
Image of Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds
Author(s): National Intelligence Council
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2012)
Binding: Paperback, 166 pages
List Price: $10.99

Book Review by Robert Moran

The National Intelligence Council offers an overview of major trends affecting the world, reduced to four basic scenarios. However, the report’s authors overlook several key tensions.

Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet

Posted on February 18, 2011
Image of Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet
Author(s): Ibrahim Abdul-Matin
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2010)
Binding: Paperback, 264 pages
List Price: $16.95

Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin. Berrett-Koehler. 2010. 232 pages. $16.95.

Conservation of the earth is integral to Islam, argues Muslim author and policy advisor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin. He presents multiple examples of what Muslims are doing and can do to improve human stewardship of the planet and its resources.

High Stakes for Humanity’s Future

Posted on December 3, 2012
2012 State of the Future
Image of 2012 State of the Future
Author(s): Jerome C. Glenn, Theodore J. Gordon, Elizabeth Florescu
Publisher: The Millennium Project (2012)
Binding: CD-ROM, 10000 pages
List Price: $39.95

The Millennium Project calls for global action on challenges that touch every country.

How to Catch a Robot Rat: When Biology Inspires Innovation

Posted on December 6, 2010

by Agnès Guillot and Jean-Arcady Meyer. 2010. 226 pages. MIT Press. $29.95.

Human engineers draw some of their best inspirations from nature, according to technology researchers Agnès Guillot and Jean-Arcady Meyer in How to Catch a Robot Rat. The authors introduce readers to “the new bionics,” a field that integrates biology and engineering.

How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times

Posted on September 17, 2010
Image of How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times
Author(s): James Wesley Rawles
Publisher: Plume (2009)
Binding: Paperback, 336 pages
List Price: $18.00

by James Wesley Rawles. Plume. 2009. 153 pages. Paperback. $17.

Civilization is still standing now, but that does not mean it always will, cautions survival expert James Wesley Rawles in How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It.

Integrationalism: Essays on the Rationale of Abundance

Posted on May 17, 2011
Image of Integrationalism: essays on the rationale of abundance
Author(s): James Felton Keith
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2010)
Binding: Paperback, 204 pages
List Price: $20.00

Integrationalism is a philosophical framework that is inspiring new thought on the ideal transition from human creation, to human continuity, and finally to human cultivation, by acknowledging the technological extension that have yielded modern discovery, development, and deployment.

It Pays to Share

Posted on June 14, 2012
The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing
Image of The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing
Author(s): Lisa Gansky
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (2010)
Binding: Hardcover, 256 pages
List Price: $25.95

A new business model is emerging based on sharing rather than selling and owning. Entrepreneur Lisa Gansky calls the new model the Mesh and reports that a variety of new businesses are using it to become far more responsive to their customers’ wants and needs.

Knowing What to Really Fear

Posted on February 11, 2013
The Real Story of Risk: Adventures in a Hazardous World
Image of The Real Story of Risk: Adventures in a Hazardous World
Author(s): Glenn Croston
Publisher: Prometheus Books (2012)
Binding: Paperback, 250 pages
List Price: $19.00

Our biology has hard-wired us to anticipate visible, immediate threats, such as a hungry saber-toothed tiger, but it has not at all prepared us for the wholly different types of hazards that we face in the twenty-first century, says biologist Glenn Croston. He examines the basic human perception of risk and explains why …

Knowledge of Evolution Is Power

Posted on June 6, 2012
Evolving: The Human Effect and Why It Matters
Image of Evolving: The Human Effect and Why It Matters
Author(s): Daniel J. Fairbanks
Publisher: Prometheus Books (2012)
Binding: Paperback, 352 pages
List Price: $19.00

Evolution did not just take place in humanity’s past, according to Utah Valley University geneticist Daniel Fairbanks. He argues that it is occurring and shaping human life now, and that it will continue to do so.