Book Picks

The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity

Image of The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity
Author(s): Richard Florida
Publisher: Harper (2010)
Binding: Hardcover, 240 pages
List Price: $26.99

by Richard Florida. HarperCollins. 2010. 225 pages. Paperback. $26.99.

The economic recession is really an economic “reset,” argues economist Richard Florida. We are seeing the demise of obsolete means of production and consumption and their replacement with new alternatives.

The Leaders Who Make The Future

Managing the Future: A Guide to Forecasting and Strategic Planning in the 21st Century
Image of Managing the Future: A Guide to Forecasting and Strategic Planning in the 21st Century
Author(s): Stephen M. Millett
Publisher: Triarchy Press Ltd (2011)
Binding: Paperback, 288 pages
List Price: $35.00

The market for futurists is strong and will grow stronger, according to Futuring Associates LLC founder Stephen Millett. He looks forward to more companies hiring more specialists in trend tracking, analysis, and strategic foresight to help them avoid repeats of the 2007-2008 recession.

The Lifestyle Puzzle: Who We Are in the 21st Century

by Henrik Vejlgaard. 2010. 235 pages. Prometheus. Paperback. $19.

The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires

Image of The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (Borzoi Books)
Author(s): Tim Wu
Publisher: Knopf (2010)
Binding: Hardcover, 384 pages
List Price: $28.95

The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu. Knopf. 2010. 366 pages. $27.95.

Since the invention of the telephone, every information technology has evolved along a similar trajectory, says Tim Wu, chairman of the media reform organization Free Press, in The Master Switch. He calls this trajectory “The Cycle.”

The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires

Image of The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires (Borzoi Books)
Author(s): Tim Wu
Publisher: Knopf (2010)
Binding: Hardcover, 384 pages
List Price: $28.95

The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu. Knopf. 2010. 366 pages. $27.95.

Since the invention of the telephone, every information technology has evolved along a similar trajectory, says Tim Wu, chairman of the media reform organization Free Press, in The Master Switch. He calls this trajectory “The Cycle.”

The Money Myth: School Resources, Outcomes, and Equity

Image of The Money Myth: School Resources, Outcomes, and Equity
Author(s): W. Norton Grubb
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation (2009)
Binding: Hardcover, 400 pages
List Price: $35.00

by W. Norton Grubb. Russell Sage Foundation. 2009. 400 pages. $35.

Increased funding does not guarantee improved school performance, according to Berkeley education professor W. Norton Grubb. Despite lavish funding, he says, many U.S. school districts lag far behind others in the quality of education they offer their students. Those students will consequently be at a steep disadvantage throughout their adult lives.

The Neuro Revolution: How Brain Science Is Changing Our World

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Author(s): Zack Lynch, Byron Laursen
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (2009)
Binding: Hardcover, 256 pages
List Price: $25.99

by Zack Lynch, with Byron Laursen. St. Martin’s Press. 2009. 245 pages. $25.99.

The Planetary Awakening

Birth 2012 and Beyond: Humanity's Great Shift to the Age of Conscious Evolution
Image of Birth 2012 and Beyond: Humanity's Great Shift to the Age of Conscious Evolution
Author(s): Barbara Marx Hubbard
Publisher: Shift Books (2012)
Binding: Paperback, 272 pages
List Price: $15.95

The human race is the first species to knowingly be confronted with either evolution or extinction, and the time is now for us to embrace evolution, asserts futurist and social architect Barbara Marx Hubbard, president of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution.

The Precarious Human Role in a Mechanistic Universe

Subject(s):
Image of The Precarious Human Role in a Mechanistic Universe
Author(s): John F Brinster
Publisher: Xlibris, Corp. (2011)
Binding: Paperback, 514 pages
List Price: $23.99

Religion’s influence upon society has waned in the past century, and it will continue to wane in the years to come, forecasts John F. Brinster, retired Princeton physicist and psychologist. He looks forward to secularism gaining progressively more ground over the next few generations.
More and more people will practice spirituality, but fewer and fewer will practice religion.

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

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Author(s): Matt Ridley
Publisher: Harper (2010)
Binding: Hardcover, 448 pages
List Price: $26.99

by Matt Ridley. HarperCollins. 2010. 422 pages. Paperback. $26.99.

Throughout the last two centuries, experts have repeatedly warned that civilization was headed for an imminent collapse and that society would shortly descend into anarchy, epidemics, famines, or other such catastrophes—yet the future kept turning out better than they had expected, says conservationist Matt Ridley.