“Mine” is one of the first words babies learn, and by the time we grow up, the idea of ownership seems natural, whether we are buying a cup of coffee or a house. But who controls the space behind your airplane seat: you, reclining, or the squished laptop user behind you? Why is plagiarism wrong, but it’s okay to knock off a recipe or a dress design? And after a snowstorm, why does a chair in the street hold your parking space in Chicago, while in New York you lose both the space and the ch...

An in-depth look at the changing approaches that environmentalists, governments, and the open market have taken to water through the lens of world history.When we turn on the tap or twist open a tall plastic bottle, we probably don't give a second thought about where our drinking water comes from. But how it gets from the ground to the glass is far more convoluted than we might think.In this revised edition of Drinking Water, Duke University professo...

“Mine” is one of the first words babies learn, and by the time we grow up, the idea of ownership seems natural, whether we are buying a cup of coffee or a house. But who controls the space behind your airplane seat: you, reclining, or the squished laptop user behind you? Why is plagiarism wrong, but it’s okay to knock off a recipe or a dress design? And after a snowstorm, why does a chair in the street hold your parking space in Chicago, while in New York you lose both the space and the ch...

When you turn on the tap or twist the cap, you might not give a second thought to where your drinking water comes from. But how it gets from the ground to your glass is far more complex than you might think. Is it safe to drink tap water? Should you feel guilty buying bottled water? Is your water vulnerable to terrorist attacks? With springs running dry and reservoirs emptying, where is your water going to come from in the future?In Drinking Water, Duke professor James Salzman show...

Rapid economic development has been a boon to human well-being. It has lifted millions out of poverty, raised standards of living, and increased life expectancies. But economic development comes at a significant cost to natural capital—the fertile soils, forests, coastal marshes, farmland—that support all life on earth, including our own.Green Growth That Works is the first practical guide to bring together pragmatic finance and policy tools that can make investment in nat...

A New York TimesNew & Noteworthy BookOne of the DailyBeast’s 5 Essential Books to Read Before the ElectionA collection of the New Yorker’sgroundbreaking reporting from the front lines of climate change—including writing from Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert, Ian Frazier, Kathryn Schulz, and moreJust one year after climatologist James Hansen first came before a Senate committee and tes...

This program is read by the author.The definitive guide to communicating and connecting in a hybrid world.Email replies that show up a week later. Video chats full of “oops sorry no you go” and “can you hear me?!” Ambiguous text-messages. Weird punctuation you can’t make heads or tails of. Is it any wonder communication takes us so much time and effort to figure out? How did we lose our innate capacity to understand each other?Human...

When we are baffled by the insanity of the “other side”—in our politics, at work, or at home—it’s because we aren’t seeing how the conflict itself has taken over.That’s what “high conflict” does. It’s the invisible hand of our time. And it’s different from the useful friction of healthy conflict. That’s good conflict, and it’s a necessary force that pushes us to be better people.High conflict is what happens when discord distills into a good-versus...

***** 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST ****** LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE AND THE 2020 TRANSLATED BOOK AWARD ****** NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE YEAR ***A haunting Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor.**On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things beco...

Rosewater is the start of an award-winning trilogy set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction's most engaging voices.*Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, winner*Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel, winnerRosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry, and the helpless -- people eager for a glimpse ...

This “captivating illustration of the follies of trying to model and forecast the unpredictable world” (Financial Times) is both “empowering” (The New Statesman, UK) and “compelling” (New Scientist) as it challenges our most fundamental assumptions—by social scientist and Atlantic writer Brian Klaas, whom Prospect magazine has named one of the world’s “Top 25 Thinkers.”If you could rewind your life to the very beginning ...

he New York Times bestseller, now available in paperback—“an excellent, hyperliterate, genre-pantsing detective novel that deserves every inch of its…blockbuster superfame” (New York).For sixty years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a ""temporary"" safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews o...