Pack your cutlass and blunderbuss--it's time to go a-pirating! The Invisible Hook takes readers inside the wily world of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century pirates. With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit, Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates' notorious, entertaining, and sometimes downright shocking behavior. Why did pirates fly flags of Skull & Bones? Why did they create a "pirate code"? Were pirates really ferocious madmen? And what made...

What can today's corporate raiders learn from the scourge of the high seas? A lot, as it turns out! Pirates have a surprising amount to teach about building better organizations, promoting diversity in the workplace, and creating powerful brands, among many other business lessons. Curious to hear more? Then sign up for Professor Blackbeard's Management 101 class. And don't be late. He's got a hell of a temper.Princeton Shorts are brief selections taken from influential Princeton Un...

In Anarchy Unbound, Peter T. Leeson uses rational choice theory to explore the benefits of self-governance. Relying on experience from the past and present, Professor Leeson provides evidence of anarchy 'working' where it is least expected to do so and explains how this is possible. Provocatively, Leeson argues that in some cases anarchy may even outperform government as a system of social organization, and demonstrates where this may occur. Anarchy Unbound challenges the conventional self...

Step right up! Get your tickets for WTF?! An Economic Tour of the Weird! This rollicking tour through a museum of the world's weirdest practices is guaranteed to make you say, "WTF?!" Did you know that "preowned" wives were sold at auction in nineteenth-century England? That today, in Liberia, accused criminals sometimes drink poison to determine their fate? How about the fact that, for 250 years, Italy criminally prosecuted cockroaches and crickets? Do you wonder why? Then this t...

"The most interesting book I have read in years. . . . WTF?! is like Freakonomics on steroids." —Steven D. Levitt, New York Times–bestselling coauthor of FreakonomicsDid you know that "pre-owned" wives were sold at auction in nineteenth-century England? That today, in Liberia, accused criminals sometimes drink poison to determine their fate? How about the fact that, for 250 years, Italy criminally prosecuted cockroaches and crick...

Whole civilisations are threatened in these four classic TV novelisations featuring the First, Fourth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors.In Galaxy Four, by William Emms, the First Doctor, Steven and Vicki find the Drahvins and the Rills engaged in battle on a desolate planet - one that will explode in two days' time.In The Ark, by Paul Erickson, the Earth is about to plunge into the Sun and humanity is heading for a new planet, but the Doctor's arrival has a terrible impact on mank...

The Grand Master details his development as a writer and shares thirteen favorite sci-fi stories from his youth and what they taught him about writing.Every writer must start somewhere. Robert Silverberg was once simply a young man learning the art and craft of writing before he found success. But how did he get from there to winning four Hugo Awards, three Locus Awards, and six Nebula Awards, as well as being named a Grand Master of science fiction?In ...

"An authentic American genius . . . Mr. Thurber belongs in the great lines of American humorists that includes Mark Twain and Ring Lardner." — The Philadelphia InquirerJames Thurber's unique ability to convey the vagaries of life in a funny, witty, and often satirical way earned him accolades as one of the finest humorists of the twentieth century. A bestseller upon its initial publication in 1945, The Thurber Carnival captures the depth of his tal...

A groundbreaking examination of how speech causes some of our deepest social divides—and how it can help us overcome them."Katherine Kinzler is a phenomenon—one of the most brilliant young psychologists of her generation." —Paul Bloom, author of Against Empathy and Just BabiesWe gravitate toward people like us; it's human nature. Race, class, and gender shape our social...

" Mental Immunity is the perfect vaccine for the mind-viruses infecting our culture: alternative facts, fake news, and conspiracy thinking, to name a few." —Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of The Believing BrainAstonishingly irrational ideas are spreading. Covid denial persists in the face of overwhelming evidence. Anti-vaxxers compromise public health. Conspiracy thinking hijacks minds and incites mob violence. T...

"Rule no. 1: Buy this book, laugh out loud, become a better person." —Jason Alexander488 Rules for Life is not a self-help book, because it's not you who needs help—it's other people. Whether they're walking and texting, asphyxiating you on public transport with their noxious perfume cloud, or leaving one useless square of toilet paper on the roll, people just don't know the rules.But now, thanks to Australian comedian Kitty Flanagan's comprehensiv...

Why birds are smarter than we thinkBirds have not been known for their high IQs, which is why a person of questionable intelligence is sometimes called a "birdbrain." Yet in the past two decades, the study of avian intelligence has witnessed dramatic advances. From a time when birds were seen as simple instinct machines responding only to stimuli in their external worlds, we now know that some birds have complex internal worlds as well. This beautifully illustrated...