Locked away in refrigerated vaults, sanitized by gas chambers, and secured within bombproof caverns deep under mountains are America’s most prized materials: the ever-expanding collection of records that now accompany each of us from birth to death. This data complex backs up and protects our most vital information against decay and destruction, and yet it binds us to corporate and government institutions whose power is also preserved in its bunkers, infrastructures, and sterilized spaces....

Written by and for teens and young adults with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NLD), as well as for their parents, teachers, therapists, and others who care about them, and backed by the latest neuropsychological research, NLD from the Inside Out offers hundreds of useful tips on:- Organization and planning, including study skills- How to successfully navigate the transition from dependent child to independent adult- Creating more harmonious family and peer relations...

'Heady, exhilarating, often astonishing' New York Times'Iridescently original, deeply disorientating and yet somehow radically hopeful ... worth reading and rereading' Brian Eno'Be prepared to re-evaluate your relationship with the amazing life forms with whom we share the planet. Fascinating, innovative and thought provoking: I thoroughly recommend Ways of Being' Dr Jane Goodall, DBERecent years h...

Based on the series produced for the BBC World ServiceWho thought up paper money? How did the contraceptive pill change the face of the legal profession? Why was the horse collar as important for human progress as the steam engine? How did the humble spreadsheet turn the world of finance upside-down?The world economy defies comprehension. A continuously-changing system of immense complexity, it offers over ten billion distinct products and services, doubles...

I am not a climatic scientist; I am an experienced electrical engineer, drawn to study this subject by the peculiarity of the news I was observing. And it became obvious, very quickly, that something weird was going on. So I began to collect data, news, and other factual information that gradually became available. I have now assembled a wide range of proven, factual details on global warming (which became climate change when warming stopped in 1998 and temperatures began to drop), the cla...

We're living on the wrong clock. Now is our moment to rethink.In this provocative follow-up to How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell challenges our cultural obsession with productivity. Drawing on philosophy, ecology and art, Saving Time argues that time is not money – it’s life itself.Odell explores how the ‘clock of capitalism’ dictates our days and disconnects us from natural rhythms, proposing instead a more humane, ecological understanding of time ro...

From Steven Johnson, the bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From, comes How We Got to Now, the companion book to his six-part BBC One television series exploring the power and the legacy of great ideas.How did photography bring about social reform? What connects refrigeration to Hollywood? And how did our battle against dirt help create smartphones? In this story of ingenious breakthroughs and unsung heroes, Steven Johnson explores the essential innovatio...

From the acclaimed author of The Pencil and To Engineer Is Human, The Essential Engineer is an eye-opening exploration of the ways in which science and engineering must work together to address our world’s most pressing issues, from dealing with climate change and the prevention of natural disasters to the development of efficient automobiles and the search for renewable energy sources. While the scientist may identify problems, it falls to the engineer to solve ...

One of Esquire's 50 Best Biographies of All Time * One of The Economist's Best Books of 2022 * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Nominated for The Next Big Idea Club * The Week Magazine Book of the WeekFrom Alec Nevala-Lee, the author of the Hugo and Locus Award finalist Astounding, comes a revelatory biography of the visionary designer who defined the rules of startup culture and shaped America’s id...

"Thoughtful, informative, and darkly entertaining. It's the best treatment of this important (and scary) topic you can find." —Elizabeth KolbertRight now, a group of scientists is working on ways to minimize the catastrophic impact of global warming. But they're not designing hybrids or fuel cells or wind turbines. They're trying to lower the temperature of the entire planet. And they're doing it with huge contraptions that suck CO2 from the air, machines that brigh...

A compelling call to apply Buckminster Fuller's creative problem-solving to present-day problems A self-professed "comprehensive anticipatory design scientist," the inventor Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was undoubtedly a visionary. Fuller's creations often bordered on the realm of science fiction, ranging from the freestanding geodesic dome to the three-wheel Dymaxion car to a bathroom requiring neither plumbing nor sewage. Yet in spite of his brilliant mind and life-long devoti...

How Understanding Flocks, Schools and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making and Getting Things Done.The modern world may be obsessed with speed and productivity, but twenty-first century humans actually have much to learn from the ancient instincts of swarms. A fascinating new take on the concept of collective intelligence and its colourful manifestations in some of our most complex problems, Smart Swarm introduces a compelling new understanding of the real ...