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This dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King upends longstanding preconceptions to transform our understanding of the twentieth century's most iconic African American leaders.To most Americ

Why are we alive? Most things in the universe aren't. And if you trace the evolutionary history of plants and animals back far enough, you will find that, at some point, neither were we. Scientists ha

A celebrated mathematician explores how math helps us make sense of the unpredictable We would like to believe we can know things for certain. We want to be able to figure out who will win an election

What is it that makes things heavy? It's a simple question, but after two hundred years of searching, scientists still don't have a final answer. The closest we've come to solving the mystery is a pa

The War on Cancer set out to find, treat, and cure a disease. Left untouched were many of the things known to cause cancer, including tobacco, the workplace, radiation, or the global environment. Pro

What Socrates’s greatest failure reveals about an ancient question: Can we teach our leaders to be better people? Is good character something that can be taught? In 430 BCE, Socrates set out to teach the vain, power-seeking Athenian statesman Alcibiades how to be a good person―and failed spectacularly. Alcibiades went on to beguile his city into a hopeless war with Syracuse, and all of Athens paid the price. In The Quest for Character, philosophy professor Massimo Pigliucci tells this famous story and asks what we can learn from it. He blends ancient sources with modern interpretations to give a full picture of the philosophy and cultivation of character, virtue, and personal excellence―what the Greeks called arete. At heart, The Quest for Character isn’t simply about what makes a good leader. Drawing on Socrates as well as his followers among the Stoics, this book gives us lessons perhaps even more crucial: how we can each lead an excellent life.

How games are being harnessed as instruments of exploitation―and what we can do about it Warehouse workers pack boxes while a virtual dragon races across their screen. If they beat their colleagues, they get an award. If not, they can be fired. Uber presents exhausted drivers with challenges to keep them driving. China scores its citizens so they behave well, and games with in-app purchases use achievements to empty your wallet.Points, badges, and leaderboards are creeping into every aspect of modern life. In You’ve Been Played, game designer Adrian Hon delivers a blistering takedown of how corporations, schools, and governments use games and gamification as tools for profit and coercion. These are games that we often have no choice but to play, where losing has heavy penalties. You’ve Been Played is a scathing indictment of a tech-driven world that wants to convince us that misery is fun, and a call to arms for anyone who hopes to preserve their dignity and autonomy.

Unlock the secrets to understanding yourself and others with the surprising science of the human minds greatest power: introspection. It happens to everyone: You are asked a questioneven something you

The definitive annotated translation of Marcus Aurelius's MeditationsMarcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 CE) was the sixteenth emperor of Rome -- and by far the most powerful man in the world. Yet he was also an intensely private person, with a rich interior life and one of the wisest minds of his generation. He collected his thoughts in notebooks, gems that have come to be called his Meditations. Never intended for publication, the work has proved an inexhaustible source of wisdom and one of the most important Stoic texts of all time. In often passionate language, the entries range from one-line aphorisms to essays, from profundity to bitterness.This annotated edition offers the definitive translation of this classic and much beloved text, with copious notes from world-renowned classics expert Robin Waterfield. It illuminates one of the greatest works of popular philosophy for new readers and enriches the understanding of even the most devoted Stoic.

Keeping students focused can be difficult in a world filled with distractions -- which is why a renowned educator created a scientific solution to one of every teacher's biggest problems.Why is it so

Today's teenagers spend an average of nine hours per day with their noses immersed in the glow of their screens. Tweens are not far behind, at six hours a day. Parents of this new, ultra-connected gen

The epic history of African American women's pursuit of political power -- and how it transformed America.In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the r

American politics today is in an uproar: loud, angry, and bitter, bristling with us-versus-them. This is not exactly new. The history of our political life is teeming with nastiness, violence, intoler

A distinguished religious leader's stirring case for reconstructing a shared framework of virtues and values. With liberal democracy embattled, public discourse grown toxic, family life breaking down,

From ideas and infections to financial crises and fake news, an "utterly timely" look at why the science of outbreaks is the science of modern lifeThese days, whenever anything spreads, whether it's a

A groundbreaking new history of the United States, showing how Christian faith and the pursuit of petroleum fueled America's rise to global power and shaped today's political clashesAnointed with Oil

A path-breaking history of how the United States superseded Great Britain as the preeminent power in the Middle East, with urgent lessons for the present dayWe usually assume that Arab nationalism bro

A groundbreaking new view on the theory of evolution, arguing that life develops in predictable waysWe are all familiar with the popular idea of strange alien life wildly different from life on earth

An urgent exposé of the mental health crisis in our courts, jails, and prisonsAmerica has made mental illness a crime. Jails in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago each house more people with mental il

A vivid portrait of how Americans grappled with King's death and legacy in the days, weeks, and months after his assassinationOn April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot as he stood on t

The bestselling author of Dog Sense and Cat Sense explains why living with animals has always been a fundamental aspect of being human Pets have never been more popular. Over half of American househol

An award-winning historian untangles the roots of America's obsession with personal security, arguing that our misguided fears undermine our democracy.

Richard Florida confronts the dark side of the creative economy he celebrated inThe Rise of the Creative Class, and grapples with the gentrification, inequality, and segregation it has created in our

An award-winning science writer takes us into the lab to answer some of life’s biggest questions: How was the universe created? And could we create our own?What if you could become God, with the abili

In The Big Stick, prize-winning scholar Eliot A. Cohen argues that hard power must remain the linchpin of American foreign policy. Effective statecraft requires the integration of military means with

When US troops withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, the longest conflict in our nation’s history came to an end. Yet we are still at war?no longer with other states, but with a host of new en

The strange, disquieting, and sometimes delicious story of humanity’s love affair with meatIn Meathooked, Marta Zaraska explores what she calls the meat paradox.” Scientific journals overflow with rep

Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense fight with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence. But today’s conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over

Red teaming. It is a practice as old as the Devil’s Advocate, the eleventh-century Vatican official charged with discrediting candidates for sainthood. Today, red teamscomprised primarily of fearless

The standard account of early Christianity tells us that the first centuries after Jesus’ death witnessed an efflorescence of Christian sects, each with its own gospel. We are taught that these altern

We generally associate scientific research and technological development with the promise of innovation and productivity?the goal is to create tools that will make our lives better, easier, and happie

In 1916, as World War I raged around them, a group of bohemians gathered at a small cabaret in Zurich, Switzerland. After decorating the walls with art by Picasso and other avant-garde artists, they e

What is math? And how exactly does it work? In How to Bake Pi, math professor Eugenia Cheng provides an accessible introduction to the logic of mathematics?sprinkled throughout with recipes for everyt

In May 1940, with France on the verge of defeat, Britain alone stood in the path of the Nazi military juggernaut. Survival seemed to hinge on the leadership of Winston Churchill, whom the King relucta

In 1815, the deposed emperor Napoleon returned to France and threatened the already devastated and exhausted continent with yet another war. Near the small Belgian municipality of Waterloo, two large,

For Germany and Austria-Hungary the First World War started with high hopes for a rapid, decisive outcome. Convinced that right was on their side and fearful of the enemies that encircled them, they t

Enough with the dead white men! The true story of the United States lies with its most overlooked and marginalized peoples?the workers, immigrants, housewives, and slaves who built America from the g

At times, even his admirers seemed unsure of what to do with General Douglas MacArthur. Imperious, headstrong, and vain, MacArthur matched an undeniable military genius with a massive ego and a rebel

Medicine has become a true information industry, with drug designers able to read every molecular letter of life’s code ? DNA ? and create miracle drugs to control it. Our understanding of DNA has ad

A historian pieces together the story of a philandering, Georgian fop, William Jackson, who used his father's money and position with the East India Company to party in brothels and con tradesmen befo