Why we remember

Technology has become the architect of our intimacies. Online, we fall prey to the illusion of companionship, gathering thousands of Twitter and Facebook friends, and confusing tweets and wall posts w

Humor, like pornography, is famously difficult to define. We know it when we see it, but is there any way to figure out what we really find funny? In this fascinating investigation into the science of

The author of The Design of Everyday Things links human emotions and perceptions to how we relate to ordinary objects as he explains why attractive things really do work better. 40,000 first printing.

A biopsychologist explores the origins of human feelings, showing how they have been shaped by millions of years of evolution, and how they function as the basis of learning and reasoning. Reprint.

Popular wisdom holds that the years since 1973—the end of the “postwar miracle”—have been a time of economic decline and stagnation: lackluster productivity, falling real wage

Considers the effect of Watergate on individual careers, legislative reforms, and expectations of the media

A controversial call to put honor at the center of moralityTo the modern mind, the idea of honor is outdated, sexist, and barbaric. It evokes Hamilton and Burr and pistols at dawn, not visions of a we

"Our government is failing us. Can we simply blame polarization, the deregulation of campaign finance, or some other nefarious force? What if the roots go much deeper, to our nation's start? In Relic,

In its earliest days, the American-led war in Afghanistan appeared to be a triumph?a ?good war” in comparison to the debacle in Iraq. Thirteen years later, it has turned into the longest conflict in U

As the income gap between developed and developing nations grows, so grows the cacophony of voices claiming that the quest to find a simple recipe for economic growth has failed. Getting Better, in sh

As the income gap between developed and developing nations grows, so grows the cacophony of voices claiming that the quest to find a simple recipe for economic growth has failed. Getting Better, in s

Consider Facebook—it’s human contact, only easier to engage with and easier to avoid. Developing technology promises closeness. Sometimes it delivers, but much of our modern life leaves us

Happiness is central to the idea of America; along with life and liberty, the Founding Fathers listed "the pursuit of happiness" as a fundamental right in the Declaration of Independence. Yet little

Using FDR's 1944 State of the Union Address as a starting point, the author delves deeply into the revolutionary mind that penned this remarkable declaration of economic rights and illuminates the dem

Psychologists and philosophers have long grappled with the mysteries of dreaming, and now-thanks largely to recent innovations in brain imaging -neuroscientists are starting to join the conversation.

Drawing on legal cases and personal stories of families, a study of custody issues from a children's rights perspective offers proposals for changing the way in which disputes are settled

An acclaimed economist reveals that school integration efforts in the 1970s and 1980s were overwhelmingly successful---and argues that we must renew our commitment to integration for the sake of all A

"An important and alarming new book." --New York TimesThe way we teach reading is not working, and it cannot continue. We have largely abandoned phones-based reading instruction, despite research that

?In this persuasive book, Wagner delineates what skills are needed in a globalized era, why most American schools can’t nurture them, and how today’s schools could be transformed to cultivate tomorrow

We live in the age of Computer Business Systems (CBSs)?the highly complex, computer-intensive management programs on which large organizations increasingly rely. In Mindless, Simon Head argues that th

Instead of teaching our students to be critical thinkers, we are asking them to memorize facts. Young adults leave school equipped to work only in the kinds of jobs that are disappearing from our eco

Education expert Tony Wagner has conducted scores of interviews with business leaders and observed hundreds of classes in some of the nation's most highly regarded public schools. He discovered a pro

New Expanded Edition to Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s 1968 Presidential Campaign. With 30 pages of new material. “He was in many ways the greatest president we never had,” write

Since mid-century, America has witnessed an ominous decline in presidential leadership, culminating in the failing presidency of George W. Bush today. How did this happen? In Running Alone, the disti

A revolutionary look at energy theory shatters commonly held perceptions and myths about fuel, explaining how demand will never go down, the benefits of energy "waste," the infinite nature of energy,

To us humans the sex lives of many animals seem weird. In fact, by comparison with all the other animals, we are the ones with the weird sex lives. How did that come to be?Just count our bizarre ways.

A Turing Award-winning computer scientist and statistician shows how understanding causality has revolutionized science and will revolutionize artificial intelligenceCorrelation is not causation. This mantra, chanted by scientists for more than a century, has led to a virtual prohibition on causal talk. Today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, instigated by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and established causality -- the study of cause and effect -- on a firm scientific basis. His work explains how we can know easy things, like whether it was rain or a sprinkler that made a sidewalk wet; and how to answer hard questions, like whether a drug cured an illness. Pearl's work enables us to know not just whether one thing causes another: it lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It shows us the essence of human thought and key to artificial intelligence. Anyone who wants to understand either needs The Book of Why

An award-winning food writer takes us on a global tour of what the world eats--and shows us how we can change it for the betterFood is one of life's great joys. So why has eating become such a source

The bestselling book revealing why Americans are so fearful, and why we fear the wrong things--now updated for the age of TrumpIn the age of Trump, our society is defined by fear. Indeed, three out of

Why do we catch colds? What causes seasons to change? And if you fire a bullet from a gun and drop one from your hand, which bullet hits the ground first? In a pinch we almost always get these questio

Why do three out of four professional football players go bankrupt? How can illiterate jungle dwellers pass a test that tricks Harvard philosophers? And why do billionaires work so hard?only to give t

Why do certain civilizations, societies, and ecosystems collapse? How does the domino effect relate to the credit crunch? When can mathematics help explain marriage? And how on earth do toads predict

Can nature make us happy? How can we know anything? What is justice? Why is there evil in the world? What is the source of truth? Is it possible for God not to exist? Can we really believe what we se

There are two kinds of math: the hard kind and the easy kind. The easy kind, practiced by ants, shrimp, Welsh Corgis — and us — is innate. But what innate calculating skills do we humans

Here, at last, is the book for anyone who ever wondered how the media extravaganzas we call political campaigns really work. Everything You Think You Know About Politics…and Why You're Wrong ex

From a leading expert on longevity, a guide to how individuals and society can seize the advantages of living longer lives and avoid the pitfalls of an aging society Thanks to increases in life expectancy, we can now expect to live for a long time. Most of us would welcome an extra day in the week, so why do so many of us view the prospect of additional years with fear and skepticism? The reason is simple: society is not currently structured to support long lives. Rather than thinking in terms of the needs of a rising number of older people, we must instead support the young and middle-aged to prepare differently for the longer futures they can expect. The Longevity Imperative outlines the innovations needed to make the most of these longer lives: substantial changes to our health system, economy, and financial sector, as well as in how we manage our careers, health, finances, and relationships. Instead of seeing longevity as a problem, economist Andrew J. Scott challenges us to view i