Max Roser
Data to understand the big global problems and research that helps to make progress against them. Founder of @OurWorldInData — Mastodon: @maxroser@mas.to
30+ Book Recommendations by Max Roser
Atlas of the Invisible
James Cheshire
An unprecedented portrait of the hidden patterns in human society--visualized through the world of data.In case you are still looking for a Christmas gift for somone who enjoys data: The third data viz book by James Cheshire (@spatialanalysis) and @OliverUberti is out! The 'Atlas of the Invisible' is just as beautiful as their earlier books on animal migrations and on London. https://t.co/lGeTVblHjI
The Illustrated Sailing Alone Around the World
Joshua Slocum
Sailing Alone Around the World is a sailing memoir by Joshua Slocum in 1900 about his single-handed global circumnavigation aboard the sloop Spray.@paulg Very much agree, an incredible adventure and a great book!
The Star Builders
Arthur Turrell
From a young, award-winning scientist, a look at one of the most compelling and historic turning points of our time—the race to harness the power of the stars and produce controlled fusion, creating a practically unlimited supply of clean energy. The most important energy-making process in the universe takes place inside stars. The ability to duplicate that process in a lab, once thought out of reach, may now be closer than we think. Today, all across the world teams of scientists are being assembled by the world’s boldest entrepreneurs, big business, and governments to solve what is the most difficult technological challenge humanity has ever faced: building the equivalent of a star on earth. If their plans to capture star power are successful, they will unlock thousands, potentially millions, of years of clean, carbon-free energy. Not only would controlled nuclear fusion go a long way toward solving the climate crisis, it could help make other highly desired technological ambitions possible—like journeying to the stars. Given the rising alarm over deterioration of the environment, and the strides being made in laser and magnetic field technology, powerful momentum is gathering behind fusion and the possibilities it offers. Arthur Turrell is an award-winning young plasma physicist with a unique talent for making complex science accessible. In The Star Builders, he describes fascinating star machines with ten times as many parts as the NASA Space Shuttle, and structures that extend over 400 acres. And he spotlights the individuals, firms, and institutions racing for the finish line: science-minded entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel, companies like Goldman Sachs and Google, universities like Oxford and MIT, and virtually every rich nation. It’s an exciting and game-changing international quest that, when completed, will make all of us winners.Can start-ups fast-track fusion energy? A review in Nature of the new book ‘The Star Builders’ https://t.co/z9Eq73Ojmb
Extra Life
Steven Johnson
Steven Johnson has a new book. It’s about one of most extraordinary achievements of humanity; the modern doubling of life expectancy. If you know @stevenbjohnson’s earlier books then you that he is an amazingly good and entertaining science writer. I very much recommend it! https://t.co/54nWuvMwLW
Terra Incognita
Robert Muggah
How global access to education has changed since 1950. Shown in yellow are countries in which the average years of education was less than 2 years. From 'Terra Incognita' – the recent book by @ian_goldin and @robmuggah: https://t.co/F66Mv0eKgL and https://t.co/JLZZs2wdEJ https://t.co/kJmH0RkOUM
How to Make the World Add Up
Tim Harford
'If you aren't in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by the time you're done. Powerful, persuasive, and in these truth-defying times, indispensable'Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women'Fabulously readable, lucid, witty and authoritative . . . Every politician and journalist should be made to read this book, but everyone else will get so much pleasure and draw so much strength from the joyful way it dispels the clouds of deceit and delusion' Stephen FryWhen was the last time you read a grand statement, accompanied by a large number, and wondered whether it could really be true? Statistics are vital in helping us tell stories - we see them in the papers, on social media, and we hear them used in everyday conversation - and yet we doubt them more than ever.But numbers - in the right hands - have the power to change the world for the better. Contrary to popular belief, good statistics are not a trick, although they are a kind of magic. Good statistics are not smoke and mirrors; in fact, they help us see more clearly. Good statistics are like a telescope for an astronomer, a microscope for a bacteriologist, or an X-ray for a radiologist. If we are willing to let them, good statistics help us see things about the world around us and about ourselves - both large and small - that we would not be able to see in any other way.In How to Make the World Add Up, Tim Harford draws on his experience as both an economist and presenter of the BBC's radio show 'More or Less'. He takes us deep into the world of disinformation and obfuscation, bad research and misplaced motivation to find those priceless jewels of data and analysis that make communicating with numbers worthwhile. Harford's characters range from the art forger who conned the Nazis to the stripper who fell in love with the most powerful congressman in Washington, to famous data detectives such as John Maynard Keynes, Daniel Kahneman and Florence Nightingale. He reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism.Using ten simple rules for understanding numbers - plus one golden rule - this extraordinarily insightful book shows how if we keep our wits about us, thinking carefully about the way numbers are sourced and presented, we can look around us and see with crystal clarity how the world adds up.For the many of you who’ve already read @TimHarford’s latest book it won’t be a surprise that I liked it a lot. For those who haven’t read it yet and are interested in how statistics can help us make sense of the world I very much recommend it https://t.co/cX4SnJ2EWR https://t.co/2docm32iQo
Measuring Poverty around the World
Anthony B. Atkinson
The final book from a towering pioneer in the study of poverty and inequality—a critically important examination of poverty around the world In this, his final book, economist Anthony Atkinson, one of the world’s great social scientists and a pioneer in the study of poverty and inequality, offers an inspiring analysis of a central question: What is poverty and how much of it is there around the globe? The persistence of poverty—in rich and poor countries alike—is one of the most serious problems facing humanity. Better measurement of poverty is essential for raising awareness, motivating action, designing good policy, gauging progress, and holding political leaders accountable for meeting targets. To help make this possible, Atkinson provides a critically important examination of how poverty is—and should be—measured. Bringing together evidence about the nature and extent of poverty across the world and including case studies of sixty countries, Atkinson addresses both financial poverty and other indicators of deprivation. He starts from first principles about the meaning of poverty, translates these into concrete measures, and analyzes the data to which the measures can be applied. Crucially, he integrates international organizations’ measurements of poverty with countries’ own national analyses. Atkinson died before he was able to complete the book, but at his request it was edited for publication by two of his colleagues, John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini. In addition, François Bourguignon and Nicholas Stern provide afterwords that address key issues from the unfinished chapters: how poverty relates to growth, inequality, and climate change. The result is an essential contribution to efforts to alleviate poverty around the world.If you are interested in global poverty I'd very much recommend Tony Atkinson’s last book – https://t.co/7uFcpHnft6 On the site you also find all the data and charts from the book for download. https://t.co/YLkb0bjXBY
The Places In Between
Rory Stewart
Traces the author's 2002 journey by foot across Afghanistan, during which he survived the harsh elements through the kindness of tribal elders, teen soldiers, Taliban commanders, and foreign-aid workers whose stories he collected along his way. By the author of The Prince of the Marshes. Original. 20,000 first printing.@charlesjkenny @RoryStewartUK I should include this when I rewrite this https://t.co/8MCLDRJ4c7 Have you read his book about his walk through Afghanistan? I liked that one a lot.
Development as Freedom
Amartya Sen
The 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics states that freedom is the most efficient means of sustaining economic life and securing welfare throughout the world, explaining how his theories can be applied today. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.Some are asking me here about my views on different aspects of development goals. My view is pretty much the view of Amartya Sen as he lays it out in Development as Freedom. If you haven’t read it yet, I really recommend it. It is the book that made me want to study economics. https://t.co/S8ELgwoCDc
The Economics of Poverty
Martin Ravallion
While there is no denying that the world has made huge progress against absolute poverty over the last 200 years, until recent times the bulk of that progress had been made in wealthy countries only. The good news is that we have seen greater progress against poverty in the developing world in recent times-indeed, a faster pace of progress against extreme poverty than the rich world saw over a period of 100 years or more of economic development. However, continuing progress is far from assured. High and rising inequality has stalled progress against poverty in many countries. We are seeing generally rising relative poverty in the rich world as a whole over recent decades. And even in the developing world, there has been less progress in reaching the poorest, who risk being left behind, and a great many people in the emerging middle class remain highly vulnerable to falling back into poverty. The Economics of Poverty strives to support well-informed efforts to put in place effective policies to assure continuing success in reducing poverty in all its dimensions. The book reviews critically the past and present debates on the central policy issues of economic development everywhere. How much poverty is there? Why does poverty exist? What can be done to eliminate poverty? Martin Ravallion provides an accessible new synthesis of current knowledge on these issues. It does not assume that readers know economics already. Those new to economics get a lot of help along the way in understanding its concepts and methods. Economics lives though its relevance to real world problems, and here the problem of global poverty is both the central focus and a vehicle for learning.@JodiKoberinski Have a nice day Jodi! If you are interested this is a very good book on it https://t.co/0y26NroVca
The Data Detective
Tim Harford
It was only through statistical analysis that the world learned that smoking causes cancer and heart disease. The opening chapter of @TimHarford's recent book on statistics tells the story in detail: https://t.co/ekEo1kjGXm
Extra Life
Steven Johnson
It was an honour to contribute a tiny bit to @stevenbjohnson's big new project: Extra Life – A Short History of Living Longer Steven prepared a 4-part TV series and a new book dedicated to the question of how the world made progress against early death and disease. 👇Thread https://t.co/BiJ0e5qmYM
Smallpox
D. A. Henderson
@TimHarford @jasoncrawford wrote this very good essay about it https://t.co/mmdNsX9ELY On Our World in Data we have an entire entry (it's mostly focusing on the data though) https://t.co/4WEtIRtXsB Henderson's 'Smallpox: The Death of a Disease' is a good book.
How to Make the World Add Up
Tim Harford
'If you aren't in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by the time you're done. Powerful, persuasive, and in these truth-defying times, indispensable'Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women'Fabulously readable, lucid, witty and authoritative . . . Every politician and journalist should be made to read this book, but everyone else will get so much pleasure and draw so much strength from the joyful way it dispels the clouds of deceit and delusion' Stephen FryWhen was the last time you read a grand statement, accompanied by a large number, and wondered whether it could really be true? Statistics are vital in helping us tell stories - we see them in the papers, on social media, and we hear them used in everyday conversation - and yet we doubt them more than ever.But numbers - in the right hands - have the power to change the world for the better. Contrary to popular belief, good statistics are not a trick, although they are a kind of magic. Good statistics are not smoke and mirrors; in fact, they help us see more clearly. Good statistics are like a telescope for an astronomer, a microscope for a bacteriologist, or an X-ray for a radiologist. If we are willing to let them, good statistics help us see things about the world around us and about ourselves - both large and small - that we would not be able to see in any other way.In How to Make the World Add Up, Tim Harford draws on his experience as both an economist and presenter of the BBC's radio show 'More or Less'. He takes us deep into the world of disinformation and obfuscation, bad research and misplaced motivation to find those priceless jewels of data and analysis that make communicating with numbers worthwhile. Harford's characters range from the art forger who conned the Nazis to the stripper who fell in love with the most powerful congressman in Washington, to famous data detectives such as John Maynard Keynes, Daniel Kahneman and Florence Nightingale. He reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism.Using ten simple rules for understanding numbers - plus one golden rule - this extraordinarily insightful book shows how if we keep our wits about us, thinking carefully about the way numbers are sourced and presented, we can look around us and see with crystal clarity how the world adds up.I loved @TimHarford's new book on data – 'How to Make the World Add Up'. He is one of the rare writers who really cares to get the research and data right and at the same time manages to entertain you as the reader. Christmas is in three weeks: https://t.co/1FxiX5X1Xh
The Precipice
Toby Ord
From a leading philosopher, an urgent and eye-opening book that makes the case that safeguarding humanity from extinction is the central challenge of our time. From nuclear war and climate change to AI and synthetic biology, the risk of human extinction during this century is frighteningly high. Reducing these risks should be the top global priority-but it isn't. Bringing together key scientific evidence and insight from the humanities, Toby Ord, University of Oxford professor and advisor to the World Bank, U.S. National Security Council, and other global organizations, provides novel tools and concrete strategies for making the largest possible difference in saving our species. The moral argument is simple: society has begun to value diversity across a wide array of genders, races, religions, and sexual orientations, and the Western world is beginning to see the injustice of devaluing those who live in distant countries as well. The next step is to recognize the equality of people distant from us in time-the millions of future generations that should follow our own. The value of many trillions of lives, billions of years of civilization, and untold heights of flourishing and achievement dramatically increases the stakes of existential risks. To destroy such a future would break the partnership across the generations that has raised the human project up to its current heights; it would betray the collective virtues of our civilization; and it might even eliminate the only part of the universe that will ever be capable of appreciating its wonders. Despite the daunting stakes we face, The Precipice resists doom and gloom: Ord's style and message are optimistic, and the book is animated by an inspiring vision of our vast potential.The world can have a very good future, but there are risks that can mean that we don't have a future at all. We should be thinking about those risks now. Toby Ord's book is about those risks and I very, very much recommend it. https://t.co/eSkQkT1EWh
Open
Johan Norberg
Humanity's embrace of openness is the key to our success. The freedom to explore and exchange - whether it's goods, ideas or people - has led to stunning achievements in science, technology and culture. As a result, we live at a time of unprecedented wealth and opportunity. So why are we so intent on ruining it? From Stone Age hunter-gatherers to contemporary Chinese-American relations, Open explores how across time and cultures, we have struggled with a constant tension between our yearning for co-operation and our profound need for belonging. Providing a bold new framework for understanding human history, bestselling author and thinker Johan Norberg examines why we're often uncomfortable with openness - but also why it is essential for progress. Part sweeping history and part polemic, this urgent book makes a compelling case for why an open world with an open economy is worth fighting for more than ever.Very much enjoying @johanknorberg's book that makes the argument against shutting ourselves off and for openness, liberty, and collaboration. We can't make progress against big problems alone. [you can buy it here https://t.co/urk9KaoK9A] https://t.co/OWZSwUv38Z
Global Economic History
Robert C. Allen
The gap between the rich and the poor can be vast. Robert C. Allen considers the main factors that contribute to this gap, looking at the interconnections between economic growth, culture, technology, and income distribution. Exploring the historical processes that have created the unequal world of today, he takes a global look at wealth worldwide.@rmendez86 Bob Allen's book is great. So very short and still so informative.
Development as Freedom
Amartya Sen
The 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics states that freedom is the most efficient means of sustaining economic life and securing welfare throughout the world, explaining how his theories can be applied today. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.@apsmunro Mine too. This book is the reason I became an economist.
Wie ich lernte, die Welt zu verstehen
Hans Rosling
Earlier this year I read @HansRosling's biography. In 1979-81 he worked as the only doctor in a region of 300,000 people in Mozambique when an epidemic broke out. Reading how he studied the disease – and how he fought the epidemic – made me respect this great man even more. https://t.co/IzSckpAIlI
Factfulness
Hans Rosling
“One of the most important books I’ve ever read—an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.” – Bill Gates “Hans Rosling tells thestory of ‘the secret silent miracle of human progress’ as only he can. But Factfulness does much more than that. It also explains why progress is so often secret and silent and teaches readershow to see it clearly.” —Melinda Gates Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends—what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse). Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most. Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future. --- “This book is my last battle in my life-long mission to fight devastating ignorance...Previously I armed myself with huge data sets, eye-opening software, an energetic learning style and a Swedish bayonet for sword-swallowing. It wasn’t enough. But I hope this book will be.” Hans Rosling, February 2017.If you haven't read the book, I very much recommend it. – Here is the book's site: https://t.co/uybZBzvRWx – On Amazon it has been rated very well by 3,691 readers. For the Kindle it costs only $2.99 https://t.co/uxkEenuRLa https://t.co/U9XguXn3j7
Strong Medicine
Michael Kremer
"The public health of the developing world is the single issue of greatest significance for humanity over the next half century. This important book offers thoughtful analysis and practical ideas for confronting and addressing this issue through research and development of lifesaving vaccines."--Lawrence H. Summers, President, Harvard University "Michael Kremer and Rachel Glennerster have produced a work of outstanding importance to the well-being of developing countries. "There are five billion people in the poor world, many suffering from debilitating or fatal diseases. The potential gains in overcoming this human suffering from the development of effective and cost-efficient vaccines are enormous. Yet the economic purchasing power of the rich world favors the development of vaccines and drugs for the rich world. Strong Medicine presents workable incentives for research and development to respond more powerfully to the human needs of poor people. Kremer and Glennerster have produced results that deserve the attention of all those who work in development and that chart a way forward for one of the greatest issues of our time."--Nicholas Stern, Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury in the United Kingdom, Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, and former Chief Economist of the World Bank "Strong Medicine is full of insights that can make a real difference to the morbid world in which we live. It combines powerful analytical reasoning with practical insights and empirical knowledge to explore a highly promising way of expanding incentives for medicinal research. The possibility of making a significant difference through a commitment to purchase effective vaccines as and when they are developed is thoroughly scrutinized in this definitive investigation, for which we have reason to be grateful."--Amartya Sen, Harvard University, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences "This important book, on how to design markets for drugs to treat millions of diseased people in the developing world, has the added advantage of being an interesting read. The authors convey very well the intellectual excitement associated today with putting mechanism design into practice. They take the reader, one step at a time, through the various levels at which problems might arise and then show how the design is meant to take care of these problems."--Abhijit Banerjee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Michael Kremer is likely the most thoughtful advocate of an exciting new approach for tackling the scourges of AIDS, malaria, and other diseases that primarily afflict the populations of less developed countries. In this book, he and Rachel Glennerster offer by far the most complete discussion I have seen of why this approach--one that would see authorities stimulate private efforts to develop medical treatment by providing a guaranteed market for them--should be adopted, and of how to deal with problems of implementation and design."--Kenneth Sokoloff, University of California, Los Angeles@rglenner and Michael Kremer wrote a book on Advance Market Commitments – 'Strong Medicine: Creating Incentives for Pharmaceutical Research on Neglected Diseases' https://t.co/tlx66MRpFV https://t.co/Pzi3vRxWPE
The Precipice
Toby Ord
'Toby Ord has written a powerfully-argued book that alerts us to what is perhaps the most important - and yet also most neglected - problem we will ever face' Peter Singer'The Precipice separates science from hype and will remain the definitive work on existential risk for a long time to come' Max Tegmark, author of Life 3.0Humanity stands at a precipice. We live at a time of unprecedented innovation. Technology is accelerating faster than at any point in history, granting us ever greater power, and creating ever greater risk. In the twentieth century, we developed the means to destroy ourselves - without developing the moral framework to ensure that we won't.The Precipice introduces us to the risks to humanity's future, from the familiar man-made threats of climate change and nuclear war, to the greater risks on the horizon from engineered pandemics and advanced artificial intelligence. With clear and rigorous thinking, Toby Ord calculates the various risk levels, and shows how our own time fits within the larger story of human history. Can we protect the legacy of the hundred billion who have come before us, and secure a future for the trillions of generations that could follow? What can we do, in our present moment, to face the risks head on? Guided by a positive vision of the long-term future, The Precipice is a call for a new ethical perspective: a major reorientation in the way we see the world, our history, and the role we play in it.If you don't believe me, maybe you trust reviewers on Amazon. Here in the UK the book has been out for two weeks and currently @tobyordoxford's book has 15 reviews all of which gave the book 5 stars. https://t.co/ee8Qw6Eaa4 https://t.co/UGeh8RvY7T
The Precipice
Toby Ord
From a leading philosopher, an urgent and eye-opening book that makes the case that safeguarding humanity from extinction is the central challenge of our time. From nuclear war and climate change to AI and synthetic biology, the risk of human extinction during this century is frighteningly high. Reducing these risks should be the top global priority-but it isn't. Bringing together key scientific evidence and insight from the humanities, Toby Ord, University of Oxford professor and advisor to the World Bank, U.S. National Security Council, and other global organizations, provides novel tools and concrete strategies for making the largest possible difference in saving our species. The moral argument is simple: society has begun to value diversity across a wide array of genders, races, religions, and sexual orientations, and the Western world is beginning to see the injustice of devaluing those who live in distant countries as well. The next step is to recognize the equality of people distant from us in time-the millions of future generations that should follow our own. The value of many trillions of lives, billions of years of civilization, and untold heights of flourishing and achievement dramatically increases the stakes of existential risks. To destroy such a future would break the partnership across the generations that has raised the human project up to its current heights; it would betray the collective virtues of our civilization; and it might even eliminate the only part of the universe that will ever be capable of appreciating its wonders. Despite the daunting stakes we face, The Precipice resists doom and gloom: Ord's style and message are optimistic, and the book is animated by an inspiring vision of our vast potential.Toby Ord's book is out and I very much recommend it. It is a careful and comprehensive analysis of one of the most important questions: the existential risks that humanity is facing. Here is the site of the book: https://t.co/PSCghlFBQq And I'll share a few thoughts below. https://t.co/HhlYfmpV3I
Wie ich lernte, die Welt zu verstehen
Hans Rosling
Hans Rosling told journalist Fanny Härgestam the story of his life. It’s beautiful to learn how Hans Rosling became the man he was. https://t.co/0NPenqsMon
The Precipice
Toby Ord
From a leading philosopher, an urgent and eye-opening book that makes the case that safeguarding humanity from extinction is the central challenge of our time. From nuclear war and climate change to AI and synthetic biology, the risk of human extinction during this century is frighteningly high. Reducing these risks should be the top global priority-but it isn't. Bringing together key scientific evidence and insight from the humanities, Toby Ord, University of Oxford professor and advisor to the World Bank, U.S. National Security Council, and other global organizations, provides novel tools and concrete strategies for making the largest possible difference in saving our species. The moral argument is simple: society has begun to value diversity across a wide array of genders, races, religions, and sexual orientations, and the Western world is beginning to see the injustice of devaluing those who live in distant countries as well. The next step is to recognize the equality of people distant from us in time-the millions of future generations that should follow our own. The value of many trillions of lives, billions of years of civilization, and untold heights of flourishing and achievement dramatically increases the stakes of existential risks. To destroy such a future would break the partnership across the generations that has raised the human project up to its current heights; it would betray the collective virtues of our civilization; and it might even eliminate the only part of the universe that will ever be capable of appreciating its wonders. Despite the daunting stakes we face, The Precipice resists doom and gloom: Ord's style and message are optimistic, and the book is animated by an inspiring vision of our vast potential.And in early March my colleague Toby Ord publishes his book 'The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity’ https://t.co/QlwZP77Kpx I’ve read some of his manuscript over the years and if you are interested in existential risk I very much recommend it.
The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100
Robert William Fogel
A compelling new study from Nobel laureate Robert Fogel, examining health, nutrition and technology over the last three centuries and beyond. It will be essential reading for all those interested in economics, demography, history and health care policy.@OliverBWeber @stefanolix @Moddy82 @RichterHedwig Es widerspricht allem was wir über die Geschichte der Lebensbedingungen wissen. Egal wo, Menschen sind sehr früh gestorben https://t.co/zmXQnF9vWC Egal wo, überall waren der Großteil schlecht ernährt: https://t.co/OopQHKk2yG …
The Technology Trap
Carl Benedikt Frey
How the history of technological revolutions can help us better understand economic and political polarization in the age of automation From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, The Technology Trap takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society’s members. As Carl Benedikt Frey shows, the Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating for large swaths of the population. Middle-income jobs withered, wages stagnated, the labor share of income fell, profits surged, and economic inequality skyrocketed. These trends, Frey documents, broadly mirror those in our current age of automation, which began with the Computer Revolution. Just as the Industrial Revolution eventually brought about extraordinary benefits for society, artificial intelligence systems have the potential to do the same. But Frey argues that this depends on how the short term is managed. In the nineteenth century, workers violently expressed their concerns over machines taking their jobs. The Luddite uprisings joined a long wave of machinery riots that swept across Europe and China. Today’s despairing middle class has not resorted to physical force, but their frustration has led to rising populism and the increasing fragmentation of society. As middle-class jobs continue to come under pressure, there’s no assurance that positive attitudes to technology will persist. The Industrial Revolution was a defining moment in history, but few grasped its enormous consequences at the time. The Technology Trap demonstrates that in the midst of another technological revolution, the lessons of the past can help us to more effectively face the present..@carlbfrey’s big book is out today: https://t.co/Te3rRT5n6G @DianeCoyle1859 says "Anybody interested in the economic impact of digital and AI, in particular on jobs, will want to read Carl Frey’s new book, The Technology Trap"
Measuring Poverty around the World
Anthony B. Atkinson
The final book from a towering pioneer in the study of poverty and inequality—a critically important examination of poverty around the world In this, his final book, economist Anthony Atkinson, one of the world’s great social scientists and a pioneer in the study of poverty and inequality, offers an inspiring analysis of a central question: What is poverty and how much of it is there around the globe? The persistence of poverty—in rich and poor countries alike—is one of the most serious problems facing humanity. Better measurement of poverty is essential for raising awareness, motivating action, designing good policy, gauging progress, and holding political leaders accountable for meeting targets. To help make this possible, Atkinson provides a critically important examination of how poverty is—and should be—measured. Bringing together evidence about the nature and extent of poverty across the world and including case studies of sixty countries, Atkinson addresses both financial poverty and other indicators of deprivation. He starts from first principles about the meaning of poverty, translates these into concrete measures, and analyzes the data to which the measures can be applied. Crucially, he integrates international organizations’ measurements of poverty with countries’ own national analyses. Atkinson died before he was able to complete the book, but at his request it was edited for publication by two of his colleagues, John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini. In addition, François Bourguignon and Nicholas Stern provide afterwords that address key issues from the unfinished chapters: how poverty relates to growth, inequality, and climate change. The result is an essential contribution to efforts to alleviate poverty around the world.Thomas Piketty wrote about 'Measuring Poverty around the world': "This is an important and much-needed book. While poverty has fallen around the world, it is still far too high. If, like Tony Atkinson, you believe we can and must do better, this is essential reading."
The White Darkness
David Grann
By the New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a powerful true story of adventure and obsession in the Antarctic, lavishly illustrated with color photographs Henry Worsley was a devoted husband and father and a decorated British special forces officer who believed in honor and sacrifice. He was also a man obsessed. He spent his life idolizing Ernest Shackleton, the nineteenth-century polar explorer, who tried to become the first person to reach the South Pole, and later sought to cross Antarctica on foot. Shackleton never completed his journeys, but he repeatedly rescued his men from certain death, and emerged as one of the greatest leaders in history. Worsley felt an overpowering connection to those expeditions. He was related to one of Shackleton's men, Frank Worsley, and spent a fortune collecting artifacts from their epic treks across the continent. He modeled his military command on Shackleton's legendary skills and was determined to measure his own powers of endurance against them. He would succeed where Shackleton had failed, in the most brutal landscape in the world. In 2008, Worsley set out across Antarctica with two other descendants of Shackleton's crew, battling the freezing, desolate landscape, life-threatening physical exhaustion, and hidden crevasses. Yet when he returned home he felt compelled to go back. On November 2015, at age 55, Worsley bid farewell to his family and embarked on his most perilous quest: to walk across Antarctica alone. David Grann tells Worsley's remarkable story with the intensity and power that have led him to be called "simply the best narrative nonfiction writer working today." Illustrated with more than fifty stunning photographs from Worsley's and Shackleton's journeys, The White Darkness is both a gorgeous keepsake volume and a spellbinding story of courage, love, and a man pushing himself to the extremes of human capacity.@colinobrady If you want to get a sense of what Colin O’Brady did I very much recommend reading ‘White Darkness’ – the portrait of polar explorer Henry Worsley by the great @DavidGrann. https://t.co/Luf35qtbKZ
Seeds of Science
Mark Lynas
In the mid-1990s, the global media picked up on a controversial issue that had been slowly gathering steam--genetically modified organisms. Headlines screamed that this technological advance could pose serious health risks, that our food was already GMO-rich without our knowledge. How could this be? Of course there was science and statistics to back up these bold claims . . . or was there? Twenty years later, the dust has settled. Scientists are working hard to devise new farming methods that will meet the world's food requirements while causing the minimum amount of ecological harm. We're now discovering that the environmentalist mainstream might have misjudged the GMO issue completely, and as a consequence we have forfeited two decades' worth of scientific progress in perhaps the most vital area of human need: food. No one is more aware of this fact than Mark Lynas. Starting out as one of the leading activists in the fight against GMOs--from destroying experimental crop fields to leading the charge in the press--in 2013 Lynas famously admitted that he got it all wrong. Lynas takes us back to the origins of the technology, and examines the histories of the people and companies who pioneered it. He explains what led him to question his assumptions on GMOs, and how he is currently tracking poverty by using genetic modification to encourage better harvests. Seeds of Science lifts the lid on the whole controversial GMO story, from the perspective of someone who has fought prominently on both sides. It provides an explanation of the research that has enabled this technology--something which led to countless misconceptions about a field that could provide perhaps the only solution to a planet with a population of ten billion people.This year I was very impressed by @mark_lynas book 'Seeds of Science’ [https://t.co/r0SU04Xzan]. I recommend it If you are in favor of GMOs. And if you are against GMOs. It’s so very good because he always tries to find the strongest arguments against his view.
The Perils of Perception
Bobby Duffy
Do you eat too much sugar? Is violence in the world increasing or decreasing? What proportion of your country are Muslim? What does it cost to raise a child? How much do we need to save for retirement? How much tax do the rich pay? When we estimate the answers to these fundamental questions that directly affect our lives, we tend to be vastly wrong, irrespective of how educated we are. This landmark book--informed by more than 10 exclusive major polling studies by IPSOS across 40 countries--asks why in the age of the internet, where information should be more accessible than ever, we remain so poorly informed. Using the latest research into the media, decision science, heuristics, and emotional reasoning, Bobby Duffy examines why the populations of some countries seem better informed than others, and how we can address our ignorance of key public data and trends. An essential read for anyone who wants to be smarter and better informed, this fascinating book will transform the way you engage with the world.If you found my post on the widespread misperception of how our world is changing interesting, then I very much recommend the new book by @BobbyIpsosMORI – the father of the Perils of Perception study, the study I relied on in my post. Here is his book https://t.co/lY6Rh071I0 https://t.co/VssxWRho6G