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Executive Summaries of New Popular Non Fiction Books. This Week: 'Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design' by Charles Montgomery
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Just finished reading the blockbuster 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking' by Susan Cain. The book explores the psychology of the introvert, and makes the case that introversion has plenty of benefits and advantages--despite the fact that our society has a deeply entrenched bias towards extroversion (which often makes introverts feel like second-class citizens--if not outright defective or diseased). I've written an executive-style summary of the book at newbooksinbrief.wordpress.comCheers,
Aaron
Just finished reading Jim Baggott's new book called 'Higgs: The Invention and Discovery of the 'God Particle''. The book discusses the recent discovery of the Higgs boson, of course, but it also does an excellent job of explaining the development of the Standard Model of particle physics (which theory is our best explanation of matter and force, and the theory of which the Higgs boson is a part). The book provides just what the general reader needs to understand the discovery of the Higgs boson and what it all means. I've written an executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.wordpress.com/...
Cheers,
Aaron
Just finished reading the New York Times bestseller 'The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail--but Some Don't' by Nate Silver. The book explores the factors that complicate forecasting across many fields, with a focus on the economy. The book also delves into the subtle things that can be done to make us better predictors. It's superb. I've written a full executive summary of the book here:http://newbooksinbrief.com/2012/10/15...
Cheers,
Aaron
Just finished reading George Church's new book called Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves. The book tracks the evolution of genomics and genetic engineering (now called synthetic biology), and explores current and upcoming developments and technologies in biotech from biomaterials to bioenergy to biomedicine. The book is invigorating and inspiring. I've written a full executive summary of the book at:http://newbooksinbrief.com/2012/10/30...
Cheers,
Aaron
Just finished reading the new book by Adam Rutherford called Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself. The book looks at the latest research in genetics and focuses on 2 topics in particular: the quest to understand how life originated in the first place; and the burgeoning field of synthetic biology (the effort to turn genetic manipulation into an engineering science). The book is well-written and highly informative. I've written a full executive summary available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/07/10...Cheers,
Aaron
Just finished reading the new book by Ben Way called Jobocalypse: The End of Human Jobs and How Robots Will Replace Them. The book explores the present and future of robotics and its impact on the economy, and argues that automated technology will come to increasingly usurp jobs from us humans (as well as what we can do about this). It's a fun and very interesting read. I've written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/07/24...Cheers,
Aaron
Just finished reading the new book by Jeff Stibel called Breakpoint: Why the Web will Implode, Search will be Obsolete, and Everything Else you Need to Know about Technology is in Your Brain. The book is about networks, and how networks evolve; and it focuses on the internet (which is one enormous network). Stibel argues that the internet is still in the early phases of its evolution, and that based on how other similar networks evolve (such as the ant colony and the human brain), we can expect some big big changes out of the internet in the coming years (including the development of real intelligence and consciousness). This was an extremely interesting read. I've written a full executive summary available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/08/07...Cheers,
Aaron
Just finished reading the new book by William Eggers called The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems. The book explores how businesses have recently joined governments and non-profits in addressing public goods and social goals. It's an interesting discussion about an important and timely topic--though the reading experience leaves much to be desired. I've written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/10/08...
Just finished reading the new book by Malcolm Gladwell called David and Goliath. The book explores the curious nature of advantages and disadvantages and how each can (under circumstances) become its opposite. Gladwell gets bogged down in his anecdotes at times, and his arguments are occasionally overly-simplistic (as usual), but there’s plenty of interest here to keep you going. I’ve written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/10/22...
Just finished reading the new book by Uri Gneezy and John A. List called The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and The Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life. The authors have become famous for applying controlled field experiments to everything from education, to charity, to business, to healthy living, to discrimination etc. and in this book they update us on their experiments and results. The book is a fun and very interesting read. I've written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/11/05...Cheers,
Aaron
Just finished reading the new book by legendary biologist J. Craig Venter called Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life. Venter takes us through the major discoveries and advances in biology (and especially genomics) since the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953--leading all the way up to the synthesizing of DNA, and the first synthetic life form. It's a fascinating story told by one of biology's most accomplished practitioners. I've written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/12/03...
Just finished reading the new book by Charles Montgomery called Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design. Montgomery takes us through the history of the modern city, and argues in favor of the new urbanist movement in design--which advocates moving away from suburban sprawl and towards mixed-use, multi-income communities; laced with parks and plazas of varying sizes; and tied together with transportation networks that reintroduce walking, cycling and public transport as real options. The book is fantastic, and a great introduction to the ideas of the new urbanists. I've written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/12/17...
Goodreads Authors/Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design (other topics)Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life (other topics)
The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and The Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life (other topics)
David and Goliath (other topics)
The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems (other topics)
More...
http://newbooksinbrief.com/
Cheers,
Aaron