New Books Network
Science & Technology
South Asian Studies November 30, 2020

The Truth Machines

Policing, Violence, and Scientific Interrogations in India

Jinee Lokaneeta

Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
Using case studies and the results of extensive fieldwork, this book considers the nature of state power and legal violence in liberal democracies by focusing on the interaction between law …

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Education November 30, 2020

Digital Divisions

How Schools Create Inequality in the Tech Era

Matthew H. Rafalow

Hosted by Trevor Mattea
In this episode, I speak with Matt Rafalow, about his book, Digital Divisions: How Schools Create Inequality in the Tech Era (University of Chicago Press, 2020). This book provides an …
Animal Studies November 27, 2020

Animal Traffic

Lively Capital in the Global Exotic Pet Trade

Rosemary-Claire Collard

Hosted by Mark Molloy
Parrots and snakes, wild cats and monkeys---exotic pets can now be found everywhere from skyscraper apartments and fenced suburban backyards to roadside petting zoos. In Animal Traffic: Lively Capital in …
Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight November 27, 2020

Engaged

Designing for Behavior Change

Amy Bucher

Hosted by Dan Hill
In her new book Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change (Rosenfeld Media, 2020), Amy Bucher analyzes both the barriers and levers to achieving behavioral change. Among the barriers are cognitive biases, like a …
Asian Review of Books November 25, 2020

Blockchain Chicken Farm

And Other Stories of Tech in China's Countryside

Xiaowei Wang

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Most of our discussions about how “technology will change the world” focus on the global cities that drive the world economy. Even when we talk about China, we focus on …
Psychoanalysis November 25, 2020

Freud

The Making of an Illusion

Frederick Crews

Hosted by Cassandra Seltman
The figure of Sigmund Freud has captivated the Western imagination like few others. One hundred and twenty-five years after the publication of Studies on Hysteria, the good doctor from Vienna …
Systems and Cybernetics November 25, 2020

Systems Practice

How to Act In Situations of Uncertainty and Complexity in a Climate-Change World

Ray Ison

Hosted by Tom Scholte
While various systems theories have received rigorous treatments across the literature of the field, reliable and robust advice for systems practice can be somewhat harder to come by. Ray Ison …
Animal Studies November 24, 2020

An Unnatural Order

The Roots of Our Destruction of Nature

Jim Mason

Hosted by Mark Molloy
First published by Simon & Schuster in 1993 and then by Continuum in 1998, Jim Mason’s An Unnatural Order: The Roots of Our Destruction of Nature has become a classic …
Anthropology November 24, 2020

Enduring Cancer

Life, Death, and Diagnosis in Delhi

Dwaipayan Banerjee

Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu
In Enduring Cancer: Life, Death, and Diagnosis in Delhi (Duke UP, 2020), Dwaipayan Banerjee explores the efforts of Delhi's urban poor to create a livable life with cancer as patients …
Science November 24, 2020

Heredity Under the Microscope

Chromosomes and the Study of the Human Genome

Soraya de Chadarevian

Hosted by Maia Woolner
“What are chromosomes? And what does it mean to treat them as visual objects?” asks Soraya de Chadarevian in her new book, Heredity Under the Microscope: Chromosomes and the Study …
Geography November 24, 2020

Seeds of Power

Environmental Injustice and Genetically Modified Soybeans in Argentina

Amalia Leguizamón

Hosted by Stentor Danielson
In 1996 Argentina adopted genetically modified (GM) soybeans as a central part of its national development strategy. Today, Argentina is the third largest global grower and exporter of GM crops …
Medicine November 23, 2020

The Trusted Doctor

Medical Ethics and Professionalism

Rosamond Rhodes

Hosted by Claire Clark
Common morality has been the touchstone of medical ethics since the publication of Beauchamp and Childress's Principles of Biomedical Ethics in 1979. Rosamond Rhodes challenges this dominant view by presenting …
Science, Technology, and Society November 23, 2020

Social and Conceptual Issues in Astrobiology

Kelly C. Smith and Carlos Mariscal

Hosted by John Traphagan
Social and Conceptual Issues in Astrobiology (Oxford University Press, 2020) focuses on the emerging scientific discipline of astrobiology, exploring many of the humanistic issues this multidisciplinary field is generating. Despite …
History November 23, 2020

The Mappae Mundi of Medieval Iceland

Dale Kedwards

Hosted by Joshua Tham
The Icelandic mappae mundi were a series of maps produced in the late medieval period (c. 1225 - c. 1400) that bore witness to fundamental changes in the landscape of …
Geography November 23, 2020

Lessons in Environmental Justice

From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter and Idle No More

Michael Mascarenhas

Hosted by Stentor Danielson
Michael Mascarenhas's book Lessons in Environmental Justice: From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter and Idle No More (Sage, 2020) provides an entry point to the field by bringing together …
Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight November 19, 2020

What's Your Problem?

To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve

Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

Hosted by Dan Hill
Stop Solving the Wrong Problem! In this episode we discuss Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg's book What's Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve (HBR Press, 2020) and focus on …
History November 17, 2020

Forgotten Healers

Women and the Pursuit of Health in Late Renaissance Italy

Sharon T. Strocchia

Hosted by Jana Byars
On this episode of New Books in History, Jana Byars talks with Sharon Strocchia, Professor of History at Emory University. She is the author of Death and Ritual in Renaissance …
Animal Studies November 17, 2020

Insect Artifice

Nature and Art in the Dutch Revolt

Marisa Anne Bass

Hosted by Akash Ondaatje
In Insect Artifice: Nature and Art in the Dutch Revolt (Princeton UP, 2019) Marissa Anne Bass explores the moment when the seismic forces of the Dutch Revolt wreaked havoc on …
Economics November 17, 2020

The Pandemic Information Gap and the Brutal Economics of Covid-19

Joshua Gans

Hosted by Tim Jones
As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March, a self-isolating and easily distracted economist resolved to take himself in hand. "I decided I would do what I was good at …
Economics November 17, 2020

Reversing Climate Change

How Carbon Removals Can Resolve Climate Change and Fix the Economy

Graciela Chichilnisky

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
Dr. Graciela Chichilnisky’s new book Reversing Climate Change: How Carbon Removals Can Resolve Climate Change and Fix the Economy is perhaps the single best thing I have read about climate …