New Books Network

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society
Catherine Newell, “Destined for the Stars: Faith, the Future, and America’s Final Frontier” (U Pittsburgh Press, 2017)
Catherine Newell
Destined for the Stars
Faith, the Future, and America’s Final Frontier
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in Christian StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ReligionNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books Network January 31, 2020 Michael F. Robinson

Catherine Newell talks about the religious roots of the final frontier, focusing on the collaboration of artist Chesley Bonestell, science writer Willy Ley, and the NASA rocket engineer Wernher von Braun. Newell is an assistant professor of religion and science at the University of Miami. She’s the author of Destined for the... Read More
Alexis Elder, “Friendship, Robots, and Social Media: False Friends and Second Selves” (Routledge, 2017)
Alexis Elder
Friendship, Robots, and Social Media
False Friends and Second Selves
Routledge, 2017

New Books in AnthropologyNew Books in CommunicationsNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books in SociologyNew Books in TechnologyNew Books Network January 30, 2020 John Danaher

Various emerging technologies, from social robotics to social media, appeal to our desire for social interactions, while avoiding some of the risks and costs of face-to-face human interaction. But can they offer us real friendship? In this book, Alexis Elder outlines a theory of friendship drawing on Aristotle and contemporary... Read More
Christopher J. Phillips, “Scouting and Scoring: How We Know What We Know About Baseball” (Princeton UP, 2019)
Christopher J. Phillips
Scouting and Scoring
How We Know What We Know About Baseball
Princeton University Press, 2019

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in MathematicsNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books in Sports January 29, 2020 Mikey McGovern

The so-called Sabermetrics revolution in baseball that began in the 1970s, popularized by the book—and later Hollywood film—Moneyball, was supposed to represent a triumph of observation over intuition. Cash-strapped clubs need not compete for hyped-up prospects when undervalued players provide better price per run scored. Q.E.D., right? In Scouting and... Read More
Neil Maher, “Apollo in the Age of Aquarius” (Harvard UP, 2017)
Neil Maher
Apollo in the Age of Aquarius

Harvard University Press, 2017

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ScienceNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books Network January 24, 2020 Michael F. Robinson

Neil Maher talks about the social forces that shaped NASA in the 1960s and 70s, connecting the space race with the radical upheavals of the counterculture. Maher is a professor of history at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University, Newark. He is the author of Apollo in the Age... Read More
Nancy D. Campbell, “OD: Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose” (MIT Press, 2020)
Nancy D. Campbell
OD
Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose
MIT Press, 2020

New Books in Drugs, Addiction and RecoveryNew Books in MedicineNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Public PolicyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books in TechnologyNew Books Network January 24, 2020 Dorian Deshauer

For years, drug overdose was unmentionable in polite society. OD was understood to be something that took place in dark alleys―an ugly death awaiting social deviants―neither scientifically nor clinically interesting. But over the last several years, overdose prevention has become the unlikely object of a social movement, powered by the... Read More
Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger, “Re-Engineering Humanity” (Cambridge UP, 2018)
Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger
Re-Engineering Humanity

Cambridge University Press, 2018

New Books in AnthropologyNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books in SociologyNew Books in TechnologyNew Books Network January 23, 2020 John Danaher

Every day, new warnings emerge about artificial intelligence rebelling against us. All the while, a more immediate dilemma flies under the radar. Have forces been unleashed that are thrusting humanity down an ill-advised path, one that’s increasingly making us behave like simple machines? In Re-Engineering Humanity (Cambridge University Press, 2018),... Read More
Safi Bahcall, “Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries” (St. Martins, 2019)
Safi Bahcall
Loonshots
How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
St. Martins Press, 2019

New Books in EconomicsNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books in SociologyNew Books in Systems and Cybernetics January 21, 2020 Curiosity Daily

Safi Bahcall‘s Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries (St. Martin’s Press, 2019) reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about nurturing radical breakthroughs. Bahcall, a physicist and entrepreneur,... Read More

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