New Books Network
Big Ideas
Technology October 25, 2021

Building the New Economy

Data As Capital

Alex Pentland and Alexander Lipton

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Data is now central to the economy, government, and health systems—so why are data and the AI systems that interpret the data in the hands of so few people? Alex …

Big Ideas

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Interviews with scholars promoting big ideas.

Intellectual History October 21, 2021

On Borders

Territories, Legitimacy, and the Rights of Place

Paulina Ochoa Espejo

Hosted by Tejas Parasher
When are borders justified? Who has a right to control them? Where should they be drawn? Today people think of borders as an island's shores. Just as beaches delimit a …
General History October 19, 2021

The Darker Angels of Our Nature

Refuting the Pinker Theory of History & Violence

Philip Dwyer and Mark Micale

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
In The Better Angels of Our Nature Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker argued that modern history has witnessed a dramatic decline in human violence of every kind, and that in the …
Environmental Studies October 15, 2021

Deep Time Reckoning

How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now

Vincent Ialenti

Hosted by Matthew Brown
Based on twelve years of anthropological exploration, Vincent Ialenti's Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now (MIT Press, 2020) is an engaging guide on deep time learning …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast October 15, 2021

Career and Family

Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity

Claudia Goldin

Hosted by Marshall Poe
A century ago, it was a given that a woman with a college degree had to choose between having a career and a family. Today, there are more female college …
Economics October 5, 2021

Who Gets What -- and Why

The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design

Alvin E. Roth

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
In Who Gets What — and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design (Mariner Books, 2015), Nobel Memorial Prize Winner Alvin Roth explains his pioneering work in the …
Critical Theory October 4, 2021

Metamodernism

The Future of Theory

Jason Ananda Josephson Storm

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer
For decades, scholars have been calling into question the universality of disciplinary objects and categories. The coherence of defined autonomous categories—such as religion, science, and art—has collapsed under the weight …
Education September 29, 2021

Just Work for All

The American Dream in the 21st Century

Joshua Preiss

Hosted by Thomas Discenna
This is a book about the American Dream: how to understand this central principle of American public philosophy, the ways in which it is threatened by a number of winner-take-all …
Psychology September 28, 2021

What Makes Us Smart

The Computational Logic of Human Cognition

Samuel Gershman

Hosted by Robert Tosswill
At the heart of human intelligence rests a fundamental puzzle: How are we incredibly smart and stupid at the same time? No existing machine can match the power and flexibility …
Science September 28, 2021

Born Knowing

Imprinting and the Origins of Knowledge

Giorgio Vallortigara

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Why do newborns show a preference for a face (or something that resembles a face) over a nonface-like object? Why do baby chicks prefer a moving object to an inanimate …
Food September 27, 2021

Grain by Grain

A Quest to Revive Ancient Wheat, Rural Jobs, and Healthy Food

Bob Quinn and Liz Carlisle

Hosted by Susan Grelock-Yusem
How can farmers adapt to climate changes? How can regenerative farmers have livelihoods that nourish themselves and their communities? How can we break free of the commodity mindset and rethink …
Journalism September 10, 2021

All the News That’s Fit to Click

How Metrics Are Transforming the Work of Journalists

Caitlin Petre

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
Over the past 15 years, journalism has experienced a rapid proliferation of data about online reader behavior in the form of web metrics. These newsroom metrics influence which stories are …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast September 8, 2021

Homelessness, a Solvable Problem

A Conversation with Juha Kaakinen

Juha Kaakinen

Hosted by Howard Burton
Howard speaks to Juha Kaakinen, CEO of Y-Foundation, a global leader in implementing the "Housing First principle" and a clear example of how genuine progress can be made in concretely …
Geography September 8, 2021

The Pyrocene

How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next

Stephen J. Pyne

Hosted by Stentor Danielson
Stephen J. Pyne's new book The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next (U California Press, 2021) tells the story of what happened when a fire-wielding species …
Economics September 3, 2021

Redesigning Democracy

More Ideas for Better Rules

Hans Gersbach

Hosted by Tim Jones
For three decades, Hans Gersbach has been using economic analysis and tools to explain and improve political behaviour. His academic career began just as history was supposed to be ending …
Science September 2, 2021

Being You

A New Science of Consciousness

Anil Seth

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Anil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science.An unprecedented tour of consciousness thanks to new experimental evidence …
Economics August 25, 2021

The Economics of Violence

How Behavioral Science Can Transform our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism

Gary Shiffman

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
Dr. Gary Shiffman’s book The Economics of Violence: How Behavioral Science Can Transform our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism (Cambridge UP, 2020) serves as a fantastic introduction to anyone interested …
Asian Review of Books August 19, 2021

Market Maoists

The Communist Origins of China's Capitalist Ascent

Jason M. Kelly

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
We think we know the history of China’s opening to the outside world. Maoist China was closed off, until Deng Xiaoping decided to reform the economy and open up to …
General History August 12, 2021

Disruption

Why Things Change

David Potter

Hosted by Craig Sorvillo
Today I talked to David Potter about his new book Disruption: Why Things Change (Oxford UP, 2021). Disruption is about radical change-why it happens and how. Drawing on case studies ranging …
Philosophy August 10, 2021

When Maps Become the World

Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther

Hosted by Carrie Figdor
There are maps of the Earth’s landmasses, the universe, the ocean floors, human migration, the human brain: maps are so integral to how we interact with the world that we …