The MIT Press Podcast
Episodes
The Chinese Typewriter: A History
04 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Chris Gondek speaks with author Tom Mullaney on the invention of the Chinese typewriter, and how the characters originally utilized ar...
Gravity's Kiss: The Detection of Gravitational Waves
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The detection of gravitational waves in 2015 rocked the science community. In this episode, Chris Gondek spoke with author Harry Collins, whose book ...
What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Chris Gondek interviews Ed Finn, author of the new book What Algorithms Want. Tune in for an interesting discussion on algorithm dis...
The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, author Ryan Milner talks to Chris Gondak about the rise of the internet meme, and the five logics that factor into the foundation, gr...
What a City Is for: Remaking the Politics of Displacement
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Hern began to examine urban displacement when he first encountered an empty lot in the northeast sector of Portland, OR. This corner was the site...
Hate Spin: The Manufacture of Religious Offense and Its Threat to Democracy
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the United States, elements of the religious right fuel fears of an existential Islamic threat, spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric into mainstream poli...
Philippe Schlenker, "What It All Means: Semantics for (Almost) Everything" (MIT Press, 2022)
25 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In What It All Means: Semantics for (Almost) Everything (MIT Press, 2022), Philippe Schlenker takes readers on tour of meaning, from the animal king...
Nicholas Mirzoeff, "White Sight: Visual Politics and Practices of Whiteness" (MIT Press, 2023)
19 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From the author of How to See the World comes a new history of white supremacist ways of seeing—and a strategy for dismantling them. White suprema...
Fabio Duarte and Ricardo Alvarez, "Urban Play: Make-Believe, Technology, and Space" (MIT Press, 2021)
18 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why technology is most transformative when it is playful, and innovative spatial design happens only when designers are both tinkerers and dreamers. I...
Alan Meades, "Arcade Britannia: A Social History of the British Amusement Arcade" (MIT Press, 2022)
18 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the British amusement arcade from the 1800s to the present. Amusement arcades are an important part of British culture, yet discussions...
Shahzad Bashir, "A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures" (MIT Press, 2022)
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In his innovative and conceptually ingenious new online, open-access, interactive book A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures (MIT Press, 2022),...
Sheila R. Foster and Christian Iaione, "Co-Cities: Innovative Transitions toward Just and Self-Sustaining Communities" (MIT Press, 2022)
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new model of urban governance, mapping the route to a more equitable management of a city’s infrastructure and services. The majority of the world...
Jeffrey Carpenter and Andrea Robbett, "Game Theory and Behavior" (MIT Press, 2022)
14 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jeffrey Carpenter and Andrea Robbett's book Game Theory and Behavior (MIT Press, 2022) is an introduction to game theory that offers not only theore...
Mathew Gandy, "Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space" (MIT Press, 2022)
30 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In his new book, Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space (MIT Press, 2022), Mathew Gandy explores urban nature as a multilayered mat...
Heather Ford, "Writing the Revolution: Wikipedia and the Survival of Facts in the Digital Age" (MIT Press, 2022)
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A close reading of Wikipedia's article on the Egyptian Revolution reveals the complexity inherent in establishing the facts of events as they occur an...
Jenny L. Davis, "How Artifacts Afford: The Power and Politics of Everyday Things" (MIT Press, 2020)
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Technologies are intrinsically social. They reflect human values and affect human behavior. The social dynamics of technology materialize through desi...
Nancy J. Nersessian, "Interdisciplinarity in the Making: Models and Methods in Frontier Science" (MIT Press, 2022)
10 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Based on examining physics and the practices of physicists, philosophers of science often see models in science as representational intermediaries bet...
Perry Zurn and Dani S. Bassett, "Curious Minds: The Power of Connection" (MIT Press, 2022)
09 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Curious about something? Google it. Look at it. Ask a question. But is curiosity simply information seeking? According to this exhilarating, genre-ben...
Melissa Kagen, "Wandering Games" (MIT Press, 2022)
04 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Wandering Games (MIT Press, 2022), Melissa Kagen analyzes wandering within different game worlds, viewed through the lenses of work, colonialism...
Robert P. Crease with Peter D. Bond, "The Leak: Politics, Activists, and Loss of Trust at Brookhaven National Laboratory" (MIT Press, 2022)
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1997, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory found a small leak of radioactive water near their research reactor. Brookhaven was--and is--a w...
Steven N. Austad, "Methuselah's Zoo: What Nature Can Teach Us about Living Longer, Healthier Lives" (MIT Press, 2022)
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Opossums in the wild don't make it to the age of three; our pet cats can live for a decade and a half; cicadas live for seventeen years (spending most...
Janaki Srinivasan, "The Political Lives of Information: Information and the Production of Development in India" (MIT Press, 2022)
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Political Lives of Information: Information and the Production of Development in India (MIT Press, 2022), written by Janaki Srinivasan and publi...
Alexandr Draganov, "Mathematical Tools for Real-World Applications: A Gentle Introduction for Students and Practitioners" (MIT Press, 2022)
11 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve never read a book like Mathematical Tools for Real-World Applications: A Gentle Introduction for Students and Practitioners (MIT Press, 2022)...
Thom van Dooren, "A World in a Shell: Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions" (MIT Press, 2022)
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this time of extinctions, the humble snail rarely gets a mention. And yet snails are disappearing faster than any other species. In A World in a S...
Mikkael A. Sekeres, "Drugs and the FDA: Safety, Efficacy, and the Public's Trust" (MIT Press, 2022)
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How the FDA was shaped by public health crises and patient advocacy, told against a background of the contentious hearings on the breast cancer drug A...
Gerd Gigerenzer, "How to Stay Smart in a Smart World: Why Human Intelligence Still Beats Algorithms" (MIT Press, 2022)
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Doomsday prophets of technology predict that robots will take over the world, leaving humans behind in the dust. Tech industry boosters think replacin...
Perry Zurn and Dani S. Bassett, "Curious Minds: The Power of Connection" (MIT Press, 2022)
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Curious about something? Google it. Look at it. Ask a question. But is curiosity simply information seeking? According to this exhilarating, genre-ben...
Laura A. Frahm, "Design in Motion: Film Experiments at the Bauhaus" (MIT Press, 2022)
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Design in Motion: Film Experiments at the Bauhaus (MIT Press, 2022) provides the first comprehensive history of film experiments at the Bauhaus, the...
David Kaiser, "Well, Doc, You're In: Freeman Dyson’s Journey through the Universe" (MIT Press, 2022)
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Freeman Dyson (1923–2020)—renowned scientist, visionary, and iconoclast—helped invent modern physics. Not bound by disciplinary divisions, he we...
Joanna Ebenstein, "Frederik Ruysch and His Thesaurus Anatomicus: A Morbid Guide" (MIT Press, 2022)
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731) was a celebrated Dutch anatomist, master embalmer, and museologist. He is best remembered today for strange tableaux, craf...
Robert Gottlieb, "Care-Centered Politics: From the Home to the Planet" (MIT Press, 2022)
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This agenda-setting book presents a framework for creating a more just and equitable care-centered world. Climate change, pandemic events, systemic ra...
Chris Salter, "Sensing Machines: How Sensors Shape Our Everyday Life" (MIT Press, 2022)
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sensing machines are everywhere in our world. As we move through the day, electronic sensors and computers adjust our thermostats, guide our Roombas, ...
Sian E. Harding, "The Exquisite Machine: The New Science of the Heart" (MIT Press, 2022)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Your heart is a miracle in motion, a marvel of construction unsurpassed by any human-made creation. It beats 100,000 times every day--if you were to l...
Emily Weinstein and Carrie James, "Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (and Adults Are Missing)" (MIT Press, 2022)
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What are teens actually doing on their smartphones? Contrary to many adults' assumptions, they are not simply "addicted" to their screens, oblivious t...
Daniel D. Garcia-Swartz and Martin Campbell-Kelly, "Cellular: An Economic and Business History of the International Mobile-Phone Industry" (MIT Press, 2022)
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss a book that will be appealing to a general audience and which helps to bridge the gap of the story of communication in the...
Jay Baruch, "Tornado of Life: A Doctor's Journey through Constraints and Creativity in the ER" (MIT Press, 2022)
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To be an emergency room doctor is to be a professional listener to stories. Each patient presents a story; finding the heart of that story is the doct...
Robert P. Crease, "The Leak: Politics, Activists, and Loss of Trust at Brookhaven National Laboratory" (MIT Press, 2022)
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1997, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory found a small leak of radioactive water near their research reactor. Brookhaven was--and is--a w...
Gabriel Levy, "Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion" (MIT Press, 2022)
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Beyond Heaven and Earth: A Cognitive Theory of Religion (MIT Press, 2022), Gabriel Levy argues that collective religious narratives and beliefs a...
Andrew Bomback, "Long Days, Short Years: A Cultural History of Modern Parenting" (MIT Press, 2022)
23 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When did "parenting" become a verb? Why is it so hard to parent, and so rife with the possibility of failure? Sitcom families of the past--the Cleaver...
Georg Striedter, "Model Systems in Biology: History, Philosophy, and Practical Concerns" (MIT Press, 2022)
07 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Biomedical research using various animal species and in vitro cellular systems has resulted in both major successes and translational failure. In Mod...
Igor Douven, "The Art of Abduction" (MIT Press, 2022)
10 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How should we form new beliefs? In particular, what inferential strategies are epistemically justified for forming new beliefs? Nowadays the dominant ...
Mark Solovey, "Social Science for What? Battles over Public Funding for the 'Other Sciences' at the National Science Foundation" (MIT Press, 2020)
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is part two of a two part interview. Mark Solovey’s ‘Social Science for What?’ is essential reading for anyone in either the history of sc...
Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner, "The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be" (MIT Press, 2022)
22 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be (MIT Press, 2022), Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner analyzed in-depth in...
Marc F. Bellemare, "Doing Economics: What You Should Have Learned in Grad School—But Didn’t" (MIT Press, 2022)
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Graduate students and newly-minted economists often find that while their time in graduate school taught them a lot about great research of the past a...
Erika Balsom and Hila Peleg, "Feminist Worldmaking and the Moving Image" (MIT Press, 2022)
20 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Erika Balsom and Hila Peleg's edited volume Feminist Worldmaking and the Moving Image (MIT Press, 2022) offers intersectional, intergenerational, an...
Andrew Witt, "Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture" (MIT Press, 2022)
08 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture (MIT Press, 2022), Andrew Witt examines the visual, methodological, and cultural intersections b...
Mattin, "Social Dissonance" (MIT Press, 2022)
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We are not what we think we are. Our self-image as natural individuated subjects is determined behind our backs: historically by political forces, cog...
Max Liboiron and Josh Lepawsky, "Discard Studies: Wasting, Systems, and Power" (MIT Press, 2022)
29 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An argument that social, political, and economic systems maintain power by discarding certain people, places, and things. Discard studies is an emergi...
Howard Gardner, "A Synthesizing Mind: A Memoir from the Creator of Multiple Intelligences Theory" (MIT Press, 2022)
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind was that rare publishing phenomenon--a mind-changer. Widely read by the general public as well as by educators, this...
Albert Folch, "Hidden in Plain Sight: The History, Science, and Engineering of Microfluidic Technology" (MIT Press, 2022)
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hidden from view, microfluidics underlies a variety of devices that are essential to our lives, from inkjet printers to glucometers for the monitoring...
Marco Grasso, "From Big Oil to Big Green: Holding the Oil Industry to Account for the Climate Crisis" (MIT Press, 2022)
08 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In From Big Oil to Big Green: Holding the Oil Industry to Account for the Climate Crisis (MIT Press, 2022), Marco Grasso examines the responsibility...
Sheila L. Macrine and Jennifer M. B. Fugate, "Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning" (MIT Press, 2022)
03 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning (MIT, 2022), Sheila L. Macrine (Professor in Cognitive Science, UMass Dart...
Alexander Monea, "The Digital Closet: How the Internet Became Straight" (MIT Press, 2022)
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In The Digital Closet: How the Internet Became Straight (MIT Press, 2022), Alexander Monea argues provocatively that the internet became straight by...
Elena Esposito, "Artificial Communication: How Algorithms Produce Social Intelligence" (MIT Press, 2022)
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Algorithms that work with deep learning and big data are getting so much better at doing so many things that it makes us uncomfortable. How can a devi...
Will Kinney, "An Infinity of Worlds: Cosmic Inflation and the Beginning of the Universe" (MIT Press, 2022)
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the beginning was the Big Bang: an unimaginably hot fire almost fourteen billion years ago in which the first elements were forged. The physical th...
Simon Peter Rowberry, "Four Shades of Gray: The Amazon Kindle Platform" (MIT Press, 2022)
15 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Four Shades of Gray: The Amazon Kindle Platform (MIT Press, 2022) is the first book-length analysis of Amazon's Kindle explores the platform's techno...
Dylan Mulvin, "Proxies: The Cultural Work of Standing In" (MIT Press, 2021)
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What are the hidden histories of how the modern world functions? In Proxies: The Cultural Work of Standing In (MIT Press, 2021), Dylan Mulvin, Ass...
Emily West, "Buy Now: How Amazon Branded Convenience and Normalized Monopoly" (MIT Press, 2022)
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How Amazon combined branding and relationship marketing with massive distribution infrastructure to become the ultimate service brand in the digital e...
John Zerilli, "A Citizen's Guide to Artificial Intelligence" (MIT Press, 2022)
04 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, has generated a staggering amount of hype in the past several years. Is it the game-changer it's been cracke...
Maia Weinstock, "Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus" (MIT Press, 2022)
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus (MIT Press, 2022) follows Mildred Dresselhaus (or Millie, as everyone c...
Amanda D. Lotz, "Media Disrupted: Surviving Pirates, Cannibals, and Streaming Wars" (MIT Press, 2021)
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Has the internet really been the main culprit behind the upheaval of the contemporary media industries? In Media Disrupted: Surviving Pirates, Cannib...
Nate G. Hilger, "The Parent Trap: How to Stop Overloading Parents and Fix Our Inequality Crisis" (MIT Press, 2022)
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Few people realize that raising children is the single largest industry in the United States. Yet this vital work receives little political support, a...
David Nemer, "Technology of the Oppressed: Inequity and the Digital Mundane in Favelas of Brazil" (MIT Press, 2022)
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Technology of the Oppressed: Inequity and the Digital Mundane in Favelas of Brazil (MIT Press, 2022), David Nemer draws on extensive ethnographic...
Ruchika Tulshyan, "Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work" (MIT Press, 2022)
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Few would disagree that inclusion is both the right thing to do and good for business. Then why are we so terrible at it? If we believe in the moralit...
James C. Klagge, "Wittgenstein's Artillery: Philosophy as Poetry" (MIT Press, 2021)
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“One should really only do philosophy as poetry.” What could Ludwig Wittgenstein have meant by this? What was the context for this odd remark? In ...
Marcus Kaiser, "Changing Connectomes: Evolution, Development, and Dynamics in Network Neuroscience" (MIT Press, 2020)
08 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The human brain undergoes massive changes during its development, from early childhood and the teenage years to adulthood and old age. Across a wide r...
Robert Buderi, "Where Futures Converge: Kendall Square and the Making of a Global Innovation Hub" (MIT Press, 2022)
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been called “the most innovative square mile on the planet.” It's a life science hub, hosting Biog...
Sherryl Vint, "Science Fiction" (MIT Press, 2021)
04 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The world today seems to be slipping into a science fiction future. We have phones that speak to us, cars that drive themselves, and connected devices...
Thomas Haigh and Paul E. Ceruzzi, "A New History of Modern Computing" (MIT Press, 2021)
30 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In A New History of Modern Computing (MIT Press, 2021), Thomas Haigh and Paul Ceruzzi trace changes leading to the computer becoming a ubiquitous...
Christopher Ali, "Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity" (MIT, 2021)
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As much of daily life migrates online, broadband—high-speed internet connectivity—has become a necessity. The widespread lack of broadband in rura...
N. J. Enfield, "Language Vs. Reality: Why Language Is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists" (MIT Press, 2022)
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Enfield’s book, Language vs. Reality: Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists (MIT Press, 2022), argues that language is prim...
Richard A. Detweiler, "The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs: Lives of Consequence, Inquiry, and Accomplishment" (MIT Press, 2021)
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We speak with Richard Detweiler about his new book The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs: Lives of Consequence, Inquiry and Accomplishment (MIT Press, 202...
Florian Jaton, "The Constitution of Algorithms: Ground-Truthing, Programming, Formulating" (MIT Press, 2021)
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Constitution of Algorithms: Ground-Truthing, Programming, Formulating (MIT Press, 2021) is a laboratory study that investigates how algorithms ...
Kian Goh, "Form and Flow: The Spatial Politics of Urban Resilience and Climate Justice" (MIT Press, 2021)
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Cities around the world are formulating plans to respond to climate change and adapt to its impact. Often, marginalized urban residents resist these p...
Michael Luca and Max H. Bazerman, "The Power of Experiments: Decision Making in a Data-Driven World" (MIT Press, 2021)
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Have you logged into Facebook recently? Searched for something on Google? Chosen a movie on Netflix? If so, you've probably been an unwitting particip...
Tony Veale, "Your Wit Is My Command: Building AIs with a Sense of Humor" (MIT Press, 2021)
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For fans of computers and comedy alike, an accessible and entertaining look into how we can use artificial intelligence to make smart machines funny. ...
Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick, "Designing Motherhood: Things that Make and Break Our Births" (MIT Press, 2021)
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Designing Motherhood: Things that Make and Break Our Births (MIT Press, 2021), Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick along with more than fifty...
Kenneth L. Caneva, "Helmholtz and the Conservation of Energy: Contexts of Creation and Reception" (MIT Press, 2021)
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1847, Herman Helmholtz, arguably the most important German physicist of the nineteenth century, published his formulation of what became known as t...
R. David Lankes, "The New Librarianship Field Guide" (MIT Press, 2016)
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Can libraries be radical positive change agents in their communities? R. David Lenkes offers a guide for librarians who see their profession as a chan...
Midori Yamamura, "Yayoi Kusama: Inventing the Singular" (MIT Press, 2015)
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Midori Yamamura’s Yayoi Kusama: Inventing the Singular (MIT Press, 2015) is an in-depth examination of the famed artist’s early years in Japan a...
Neil Vallelly, "Futilitarianism: Neoliberalism and the Production of Uselessness" (MIT Press, 2021)
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If maximizing utility leads to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people, as utilitarianism has always proposed, then why is it that as ...
Harry Yi-Jui Wu, "Mad by the Millions: Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization" (MIT Press, 2021)
14 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1948, the World Health Organization began to prepare its social psychiatry project, which aimed to discover the epidemiology and arrive at a classi...
Karl Herrup, "How Not to Study a Disease: The Story of Alzheimer's" (MIT Press, 2021)
03 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, some of our best and brightest medical scientists have dedicated themselves to finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease. What happened? Whe...
Carol Diehl, "Banksy: Completed" (MIT Press, 2021)
30 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Banksy is the world's most famous living artist, yet no one knows who he is. For more than twenty years, his wryly political and darkly humorous spray...
Omar W. Nasim, "The Astronomer's Chair: A Visual and Cultural History" (MIT Press, 2021)
28 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The astronomer's chair is a leitmotif in the history of astronomy, appearing in hundreds of drawings, prints, and photographs from a variety of source...
Janneke Adema, "Living Books: Experiments in the Posthumanities" (MIT Press, 2021)
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Living Books: Experiments in the Posthumanities (MIT Press, 2021), Janneke Adema proposes that we reimagine the scholarly book as a living and co...
Joseph Reagle on H. G. Wells's "World Brain" (1937)
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a series of talks and essays in 1937, H. G. Wells proselytized for what he called a World Brain, as manifested in a World Encyclopedia--a repositor...
Arnold Pacey and Francesca Bray, "Technology in World Civilization" (MIT Press, 2021)
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Technology in World Civilization represents a milestone history of technology. First published in 1990 and now revised and expanded in light of rece...
Fabio Parasecoli, "Food" (MIT, 2019)
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody eats. We may even consider ourselves experts on the topic, or at least Instagram experts. But are we aware that the shrimp in our freezer ma...
Nina Kraus, "Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World" (MIT Press, 2021)
26 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Making sense of sound is one of the hardest jobs we ask our brains to do. In Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World (MIT P...
Andrew Leigh, "What's the Worst That Could Happen?: Existential Risk and Extreme Politics" (MIT Press, 2021)
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that you're more likely to die from a catastrophe than in a car crash? The odds that a typical US resident will die from a catastrophic e...
Caitlin Ring Carlson, "Hate Speech" (MIT Press, 2021)
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hate speech can happen anywhere - in Charlottesville, Virginia, where young men in khakis shouted, "Jews will not replace us"; in Myanmar, where the ...
Kurt Squire, "Making Games for Impact" (MIT Press, 2021)
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Digital games for learning are now commonplace, used in settings that range from K–12 education to advanced medical training. In Making Games for I...
Julian Agyeman and Sydney Giacalone, "The Immigrant-Food Nexus: Borders, Labor, and Identity in North America" (MIT Press, 2020)
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Immigrant-Food Nexus: Borders, Labor, and Identity in North America (MIT Press, 2020) considers the intersection of food and immigration at both ...
Alex Pentland and Alexander Lipton, "Building the New Economy: Data As Capital" (MIT Press, 2021)
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Justin Beal, "Sandfuture" (MIT Press, 2021)
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sandfuture (MIT Press, 2021) is a book about the life of the architect Minoru Yamasaki (1912–1986), who remains on the margins of history despite ...
Vincent Ialenti, "Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now" (MIT Press, 2020)
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Based on twelve years of anthropological exploration, Vincent Ialenti's Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now (MIT Press, 2020...
Hannah Zeavin, "The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy" (MIT Press, 2021)
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode, J.J. Mull interviews author Hannah Zeavin about her new book, The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy (MIT Press, 2021). Among ...
Caitlin Donohue Wylie, "Preparing Dinosaurs: The Work Behind the Scenes" (MIT Press, 2021)
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Those awe-inspiring dinosaur skeletons on display in museums do not spring fully assembled from the earth. Technicians known as preparators have pains...
Paul Thagard, "Bots and Beasts: What Makes Machines, Animals, and People Smart?" (MIT Press, 2021)
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Octopuses can open jars to get food, and chimpanzees can plan for the future. An IBM computer named Watson won on Jeopardy! and Alexa knows our favo...