Category: Book of the Week

January 31, 2012

The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars

We are happy to announce that The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines by Michael E. Mann is now available as a book and an e-book. Please note that two corrections will be made to...

January 31, 2012

The Kitchen as Laboratory Quiz

Sure you love a great grilled cheese sandwich but do you know the science behind what distinguishes a good from a bad sandwich? Test your knowledge of the science and psychology with this quiz based on The Kitchen as Laboratory:...

January 27, 2012

Michael R. Powers on Terrorism Forecasting

The following excerpt on terrorism forecasting is from Acts of God and Man: Ruminations on Risk and Insurance, by Michael R. Powers: In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. insurance industry confronted billions of dollars...

January 25, 2012

Michael R. Powers on Risk

In his book, Acts of God and Man: Ruminations on Risk and Insurance, Michael R. Powers discusses how risk impacts our lives, health, and possessions and proceeds to introduce the statistical techniques necessary for analyzing these uncertainties. In this excerpt...

January 24, 2012

Michael R. Powers, author of Acts of God and Man, Takes the Page 99 Test

Michael R. Powers, author of Acts of God and Man: Ruminations on Risk and Insurance, recently took The Page 99 Test. Powers discussed how page 99 from his book reflects some of the ideas in his book Acts of God...

January 20, 2012

Jonathan Lyons: A New Model for Understanding the World of Islam

“This model, then, calls for the compilation of a new, hidden history of Islam that fills in those areas declared off limits by the anti-Islam discourse. But, first, we must radically rephrase the West’s favorite polemical question—What’s wrong with Islam?—to...

January 19, 2012

Jonathan Lyons on Islam and Women

“The Bush administration adopted and perpetuated the established discourse of Islam and women for the benefit of specific Western interests—in this case, the military occupation and political and economic domination of Muslim societies…. Bush and his fellow social conservatives were...

January 17, 2012

Jonathan Lyons, author of Islam Through Western Eyes takes the Page 99 Test

This week our featured book will be Islam Through Western Eyes: From the Crusades to the War on Terrorism, by Jonathan Lyons. In conjunction with the publication of his book, Lyons took The Page 99 Test in which he read...

December 23, 2011

American Force: Richard Betts on Possible Future Threats to the United States

In the conclusion to his book American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security, Richard Betts explores some of the possible dangers that might confront the United States in the coming years. In particular he considers issues and possible...

December 21, 2011

Richard Betts on Francis Fukuyama, Samuel Huntington, and John Mearsheimer

Earlier this year, Richard Betts, author of American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security, wrote a much-discussed article in Foreign Affairs exploring the controversial visions of world politics put forth by Francis Fukuyama, Samuel Huntington, and John Mearsheimer....

December 19, 2011

Richard Betts on American Force

This week will be featuring American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security, by Richard Betts. In the book, Betts takes a skeptical look at the use of American force in the postwar era and analyzes, sometimes critically, the...

December 16, 2011

The Unfinished Greatest Grid

In conjunction with The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011, edited by Hilary Ballon, The Museum of the City of New York in conjunction with their exhibit on the grid is also presenting The Unfinished Grid: Design Speculations...