High Theory

Great companies can fail: not because they do anything wrong, but because they do everything right. Meeting customers' current needs leads firms to reject breakthrough innovations, "disruptive technologies", that create the products and opportunities of the future.

In light of the intertwining logics of military competition and economic interdependence at play in US-China relations, Trading with the Enemy examines how the United States has balanced its potentially conflicting national security and economic interests in its relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC). To do so, Hugo Meijer investigates a strategically sensitive yet under-explored facet of US-China relations: the making of American export control policy on military-related technology transfers to China since 1979.

The series weaves together more than 50 first-person interviews with an unprecedented collection of archival sound: a rare recording of the 1964 trial that resulted in Mandela's life sentence; a visit between Mandela and his family secretly taped by a prison guard; marching songs of guerilla soldiers; government propaganda films; and pirate radio broadcasts from the African National Congress (ANC).

We generally understand "radical Islam" as a purely Islamic phenomenon, but Buruma and Margalit show that while the Islamic part of radical Islam certainly is, the radical part owes a primary debt of inheritance to the West. Whatever else they are, al Qaeda and its ilk are revolutionary anti-Western political movements, and Buruma and Margalit show us that the bogeyman of the West who stalks their thinking is the same one who has haunted the thoughts of many other revolutionary groups, going back to the early 19th century.

Unlock the 7 Habits That Set Elite Leaders Apart — And Make Them Unstoppable What do the world’s most respected leaders have in common? It’s not just talent, strategy, or charisma—it’s habit. In 7 Habits of Highly Successful Leaders, you’ll discover the proven principles that drive consistent influence, trust, and breakthrough results. This isn’t a book of fluffy motivation. It’s your leadership field manual—packed with practical habits, powerful mindset shifts, and real-world case studies that will challenge, stretch, and elevate your leadership capacity. In this ...

A breakthrough solution is exposed when some unexpected events force Caroline and Paul, a married couple working for their family's retail business, to make a few small changes in the way things are done. A solution that propels the family's regional chain of stores into a very profitable, rapidly growing, international enterprise. If there is a hint of Jonah, from The Goal, reappearing in this novel, it is Henry, the soon-to-retire president and majority owner of the company who logically states that, "if you do not deal directly with the core problem, don't expect significant improvement."

David Bodanis demystifies the world's most famous equation, explaining its science and bringing it to life. He makes clear the astonishing array of discoveries and consequences it made possible and its impact on our daily lives. At last, the masses can understand that Einstein did nothing less than open the door to the inner structure of the universe.

Are there other dimensions beyond our own? Is time travel possible? Can we change the past? Are there gateways to parallel universes? All of us have pondered such questions, but there was a time when scientists dismissed these notions as outlandish speculations. Not any more. Today, they are the focus of the most intense scientific activity in recent memory. In Hyperspace, Michio Kaku offers the first book-length tour of the most exciting (and perhaps most bizarre) work in modern physics.

Did you know that it has been shown in hundreds of Biology experiments that the rate of reproduction in an animal directly depends upon its rate of aging? If we increase the rate of reproduction, the rate of aging also increases! Did you know that there exist experiments done on male primates proving that ejaculate is costly for them in significant way, in the form of energy? Did you know that if a lactating female lacks some nutrients in her diet; her body erodes itself to enrich her milk so that the offspring does not have to suffer? But the theory of Celibacy is not so simple. For ...

This book explores the powers, activities, and accountability of MI5 from the end of the Second World War to 1964. It argues that MI5 acted with neither statutory authority nor statutory powers, and with no obvious forms of statutory accountability. It was established as a counter-espionage agency, yet was beset by espionage scandals on a frequency that suggested if not high levels of incompetence, then high levels of distraction and the squandering of resources.

Delve into the mystical with "The Adept's Companion to Nature Spirits: Theory, Ritual, and Praxis" by Magnus Barton. This essential guide invites you to explore the profound and often overlooked realm of nature spirits—the very souls of the earth, air, fire, and water. Designed for seasoned practitioners, this book transcends basic understanding, challenging you to deepen your communion with the intelligences that animate our world. Through comprehensive insights and advanced techniques, Barton leads you on a journey from foundational principles to sophisticated practices, empowering you ...

Imagination: A Manifesto offers visionary examples and tactics to push beyond the constraints of what we think, and are told, is possible. This book is for anyone who is ready to take to heart Toni Morrison's instruction: "Dream a little before you think."

Kenna Sharma is an engineer, not a hero. Her job on the clandestine Deep Look space station is simple: follow procedures, fix what is broken, and do not ask questions. But during a routine spacewalk, a two-second glitch in reality shows her the impossible: the stars are a lie, and her station is a cage. Back inside, the world feels wrong. A hairline crack appears not on the glass, but in space itself. Her crewmates begin to forget shared memories, their personalities fading into a placid, smiling emptiness. Kenna is being gaslit by her commanders and haunted by a horror that does not kill...

Bernie Sanders' 2016 candidacy expanded the scope of political possibility in the United States, putting socialism and class politics back on the map. His radical campaign - not just for the Democratic presidential candidacy but against "the billionaire class" - helped catalyze other transformative left-wing politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to seek and win office, just as he inspired teachers from West Virginia to Los Angeles to win hard-fought, historic strike campaigns. Sanders has, in short, helped cohere a new movement in American politics.

Jack Braddock is a ghost, haunted by his past and on the verge of losing the only thing that matters: his daughter. When a reclusive billionaire bails him out of a holding cell, the offer is too good to refuse: a clean slate and a future for his child. The price? One last mission. Journey to the most hostile place on the planet—Antarctica—and rescue the billionaire’s missing son. But the Antarctic is guarding a secret far older and more terrifying than any storm. Leading a small team of outcasts into a UN-quarantined "forbidden zone," Braddock discovers that the official story is a ...

In this eye-opening work, Graziano accessibly explores how this sense of an inner being led to empathy and formed us into social beings. The theory may point the way to engineers for building consciousness artificially. Graziano discusses what a future with artificial consciousness might be like, including both advantages and risks, and what AI might mean for our evolutionary future.

Technology is our new life partner. No longer confined to the sidelines, new interactive technologies like AI therapists, avatar friends, and robot assistants are ready to transform technology's role from basic tools of convenience to intimate elements of our social and emotional lives.

The "Theory of Nothing" explores the radical idea that the reality we see around us is but one of an infinite "library" of alternate realities, the sum of which contains no information and is in fact "Nothing". The necessity for observed reality to be consistent with the observer's existence implies a strong connection between fundamental physics and cognitive science. A revolutionary understanding of why physics has the form it does, and why our minds are the way they are is forged.

Violence and the Sacred is Rene Girard's landmark study of human evil. Here Girard explores violence as it is represented and occurs throughout history, literature, and myth. Girard's forceful and thought-provoking analyses of Biblical narrative, Greek tragedy, and the lynchings and pogroms propagated by contemporary states illustrate his central argument that violence belongs to everyone and is at the heart of the sacred.

In The Tech Coup, Marietje Schaake explains how technology companies crept into nearly every corner of our lives and our governments. She takes us beyond the headlines to high-stakes meetings with human rights defenders, business leaders, computer scientists, and politicians to show how technologies have gone from being heralded as utopian to undermining the pillars of our democracies.