Social Science Power

In this landmark modern-day rendition of the ancient Taoist classic, Ursula K. Le Guin presents Lao Tzu’s time-honored and astonishingly powerful philosophy like never before. Drawing on a lifetime of contemplation, she offers an unparalleled window into the text’s awe-inspiring, immediately relatable teachings and their inestimable value for our troubled world.

Barons is the story of seven corporate titans, their rise to power, and the consequences for everyone else. Take Mike McCloskey, chairman of Fair Oaks Farms. In a few short decades, he went from managing a modest dairy herd to running the Disneyland of agriculture. Mike benefited from deregulation of the American food industry, a phenomenon that has consolidated wealth in the hands of select tycoons, and along the way, hollowed out the nation's rural towns and local businesses.

For the audio book version, Dr. Warren Farrell personally rewrote the highlights of The Myth of Male Power as a dialogue. The questions are similar to what others will ask you when you discuss these issues. You’ll have Dr. Farrell’s best answers. The Myth of Male Power helps each family member understand that genuine power is neither status nor money, but “control over one's life.” He documents that virtually every society that has survived has done so by persuading its sons to be disposable--whether in war or in work; and therefore indirectly as dads. And disposability is not power. Considered the Bible of men's studies—yet highly empathetic to women (Dr. Farrell was repeatedly elected to the Board of the National Organization for Women in NYC)-- the meticulously researched The Myth of Male Power takes the listener on a captivating journey around the world, throughout history, biology, the Bible, the law, and everyday life, challenging every currently-held assumption about men, women and the family.

In The Power of Awareness, Goddard set forth his idea that reality is what one makes of it. The world is really only a picture that exists in one’s mind, and it can be shaped and manipulated by thoughts and feelings. This revolutionary idea that the power of the mind can change the world was profoundly influential to philosophers and self-help gurus of the 20th century.

The crisis of the progressive movement is so evident that nothing less than a fundamental rethinking of its basic assumptions is required. Today's progressives now work for professional organizations more comfortable with the inside game in Washington, DC (and capitols throughout the West), where they are outmatched and outspent by corporate interests. In No Shortcuts, Jane McAlevey argues that progressives can win, but lack the organized power to enact significant change, to outlast their bosses in labor fights, and to hold elected leaders accountable.

In The Science of Social Intelligence, you'll have over 30 studies, new and old, broken down in a way that answers the question, "How can I use this science in my everyday life?" Rely on findings from psychology, cognitive science, and behavioral economics, rather than one person's anecdotal advice of what works.

Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan.

It used to be that ravaging another country’s economy required blockading its ports and laying siege to its cities. Now all it takes is a statement posted online by the U.S. government. In Chokepoints, Edward Fishman, a former top State Department sanctions official, takes us deep into the back rooms of power to reveal the untold history of the last two decades of U.S. foreign policy, in which America renounced the gospel of globalization and waged a new kind of economic war.

Joel Bakan's book is a brilliantly argued account of the corporation's pathological pursuit of profit and power. An eminent law professor and legal theorist, Bakan contends that the corporation is created by law to function much like a psychopathic personality whose destructive behavior, if left unchecked, leads to scandal and ruin. Despite the structural failings found in the corporation, Bakan believes change is possible and outlines a far-reaching program of concrete, pragmatic, and realistic reforms through legal regulation and democratic control.

Born out of the political turmoil of the English Civil War, Leviathan stands out as one of the most in influential political and philosophical texts of the 17th century. It argues for the restoration of the monarchy in light of the republic and calls for a commonwealth ruled by an authoritative, autocratic figure with absolute sovereignty. This would put an end to all controversy, war, and fear and establish peace via social contract.

Yale professor Marissa King shows how anyone can build more meaningful and productive relationships based on insights from neuroscience, psychology, and network analytics. Conventional wisdom says it's the size of your network that matters, but social science research has proven there is more to it. King explains that the quality and structure of our relationships has the greatest impact on our personal and professional lives.