A futurist’s vision for a strong, economically successful and positive New Zealand The future is coming. The question is: are we ready? New Zealand Unleashed is a look at what sort of society New Zealand will need to be to best tackle an unpredictable future. It is about how New Zealand can thrive on the uncertainty of the future, rather than fear and resist it. In this book Steven Carden doesn't outline what New Zealand should do, rather he argues how New Zealan...

“Mr. Ridley’s best and most important work to date…there is something profoundly democratic and egalitarian—even anti-elitist—in this bottom-up approach: Everyone can have a role in bringing about change.” —Wall Street JournalThe New York Times bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome returns with a fascinating argument for evolution that definitively dispels a dangerous, widespread myth: that we can command and control our world...

Praised by Entertainment Weekly as the man who put the fizz into physics,” Dr. Len Fisher turns his attention to the science of cooperation in his lively and thought-provoking book. Fisher shows how the modern science of game theory has helped biologists to understand the evolution of cooperation in nature, and investigates how we might apply those lessons to our own society. In a series of experiments that take him from the polite confines of an English dinner party to crowded s...

As crises multiply, ingenuity lags. This prescient classic explains why societies falter when problems outpace solutions—and offers a roadmap to close the gap before risks from climate shocks, pandemics, inequality, and AI spiral beyond control.First published at the turn of the millennium, The Ingenuity Gap by Thomas Homer-Dixon anticipated the turbulent world we now inhabit: pandemics, climate disasters, political polarization, disruptive runaway technol...

We live in a culture of choice. But, in an age of corporate dominance, our freedom to choose has taken on new meaning. Upset with your local big box store? Object to unfair hiring practices at your neighbourhood fast food restaurant? Want to protest the opening of that new multinational coffeeshop? Vote with your feet!What if it’s not that simple? In No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart, Tom Slee unpacks the implications of our fervent belief in the power of ...

Sometimes facing up to the truth is just too hard. There have been any number of urgent scientific reports in recent years emphasising just how dire the future looks and how little time we have left to act. But around the world only a few have truly faced up to the facts about global warming.This book is about why we have ignored those warnings, so that now it is too late. It is a book about the frailties of the human species: our strange obsessions, our hubris, and our pe...

Dick Smith takes on the hot topic of our times, arguing that Australian and global population growth carries enormous risks, dangers that none of our political parties is prepared to address.In 2011 the world's population exceeded 7 billion. Each year we add nearly 80 million people and by mid-century we will require twice as much food and double the energy we use today. Australia will be deeply affected by these trends - we have the fastest growing population of a...

In this easy-to-read mini eBook, Danny Chivers presents the New Internationalist guide to debunking the myths of the climate change deniers. Sceptics are people who don't take things at face value; they demand facts, and are ready to change opinions based on the weight of evidence, even if that goes against personal preferences or beliefs. Deniers, on the other hand, refuse to accept evidence that conflicts withtheir personal beliefs, desires or ideology. People in denial gather reasons an...

Ever get the feeling that things are falling apart? You're not alone. From bad banks to global warming it can all look hopeless, but what if everything could turn out, well, even better than before? What if the only thing holding us back is a lack of imagination and a surplus of old orthodoxies?In fascinating and iconoclastic detail - on everything from the cash in your pocket to the food on your plate and the shape of our working lives - Cancel the Apocalypse describes ho...

In a world of supercomputers, genetic engineering, and fiber optics, technological creativity is ever more the key to economic success. But why are some nations more creative than others, and why do some highly innovative societies--such as ancient China, or Britain in the industrial revolution--pass into stagnation? Beginning with a fascinating, concise history of technological progress, Mokyr sets the background for his analysis by tracing the major inventions and innovations that have t...

An advanced alien fleet from a nearby star makes a temporary home around Earth's sun and builds a friendly but mostly aloof social network with humans. The aliens attempt to put differences in perspective using a high-profile interview with their popular diplomat but still encounter serious incompatibilities with the competitive and warlike humans.

Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), Looking Back to Look Forward is a prelude to a longer book. It is framed as a conversation between Cormac Russell, who is a leader in the Asset Based Movement in Europe, and Director of ABCD Europe and Professor John McKnight the Co-Director of the ABCD Institute.This book provides a detailed background to Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), with a particular emphasis on the contributions of the people, such as Illich, Alinsky, Mendelsohn, Mi...