Books

Steven Levy: Inside Google: The Myths, the Culture and the Secret Sauce

Despite being one of the most successful and celebrated companies in history, Google maintains an air of mystery, and cultural myths abound. How has Google stayed innovative and cutting edge while making the transition to tech giant? What exactly happens inside the elusive Google campus? Levy took a deep dive into Google management, its products and its company culture. Join us as he shares untold stories and unpacks the mythology behind Google.

James Gleick: Bits and Bytes

In James Gleick’s book ‘The Information’ he speaks about the information “flood”. We are in a predicament where we have the ability to reach out and get facts easily. Although we may have access this does not necessarily bring with it knowledge. The gatekeepers of information are more important than ever, due to our reliance on these authorities for truth.

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown

H.P. Lovecraft was the forefather of modern horror fiction having inspired such writers as Stephen King, Robert Bloch and Neil Gaiman. The influence of his Cthulhu mythos can be seen in film, games, music, and pop culture in general. But what led an Old World, xenophobic gentleman to create one of literature’s most far-reaching mythologies? What attracts even the minds of the 21st century to these stories of unspeakable abominations and cosmic gods?

Musical Minds

NOVA follows four individuals—two of whom are Sacks’s case studies—and even peers into Sacks’s own brain, to investigate music’s strange, surprising, and still unexplained power over the human mind.

Niall Ferguson: Civilization: Is The West History?

A 6-part documentary series in which Niall Ferguson asks why it was that Western civilization, from inauspicious roots in the 15th century, came to dominate the rest of the world; and if the West is about to be overtaken by the rest.

Sherry Turkle – Alone Together

MIT technology and society professor Sherry Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically alter our social lives. It’s a nuanced exploration of what we are looking for—and sacrificing—in a world of electronic companions and social networking tools, and an argument that, despite the hand-waving of today’s self-described prophets of the future, it will be the next generation who will chart the path between isolation and connectivity.

Carl Zimmer: A Planet of Viruses / Viral Time

The Earth’s atmosphere is determined in large part by ocean bacteria; every day viruses kill half of them. Every year in the oceans, viruses transfer a trillion trillion genes between host organisms. They evolve faster than anything else, and they are a major engine of the evolution of the rest of life. Our own bodies are made up of 10 trillion human cells, 100 trillion bacteria, and 4 trillion very busy viruses. Some of them kill us. Many of them help us. Some of them are us. Viral time is ancient and blindingly fast.

Steven J. Ross: How Movie Stars Shape American Politics

From lefty anti-war activists to conservative gun slinging republicans, Hollywood has had an enormous influence on American politics and the fundamental nature of the American political system. Steven Ross talks about his book ‘Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics’