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The great degeneration: how institutions decay and economies die
By Niall Ferguson. 2013
An examination of institutional dysfunction in the Western world argues that such values as a free market and representative government…
are being compromised while future generations are inheriting unmanageable levels of debt. 2013.The frackers: the outrageous inside story of the new billionaire wildcatters
By Gregory Zuckerman. 2014
In five years, the United States has seen a historic burst of oil and natural gas production, easing our insatiable…
hunger for energy. A new drilling process called fracking has made us the world's fastest growing energy power, on track to pass Saudi Arabia by 2020. But despite headlines and controversy, no previous book has shown how the revolution really happened. The Frackers tells the dramatic tale of how a group of ambitious and headstrong wildcatters ignored the ridicule of experts and derision of colleagues to pursue massive, long-overlooked deposits. Against all odds, they changed the world- and made astonishing fortunes in the process. Zuckerman's exclusive access enabled him to get close to men like George Mitchell, who developed a new way to drill for gas in shale rock; Harold Hamm, who discovered so much oil he's now worth more than the estate of Steve Jobs; and Aubrey McClendon, who lost more than billion on a misguided gambit. Zuckerman shows how the frackers are now using their wealth to shake up Hollywood, education, politics, sports, and other fields, much like the Rockefellers and Gettys before them. He also explores the debate over the environmental risks of fracking, and whether those risks are worth it for the United States to achieve energy independence and for the rest of the world to follow. 2014.The forgotten man: a new history of the Great Depression
By Amity Shlaes. 2007
Economics reporter analyzes the Great Depression era in the United States and posits that federal intervention in the economy lengthened…
its duration. Considers economic plans from members of Franklin Roosevelt's brain trust and alternate solutions of outsiders such as African American Father Divine and Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson. 2007.The diving-bell and the butterfly: A Memoir Of Life In Death
By Jean-Dominique Bauby. 1997
The end of ownership: personal property in the digital economy (The Information Society Series)
By Aaron Perzanowski, Jason Schultz. 2016
Explores how notions of ownership have shifted in the digital marketplace, and makes an argument for the benefits of personal…
property. E-books, cloud storage, streaming, and other digital goods offer users convenience and flexibility. But consumers should be aware of the trade-offs involving user constraints, permanence, and privacy. The rights of private property are clear, but few people manage to read their end user agreements. The authors argue that introducing aspects of private property and ownership into the digital marketplace would offer both legal and economic benefits. But more importantly, it would affirm our sense of self-direction and autonomy. If we own our purchases, we are free to make whatever lawful use of them we please. Technology need not constrain our freedom; it can also empower us. 2016.The end of absence: reclaiming what we've lost in a world of constant connection
By Michael Harris. 2014
Only one generation in history (ours) will experience life both with and without the internet. For everyone who follows us,…
online life will simply be the air they breathe. Today, we revel in ubiquitous information and constant connection, rarely stopping to consider the implications for our logged-on lives. The author chronicles this massive shift, exploring what we've gained and lost in the bargain. He argues that our greatest loss has been that of absence itself -- of silence, wonder and solitude. Winner of the 2014 Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction. 2014.The end of growth
By Jeff Rubin. 2012
Economist and resource analyst Jeff Rubin is certain that the world's governments are getting it wrong - instead of moving…
us toward economic recovery, measures being taken around the globe right now are digging us into a deeper hole. Both politicians and economists are missing the fact that the real engine of economic growth has always been cheap, abundant fuel and resources, but that era is over. The end of cheap oil signals the end of growth - and the end of easy answers to renewing prosperity. c2012.The courage to compete: living with cerebral palsy and following my dreams
By Elizabeth Kaye, Abbey Curran. 2015
Abbey Curran lives by the motto "If you can dream it, you can do it." She was born with cerebral…
palsy, but early on she resolved to never let it limit her. Abbey made history when she became the first contestant with a disability to win a major beauty pageant. After earning the title of Miss Iowa, she went on to compete in Miss USA. Growing up on a hog farm in Illinois, Abbey competed in local pageants despite naysayers who told her not to. After realizing her own dream, she went on to help other disabled girls achieve their goals by starting Miss You Can Do It, a national nonprofit pageant for girls and women with challenges and special needs. In this uplifting memoir, Abbey tells a story of overcoming the odds, fulfilling her life's goals, and finding in herself the courage to compete, even as she continues to inspire the same spirit in others. For junior and senior high readers. 2015.The elk hunt
By Alan Edward Nourse. 1986
At age 52, the author was stricken by a massive heart attack while hunting elk. He reveals his torturous recovery…
and the strains his illness placed on himself and his family. 1986.The ecology of commerce: a declaration of sustainability
By Paul Hawken. 1993
Provides a blueprint for a marketplace where businesses and environmentalists work together, showing companies how to redesign and manufacture products…
in innovative ways, re-educate customers, and work closely with government toward a profitable, productive, and ecologically sound future. 2005, c1993.The education of Laura Bridgman: first deaf and blind person to learn language
By Ernest Freeberg. 2001
Chronicles the life of Laura Bridgman, who, born into a New Hampshire farm family in 1829, became deaf and blind…
at the age of two. Freeberg recounts Laura's transformation into a woman who voraciously absorbed the world around her under the tutelage of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe of the Perkins Institution for the Blind. 2001.The digital economy: promise and peril in the age of networked intelligence
By Don Tapscott. 1996
Tapscott argues that new information technologies are creating a revolution, resulting in changes in economic and social relationships as profound…
as any ever experienced. "Internetworking" will affect business, government, and media. Using examples of business which are implementing these new systems, Tapscott presents both the promises and the perils of the new technologies. c1996.The Darwin economy: liberty, competition, and the common good (Your coach in a box)
By Robert H Frank. 2011
Frank looks at how economic competition is actually hindering the "common good." He explains that Charles Darwin's theory on the…
clash between individual and group interests is a perfect analogy for today's economic landscape. 2011.The cult of impotence: selling the myth of powerlessness in the global economy
By Linda McQuaig. 1998
McQuaig looks into the popular belief that the Canadian economy is beyond Canada's control, held at the mercy of globalization…
and technology. Instead, she argues, the international community has the tools to regulate the world financial system to everyone's benefit, as was done in the decades after World War II. 1998.The collapse of globalism: and the reinvention of the world
By John Ralston Saul. 2005
Globalism, where world markets would supplant nation-states, has failed even as it succeeded, by increasing GDP or individual wealth in…
some countries while allowing the paralyzing accumulation of debt in the third world. In the meantime, economies have artificially inflated and imploded. The author also faults a system where multinational corporations attempt to replace government infrastructure and "overly complex" management is mistaken for leadership. 2005.The center cannot hold: my journey through madness
By Elyn R Saks. 2007
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness.…
Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success. 2007.The cash nexus: money and power in the modern world, 1700-2000 (Allen Lane History Ser.)
By Niall Ferguson. 2001
Throughout modern history, the way states have managed their money has been crucial to their survival and success. It has…
been finance as much as firepower that has decided the fates of nations in the supreme test of war. The cash nexus is the crucial point where money and power meet. But does money make the political world go round? Does the success of democracy depend on economic growth? Does victory always go to the richest of the great powers? Or are financial markets the true 'masters' of the modern world? 2001.The carbon bubble: what happens to us when it bursts
By Jeff Rubin. 2015
The author vehemently believes that Stephen Harper's economic vision for our country is dead wrong. Changes in energy markets in…
the US - where domestic production is booming while demand for oil is shrinking - are quickly turning Harper's dream into an economic nightmare. The same trade and investment ties to oil that pushed the Canadian dollar to record highs are now pulling it down. But the very climate change that will leave much of the country's carbon unburnable could at the same time make some of Canada's other resource assets more valuable: our water and our land. Canada won't be an energy superpower, but it has the potential to be one of the world's great breadbaskets. And in the global climate that the world's carbon emissions are inexorably creating, food will soon be a lot more valuable than oil. Bestseller. 2015.The boy in the moon: a father's search for his disabled son
By Ian Brown. 2009
Walker Brown was born with a genetic mutation so rare that perhaps 300 people around the world also live with…
it. Walker turned twelve in 2008, but he weighs only 54 pounds, is still in diapers, can't speak and needs to wear special cuffs on his arms so that he can't continually hit himself. Expanded from Brown's Globe and Mail series about Walker, he sets out to discover his son. Some strong language. Canada Reads 2012. 2009.The body silent: The Different World Of The Disabled
By Robert Francis Murphy. 1987
In 1976, Robert Murphy first learns that he has a spinal tumour; he now is paralyzed from the neck down.…
He relates his medical treatment and suffering, but also examines the role of the disabled in society. He draws from history, literature, sociology, and psychology as a basis for his views and his means of coping. 2001, c1987.