Published

As Chaos explained the science of disorder, Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks reveals the new science of connection and the odd logic of six degrees of separation.

How can geometry explain the puzzles of human behavior? In this incisive, insightful work Mark Buchanan presents the fundamental principles of the emerging field of “small worlds” theory—the idea that a hidden pattern is the key to how networks interact and exchange information, whether that network is the information highway or the firing of neurons in the brain.

Nexus is an exciting introduction to the hidden geometry that weaves our lives so inextricably together.

America’s most well-known kettle is Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts. Though Walden is hardly spectacular and lies well off the beaten track, it was the centerpiece of what would become an American Lake District, the counterpart to the English Lake District that so inspired the romantic poets. Since then, it has become the symbolic center for the 20th century environmental consciousness in America. Largely, this is because its most famous resident, the iconoclastic philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, can be properly considered as America’s first lake scientist, or limnologist.

Thoreau might have predicted that the popularity of kettles could be their demise. And now that the modern economy of kettle lake country is no longer chiefly about fur trading, timbering, or dairying, but rather about family recreation and tourism, lake culture is loving lakes to death. Some are turning from crystal clear to murky greenish brown as lakes warm, and as an invisible flood of organic nutrients seep in from the shore. Effective lake management in a changing world requires that the body politic of kettle lake country appreciate how distinctive their signature landscape really is and how the system of sandy soils, marshy savannahs, blue lakes, and lazy rivers works together as a well lubricated hydraulic machine.

Robert Thorson, author of Stone by Stone and Exploring Stone Walls brings his own particular blend of heartland science, history and memoir to the story of kettle lakes. Beyond Walden is a call to safeguard this speckled band of sky blue water for future generations.
Read more about the book at Beyond Walden.

Human beings are information omnivores: we are constantly collecting, labeling, and organizing data. But today, the shift from the physical to the digital is mixing, burning, and ripping our lives apart. In the past, everything had its one place—the physical world demanded it—but now everything has its places: multiple categories, multiple shelves. Simply put, everything is suddenly miscellaneous. In Everything Is Miscellaneous, David Weinberger charts the new principles of digital order that are remaking business, education, politics, science, and culture.

In this rollicking tour of the rise of the miscellaneous, Weinberger examines why the Dewey decimal system is stretched to the breaking point, how Rand McNally decides what information not to include in a physical map (and why Google Earth is winning that battle), how Staples stores emulate online shopping to increase sales, why your childrens teachers will stop having them memorize facts, and how the shift to digital music stands as the model for the future in virtually every industry. Finally, he shows how by going miscellaneous, anyone can reap rewards from the deluge of information in modern work and life. From A to Z, Everything Is Miscellaneous will completely reshape the way you think and what you knowabout the world.

In a complex business climate, people need to make informed decisions and learn how to think flexibly. A leader’s most important asset is the ability to sense changes in the environment and adapt to them quickly. The Prepared Mind of a Leader presents an original and effective way to think more flexibly about innovation, strategy, change, and problem solving.

It helps leaders anticipate challenges and prepare for both the intended and unintended consequences of change by laying out a program for developing, maintaining, and mobilizing eight key skills: Observing, Challenging, Reflecting, Reasoning, Imagining, Deciding, Learning, and Teaching. These skills provide a framework that the thoughtful leader or manager can use to approach issues of strategy, innovation, and more. Chapters feature interactive tools that will help readers develop each of the key skills.

Winner of the J. Russell Major Prize

Paul and Marie Pireaud, a young peasant couple from southwest France, were newlyweds when World War I erupted. With Paul in the army from 1914 through 1919, they were forced to conduct their marriage mostly by correspondence. Drawing upon the hundreds of letters they wrote, Martha Hanna tells their moving story and reveals a powerful and personal perspective on war.

Overwhelmed by one of the most tumultuous upheavals of the modern age, Paul and Marie found solace in family and strength in passion. Theirs is a human story of loneliness and longing, fear in the face of death, and the consolations of love. Your Death Would Be Mine is a poignant tale of ordinary people coping with the trauma of war.