Douglas Rushkoff | W. W. Norton & Company, 2019 | Book
This is my manifesto for human autonomy in a digital age, in which I show we came to accept technology's priorities as our own. Incapable of establishing genuine rapport with others online, we blame one another rather than our machines. Team Human seeks to liberate us from this conundrum by celebrating our humanity and redefining being human as a team sport.
George Monbiot | Verso, 2017 | Book
Monbiot shows how we succumbed to a toxic ideology of extreme competition and individualism that misrepresents human nature as individualistic and competitive. He offers a very different narrative for human cooperation and altruism and provides a convincing argument for how we can realize this alternative narrative.
Jeremy Lent | Prometheus Books, 2017 | Book
Lent celebrates the uniquely human ability to find patterns in the seeming chaos. This is a comprehensive history of the human species, on the order of Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens, but directed toward reacquainting people with their ability to envision and create their collective reality. Moreover, it does this without falling into any new age silliness, but relying on historical, anthropological, and scientific rigor.
Max Horkheimer | 1947 | Book
This very short book by Frankfurt Group philosopher Max Horkheimer was written back in 1947 as a critique of the Nazi's use of the term "reasonable" to describe their regime's agenda. But it works just as well to critique the utilitarian agenda of Silicon Valley developers. More important, it explains the difference between the particular practical reasons we may do something, and the more significant "Reason" animating us.
Adam Brock | North Atlantic Books, 2017 | Book
Brock applies the land stewardship techniques of permaculture and applies them to society, economics and social justice, mimicking nature's resilience and abundance. This is as close to a how-to guide for an actionable approach to rebuilding working communities from the bottom up.
Frances Mooré Lappe and Adam Eichen | Beacon Press, 2017 | Book
Diet for a Small Planet author France Moore Lappé teams up with Democracy Matters activist Adam Eichen for this a rousing call to retrieve the collaborative spirit of democracy. Lappe and Eichen trace the process by which American citizens were stripped of their power to enact social change and show how instead of succumbing to despair, millions of Americans are participating in movements to fulfill human ends. They recast the current political strife as a moment of opportunity.
