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History and Current Events September 2025 |
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More Everything Forever : AI overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity
by Adam Becker
"Tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us. According to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and more, the only good future for humanity is one powered by technology: trillions of humans living in space, functionally immortal, served by superintelligent AIs. In More Everything Forever, science writer Adam Becker investigates these wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow--and shows why, in reality, there is no good evidence that they will, or should, come to pass. Nevertheless, these obsessions fuel fears that overwhelm reason--for example, that a rogue AI will exterminate humanity--at the expense of essential work on solving crucial problems like climate change. What's more, these futuristic visions cloak a hunger for power under dreams of space colonies and digital immortality. The giants of Silicon Valley claim that their ideas are based on science, but the reality is darker: they come from a jumbled mix of shallow futurism and racist pseudoscience. More Everything Forever exposes the powerful and sinister ideas that dominate Silicon Valley, challenging us to see how foolish, and dangerous, these visions of the future are"
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| Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run by Peter Ames CarlinPublished to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's iconic 1975 album Born to Run, journalist and biographer Peter Ames Carlin's evocative and richly detailed account offers a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the album, featuring interviews with Springsteen and key colleagues. Try this next: Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska by Warren Zanes. |
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| A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought... by Haley Cohen GillilandYale Journalism Initiative director Haley Cohen Gilliland’s compelling debut spotlights the Argentinian grandmothers who founded the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo in 1977 and stood up to their government’s military dictatorship to help locate their kidnapped grandchildren. Further reading: The Disappeared by Rebecca J. Sanford, a historical fiction novel about the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo. |
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| Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy by Tre JohnsonCultural critic Tre Johnson's impassioned debut essay collection examines the ways in which Black genius is overlooked and undervalued, revealing how gentrification, cultural appropriation and extraction, and policy undermine Black creatives' accomplishments. For fans of: How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill edited by Jericho Brown. |
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History Matters
by David McCullough
This posthumous collection of essays from the legendary historian looks at subjects such as the character of American leaders, the influence of art and mentors and the importance of understanding the past to better navigate the present and future.
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We Are Eating the Earth : The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate
by Michael Grunwald
Investigates how global agriculture threatens the climate through land use and emissions, critiques misguided sustainability efforts, and highlights innovative technologies, policies and individuals working to reduce farmland's footprint and reshape food systems to meet future demands without further environmental destruction. Illustrations.
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| The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century by Tim WeinerPulitzer Prize winner Tim Weiner follows up his National Book Award-winning Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA with a richly detailed exploration of the CIA’s shifting role in United States foreign policy following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, delivering a “singular triumph” that “should be required reading” (Kirkus Reviews). Further reading: Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence by Amy B. Zegart. |
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