Author:Ryan Avent
'Ryan Avent is a superb writer ... highly readable and lively' Thomas Piketty
'A pleasure to read. This is an important argument on a subject that will shape the coming decades' Duncan Weldon, Prospect
To work is human, yet the world of work is changing fast, and in unexpected ways. With rapid advances in information technology, huge swathes of the job market - from cleaners and drivers to journalists and doctors - are being automated: a staggering 47% of American employment is at risk of automation within the next two to three decades. At the same time, millions more jobs are being created. What does the future of work hold?
In this illuminating new investigation of what this means for us, Ryan Avent lays bare the contradictions in today's global labour market. From Volvo's operations in Sweden to the vast 'Factory Asia' hub in China, he offers the first clear explanation of the state we're in-and how we could get out of it.
Avent is a fluent writer who takes complex ideas and works them, like Plasticine, into vivid models ... The Wealth of Humans stands favourable comparison with Capital in the 21st Century by Thomas Piketty
—— Martin Vander Weyer , TelegraphMidway through Ryan Avent's The Wealth of Humans, I found myself marking "H" in the margin, to stand for heresy, so thick and fast do the counterintuitive insights arrive ... I found the virtuosity with which Mr Avent knocked down possible solutions disquieting
—— Giles Wilkes , EconomistTimely ... the author is a confident guide ... deft at exploring the economic, political and social changes triggered by technological progress and the abundance of cheap labour
—— Emma Jacobs , Financial TimesRyan Avent is a superb writer ... highly readable and lively
—— Thomas PickettyCompelling and troubling... In popular commentary on the future, there is an unhelpful view that one day each of us will turn up at work and find a robot sitting in our chairs. Avent's alternative account, of a slow but persistent decline in the importance of work and a fractious search for a new political settlement, is immeasurably more plausible
—— Daniel Susskind , Sunday TimesIn the world of economics, Ryan Avent is simply one of the sharpest and most intelligent writers around. Nobody is better placed to tell us how technology is shaping our economy and our lives
—— Tim HarfordAn important argument on a subject that will shape the coming decades
—— Duncan Weldon , ProspectTalk to Me explains a paradigm shift in the way we consume information . . . Artfully mixes the recounting of what key technologies do with an account of the history of how they came to be . . . I hope our folks at the defence and IT ministries are paying attention to this book.
—— Business StandardA good starting point for exploring how voice computing could disrupt your business . . . Talk to Me does a terrific job of explaining why voice computing is such a fascinating and promising technology.
—— strategy+businessSuch verbal ability seems like a superpower
—— The TimesAn exceptional broadcaster with a peerless ability to calmly point out the absurdity of certain viewpoints
—— GuardianDisarmingly honest about where he has been wrong, this book is a refreshing reminder of our ability to change our minds
—— Susanna ReidFar and away the best thing he has ever written -- indeed, a kind of deconstruction of everything he has written and said, or at least propounded. A series of reflections on various topical themes that doubles as a memoir, almost a mea culpa, about the psychological origin of his opinions, and of the force and certitude with which he used to wield them.
—— New Statesman Book of the YearAn extraordinary behind-the-scenes glimpse into Obama's White House, from a young woman who stumbles her way almost by chance into a job as a stenographer amongst the inner circle of the West Wing. Dorey-Stein’s memoir navigates intimate liaisons and world history, from hotel gyms to Air Force One.
—— VogueThis memoir by a former Oval Office stenographer is equal parts racy, pacy and funny. From barely keeping her head above financial waters in Washington DC to hopping on board Air Force One with Barack Obama and his elite team, Dorey-Stein doesn’t so much dish the dirt as mop up the mess left at her feet by the drama of politics and the heartbreak of romance.
—— Irish IndependentAn incredible story
—— GQDelightful... a bit Legally Blonde. What's most surprising about this isn't the hot pink cover, it's that we haven't had such a book before. Washington DC is famously a city of eager twentysomethings who work and date within the same pool. Where has the workplace relationship comedy been this whole time?
—— Mail on SundayHilarious . . . [Beck] Dorey-Stein writes with honesty and panache.
—— Publishers WeeklyIf you’re like me and you pour yourself a cocktail and look at pictures of Obama and cry, you will adore From the Corner of the Oval. If you’re a normal person who ever wanted to be a fly on the wall in a singularly historic place in time, you will find this book fascinating. Beck Dorey-Stein’s warmth, humor, and keen view made me wistful, happy, hopeful, and only sad when the book ended.
—— Julie Klam, author of The Stars in Our EyesAn insider account of Obama's presidency in this fascinating memoir by former White House staffer Beck Dorey-Stein
—— Good HousekeepingIntriguing and funny
—— PrimaA White House story with shades of Bridget Jones... Dorey-Stein is perceptive and has made an unusually interesting contribution to the groaning shelves of presidential history.
—— Evening StandardFor five years Beck Dorey-Stein was a stenographer in the White House, giving her a front-row seat as US political history was made.
—— Observer[This] breezy page turner is essentially Bridget Jones goes to the White House.
—— New York TimesHilsum is a former colleague, well placed to chart her friend’s life, with an especially brilliant account of her final week, where Colvin’s exposure to peril again went beyond the call of duty
—— Strong WordsSuperb and moving
—— Emma Lee-Potter , Independent, **Books of the Year**[Hilsum’s] tone is admiring but never adulatory, and her book is richly informed by her close knowledge of the events described… [an] excellent book
—— Caroline Moorehead , Times Literary SupplementLindsey Hilsum… in this account… [shows] just how brim full of life and heart Colvin was: from the start to the finish of her brilliant career, and of her sassy, rambunctious life
—— Barney Bardsley , On: Yorkshire[An] excellent biography… I found it inspirational
—— Ann Treneman , The TimesThis is a remarkable book, deeply moving, disturbing in its sometime intensity… such is the power of Lindsey Hilsum’s book
—— Tony Jasper , Methodist RecorderColvin’s tumultuous life has inspired a number of recent accounts… it is Hilsum’s biography, written by a woman who both knew Colvin and had access to her unpublished reporting notes and private diaries, that seems to most closely capture her spirit.
—— The New YorkerHilsum writes with admiration and compassionate understanding of her colleague, and of their collegial friendship that gets close to what we can, without sentiment, call love.
—— The New York Review of BooksA refreshing take on the ecology of modern economics . . . This book serves as a fascinating reminder to business leaders and economists alike to stand back at a distance to examine our modern economics.
—— Best Business Books of 2017 , ForbesI am loving Kate Raworth’s book Doughnut Economics. It puts inequality in a far broader context, connecting a great many 21st century problems with a single vision. Every business leader and every policy maker should read it.
—— Tim O’ReillyWhat if it were possible to live well without trashing the planet? Doughnut Economics succinctly captures this tantalising possibility and takes up its challenge. Brimming with creativity, Raworth reclaims economics from the dust of academia and puts it to the service of a better world.
—— Tim Jackson, author of PROSPERITY WITHOUT GROWTHKate Raworth makes a powerful argument to look beyond economic growth alone for a true measure of prosperity and progress . . . The doughnut offers a vision for an equitable and sustainable future.
—— Intelligent HQThis book gave me faith that there is an alternative story to tell to the neoliberal narrative.
—— Marcus de SautoyFinding a healthy alternative to the prevailing growth model that has strained the planet to bursting is the holy grail of environmental economics. And it looks like maybe we’ve found it . . . It’s hard to understate how exciting this revelation is
—— InhabitatThis is truly the book we've all been waiting for. Kate Raworth provides the antidote to neoliberal economics with her radical and ambitious vision of an economy in service to life. Given the current state of the world, we need Doughnut Economics now more than ever.
—— L. Hunter Lovins, president and founder of Natural Capitalism SolutionsI read this book with the excitement that the people of his day must have read John Maynard Keynes’s General Theory. It is brilliant, thrilling and revolutionary. Drawing on a deep well of learning, wisdom and deep thinking, Kate Raworth has comprehensively reframed and redrawn economics. It is entirely accessible, even for people with no knowledge of the subject. I believe that Doughnut Economics will change the world.
—— George Monbiot, author and Guardian columnistRaworth’s groundbreaking book hand-picks the best emergent ideas – ranging from ecological, behavioural and institutional economics to complexity thinking, and Earth-systems science – to reveal the insights of eclectic economic re-thinkers . . . Revolutionary.
—— Judges' Statement, The Transmission Prize 2018In Doughnut Economics Raworth takes on the enormous task of sketching out a new approach to the economy in 290 pages . . . A dizzying whirl through the 300 years of economic theory, and challenges to their fundamental principles
—— City A.M.One of last year's most important books on (fixing) economics
—— Best Books on Innovation , NestaA good starting point for a much needed debate about economic policy priorities.
—— Reuters BreakingViewsHighly informed and intelligent.
—— Socialist Review[Raworth’s] business-friendly 2017 book Doughnut Economics advocated meeting the needs of all within the means of the planet.
—— 1000 Most Influential Londoners , Evening StandardPowerful and radical
—— Building.co.ukIt's an absolute must-read about the circular economy and an economic model beyond capitalism.
—— Sam Galsworthy, co-founder of Sipsmith , The GrocerExcellent
—— Ben Cooke , The TimesIt’s the first book about the future economy that I can’t put down!
—— Frances Morris , ELLE DecorationA fascinating look at future economic policy
—— U2’s The Edge , Daily TelegraphKate is not the first person to try to reconcile economic growth with our world's finite resources . . . but her book makes a complex thesis accessible.
—— George Alagiah , New StatesmanOne of the best books I have read in the last year or two was Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth, an economist. She puts economics into the framework of society and the environment, rather than at the top. I recommend it to all.
—— Lord GreavesIn Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth's economics serve life - not the endless growth of late capitalism. Compellingly, she invites us to see the economy as an organism rather than a mechanism. By referring to our knowledge of natural systems instead of the machine models of Newtonian mechanics, she offers us a way to reimagine money in order to regenerate rather than degenerate. In this wonderful, readable book, Raworth completely rewrites the textbooks of economic theory in language that is lucid and inspirational: a must read!
—— Antony Gormley , GQRaworth radically redraws the system, putting people's needs at its heart . . . with growth bound by an ecological ceiling, the outer edge of the circle, beyond which there is climate change, freshwater stress and biodiversity loss. The doughnut is the safe space where there can be sustainable development.
—— Conde Nast TravellerAn accessible, relatable account that relays academic thinking back to everyday lives and communities.
—— Best Books on Climate Change , Independent