Books and authors

WBUR contributor Jonathan D. Fitzgerald spotlights Prof. Kieran Setiya’s book, “Midlife: A Philosophical Guide.” “Setiya defines and provides a history of the midlife crisis, tracing its origins – perhaps not as far back as we might think – to a 1965 essay by psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques, titled ‘Death and the Mid-Life Crisis,’” explains Fitzgerald. “Setiya indicates that his intended audience goes beyond the stereotypical; rather, the book is for ‘anyone coping with the irreversibility of time.’” 

Wall Street Journal reporter Christoph Irmscher reviews “The Shape of Wonder: How Scientists Think, Work, and Live,” a new book by Prof. Alan Lightman and Britain’s former Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. In their new book, Lightman and Rees assert that: “The pursuit of scientific knowledge is beautiful,” Irmscher notes. “Science is important, they explain, it is fun, and, if you’re a scientist, it might just hand you the keys to the deepest mysteries of the universe.”  

Writing for Fast Company, Rizwan Virk '92 explains the findings of his new book, “The Simulation Hypothesis.” The book explores the mysteries of quantum weirdness, “the strange nature of time and space, information theory & digital physics, spiritual/religious arguments, and even an information-based way to explain glitches in the matrix,” writes Virk.  

WBUR reporter Carol Iaciofano Aucoin spotlights “You Belong Here,” a new book by Megan Miranda ‘02. “Miranda’s taut storytelling underscores how the tiniest turn of fate can transform a youthful misstep into a life-warping calamity or a danger-averted close call — a comment in a bar answered or ignored, a decision to stay at an event or leave early,” writes Aucoin. 

Rizwan Virk '92 speaks with Boston Globe reporter Brian Bergstein about his book “The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics, and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are in a Video Game.” Bergstein writes: “The book came out in 2019, but an updated version is being released this week to account for developments in artificial intelligence and quantum computing.”

In his new book, “The Comedy of Computation: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Obsolescence,” Prof. Benjamin Mangrum explores how comedy can be a useful tool in a world “increasingly shaped by algorithms, automation, and artificial intelligence,” reports Ed Publica. “As we move deeper into an era of smart machines, digital identities, and algorithmic decision-making, Mangrum’s book reminds us that a well-placed joke might still be one of our most human responses,” they write.

A new book edited by Prof. Gary Gensler and Prof. Simon Johnson examines the current administration’s impact on the global economy and how new policies could lead to “a profound weakening of both US economic dynamism and the global system it once led,” reports Sam Sutton for Politico.

Prof. Gary Gensler speaks with Bloomberg Surveillance about his new book examining the potential economic impacts of current policies in Washington. “I don’t think the tariffs are going to help,” says Gensler. “I think they’re going to hurt and interestingly they’re going to particularly hurt also in rural communities because rural communities have to sell their farm goods and they’re agricultural products overseas.” 

Wall Street Journal reporter Angelina Torre spotlights “Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter,” a new book by MIT Libraries Conservator Jana Dambrogio and King’s College London Senior Lecturer Daniel Smith that explores the history and art of “folding a letter so it serves as its own envelope.” The book “calls on scholars to ‘read the folds’ of written correspondence – to peer into the historical, social or personal circumstances that might not be explicitly stated,” explains Torre. 

In a letter to the editor of The Boston Globe, Lecturer Chloe Garcia Roberts spotlights the important role of books and literature in general in the greater Boston area’s culture and community.  “If you throw a pebble in a crowd here, you are likely to hit a practicing, lauded, or aspiring writer,” writes Roberts. “A number of the area’s treasured bookstores survived, albeit shakily, the onslaught of the chains and Amazon. It is part of our culture here that many of us go out of our way, trudging through the wintry mix if necessary, to attend author events and buy books at these independent stores. When they go, they won’t be replaced.” 

MIT Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein discusses key insights from his new book, “Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation,” with Fast Company. “One of the biggest blessings skeptical Humanism can offer a world of tech-certainty, in which AI chatbots freely and frequently hallucinate garbage answers and advice (like Google Gemini’s suggestion to use glue to keep cheese from sliding off pizza), is that it’s honorable to admit not knowing an answer,” explains Epstein. 

Prof. Alan Lightman speaks with Boston Globe correspondent Kate Tuttle about his new book, “The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature,” in which Lightman “celebrates the phenomena that inspire awe.” Lightman explains: “I think the humanities are even more important now in a period of exponentially advancing technology. We really have to think hard about what makes us human. Like having compassion for other people. The ability to fall in love, the ability to appreciate beauty.”

Prof. Jon Gruber speaks with former Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety and Security Andrea Cabral and GBH Boston Public Radio host Margery Eagan about the future of health care in the United States. 

 MIT Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein speaks with Boston Globe reporter Christine Mehta about his new book "Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation.” “Epstein is not the first to argue that a secular phenomenon has become a religion (the list grows longer every year), but to him, obsessions like the American workplace, sports, or CrossFit are at best middling cults,” writes Mehta. “Technology, on the other hand, is the religion of today’s world, Epstein says, displacing the influence of everything else on our lives.”

Jeff Karp, an affiliate faculty member with the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, speaks with NBC Boston 10 reporter Renée Onque about the “pendulum lifestyle” – a new outlook on work-life balance detailed in Karp’s book “LIT: Life Ignition Tools.” "We hear these things from others, [like] trust in the process [and] balance is so important, we need more balance, it's the ultimate goal," says Karp. "It ends up being very frustrating and can lead to anxiety, because we're constantly feeling like we're not in balance. There's a state we should be in [and] we're never in that state."