Writing for Inside Higher Ed, Joshua Kim spotlights Prof Justin Reich’s new book, “Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education.” Kim writes, “‘Failure to Disrupt’ is an argument for educational tinkering over radical disruption. Reich sees potential in scaled online learning to benefit some learners in some circumstances.”
Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with Greg Rosalsky of NPR’s Planet Money about his book, “Why Nations Fail,” whether the attack on the U.S. Capitol signals difficulties for U.S. institutions, and how politicians can create more shared prosperity through a “good jobs” agenda. "We are still at a point where we can reverse things," Acemoglu says. "But I think if we paper over these issues, we will most likely see a huge deterioration in institutions. And it can happen very rapidly."
Forbes contributor Sharon Goldman spotlights Prof. Yossi Sheffi’s new book, “The New (Ab)Normal,” which examines how companies shifted their operations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Goldman writes that in the book, Sheffi “details how businesses grappled with the chaos of the pandemic, and explores what enterprises are likely to do to survive and thrive in 2021 and beyond, after the pandemic starts to subside.”
Vice President for Open Leaning Sanjay Sarma speaks with Jeffrey Young of EdSurge about how the brain works when understanding new concepts. "I question a lot of the structures and dogmas in education that are very closely held, but not necessarily based on science,” says Sarma. “And if we have the courage to reexamine these assumptions and reconstitute education, there's an incredible opportunity to change the game.”
New York Times reporter David Leonhardt spotlights Prof. Jonathan Gruber and Prof. Simon Johnson’s book, “Jump-Starting America,” which explores how collaboration between the federal government and private companies has led to some of the biggest scientific breakthroughs.
Prof. Sinan Aral’s new book, “The Hype Machine,” has been selected as one of the best books of the year about AI by Wired. Gilad Edelman notes that Aral’s book is “an engagingly written shortcut to expertise on what the likes of Facebook and Twitter are doing to our brains and our society.”
Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with Danny Crichton of TechCrunch about his new book, “The Hype Machine,” which explores the future of social media. Aral notes that he believes a starting point “for solving the social media crisis is creating competition in the social media economy.”
Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with New York Times editorial board member Greg Bensinger about how social media platforms can reduce the spread of misinformation. “Human-in-the-loop moderation is the right solution,” says Aral. “It’s not a simple silver bullet, but it would give accountability where these companies have in the past blamed software.”
Forbes contributor Derek Newton writes about Prof. Justin Reich’s new book, “Failure to Disrupt,” noting that the book is a “must-read for the education-invested as well as the education-interested.”
Prof. Yossi Sheffi speaks with Boston 25 reporter Jason Law about how the Covid-19 pandemic is disrupting supply chains. “I don’t think it’s going to be as bad because we are more prepared for this,” says Sheffi of potential impacts caused by the latest rise in Covid-19 cases. “People now in factories and warehouses have dividers that they can work between. Everybody is wearing a mask. People understand the issue better.”
Fast Company reports on Overload: How Good Jobs Went Bad and What We Can Do About It, a book co-authored by Prof. Erin Kelly, which shows that “employees with more control over their work schedules were happier, healthier, and had a better work-life harmony.”
Financial Times reporter John Plender spotlights Prof. Thomas Levenson’s new book, “Money for Nothing.” Plender writes that, “Levenson provides a vivid account of the development of share trading in the coffee shops of Exchange Alley in the City, with fascinating asides such as Newton’s extraordinarily modern management techniques when running the Royal Mint.”
BuzzFeed reporter Arianna Rebolini spotlights Prof. Sherry Turkle’s book, “”Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.” Rebolini writes that in her book, Turkle “argues that the increasing integration of the internet into our daily lives has led to a growing sense of isolation — that the connections we make on social media don’t function as authentic communication.”
Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with Kara Miller of GBH’s Innovation Hub about his research examining the impact of social media on everything from business re-openings during the Covid-19 pandemic to politics.
Writing for Wired, principal research scientist Andrew McAfee argues that human populations and economies have continued to grow, while also identifying ways to reduce their carbon footprints. “To ensure that these greenhouse gas declines continue to spread and accelerate, we should apply the lessons we've learned from previous pollution reduction success. In particular, we should make it expensive to emit carbon,” writes McAfee.