Ranked #1

Nick Montfort, “The Future” (MIT, 2017)
Nick Montfort, “The Future” (MIT, 2017)
Popular culture provides many visions of the future. From The Jetsons to Futurama, Black Mirror to Minority Report, West... Read more
29 Jan 2018
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32mins
Ranked #2

Shannon Vallor, "Technology and the Virtues" (Oxford UP, 2016)
Shannon Vallor, "Technology and the Virtues" (Oxford UP, 2016)
The 21st century offers a dizzying array of new technological developments: robots smart enough to take white collar job... Read more
6 Feb 2020
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1hr 14mins
Ranked #3

Chris Bernhardt, "Quantum Computing for Everyone" (MIT Press, 2019)
Chris Bernhardt, "Quantum Computing for Everyone" (MIT Press, 2019)
Today I talked with Chris Bernhardt about his book Quantum Computing for Everyone (MIT Press, 2019). This is a book that... Read more
2 May 2019
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56mins
Ranked #4

Evan Friss, "On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City" (Columbia UP, 2019)
Evan Friss, "On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City" (Columbia UP, 2019)
Evan Friss, an associate professor of history at James Madison University, historicizes the bicycle’s place in New York ... Read more
26 Dec 2019
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49mins
Ranked #5

Jacob N. Shapiro, “Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution in Modern Conflict” (Princeton UP, 2018)
Jacob N. Shapiro, “Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution in Modern Conflict” (Princeton UP, 2018)
Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution in Modern Conflict (Princeton University Press, 2018), Eli Berman, Jose... Read more
7 Jun 2018
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55mins
Ranked #6

Larry Cuban, “The Flight of a Butterfly or the Path of a Bullet? Using Technology to Transform Teaching and Learning” (Harvard Education Press, 2018)
Larry Cuban, “The Flight of a Butterfly or the Path of a Bullet? Using Technology to Transform Teaching and Learning” (Harvard Education Press, 2018)
In The Flight of a Butterfly or the Path of a Bullet? Using Technology to Transform Teaching and Learning (Harvard Educa... Read more
6 Jun 2018
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34mins
Ranked #7

Eric Topol, "Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again" (Basic Books, 2019)
Eric Topol, "Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again" (Basic Books, 2019)
Medicine has lost its humanity. Doctors no longer have the time to make personal connections with their patients. In his... Read more
7 May 2019
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41mins
Ranked #8

David Beer, “The Data Gaze: Capitalism, Power and Perception“ (Sage, 2019)
David Beer, “The Data Gaze: Capitalism, Power and Perception“ (Sage, 2019)
What is the social role of data? In The Data Gaze: Capitalism, Power and Perception (Sage, 2019), David Beer, a professo... Read more
2 Jul 2019
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36mins
Ranked #9

Elisabeth Köll, "Railroads and the Transformation of China" (Harvard UP, 2019)
Elisabeth Köll, "Railroads and the Transformation of China" (Harvard UP, 2019)
Railroads and the Transformation of China (Harvard University Press, 2019) looks at the development of railroads in Chin... Read more
28 Oct 2019
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1hr 8mins
Ranked #10

Ines Mergel, “Social Media in the Public Sector: A Guide to Participation, Collaboration and Transparency in the Networked World” (Jossey-Bass 2012)
Ines Mergel, “Social Media in the Public Sector: A Guide to Participation, Collaboration and Transparency in the Networked World” (Jossey-Bass 2012)
Ines Mergel, assistant professor of public administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and th... Read more
16 Dec 2012
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29mins
Ranked #11

David J. Gunkel, "Robot Rights" (MIT Press, 2018)
David J. Gunkel, "Robot Rights" (MIT Press, 2018)
We are in the midst of a robot invasion, as devices of different configurations and capabilities slowly but surely come ... Read more
27 Feb 2020
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1hr 30mins
Ranked #12

Christopher J. Lee, “Jet Lag” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017)
Christopher J. Lee, “Jet Lag” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017)
My father has this personality quirk that drives me crazy. Whenever and wherever he travels, no matter how far, he refus... Read more
27 Feb 2018
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50mins
Ranked #13

Alex Wade, “Playback: A Genealogy of 1980s British Videogames” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018)
Alex Wade, “Playback: A Genealogy of 1980s British Videogames” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018)
In his book Playback: A Genealogy of 1980s British Videogames (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018), Alex Wade examines the cultur... Read more
23 Mar 2018
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50mins
Ranked #14

Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein, "Data Feminism" (MIT Press, 2020)
Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein, "Data Feminism" (MIT Press, 2020)
The increased datafication our interactions and permeation of data science into more aspects of our lives requires analy... Read more
3 Mar 2020
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37mins
Ranked #15

Michael Shermer, “Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia” (Henry Holt, 2018)
Michael Shermer, “Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia” (Henry Holt, 2018)
For millennia, religions have concocted numerous manifestations of heaven and the afterlife, and though no one has ever ... Read more
20 Feb 2018
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55mins
Ranked #16

Yutao Sun and Seamus Grimes, “China and Global Value Chains” (Routledge, 2018)
Yutao Sun and Seamus Grimes, “China and Global Value Chains” (Routledge, 2018)
Today I was joined by Seamus Grimes from Ireland where he is Emeritus Professor at the National University of Ireland, G... Read more
30 Apr 2018
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44mins
Ranked #17

Angela Jones, "Camming: Money, Power, and Pleasure in the Sex Work Industry" (NYU Press, 2020)
Angela Jones, "Camming: Money, Power, and Pleasure in the Sex Work Industry" (NYU Press, 2020)
In her new book, Camming: Money, Power, and Pleasure in the Sex Work Industry (NYU Press, 2020), Dr. Angela Jones engage... Read more
14 Feb 2020
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52mins
Ranked #18

Barry Kernfeld, “Pop Song Piracy: Disobedient Music Distribution Since 1929” (University of Chicago Press, 2011)
Barry Kernfeld, “Pop Song Piracy: Disobedient Music Distribution Since 1929” (University of Chicago Press, 2011)
Have you ever illegally downloaded a song from the internet? How about illicitly burned copies of a CD? Made a “party ta... Read more
17 May 2012
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1hr 9mins
Ranked #19

Thomas Mullaney, “The Chinese Typewriter: A History” (MIT Press, 2017)
Thomas Mullaney, “The Chinese Typewriter: A History” (MIT Press, 2017)
Tom Mullaney’s new book The Chinese Typewriter: A History (MIT Press, 2017) provides a fascinating first look at the dev... Read more
9 Jan 2018
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2hr 16mins
Ranked #20

Stephen Monteiro, “The Fabric of Interface: Mobile Media, Design, and Gender” (MIT Press, 2017)
Stephen Monteiro, “The Fabric of Interface: Mobile Media, Design, and Gender” (MIT Press, 2017)
Sewing, knitting, quilting, the crafts related to fabric making, are usually not what we think about when we consider ou... Read more
6 Apr 2018
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27mins