The Defiant Optimist
Durreen Shahnaz
Penguin Random House
Pp 256, Rs 499
When she launched the world’s first stock exchange for social enterprises, Durreen Shahnaz started more than a new financial system; she sparked a movement. Defiant optimism—the stubborn belief that systems that enrich the few can be transformed for the good of the many—requires an indomitable spirit. In these pages, Shahnaz illuminates what investing in those excluded from networks of power and opportunity requires.
On The Scent
Paola Totaro & Robert Wainwright
Simon & Schuster
Pp 320, Rs 999
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When award-winning reporter Paola Totaro lost her sense of smell to Covid in March 2020, her world changed in an instant. Trapped in a sensory vacuum, she embarked on a journey of discovery to unravel the mysteries—and eccentricities—of the fifth sense. On the Scent is the story of a quest for answers, from the theories of ancient philosophers to the cutting-edge laboratories of 21st-century neuroscience.
Power And Progress
Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson
Hachette
Pp 560, Rs 899
The authors debunk modern techno-optimism through an account of how technological choices have changed the course of history. From stories of how the economic surplus of the Middle Ages was appropriated by an ecclesiastical elite to build cathedrals while the peasants starved, to the making of vast fortunes from digital technologies today, we see how the path of technology is determined and who influences its trajectory.
Uncertain
Arie Kruglanski
Penguin Random House
Pp 368, Rs 799
Uncertainty is one of the defining issues of our time. The stability we once had is disappearing. Vast changes in society are shifting our realities: extraordinary numbers of immigrants and refugees are upsetting the demographic, and the cultural and religious foundations of nations. Changing attitudes and approaches to employment, with an increase in freelance and temporary work undermines people’s ability to plan for the future.
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Travellers in the Third Reich
Julia Boyd
Simon & Schuster
Pp 496, Rs 999
The events that took place in Germany between 1919 and 1945 were dramatic and terrible but there were also moments of confusion, of doubt —of hope. How easy was it to know what was actually going on, to grasp the essence of National Socialism, to remain untouched by the propaganda or predict the Holocaust? Travellers in the Third Reich is an extraordinary history of the rise of the Nazis based on fascinating first-hand accounts.
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