The tech elite have a plan to survive the apocalypse: they want to leave us all behind. Five mysterious billionaires summoned Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The topic? How to survive The Event: the societal catastrophe they know is coming. Rushkoff came to understand that these men were under the influence of The Mindset, a Silicon Valley–style certainty that they can break the laws of physics, economics, and morality to escape a disaster of their own making—as long as they have enough money and the right technology. In Survival of the Richest, Rushkoff traces the origins of The Mindset in science and technology through its current expression in missions to Mars, island bunkers, and the Metaverse. This mind-blowing work of social analysis shows us how to transcend the landscape The Mindset created—a world alive with algorithms and intelligences actively rewarding our most selfish tendencies—and rediscover community, mutual aid, and human interdependency. Instead of changing the people, he argues, we can change the program.
A compelling examination of football club ownership in the era of the super-rich Once upon a time football was run by modest local businessmen. Today it is the plaything of billionaire oligarchs, staggeringly wealthy from oil and gas, from royalty, or from murkier sources. But who are these new masters of the universe? Where did all their money come from? And what do they want with our beautiful game? While almost cloaked in secrecy, the billionaire owner has to raise his head above the bunker when it comes to football ownership – a rare Achilles heel that allows access to worlds normally off limits journalists and outsiders. In the Billionaires Club James Montague delves deeper than anyone ever dared, to tell this story for the first time. He criss-crosses the world – from Dhaka to Doha, from China to Crewe, from St Louis to London, from Bangkok to Belgium – to profile this new elite, their network of money and their influence that defies geographic boundaries. The Billionaires Club is part history of club ownership, part in-depth investigation into the money and influence that connects the super-rich around the globe, and part travel book as he follows the ever-shifting trail around the globe in an attempt to reveal the real force behind modern-day football. At its heart The Billionaires Club is a football book, about some of the biggest clubs in the world. But it is also about something bigger: the world around us, the global economy, where the world is headed and how football has become an essential cog in this machine. The book discusses the dawn European Super League, and the repercussions for the future of the game.
Porchlight’s Management and Workplace Culture Book of The Year “[A] thoroughly fascinating exploration of the long interplay between power and the technologies of communication.” —Adam Frank, NPR Team Human is a manifesto—a fiery distillation of preeminent digital theorist Douglas Rushkoff’s most urgent thoughts on civilization and human nature. In one hundred lean and incisive statements, he argues that we are essentially social creatures, and that we achieve our greatest aspirations when we work together—not as individuals. Yet today society is threatened by a vast antihuman infrastructure that undermines our ability to connect. Money, once a means of exchange, is now a means of exploitation; education, conceived as way to elevate the working class, has become another assembly line; and the internet has only further divided us into increasingly atomized and radicalized groups. Team Human delivers a call to arms. If we are to resist and survive these destructive forces, we must recognize that being human is a team sport. In Rushkoff’s own words: “Being social may be the whole point.” Harnessing wide-ranging research on human evolution, biology, and psychology, Rushkoff shows that when we work together we realize greater happiness, productivity, and peace. If we can find the others who understand this fundamental truth and reassert our humanity—together—we can make the world a better place to be human.
A deeply researched warning about how the digital economy threatens artists' lives and work—the music, writing, and visual art that sustain our souls and societies—from an award-winning essayist and critic There are two stories you hear about earning a living as an artist in the digital age. One comes from Silicon Valley. There's never been a better time to be an artist, it goes. If you've got a laptop, you've got a recording studio. If you've got an iPhone, you've got a movie camera. And if production is cheap, distribution is free: it's called the Internet. Everyone's an artist; just tap your creativity and put your stuff out there. The other comes from artists themselves. Sure, it goes, you can put your stuff out there, but who's going to pay you for it? Everyone is not an artist. Making art takes years of dedication, and that requires a means of support. If things don't change, a lot of art will cease to be sustainable. So which account is true? Since people are still making a living as artists today, how are they managing to do it? William Deresiewicz, a leading critic of the arts and of contemporary culture, set out to answer those questions. Based on interviews with artists of all kinds, The Death of the Artist argues that we are in the midst of an epochal transformation. If artists were artisans in the Renaissance, bohemians in the nineteenth century, and professionals in the twentieth, a new paradigm is emerging in the digital age, one that is changing our fundamental ideas about the nature of art and the role of the artist in society.
OVER 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD OF THE #1 BESTSELLING SERIES! Don't miss this New York Times bestselling "impossible to put down" (Buzzfeed) novel with deadly stakes, thrilling twists, and juicy secrets—perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying and Knives Out. Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why—or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch—and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive. **The games continue in The Hawthorne Legacy, The Final Gambit, and The Brothers Hawthorne!
An Economist Best Book of the Year "Making Money and Keeping It" – The Wall Street Journal Over the past century, if the wealthiest families had spent a reasonable fraction of their wealth, paid taxes, invested in the stock market, and passed their wealth down to the next generation, there would be tens of thousands of billionaire heirs to generations-old fortunes today. The puzzle of The Missing Billionaires is why you cannot find one such billionaire on any current rich list. There are a number of explanations, but this book is focused on one mistake which is of profound importance to all investors: poor risk decisions, both in investing and spending. Many of these families didn’t choose bad investments– they sized them incorrectly– and allowed their spending decisions to amplify this mistake. The Missing Billionaires book offers a simple yet powerful framework for making important lifetime financial decisions in a systematic and rational way. It's for readers with a baseline level of financial literacy, but doesn’t require a PhD. It fills the gap between personal finance books and the academic literature, bringing the valuable insights of academic finance to non-specialists. Part One builds the theory of optimal investment sizing from first principles, starting with betting on biased coins. Part Two covers lifetime financial decision-making, with emphasis on the integration of investment, saving and spending decisions. Part Three covers practical implementation details, including how to calibrate your personal level of risk-aversion, and how to estimate the expected return and risk on a broad spectrum of investments. The book is packed with case studies and anecdotes, including one about Victor’s investment with LTCM as a partner, and a bonus chapter on Liar’s Poker. The authors draw extensively on their own experiences as principals of Elm Wealth, a multi-billion-dollar wealth management practice, and prior to that on their years as arbitrage traders– Victor at Salomon Brothers and LTCM, and James at Nationsbank/CRT and Citadel. Whether you are young and building wealth, an entrepreneur invested heavily in your own business, or at a stage where your primary focus is investing and spending, The Missing Billionaires: A Guide to Better Financial Decisions is your must-have resource for thoughtful financial decision-making.
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY AARON SORKIN, AND STARRING JESSICA CHASTAIN, IDRIS ELBA, KEVIN COSTNER AND MICHAEL CERA The true story of the 26-year-old woman behind the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker game in the world When Molly Bloom was a little girl in a small Colorado town, she dreamed of a life without rules and limits, a life where she didn't have to measure up to anyone or anything - where she could become whatever she wanted. She ultimately got more than she ever could have bargained for. In Molly's Game, she takes you through her adventures running an exclusive private poker game catering to Hollywood royalty like Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck, athletes, billionaires, politicians and financial titans. With rich detail, Molly describes a world of glamour, privilege and secrecy in which she made millions, lived the high life and fearlessly took on the Russian and Italian mobs - until she met theone adversary she could not outsmart: the UnitedStates government.
"Survival of the Richest is a fantastically well-researched book, and should join Robert Reich and Barbara Ehrenreich on the must-read bookshelf on wealth disparity."—Dr. Naomi Wolf, CEO, Dailyclout.io A fresh look at economic inequality in America Survival of the Richest scrutinizes how the collective wealth of America has been channeled from the poor and middle class into the hands of a few elitists. American industry has been gutted, with wages and benefits stagnant or reduced, thanks to a disastrous trade deals, outsourcing, and the crippling of unions. The Occupy Wall Street movement, and the presidential campaigns of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, reveals how more and more people who are struggling understand that the system is rigged against them. While Americans have been trained to direct their scorn at welfare recipients and the poor in general, a tiny handful of plutocratic elites have profited on an unfathomable scale through corporate welfare and other perks. Unimaginable salaries and bonuses for the One Percent, contrasted by layoffs and reduced pay for the majority of the workforce, along with increasing calls for austerity measures and lowered standards of living, has become the “new normal” in America. Donald Jeffries argues that this record economic inequality is more than an unintended consequence of globalism. In Survival of the Richest, he shows how the consolidation of wealth may well prove to be the greatest conspiracy of all.
"DON’T GET MAD ABOUT OBAMAGEDDON...GET EVEN!" Build your wealth.Protect your faith and family.Secure your freedom. Don’t just survive Obama...learn how to outsmart his big-government, socialist system and thrive! Bad times are coming -- how will you protect your family, save enough for retirement, and turn your home into a fortress? In The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide, Wayne Allyn Root provides the answer. First, he explains step by step what Obama has planned. Then, Root presents Y-PODS: Your Personal Obama Defense Shields - a detailed 18 point plan to protect your assets, capitalize, and PROSPER as the rest of the country treads water – or drowns! And that’s just the beginning. Wayne Allyn Root is a passionate Capitalist Evangelist, serial entrepreneur, and small businessman extraordinaire. He knows what it takes to weather any economic storm. You’re going to need Root’s expertise as you and your family tackle the biggest challenge facing Americans today: Barack Obama’s second term in the White House. Root takes you on a tour of the practical, real-life ways you can fight back and WIN, not just at the ballot box, but in your bank account, retirement account, safety deposit box, on your tax forms, at your church, in your home, your schools, and at your doctor’s office. The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide also features exclusive advice from 18 superstars of business and finance - millionaires, billionaires, and managers of billion dollar hedge funds, who provide their specific plans for investing in precious metals, real estate, stocks, bonds, ETFs and more. What one investment decision made in 1913 turned $1,000,000 into $87,000,000? What investment decision outperformed Warren Buffet by 300% since 2000? What investment have central bankers around the world bought more of in the past year, than in all the years since 1964 COMBINED? Root provides the answers – along with detailed advice on the smart investments now, the best places to move to escape Obama’s poisonous taxes, the best way to educate your children, survival advice on how to turn your home into a fortress, how to survive if the economy collapses and unrest threatens your family. If you are worried about what Obama has in store (and you should be) then arm yourself with Root’s step-by-step instructions to protect yourself and your family RIGHT NOW from the Obama invasion of every aspect of your life.
People spent the twentieth century obsessed with the future. We created technologies that would help connect us faster, gather news, map the planet, and compile knowledge. We strove for an instantaneous network where time and space could be compressed. Well, the future's arrived. We live in a continuous now enabled by Twitter, email, and a so-called real-time technological shift. Yet this "now" is an elusive goal that we can never quite reach. And the dissonance between our digital selves and our analog bodies has thrown us into a new state of anxiety: present shock.
