New books

You can find the complete list of new acquisitions on the New books page. The list includes all English-language books bought by the Library in the last two month (and published in the last five years), the books are grouped according to theme and title.

Here you can read selected book recommendations from the list of the new books.

Mobile research methods: Opportunities and challenges of mobile research methodologies

Mobile research methods: Opportunities and challenges of mobile research methodologies / ed. by Daniele Toninelli, Robert Pinter and Pablo de Padraza
London: Ubiquity Press, 2015. 156 p.

Daily activity sees data constantly flowing through cameras, the internet, satellites, radio frequencies, sensors, private appliances, cars, smartphones, tablets and the like. Among all the tools currently used, mobile devices, especially mobile phones, smartphones and tablets, are the most widespread, with their use becoming prevalent in everyday life within both developed and developing countries. Shopping, reading newspapers, participating in forums, projecting and completing surveys, communicating with friends and making new ones, filing tax returns and getting involved in politics are all examples of how ingrained mobile technology is to modern lifestyleMobile devices allow a wide range of heterogeneous activities and, as a result, have great potential in terms of the different types of data that can be collected. The use of mobile devices to collect, analyse and apply research data is explored here. This book focuses on the use of mobile devices in various research contexts, aiming to provide a detailed and updated knowledge on what is a comparatively new field of study. This is done considering different aspects: main methodological possibilities and issues; comparison and integration with more traditional survey modes or ways of participating in research; quality of collected data; use in commercial market research; representativeness of studies based only on the mobile-population; analysis of the current spread of mobile devices in several countries, and so on. Thus, the book provides interesting research findings from a wide range of countries and contexts. This book was developed in the framework of WebDataNet’s Task Force 19. WebDataNet, was created in 2009 by a group of researchers focusing on the discussion on data collection methods.

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Friend & Foe: When to cooperate, when to compete, and how to succeed at both

Friend and foe: When to cooperate, when to compete, and how to succeed at both / Adam Galinsky and Maurice Schweitzer
New York: Crown Business, 2015. 312 p.

What does it take to succeed? This question has fueled a long-running debate. Some have argued that humans are fundamentally competitive, and that pursuing self-interest is the best way to get ahead. Others claim that humans are born to cooperate and that we are most successful when we collaborate with others.

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The transformation of the world

The economic socialisation of young people

Jürgen Osterhammel: The transformation of the world
Princeton, US: Princeton Univ. Press, 2014. 1167 p.

 

A comprehensive examination of the nineteenth century, The Transformation of the World offers a panoramic portrait of a world in flux. Jürgen Osterhammel, a scholar who has been called the Braudel of the nineteenth century, moves beyond conventional Eurocentric and chronological accounts of the era to present a sophisticated global history of breathtaking magnitude and towering erudition. From New York to New Delhi, from Latin American revolutions to the Taiping Rebellion, Osterhammel examines myriad powerful and diverse forces that facilitated global change and spearheaded advancement. In the context of increased interconnectivity across vast terrain and ocean, he provocatively evaluates the changing relationship between humans and nature, the importance of cities, and movements that propelled the emergence of new nations.

 

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Flash boys: A Wall Street revolt

The economic socialisation of young people

Flash boys: A Wall Street revolt / Michael Lewis

New York: Norton, 2014. 274 p.

 

Flash Boys is about a small group of Wall Street guys who figure out that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders and that, post–financial crisis, the markets have become not more free but less, and more controlled by the big Wall Street banks. Working at different firms, they come to this realization separately; but after they discover one another, the flash boys band together and set out to reform the financial markets. This they do by creating an exchange in which high-frequency trading—source of the most intractable problems—will have no advantage whatsoever.
The characters in Flash Boys are fabulous, each completely different from what you think of when you think “Wall Street guy.” Several have walked away from jobs in the financial sector that paid them millions of dollars a year. From their new vantage point they investigate the big banks, the world’s stock exchanges, and high-frequency trading firms as they have never been investigated, and expose the many strange new ways that Wall Street generates profits.
The light that Lewis shines into the darkest corners of the financial world may not be good for your blood pressure, because if you have any contact with the market, even a retirement account, this story is happening to you. But in the end, Flash Boys is an uplifting read. Here are people who have somehow preserved a moral sense in an environment where you don’t get paid for that; they have perceived an institutionalized injustice and are willing to go to war to fix it.

 

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On the theory of Chinese ideology

The economic socialisation of young peopleOn the theory of Chinese ideology / Tony Kosuge
London: Focalpoint, 2012. 400 p.

Some have rightly argued that the origin of the current global economic crisis came from Japan where its deflationary economy, which started in the early 1990s, grew into a twenty-five year depression fuelled by rising public debt, endless quantitative easing and a shocking drop in the country’s birth rate.

Are we following the path of Japan, or the “Japanese disease”, in Europe or in America? If so, what should be the remedy for this contagion?

On the Theory of Chinese Ideology offers convincing answers to the most fundamental questions facing the global deflationary economy today.

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The confidence trap: A history of democracy in crisis from World War I to the present

The economic socialisation of young peopleThe confidence trap: A history of democracy in crisis from World War I to the present / David Runciman


Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2013. 381 p.

Why do democracies keep lurching from success to failure? The current financial crisis is just the latest example of how things continue to go wrong, just when it looked like they were going right. In this wide-ranging, original, and compelling book, David Runciman tells the story of modern democracy through the history of moments of crisis, from the First World War to the economic crash of 2008.
A global history with a special focus on the United States, The Confidence Trap examines how democracy survived threats ranging from the Great Depression to the Cuban missile crisis, and from Watergate to the collapse of Lehman Brothers. It also looks at the confusion and uncertainty created by unexpected victories, from the defeat of German autocracy in 1918 to the defeat of communism in 1989. Throughout, the book pays close attention to the politicians and thinkers who grappled with these crises: from Woodrow Wilson, Nehru, and Adenauer to Fukuyama and Obama.
The Confidence Trap shows that democracies are good at recovering from emergencies but bad at avoiding them. The lesson democracies tend to learn from their mistakes is that they can survive them--and that no crisis is as bad as it seems. Breeding complacency rather than wisdom, crises lead to the dangerous belief that democracies can muddle through anything--a confidence trap that may lead to a crisis that is just too big to escape, if it hasn't already. The most serious challenges confronting democracy today are debt, the war on terror, the rise of China, and climate change. If democracy is to survive them, it must figure out a way to break the confidence trap.

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The everything store

The economic socialisation of young peopleThe everything store / Brad Stone
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013. 372 p.


Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators--Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg--Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.
THE EVERYTHING STORE will be the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.

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The beast

The economic socialisation of young peopleThe beast / Oscar Martínez
London: Verso, 2013. 267 p.


One day a few years ago, 300 migrants were kidnapped between the remote desert towns of Altar, Mexico, and Sasabe, Arizona. A local priest got 120 released, many with broken ankles and other marks of abuse, but the rest vanished. Óscar Martínez, a young writer from El Salvador, was in Altar soon after the abduction, and his account of the migrant disappearances is only one of the harrowing stories he garnered from two years spent traveling up and down the migrant trail from Central America and across the US border. More than a quarter of a million Central Americans make this increasingly dangerous journey each year, and each year as many as 20,000 of them are kidnapped. Martínez writes in powerful, unforgettable prose about clinging to the tops of freight trains; finding respite, work and hardship in shelters and brothels; and riding shotgun with the border patrol. Illustrated with stunning full-color photographs, The Beast is the first book to shed light on the harsh new reality of the migrant trail in the age of the narcotraficantes.
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Secrets and leaks

The economic socialisation of young peopleSecrets and leaks: The dilemma of state secrecy / Rahul Sagar
Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2013. 281 p.

Secrets and Leaks examines the complex relationships among executive power, national security, and secrecy. State secrecy is vital for national security, but it can also be used to conceal wrongdoing. How then can we ensure that this power is used responsibly? Typically, the onus is put on lawmakers and judges, who are expected to oversee the executive. Yet because these actors lack access to the relevant information and the ability to determine the harm likely to be caused by its disclosure, they often defer to the executive's claims about the need for secrecy. As a result, potential abuses are more often exposed by unauthorized disclosures published in the press.
But should such disclosures, which violate the law, be condoned? Drawing on several cases, Rahul Sagar argues that though whistleblowing can be morally justified, the fear of retaliation usually prompts officials to act anonymously--that is, to "leak" information. As a result, it becomes difficult for the public to discern when an unauthorized disclosure is intended to further partisan interests. Because such disclosures are the only credible means of checking the executive, Sagar writes, they must be tolerated. However, the public should treat such disclosures skeptically and subject irresponsible journalism to concerted criticism.
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The people want - A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising

The economic socialisation of young peopleThe people want - A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising / Gilbert Achar
Berkeley:  Univ. of California Press, 2013. 310 p.


‘The people want …’: the first part of the slogan chanted by millions of Arab protestors since 2011 revealed a long-repressed craving for democracy. But huge social and economic problems were also laid bare by the protesters’ demands. Although Islamist parties did not initiate the protest movement, they have benefitted the most from the power vacuum that followed the ousting of the rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
In this landmark work, Gilbert Achcar sheds light on the social, economic, historical and political background to the on-going Arab Uprising and assesses its future prospects. With incisive and invaluable insight, Achcar investigates why the liberals and the Left failed to capitalise on the initial momentum and assesses whether the Islamist parties will be able to steer their countries out of their present crisis.

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