Summer 2023 recommended reading from MIT
Enjoy these recent titles from Institute faculty and staff.
Mapping cities in motion
MIT’s Senseable City Lab popularized visual tools that show how cities work. A new book reflects on the promise of dynamic urban maps.
Poetechnics: A podcast at the intersection of poetic and technical knowledge
Hosted by MIT Literature Lecturer Michael Lutz, early episodes feature guests Malka Older, Wyn Kelley, and more.
An AI challenge only humans can solve
In their new book, “Power and Progress,” Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson ask whether the benefits of AI will be shared widely or feed inequality.
A symbol with a story
The iconic MIT Press colophon symbolizes the legacy of its creator Muriel Cooper, a graphic design pioneer and longtime member of the MIT community.
Government’s invisible hand in developing countries
Political scientist Noah Nathan’s new book, “The Scarce State,” explores the deep impact government can have even when it is seemingly absent.
The measuring tape heard round the world
Professor Emerita Nancy Hopkins and journalist Kate Zernike discuss the past, present, and future of women at MIT and beyond.
How a new sound hit center stage
Joshua Bennett’s latest book chronicles how the spoken-word poetry movement took hold in America.
3 Questions: Yossi Sheffi on AI and the future of the supply chain
In a new book, the founder of MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics examines how increasingly automated industries can sustain jobs.
Benjamin Mangrum receives the 2023 Levitan Prize in the Humanities
Assistant professor of literature's research focuses on the cultural and intellectual history of environmental rights.
Games with frontiers
MIT scholar Mikael Jakobsson’s new book examines the not-so-subtle worldview contained in many prominent board games.
Minds wide open
Alan Lightman’s new book asks how a sense of transcendence can exist in brains made of atoms, molecules, and neurons.
MIT Press announces inaugural recipients of the Grant Program for Diverse Voices
The grants expand funding for authors whose work brings diverse and chronically underrepresented perspectives to scholarship in the arts, humanities, and sciences.
Q&A: Tod Machover on “Overstory Overture,” his new operatic work
MIT composer’s piece premieres at Lincoln Center on March 7, with superstar Joyce DiDonato in a leading — and surprising — role.