Consumer AI arrived with a bang in November 2022 when OpenAI released ChatGPT. Within four months it hit 1 billion users, and media pundits were forecasting the end of jobs and a knowledge revolution. But its actual impact has been far different from what pundits predicted. Ethan Mollick has been a leading voice cutting through both the AI evangelists and the AI doommongers, by charting and explaining how Consumer AI is developing, what it can do well and also - importantly - what it can't. Considering AI as a coworker, a teacher, an expert, and even as a companion, Mollick grapples with the philosophical, social, and economic implications of integrating artificial intelligence into society and culture and offers reassurance about the role and responsibility of humans in directing and protecting against AI. This is the indispensable -- and understandable -- guide to working with ubiquitous and near-omniscient AI. Always insightful and clearsighted, Mollick opens our eyes to both the dangers and opportunities of the AI revolution. To put it in ChatGPT's own words, this book is about "how to open your mind to these different kinds of intelligence. How to ask them smart questions that will reveal their wisdom and avoid their lies. How to learn from them without losing your identity or autonomy. How to benefit from them without being exploited or threatened by them."

While it has been pointed to time and again by governments and pundits promoting laissez-faire economics, the Wealth of Nations actually shows that Adam Smith viewed capitalism with a deep suspicion, and tempered his celebration of a self-regulating market with a darker vision of the dehumanizing potential of a profit-oriented society. Smith did not write an economics textbook, but rather a panoramic narrative about the struggle for individual liberty and general prosperity in history. This edition includes generous selections from all five books of the Wealth of Nations. It also provides full notes and a commentary that places Smith's work within a rich interdisciplinary context.

In January of 1973 Richard Nixon announced the end of the Vietnam War and prepared for a triumphant second term-until televised Watergate hearings revealed his White House as little better than a mafia den. The next president declared upon Nixon's resignation "our long national nightmare is over"-but then congressional investigators exposed the CIA for assassinating foreign leaders. The collapse of the South Vietnamese government rendered moot the sacrifice of some 58,000 American lives. The economy was in tatters. And as Americans began thinking about their nation in a new way-as one more nation among nations, no more providential than any other-the pundits declared that from now on successful politicians would be the ones who honoured this chastened new national mood. Ronald Reagan never got the message. Which was why, when he announced his intention to challenge President Ford for the 1976 Republican nomination, those same pundits dismissed him-until, amazingly, it started to look like he just might win.He was inventing the new conservative political culture we know now, in which a vision of patriotism rooted in a sense of American limits was derailed in America's Bicentennial year by the rise of the smiling politician from Hollywood. Against a backdrop of melodramas from the Arab oil embargo to Patty Hearst to the near-bankruptcy of America's greatest city, The Invisible Bridge asks the question: what does it mean tobelieve in America? To wave a flag-or to reject the glibness of the flag wavers?

The method presented herein is the ultrasonic non-destructive testing method. This research work investigated the relationship between ultrasonic measurements and the composition, behaviour and properties of cementitious materials. The instrument used was the Portable Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Digital Indicating Tester (PUNDIT). The longitudinal pulse velocity is the parameter that was measured. The cementitious materials tested were ordinary portland cement and various cement blends. The mineral admixtures used in the blends were fly ash, limestone, ground granulated blast furnace slag and metakaolin. The results of the investigation show that the ultrasonic pulse velocity measured in each case is related to the composition, properties and behaviour of the cement pastes. The results also indicated that there is some level of correlation between the pulse velocity and the compressive strengths of the specimens tested. The findings of this work have considerable importance with respect to in situ testing of concrete structures and mortars.

A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SUNDAY TIMES, THE SPECTATOR, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, INDEPENDENT, SCOTSMAN AND THE NEW YORKER 'Extraordinary.' MARINA HYDE 'Pitch-perfect.' OBSERVER 'An utter joy to read.' MONICA ALI 'Majestic.' INDEPENDENT 'A masterpiece.' JOHN LANCHESTER 'Addictively enjoyable.' GUARDIAN 'Sensational.'IRISH INDEPENDENT A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION He always knew: when his life came tumbling down, it would occur in public. Campbell Flynn is fuelled by an appetite for wealth and admiration, controversy and novelty. An art historian and celebrity pundit, he has enjoyed a charmed career rubbing shoulders with oligarchs and aristocrats, fashion designers and fine artists, at ease with the highbrow and the mainstream. Only now, the world is changing. Over the course of an incendiary year a web of secrets and crimes will be revealed, and Campbell Flynn may not be able to protect himself from the shattering exposure of all his privilege really involves. Andrew O'Hagan's novel Caledonian Road was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 31/03/2024

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Wrighty's characteristic honesty means his book is far more engrossing than most bland football memoirs' Sunday Times Ian Wright, Arsenal legend, England striker and TV pundit extraordinaire, is one of the most interesting and relevant figures in modern football. His journey from a South London council estate to national treasure is everybody's dream. From Sunday morning football directly to Crystal Palace; from 'boring, boring Arsenal' to inside the Wenger Revolution; from Saturday afternoons on the pitch to Saturday evenings on primetime television; from a week in prison to inspiring youth offenders, Ian will reveal all about his extraordinary life and career. Ian will also frankly discuss how retirement affects footballers, why George Graham deserves a statue, social media, why music matters, breaking Arsenal's goal-scoring record, racism, the unadulterated joy of playing alongside Dennis Bergkamp and, of course, what he thinks of Tottenham. Not a standard footballer's autobiography, Ian Wright's memoir is a thoughtful and gripping insight into a Highbury Hero and one of the greatest sports stars of recent years.

Here is a bracing deconstruction of the framework for understanding the world that is learned as gospel in Economics 101, regardless of its imaginary assumptions and misleading half-truths. Economism: an ideology that distorts the valid principles and tools of introductory college economics, propagated by self-styled experts, zealous lobbyists, clueless politicians, and ignorant pundits. In order to illuminate the fallacies of economism, James Kwak first offers a primer on supply and demand, market equilibrium, and social welfare: the underpinnings of most popular economic arguments. Then he provides a historical account of how economism became a prevalent mode of thought in the United States-focusing on the people who packaged Econ 101 into sound bites that were then repeated until they took on the aura of truth. He shows us how issues of moment in contemporary American society-labor markets, taxes, finance, health care, and international trade, among others-are shaped by economism, demonstrating in each case with clarity and élan how, because of its failure to reflect the complexities of our world, economism has had a deleterious influence on policies that affect hundreds of millions of Americans.

In this monumental book, Chris Harman achieves the impossible—a gripping history of the planet from the perspective of the struggling people throughout the ages. From earliest human society to the Holy Roman Empire, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, from the Industrial Revolution to the end of the millennium, Chris Harman provides a brilliant and comprehensive history of the planet. Eschewing the standard histories of ‘Great Men;’ of dates and kings, Harman offers a groundbreaking counter-history, a breathtaking sweep across the centuries in the tradition of ‘history from below.’ In a fiery narrative, he shows how ordinary men and women were involved in creating and changing society and how conflict between classes was often at the core of these changes. While many pundits see the victory of capitalism as now safely secured, Harman explains the rise and fall of societies and civilizations throughout the ages and demonstrates that history never ends. This magisterial study is essential reading for anyone interested in how society has changed and developed and the possibilities for further radical change.

BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF BLACK NARCISSUS AND THE RIVER 'A haunting tale . . . the whole book burns with the beauty and poetry' EVENING STANDARD 'Powerful adult themes underlie the novel's glimmering surface' ROSIE THOMAS, GUARDIAN 'One of our best and most captivating novelists' PHILIP HENSHER Sophie Barrington Ward, without a husband, with two children and very little income, is faced with making a new life. She arrives in the Eden of Himalayan Kashmir to set up home in a tumbledown cottage surrounded by flowers and herbs. Settling down to live quietly, frugally and peacefully with her new neighbours, she is unaware of the turmoil her arrival provokes as the villagers compete fiercely for her patronage. Sophie is determined to live with the Indians and like it. Pundit Pramatha Kaul, her wise landlord, shakes his head. Profit David, her merchant friend, warns her. But when Sophie's cook makes a drastic bid to secure his position, the unwanted consequences are catastrophic . . . Mesmerising and thoughtful, this Godden's lesser-known classic evokes India's uniquely beautiful landscape amidst a timeless tale of misunderstanding.

In 2008, as the price of oil surged above $140 a barrel, experts said it would soon hit $200; a few months later it plunged to $30. In 1908, it was pronounced that there would be no more wars in Europe; we all know how that turned out. Face it, experts are about as accurate as dart-throwing monkeys. And yet every day we ask them to predict the future - everythng from the weather to the likelihood of a terrorist attack. Future Babble is the first book to examine this phenomenon, showing why our brains yearn for certainty about the future, why we are attracted to those who predict it confidently, and why it's so easy for us to ignore the trail of outrageously wrong forecasts. In this fast-paced, example-packed, sometimes darkly hilarious book, Dan Gardner shows how seminal research by professor Philip Tetlock proved that the more famous a pundit is, the more likely they are to be right about as often as a stopped watch. Gardner also draws on current research in cognitive psychology, political science, and behavioral economics to discover something quite reassuring: The future is always uncertain, but the end is not always near.

This is the definitive chronicle of Ministry's 1988 industrial rock release, The Land of Rape and Honey, that details the zeitgeist where post-punk, metal, funk and straight-up noise converge. Ministry mainstay Al Jourgensen got a taste of bitter record-biz backwash early on with his first major label bow for Arista (1983's With Sympathy), and then vowed never to drink from that cup again. His pursuit of artistic freedom culminated in Ministry's 1988 release, the record that left an entry wound on the world's assorted underground scenes while helping to foment the industrial rock revolution that inspired a countless number of bands across all sonic frontiers. Featuring interviews with Al Jourgensen, Paul Barker, Chris Connelly, Jello Biafra, Adrian Sherwood, deadmau5, Fear Factory, and many more famous fans and pundits, this deeply sourced book traces back the climate surrounding Ministry's first two full length releases before examining the vision, methods, and controversies that helped ascend The Land of Rape and Honey to its rightful legend status. The Land of Rape and Honey may be the one common album members of Nine Inch Nails, AFI, and ZZ Top have in their collections, be it phonograph or phone. And the story behind it remains fascinating.

A finalist for World Magazine's Book of the Year! Scholars, journalists, and even politicians uphold Muslim-ruled medieval Spain—"al-Andalus"—as a multicultural paradise, a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in harmony. There is only one problem with this widely accepted account: it is a myth. In this groundbreaking book, Northwestern University scholar Darío Fernández-Morera tells the full story of Islamic Spain. The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise shines light on hidden history by drawing on an abundance of primary sources that scholars have ignored, as well as archaeological evidence only recently unearthed. This supposed beacon of peaceful coexistence began, of course, with the Islamic Caliphate's conquest of Spain. Far from a land of religious tolerance, Islamic Spain was marked by religious and therefore cultural repression in all areas of life and the marginalization of Christians and other groups—all this in the service of social control by autocratic rulers and a class of religious authorities. The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise provides a desperately needed reassessment of medieval Spain. As professors, politicians, and pundits continue to celebrate Islamic Spain for its "multiculturalism" and "diversity," Fernández-Morera sets the historical record straight—showing that a politically useful myth is a myth nonetheless.

**The instant top 5 Sunday Times bestseller from political commentator Ash Sarkar, now available in paperback with a brand new afterword** 'One of the boldest and most exciting thinkers of her generation' NAOMI KLEIN 'Delivers its message with punch and panache ... a joy to read' GUARDIAN 'If leftists feel they have been stumbling around in the darkness, Minority Rule flicks on the light' STANDARD Minority rule (noun): an irrational fear fuelled by right-wing pundits, lobby journalists and billionaires that minority groups are displacing majority populations. We all know that the modern world is in crisis. But it's not just a crisis for the climate, or of living standards - it's a 'blame crisis'. Whether it's infighting on the left or the demonisation of immigrants on the right, there's always a new talking point to distract us from real, systemic change. Now is the time to realise that we have been duped into fighting with each other; now is the time to redirect our outrage towards those who deserve it. In Minority Rule, political commentator Ash Sarkar offers a sharp and lively reality check. Whether it's exposing the origins of the 'white working class', or examining how 'non-events' have taken over journalism, this book - now with a brand new afterword - will help you break the blame cycle for good.

Schunkeln is awesome! Adam Fletcher hat sich ausgiebig mit den Marotten und Skurrilitäten der Deutschen beschäftigt. Doch jetzt ist es an der Zeit, endlich den letzten Schritt zu gehen und ein richtiger Deutscher zu werden. Also zieht der Brite die Hausschuhe aus und erkundet Good Old Germany via Mitfahrgelegenheit und Deutscher Bahn – und besteht unterwegs ein paar Prüfungen. Er lernt, warum man nicht an Schützenfesten teilnehmen sollte, wenn man weder ordentlich trinken noch marschieren kann und was passiert, wenn jemand ohne musikalisches Talent einen Schlager komponiert. Und er erfährt am eigenen Leib, warum es keine gute Idee ist, vor dem Ballermann 6 Nordic Walking zu trainieren. Liebevoll und mit viel britischem Humor erzählt er von seinen teutonischen Abenteuern, und warum er dieses Land und seine Bewohner so in sein Herz geschlossen hat. Schunkeln is awesome! After two best-selling books exploring the quirks of German culture, British author Adam Fletcher finds he's become a pundit for German life. Unsure about his position, and with severe doubts about his own expertise, he decides to take on a series of hilarious integration challenges. You'll learn why you shouldn't attend a Schützenfest, if you can neither drink nor march, what happens when someone of no musical talent creates a Schlager song and why it's not a good idea to Nordic Walk through Ballermann 6, Mallorca. Lovingly written, with a lot of British humor and avoiding the usual national clichés, he recounts his adventures of trying to become German. On the way, he reaffirms why this country and its inhabitants have such a special place in his heart.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 JHALAK PROSE PRIZE The instant top 5 Sunday Times bestseller from political commentator Ash Sarkar, now available in paperback with a brand new afterword 'One of the boldest and most exciting thinkers of her generation' NAOMI KLEIN 'Delivers its message with punch and panache ... A joy to read' GUARDIAN 'If leftists feel they have been stumbling around in the darkness, Minority Rule flicks on the light' STANDARD Minority rule (noun): an irrational fear fuelled by right-wing pundits, lobby journalists and billionaires, that minority groups are displacing majority populations. We all know that the modern world is in crisis. But it's not just a crisis for the climate, or of living standards – it's a 'blame crisis'. Whether it's infighting on the left or the demonisation of immigrants on the right, there's always a new talking point to distract us from real, systemic change. Now is the time to realise that we have been duped into fighting with each other; now is the time to redirect our outrage towards those who deserve it. In Minority Rule, political commentator Ash Sarkar offers a sharp and lively reality check. Whether it's exposing the origins of the 'white working class', or examining how 'non-events' have taken over journalism, this book – now with a brand new afterword – will help you break the blame cycle for good.

If Neymar is your favourite football superstar, then this is the book for you! Discover how he went from playing street football and futsal in Sao Paulo to becoming one of the best players on the global scene playing for clubs like Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Learn how Neymar scored over 300 career goals, competed in the Olympics twice, and became one of the most popular football players worldwide. Football Superstars: Neymar Rules is written in an engaging and accessible style that's ideal for emerging and reluctant readers. The simple narrative text is supplemented with cartoons and visual jokes, and presented with an energetic, graphic look. Sections and chapters make it easy to navigate and fun to dip in and out of. A supporting cast of players, managers, TV pundits - and even the authors themselves - chip in with quotes, jokes and comments to add to the playful and informative fun. Love comes in many forms: fleeting, romantic, unconditional, toxic . . . Between them Jack and Clare have always done exactly what they're supposed to. Yet, life has left them lost and adrift. He lives in a world of black and white, always right but alone. She lives her life black and blue . . . but loved. When they meet, fate offers them both a chance. And the search begins: for hope, for happiness and a thing called love.

For readers of Jason Stanley and Timothy Snyder comes an urgent and rigorous comparison of our current political climate to that of Germany's during Hitler’s first year in power. Since a new wave of far right-wing sentiment entered American political life a decade ago, political scientists and pundits have chided people for what they see as overly facile comparisons between today’s Republican leadership and Nazism. Are these comparisons just scare-mongering? Or could they tell us something useful about the state of American democracy? Using the writings of German thinkers like Thomas Mann, Victor Klemperer, Hannah Arendt, and other meticulous diarists of the era, Project 1933 retells the story of the first year of the Third Reich month-by-month, pausing to draw connections between Germany’s past and America’s present. Adrian Daub deftly explores the truths of living under fascism—the grim uncertainty (and even grimmer certainty) of early days, the existential scramble to cleave to institutions that define us even as they are bent to the will of a despot, the creation of bystanders and collaborators, the shifting cultural conversations, and the day-to-day banalities. While some parallels are downright terrifying, Project 1933 aims to remind readers of the choices that are available to us, and that fascism’s key magic trick is to convince us of its own inevitability. Project 1933 shows readers a path toward a more hopeful, moral imagination and the possibility of radical change.

Geopolitics is a slippery term. From great power politics and speculation about resource scrambles, to everyday encounters and objects such as smart phones, it affects citizens, corporations, international bodies, social movements, and governments. Geopolitics is far more than simply the impact of geographical features such as rivers, mountains, and climate on political developments. Geography matters but not necessarily in the way that pundits and presidents assume. In this Very Short Introduction, Klaus Dodds tours the field of geopolitics, encompassing both its intellectual historical origins and its current concerns. As people struggle to cross borders, moving a few feet either side of a territorial boundary can be a matter of life or death, dramatically highlighting the connections between place and politics. Even far away from the front lines of states, geopolitics remains an important part of everyday life. A country's connectivity, location, size, and resources all affect how the people that live there understand and interact with the wider world. In this third edition Dodds includes new sections considering the rise of populism and economic nationalism as examples of how states, people, and corporations manage territorial frames for political projects such as Make America Great Again, One Belt, One Road, and Brexit. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Have you ever been at a cocktail party when all of a sudden you feel like an outsider in the conversation because you have absolutely no idea what the person is talking about? You're standing around with a glass of wine and someone starts talking about how the stock market did that day leading to the career highs of Ben Bernanke and the best way to short a stock. You stand there completely silent because you know nothing about the stock market, let alone the history of economics. You're being pushed to the outside edge of the pack and there's no way to reach gracefully for your iPhone and Google. Fear not: Imogen Lloyd Webber is on a mission to make everyone as conversationally nimble as she has learned to be as a cable news pundit. Her solution: get a few cheat sheets and study up. Remember cheat sheets, those slips of paper filled with facts? As Imogen might say "Google is good, but a cheat sheet is forever..." In eight cheat sheets, Imogen takes you through the facts that come up in most conversations: the English language, math/economics, religion, history, politics, geography, biology and culture. From the history of money to who signed The Magna Carta, Imogen shows you how to get back in a conversation, win any argument and most importantly, how to pivot out of a tough conversational bind. Imogen Lloyd Webber's The Intelligent Conversationalist will help you talk with anyone about anything anytime.

Looks at the role of refugees in international relations. Refugees may flee their country, but can they escape the confining, defining logic of all the voices that speak for them? As refugees multiply in our troubled world, more and more scholars, studies, and pundits focus on their plight. Most of these analyses, says Nevzat Soguk, start from a model that shares the assumptions manifested in traditional definitions of citizen, nation, and state. Within this hierarchy, he argues, a refugee has no place to go. States and Strangers questions this paradigm, particularly its vision of the territoriality of life. A radical retheorization of the refugee from a Foucauldian perspective, the book views the international refugee regime not as a simple tertiary response, arising from the practice of states regarding refugee problems, but as itself an aspect of the regimentation of statecraft. The attendant discourse negates the multiplicity of refugee events and experience; by assigning the refugee an identity-someone without the citizen's grounding within a territorial space-the state renders him voiceless and deprives him of representation and protection. States and Strangers asks how this happens and how it can be avoided. Using historical, archival research and interpretive strategies drawn from a genealogical approach, Soguk considers the role of the refugee in the emergence and maintenance of the sovereign territorial state from the late seventeenth century to contemporary times. ISBN 0-8166-3166-2 Cloth/jacket £00.00 $62.95x 340 Pages 5 7/8 x 9 March Borderlines Series, volume 11 Translation inquiries: University of Minnesota Press