21 Lessons for the 21st Century
What if the invisible algorithms shaping your life are quietly rewriting the future of humanity—and you’re already complicit? In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari confronts the existential riddles of our age—AI rebellion, political chaos, and the obsolescence of the human heart—as ordinary people grapple with truths that could dismantle their careers, relationships, and sanity. But when the stories we’ve built civilization on collapse, will adaptation mean liberation… or extinction? What if the most dangerous illusion is the one we’re living right now?
- Originally Published: 2018
- Publisher: Penguin Random House, 2018
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 352
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-1787330672
- Access: Members
Animal Farm
What if freedom became just another cage? When the oppressed animals of Manor Farm overthrow their human masters, they vow to create a world of equality—only to watch their revolution devoured by cunning pigs who rewrite history and enforce tyranny with iron hooves. But as ideals crumble and loyal comrades vanish, one chilling truth echoes: All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others… How far would you go to believe the lie?
- Originally Published: August 1945
- Genre: Novella, Political Satire
- Pages: 101
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780451526342
- Access: Members
Bad Samaritans: The Guilty Secrets of Rich Nations and the Threat to Global Prosperity
What if the champions of global prosperity are its most cunning adversaries? In Bad Samaritans, Ha-Joon Chang unmasks how wealthy nations wield free trade and aid as weapons, entrapping developing economies in a gilded cage of dependency. But when the illusion of benevolence shatters, will humanity confront the harrowing truth—or remain complicit in a system where salvation and destruction wear the same face?
- Originally Published: 2007
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 288
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781905211371
- Access: Members
Following the Leader: Ruling China, from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping
What happens when the world’s most populous nation is steered not by ideology, but by the personal power of its leaders? In Following the Leader, David Lampton unveils the behind-the-scenes battles, shifting loyalties, and calculated maneuvers that shaped China’s rise from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping. But as the stakes grow higher and the grip tighter, one question remains—how long can a nation thrive when its fate hinges on the ambitions of a few?
- Originally published: February 3, 2014
- Publisher: University of California Press, 2019
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 320
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780520303478
- Access: Members
Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism
What if the architects of our global economy never believed in free markets—but sought to shackle democracy itself? Quinn Slobodian unveils how neoliberal visionaries, emerging from the ashes of empire, built an invisible fortress of rules to protect capital from the chaos of human choice. As their utopian project teeters amid revolt and ruin, one question remains: Did they save the world… or rig it against us all?
- Originally Published: March 2018
- Publisher: Harvard University Press
- Published: March 16, 2018
- Genre: Neoliberalism
- Pages: 400
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0674979529
- Access: Members
Guns, Germs and Steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years
What if the fate of nations was written in the soil, not the stars? Jared Diamond dismantles the myth of destiny to reveal how geography and biology forged empires—where wheat domesticated humans, germs became weapons, and continents collided to decide who conquered whom. But as ancient seeds and silent plagues reshaped the world, a chilling question lingers: What if your ancestors’ triumph—or tragedy—was mere luck… and the next global reckoning is already rooted in the ground beneath your feet?
- Originally Published: 1997
- Publisher : Vintage, 2017
- Pages: 580
- Genre: Non-Fiction
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-0099302780
- Access: Members
How the World Works
What if the systems controlling your life were designed to keep you powerless—and you didn’t even know it? In How the World Works, Noam Chomsky dismantles the invisible machinery of corporate fascism and geopolitical manipulation, exposing how profit-driven empires shape wars, economies, and even your thoughts. But when you realize your compliance fuels the chaos, one question remains: Will you keep feeding the beast—or dare to dismantle it?
- Originally Published: 2010
- Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, 2022
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 336
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780241145388
- Access: Members
How to Be a Dictator: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century
What if absolute power doesn’t corrupt—it reveals? Frank Dikötter’s How to Be a Dictator pulls back the curtain on the twentieth century’s most tyrannical figures—Hitler, Mao, Kim Il-sung, and others—who transformed themselves into living myths, weaponizing adoration and fear to enslave nations. But when the cult of personality becomes a dictator’s lifeline, what happens when the masks crack, the crowds falter, and the godlike facade crumbles to expose the trembling man beneath? Will the tyrant survive—or will the illusion die first?
- Originally Published: 2019
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019
- Genre: Politics, History
- Pages: 304
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-1408891612
- Access: Members
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
What if the stories that built civilizations could now erase them? In Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari unravels how humanity’s greatest strength—our ability to weave myths, laws, and digital networks—has become a ticking time bomb. As AI evolves from tool to autonomous agent, it threatens to hijack the very fabric of truth, turning our shared dreams into weapons of mass delusion. Will we reclaim control, or become footnotes in a future written by algorithms? The answer might keep you awake long after the last page
- Originally Published: 2024
- Publisher : Random House, 2024
- Pages: 492
- Genre: Social Science
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-0593736814
- Access: Prime Membership
The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy
What if the greatest threat to global stability wasn’t chaos, but control? In The Commanding Heights, Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw expose the century-long war between governments gripping economies and markets fighting to break free—a clash that toppled empires, birthed revolutions, and now silently dictates your paycheck. When the next crisis erupts, will it be freedom or authority that saves us… or seals our fate?
- Originally Published: 1998
- Publisher: Free Press, 2002
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 496
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780684835693
- Access: Members
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time
What if the key to ending poverty isn’t a mystery, but a choice we’ve refused to make? In The End of Poverty, visionary economist Jeffrey Sachs confronts the systemic injustices and untapped resources that trap billions in despair, arguing humanity’s survival hinges on bridging the chasm between abundance and deprivation. But when Sachs reveals how our wealth is inextricably tied to others’ suffering, will we cling to complacency—or dare to dismantle a world built on inequality?
- Originally Published: December 2005
- Publisher: Penguin Books, 2006
- Genre: Economics, Politics
- Pages: 464
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0143036586
- Access: Members
The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
What if the “free world” you know was built on a million unmarked graves? Vincent Bevins’ The Jakarta Method rips open the Cold War’s darkest secret: a U.S.-backed genocide in Indonesia that became a blueprint for global anticommunist extermination. From Bali’s paradise beaches—stained by mass executions—to whispered threats of “Jakarta is coming” on Chile’s streets, this is the buried history of how power rewrote reality. But when the survivors ask, “How did you win the Cold War?”… will you stomach the answer?
- Originally Published: 2020
- Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2020
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 320
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-1541742406
- Access: Members
Utopia
What if the perfect society demanded your darkest sacrifice? In Utopia, Thomas More’s visionary explorer stumbles upon an island where poverty and greed are relics—yet beneath its gleaming order lies a chilling bargain between idealism and humanity’s soul. As he unravels the cost of paradise, one question gnaws: could you live in a world that saves everyone… by erasing everything that makes them alive?
- Originally Published: 1516
- Publisher: Wordsworth Classic, 1997
- Genre: Utopia
- Pages: 160
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781853264740
- Access: Members
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
What if a nation’s fate hinges not on resources or culture, but on a silent war between those who hoard power and those fighting to dismantle it? In Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson expose how centuries of extractive institutions—crafted by elites to siphon wealth from the masses—trap societies in cycles of poverty, while inclusive systems ignite revolutions of innovation and freedom. But when the very foundations of power crumble, will humanity break free from history’s cruelest paradox… or become its next casualty?
- Originally Published: 2012
- Publisher : Crown Currency, 2013
- Pages: 544
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-0307719225
- Access: Members
