Our most anticipated books of 2023

We’re pleased to highlight a selection of titles that are already grabbing the attention of critics and readers alike. These books cover topics including bias in tech, data privacy, the intersection of machine learning and art, and more.

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Our top journal articles of 2022

We asked several of our journal editors to share their top articles of the year—whether that be the most impactful, most shared, most downloaded, or more. Among the top picks are pieces on the algorithms of online dating; on the military implications of Chinese control of Taiwan; and on the work of Ghanaian arts scholar Doran Ross.

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Books for mindfulness

Read your way to self-discovery this year with these books on mindfulness and self-discovery.

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Discover new hobbies

A reading list for those who love to learn new things, including books on art, gardening, cooking, and more to get your creative juices flowing.

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New Releases

Featured Authors

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Ben Buchanan

Ainissa Ramirez

Michelle Drouin

Nate G. Hilger

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The MIT Press Reader

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On Karel Čapek’s Prophetic Science Fiction Novel ‘War With the Newts’ The Czech writer’s darkly humorous novel, published in 1936, anticipated our current reality with eerie accuracy.

By John Rieder

How New Ideas Arise Architect and poet Paolo Belardi traces the many conditions and situations that have inspired extraordinary ideas across the arts and sciences.

By Paolo Belardi

Mad World: On the Psychotic Experience of Time In the landscape of madness, time lies open and exposed.

By Wouter Kusters

The Tragic Downfall of ʿAṣfūriyyeh (The Lebanon Hospital for the Insane) How Lebanon’s brutal civil war aborted a grand vision of social reform and the expansion of mental health care.

By Joelle M. Abi-Rached

Spotlight: Vaclav Smil

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of forty books, including New York Times bestseller How the World Really Works and Energy and Civilization, published by the MIT Press. In 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. Bill Gates says, “there is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.”

With the publication of his latest and most readable book, Invention and Innovation, Smil offers an insightful and fact-filled jaunt through the history of human invention.

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