Recently, what new books in humanities and social sciences have been published overseas? Let's check this book list!
1
The Great School Rethink
By Frederick M. Hess, Harvard University Press, June 2023
This book provides an incisive and astute assessment of American schooling. The authors point to the post-pandemic period of uncertainty as the ideal moment to reimagine American education. The authors argue that rethinking American education is about acknowledging the realities of the U.S. education system, such as teacher shortages, teacher burnout, declining student achievement, and reduced student learning time.
Whether the goal of a school is to improve student achievement, encourage parental involvement, or implement individualized instruction, we should develop a positive mindset and ask the right questions so that we can fully understand the current state of education and evaluate the effectiveness of solutions.
Now is the right time to raise questions about how schools use their time and talent, how they work with parents, how they use digital tools, and how they meet the needs of their communities. The book provides a comprehensive review of the current state of education in the United States and its potential for change, leading readers to reflect on the goals of schools, and in the process identify real problems and think about effective countermeasures.
2
Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation
By Michael Lenox, Stanford University Press, June 2023
Digital transformation goes far beyond building a digital infrastructure to collect and process data, it involves understanding how digital technologies enable the creation of innovative services and products, as well as how to identify new competitive positions and business models, and think critically about how to create and capture value.
In this book, the author provides a comprehensive roadmap for planning a successful digital strategy and executing an organization's digital transformation. Covering major topics such as big tech, data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, autonomy, cybersecurity, data privacy, and antitrust, the book outlines a novel theoretical framework to help organizations that need digital transformation develop appropriate strategies.
The authors also analyze how to navigate the human dimension of digital transformation and how to address the many social and policy challenges posed by digital technologies. The authors promote a foundational understanding of the dynamic environment of digital transformation, while also providing action plans for organizations that need to implement a digital strategic pathway.
3
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World
By Henry Grabar, Penguin Press, May 2023
Parking spaces have a deadly impact on Americans – many Americans are killed every year because of parking spaces. However, even if we do not resort to violence, our professional, social and economic lives are often transformed by a single parking space.
In fact, in the century since the advent of the automobile, we've transformed our homes and cities beyond recognition, even demolishing buildings to find cheaper, more convenient ways to free up parking space. So even as many Americans are still looking for affordable housing, the real estate industry is still aggressively developing parking garages to store idle vehicles.
In addition, the availability of parking spaces determines the design of the building, traffic patterns and viability of transportation, neighborhood politics and municipal finances, and the quality of public spaces. Is this the best use of limited resources and space? In this book, the author blends history, politics, and reportage to reveal how parking problems are exacerbating other social problems in the United States, such as housing affordability, global climate disasters, and more.
4
Future Care: Sensors, Artificial Intelligence, and the Reinvention of Medicine
By Jag Singh, Mayo Medical Press, June 2023
The care of the future will be virtual: sensor-assisted, digitally enabled, and governed by predictive analytics. As with most aspects of modern life, human organs are being digitally monitored. Sensors are helping us proactively capture the information we need to predict and prevent disease.
Coupled with the growing medical community's emphasis on health and prevention, the digital revolution will help us effectively monitor and address the chronic diseases that have hitherto been the Achilles' heel of the healthcare system. This massive transformation will not only reshape the patient-physician relationship, but will also dramatically change the way hospitals and healthcare businesses operate.
In this book, the authors explore the rise of virtual care, the evolving role of sensors, and the impact of artificial intelligence in medicine and healthcare through cutting-edge science, big-concept predictions, and real-world patient cases. The authors explore ongoing and increasingly pressing issues related to medicine, technology and healthcare, noting that the success of the digital revolution in medicine depends on our ability to understand and adapt to this change.
5
Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind the Food That Isn't Food
By Chris van Tulleken, Norton Press, June 2023
Humanity has entered a new era of diet. For the first time in human history, most of our calories come from an entirely new substance: ultra-processed foods. Ultra-processed foods have the following characteristics: it is packaged in plastic, and there is at least one ingredient that you won't find in the kitchen. Ultra-processed foods have become the leading cause of early death and environmental destruction worldwide.
However, many Americans have nearly all of their staple foods ultra-processed and, for many, the only food available and affordable. The authors conducted a self-experiment: under the supervision of colleagues at University College London, 80 percent of the food he consumed in a month was ultra-processed, as is typical of the diet of many children and adults in the United States.
Through this experiment, the authors explore the origins, health sciences, and economics of ultra-processed foods, and reveal its catastrophic effects on the human body and the planet. The authors note that ultra-processed foods are specifically designed to encourage excessive consumption as addictive substances, so global action is needed to change the way people shop and eat.
6
America's Hidden Economic Engines: How Community Colleges Can Drive Shared Prosperity
Robert B. Schwartz et al., Harvard University Press, June 2023
Universities are the best institutions to reverse decades of economic inequality in the United States along the lines of race, class, and geography. This book argues that community and technical colleges are institutions uniquely capable of promoting more equitable economic growth in all regions of the United States.
As researchers at Harvard's Workforce Project, the authors detail five cases — Lorraine County Community College in Ohio, Gulf Community College in Mississippi, Community College in Northern Virginia, Pima Community College in Arizona, and San Jacinto Community College in Texas — and note that community colleges show great potential when governments, employers, and communities invest in the economic and workforce development mission of community colleges.
Through real-world examples, the authors reveal key institutional policies and practices, leadership behaviors, and organizational structures for successful collaboration between community colleges and regional partners in the public and private sectors. Although community colleges in different regions face different challenges, successful community colleges have demonstrated a sustained push for economic mobility and good employment in their programs and activities.
(Mao Xinyi/Compiler)
The article is originally published in the 7th edition of the 1861 issue of the Social Science Daily, and it is forbidden to reprint without permission, and the content in the article only represents the author's views, not the position of this newspaper.
Editor-in-charge of this issue: Song Xianqi
Further reading
A Quick Introduction to New Overseas Books | Artificial Intelligence: Modern Magic, or a Dangerous Future?
A Quick Introduction to New Overseas Books | Octopus in the parking garage: a call for climate adaptation