The modern world was created through the combination and complex interactions of five grand transitions. First, the demographic transition changed the total numbers, dynamics, structure, and residential pattern of populations. The agricultural and dietary transition led to the emergence of highly productive cropping and animal husbandry (subsidized by fossil energies and electricity), which eliminated famines, reduced malnutrition, and improved the...

"These days, everyone feels insecure. We are financially precarious, overwhelmed and anxious, and worried about the future. While millions endure the stress of struggling to make ends meet, in reality, the status quo isn't working for anyone, even the affluent and comparatively privileged; they, too, are deeply insecure. What is going on? The Age of Insecurity exposes how seemingly disparate crises -- our suffering mental health and rising inequality,...

The New York Times best selling co-author of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which 'progress' has perverted the way we live: how people eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die.

"When it was issued in 1856, it cost a penny. In 2014, this tiny square of faded red paper sold at Sotheby's for nearly $9.5 million, the largest amount ever paid for a postage stamp at auction. Through the stories of the eccentric characters who have bought, owned, and sold the one-cent magenta in the years in between, James Barron delivers a fascinating tale of global history and immense wealth, and of the human desire to collect"--Publisher.

Describes the impact that the translation of "On the Nature of Things" by Roman philosopher Lucretius had on history, inspiring artists, great thinkers, and scientists of the fifteenth century and fueling the beginning of the Renaissance.