Books

Apollos Arrow

Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live

A piercing and scientifically grounded look at the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and how it will change the way we live.


Apollo's Arrow offers a riveting account of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as it swept through American society in 2020, and of how the recovery will unfold in the coming years. Drawing on momentous (yet dimly remembered) historical epidemics, contemporary analyses, and cutting-edge research from a range of scientific disciplines, bestselling author, physician, sociologist, and public health expert Nicholas A. Christakis explores what it means to live in a time of plague — an experience that is paradoxically uncommon to the vast majority of humans who are alive, yet deeply fundamental to our species.

Unleashing new divisions in our society as well as opportunities for cooperation, this 21st-century pandemic has upended our lives in ways that will test, but not vanquish, our already frayed collective culture. Featuring new, provocative arguments and vivid examples ranging across medicine, history, sociology, epidemiology, data science, and genetics, Apollo's Arrow envisions what happens when the great force of a deadly germ meets the enduring reality of our evolved social nature.

Published by Little, Brown Spark, October 27, 2020.

Blueprint Hc

Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society

Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society published March 2019 at Little, Brown Spark. When we look around us, we see timeless fear, hatred, violence, and ignorance. We could also endlessly catalogue the minutest details of human groups, highlighting and exploiting the differences between them. The social world is red in tooth and claw. But this pessimistic gaze that separates us from each other misses an important underlying unity and overlooks our common humanity. Blueprint shows that humans are pre-wired to make a particular kind of society – a good one full of love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. These are the traits at the core of the "social suite," the ones that make it possible for us to be a successful species and to keep the darkness at bay.

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Connected

Human beings are embedded in elaborate face-to-face social networks. Recognizing how and why this is the case allows us to understand our actions, choices, and experiences in a new light. Connected shows that social networks are not only a natural and necessary part of our lives, but also that they are generally a force for good. Just as brains can do things that no single neuron can do, social networks can do things that no single person can do. Networks make it possible for us to work together, and to share emotions, kindness, and ideas. However, if people are affected by this embeddedness and are influenced by others to whom they are directly or indirectly connected, then people necessarily lose some power over their own life experience. Such a loss of individuality can provoke especially strong reactions when people discover that their neighbors or even strangers can influence behaviors and outcomes that have moral overtones and social repercussions (such as their body size, emotional state, altruistic acts, or voting behavior). But the flip side of this realization is that people can transcend themselves and their own limitations, and that the positive choices of a single person can come to influence the actions of many others.

Prognosis In Advanced Cancer

Prognosis in Advanced Cancer

Prognosis in Advanced Cancer, P. Glare and N.A. Christakis, eds.

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Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine

Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, G. Hanks, N. Cherny, S. Kaasa, R. Portenoy, N.A. Christakis, and M. Fallon, eds.