Interview with Simon Sharpe, author of Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change
Simon Sharpe, author of Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change recommends a brilliant bunch of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Simon's book:
Description from Bookshop.org:
We need to act five times faster to avoid dangerous climate change. As Greenland melts, Australia burns, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, we think we know who the villains are: oil companies, consumerism, weak political leaders. But what if the real blocks to progress are the ideas and institutions that are supposed to be helping us? Five Times Faster is an inside story from Simon Sharpe, who has spent ten years at the forefront of climate change policy and diplomacy.
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Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change
In our fight to avoid dangerous climate change, science is pulling its punches, diplomacy is picking the wrong battles, and economics has been fighting for the other side. This provocative and engaging book sets out how we should rethink our strategies and reorganise our efforts in the fields of science, economics, and diplomacy, so that we can act fast enough to stay safe.
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £19.00
Bookshop.org US $23.20
Blackwells £16.42
Waterstones £20.00
Wordery $21.40
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
The Origin of Wealth, by Eric Beinhocker. Description from Bookshop.org:
Economics is changing radically. This paradigm shift, the biggest in the field for over a century, will have profound implications for business, government and society for decades to come.
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This book tells the story of how economics went down the wrong path 150 years ago, and how a new set of ideas for understanding how the economy works is now beginning to emerge. The story is well-told, and the ideas and implications are profound.
The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics
In this groundbreaking book, economic thinker and writer Eric Beinhocker surveys the cutting-edge ideas of the leading economists, physicists, biologists and cognitive scientists who are fundamentally reshaping economics, and brings their work alive for a broad audience.
These researchers argue that the economy is a 'complex adaptive system', more akin to the brain, the internet or an ecosystem than to the static picture of economic systems portrayed by traditional theory. They claim it is the evolutionary process of differentiation, selection and amplification, acting on designs for technologies, social institutions and businesses that drives growth in the economy over time. If Adam Smith provided the inspiration for economics in the twentieth century, it is Charles Darwin who is providing it in the twenty-first.
If we can understand how evolution creates wealth, then we can better answer the question 'How can we create more wealth for the benefit of individuals, businesses and society?' Beinhocker shows how 'Complexity Economics' turns conventional wisdom on its head in areas such as business strategy, the design of organisations, the workings of stock markets and public policy.
As sweeping in scope as its title, The Origin of Wealth is a landmark book that shatters orthodox economic theory, and will rewire our thinking about how we came to be here - and where we are going.
Buy On:
Easons €15.39
Bookshop.org UK £10.44
Bookshop.org US $26.06
Blackwells £10.58
Waterstones £10.99
Wordery $13.79
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz. Learn real world techniques from former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss to help persuade your boss that your pay rise is their idea! The book is full of useful tips and tricks to reposition an argument and also has some great hostage stories thrown in to keep you page-turning. (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
A guide to ‘how to negotiate as if your life depended on it’, this book overthrows old ideas about de-personalising negotiations and replaces them with a psychology-driven perspective. Examples from real-life hostage negotiations keep the narrative lively.
Never Split The Difference - Negotiating as if your life depended on it
Buy On:
Easons €10.49
Bookshop.org UK £10.44
Bookshop.org US $32.55
Blackwells £8.99
Waterstones £10.99
Wordery $12.32
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
The BFG, by Roald Dahl. Review From Book Depository:
The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It's lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, or any of the other giants-rather than the BFG-she would have soon become breakfast. When Sophie hears that the giants are flush-bunking off to England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!
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Like many of Roald Dahl’s books it involves overthrowing oppressors, but this one has more kindness and adventure in it than most. And who doesn’t like fart jokes about the Queen?
The BFG
Buy On:
Easons €6.99
Bookshop.org UK £7.59
Bookshop.org US $8.36
Blackwells £9.99
Waterstones £6.99
Wordery $10.24
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
Paper, every time. Ideal for reading while sitting in a garden and drinking a good coffee.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
The South Bank Book Market underneath Waterloo Bridge in London. Any place where tatty copies of works of genius can be picked up by new hands instead of going into landfill has to be good. With a background soundtrack of buskers interrupted by trains booming overhead, and a pop-up bar selling craft beers in summer, this is one of my favourite places in London.
Many thanks to Simon for recommending a brilliant bunch of books! Please don't forget to check out Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Cambridge University Press (Five Times Faster), Cornerstone (The Origin of Wealth, Never Split The Difference), Penguin Random House Children's UK (The BFG).
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