New Book Releases | December 9
With two books about how new technologies are changing the nature of work in two very different fields, and two more about the nature of our economic system and how those existing on its margins can drive positive change within it, this week's books offer guidance on how to navigate our complex and contentious era proactively and constructively as the new year approaches.
The year is coming to a close, but not without four heady new books entering the marketplace of ideas. With topics ranging from how we course-correct capitalism itself to how those not currently accruing its benefits can "embrace the solidarity of the margins to drive positive change," and two very different looks at how new technologies are changing the nature of work—in both artistic and corporate settings—this week's best new nonfiction offers plenty of intellectual sustenance to get you to the new year.
Capital Evolution: The New American Economy by Seth Levine & Elizabeth MacBride, published by Matt Holt Books
Business overtook government. Now what? The future of capitalism isn’t left or right—it’s forward.
In Capital Evolution: The New American Economy, Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride deliver a bold and timely reassessment of capitalism in America. Drawing on decades of experience in finance, journalism, and policy, Levine and MacBride argue that capitalism isn’t the problem—it’s the outdated neoliberal version we’ve been practicing that’s failing us. From the rise of populism to the growing disillusionment among younger generations, the signs of strain are everywhere. But Levine and MacBride reveal how a new consensus—what they call Dynamic Capitalism—is already taking shape, one that balances profit with purpose, empowers the middle class, and addresses the urgent challenges of inequality and climate change.
Through compelling stories of leaders like Jamie Dimon, Dan Schulman, Lisa Green Hall, and Larry Fink, Capital Evolution shows how businesses, governments, and individuals can work together to create an economy that works for everyone. This book is a call to action to embrace change, rebuild trust, and ensure capitalism remains the most dynamic force for progress the world has ever known. The future isn’t a choice between old ideologies—it’s about evolving to meet the needs of a new era.
Capital Evolution is a compelling look at the changes taking hold in America’s political system, information environment, and society, asking tough questions about the rising power of businesses in our economic system. Drawing on dozens of interviews with CEOs, academics, employees, and thought leaders, venture capitalist and author Seth Levine and journalist Elizabeth MacBride boldly challenge readers to take a hard look at our divisions and their impact on American economic supremacy.
Marginality: Solidarity and the Fight for Social Change by Jin Y. Park, published by Columbia University Press
In a deeply unequal world, numerous categories of people have been consigned to disadvantaged positions. Are those on society’s fringes doomed to remain there, or might marginality offer potential pathways toward a more equitable future?
This groundbreaking book reimagines marginality as a transformative force, interweaving personal narratives with cultural, literary, and philosophical analysis to reveal how perspectives from the margins can catalyze social change. Drawing on her own experiences as an Asian American female philosopher specializing in non-Western thought within an academic world dominated by white male–centered Western traditions, Jin Y. Park argues that personal stories are essential to philosophical inquiry. Ranging across non-Western philosophy, South Korean literature, and Asian American and African American voices as well as Western philosophy, she invites readers to examine their own feelings of marginality, reflecting on how lived experiences shape the search for meaning and values.
Bridging theoretical insights and real-world issues, Marginality offers fresh perspective on contemporary challenges such as violence, social discrimination, and economic inequality. Urging a radical rethinking of how we understand power, community, and social justice, this book calls on readers to embrace the solidarity of the margins to drive positive change.
Unfinished: The Role of the Artist in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Lucas Cantor Santiago, published by Backbeat
Drawing on the author's extensive experience in the arts and tech worlds and his ongoing experiments with AI-powered musicmaking, Unfinished is an engaging and refreshingly optimistic meditation on the role of technology in music and the arts.
For most of his career, the Emmy Award–winning composer and producer Lucas Cantor Santiago was a self-described luddite. Technology, he felt, was moving too fast, transforming the world and the arts with no regard for the cost in tradition, hard-won human wisdom, and tried-and-true methods of mastery.
That changed, however, when Cantor Santiago was commissioned by Huawei, one of the largest technology companies on the planet, to collaborate with artificial intelligence and finish Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony—a successful experiment that attracted attention throughout the world. Creating music in collaboration with a machine led him to question his long-standing assumptions about what music is, what technology does, and how the two have evolved together over the course of human history, from the first bone flute to today’s landscape of constant innovation and change.
What is the current state of the art? How did we get here? Where do we go now? This book provides an informed perspective on what is lost but what we also gain when we bring our machines ever further into the creation of art in its many different forms.
WorkLab: Five Years That Shook the Business World and Sparked an AI-First Future by Colette Stallbaumer, published by 8080 Books
WorkLab is an essential guide to five of the most disruptive years in the history of work, revealing how a global crisis, a remote and hybrid revolution, and the rise of AI reshaped business—and what it takes to lead through what’s next.
WorkLab is the inside story of how work was reinvented—first by necessity, then by design. As the world’s routines were upended in 2020, Microsoft’s customers, researchers, and product-makers found themselves at the center of a global experiment in how we work. Through WorkLab, a digital publication dedicated to original research and insights on the future of work, they captured this transformation in real time.
This anthology brings together five years of WorkLab’s most compelling data, insights, and stories. Drawing on Microsoft’s world-class research, it chronicles the sudden move to remote work, the rise of hybrid models, and the dawn of AI-powered transformation.
It offers a time capsule of practical wisdom for anyone navigating the new world of work—whether you’re a solopreneur, a team leader, or a CEO. It’s a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the power of scientific thinking to guide us through uncertainty.
As technology accelerates change, WorkLab invites you to look ahead with optimism and curiosity. The future of work is being written every day—and it starts with each of us.
◊◊◊◊◊
The Porchlight staff members choosing new books each week are Porchlight's Managing Director, Sally Haldorson, and the marketing team of Gabriella Cisneros and Dylan Schleicher.
Unless otherwise noted, all book descriptions are from the publisher.
