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B A S I C B o o k SRenowned publisher of serious nonfiction by

leading intellectuals, scholars, and journalists.

n e w t i t l e sS P R I N G 2 0 1 5

c o n t e n t s

Basic Frontlist 2

Basic Paperbacks 3 3

Basic Highlights 3 7

Title Index 44

Author Index 4 5

Meet the Editors 46

Media Contact 48

Cover design by Nicole Caputo

eRIC ToPol

t he Pat ien t W iL L see you noW

The Future of Medicine is in Your Hands

I n The Patient Will See You Now, Eric Topol,

one of the nation’s top physicians, examines

what he calls medicine’s “Gutenberg

moment.” Much as the printing press liberated

knowledge from the control of an elite class, new

technology—from the smartphone to machine

learning—is poised to democratize medicine.

In this new era, patients will control their

data and be emancipated from a paternalistic

medical regime in which “the doctor knows

best.” Computers will replace physicians for

many diagnostic tasks, and enormous data sets

will give us new means to attack conditions

that have long been incurable. In spite of these

benefits, the path forward will be complicated: the

medical establishment will resist these changes,

and digitized medicine will raise serious issues

surrounding privacy. Nevertheless, the result—

better, cheaper, and more humane health care for

all—will be worth it. The Patient Will See You Now

is essential reading for anyone who thinks they

deserve better health care. That is, for all of us.

e R I C T o P o l , i s a

professor of in novative

medicine, director of the

S c r i p p s Tr a n s l a t ion a l

S c ienc e I n s t it u te, a nd

founder of the world’s first cardiovascular gene

bank at the Cleveland Clinic. He lives with his

family in La Jolla, California.

a l s o b y e r ic t op ol :

The Creative Destruction of Medicine

978-0-465-02550-3

basic books 5

N e W H A R D C o v e R • J A N u A R Y

Medicine • $28.99/ $36.00 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 384 pages

978-0-465-05474-9

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04054-4

Selling Territory: W

Author photo © John Arispizabal

A revolutionary argument for putting patients in charge in order to make health care better for everyone

N e W H A R D C o v e R • m A R C H

History / Biography • $28.99 / $36.00 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 352 pages

978-0-465-02551-0

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04057-5


m I C H A e l S C H u m A N

conf ucius

And the World He Created

C onfucius is the most influential Chinese

thinker in history, and his teachings

continue to shape the habits and beliefs

of well over 1.6 billion people. As journalist

Michael Schuman explains, it is impossible to

understand modern Asia without first engaging

with the philosopher’s vast legacy.

Little is known about Confucius’ life, but

his core principles have survived to this day.

He promoted filial piety, learnedness, and

responsible government, and he believed in

hierarchy, whether in families, business, or the

public sphere. Strong familial networks and

education are each part of Confucius’ legacy, but so

are autocratic governments and gender inequality.

According to Schuman, the arrival of

communism, capitalism, and democracy did not

topple Confucius from his central place in Asian

culture, but these systems did force his followers

to adapt his legacy to the modern world. Covering

the past, present, and future of Confucius’ impact,

this book is essential reading for anyone who

seeks to understand modern Asia.

mICHAel SCHumAN

is a correspondent for Time,

covering Asia and the global

economy. Wi n ner of a n

Overseas Press Club Award

and the author of The Miracle: The Epic Story of Asia’s

Quest for Wealth, Schuman lives in Hong Kong.

basic books 6

From an award-winning journalist, a biography of Confucius that reveals the impact of his legacy on East Asia, from ancient times to the present day

PAu l A . o F F I T, m . D.

B a D fa i t h

When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine

T hough the United States is the most

medically advanced country in the world,

modern medicine is useless for the large

number of religious fundamentalists who rely

instead on the healing power of their faith. From

Orthodox Jews spreading herpes to children at

circumcisions, to Christian Scientists watching

their children die of untreated diseases, to people

who treat autism with exorcism, many American

children suffer and die every year due to medically

dangerous religious practices.

In Bad Faith, Dr. Paul Offit chronicles the

stories of these faithful and their children, whose

devastating experiences highlight the uneasy

relationship between religion and medicine in

America. Vivid and compelling, Bad Faith makes a

strenuous case that denying medicine to children

in the name of religion isn’t just unwise and

immoral, but a rejection of the very best aspects

of what belief itself has to offer.

PAul A. oFFIT, m.D.,

is the chief of the Division

of Infectious Diseases and

the director of the Vaccine

Education Center at the

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and professor

at the University of Pennsylvania School of

Medicine. He lives in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

a l s o b y pau l a . of f i t, m.d.:

Deadly Choices • 978-0-465-02962-4

basic books 10

N e W H A R D C o v e R • m A R C H

Medicine • $27.99/ $34.99 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 288 pages

978-0-465-08296-4

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04061-2


Author photo © April Saul

When Jesus said, “Suffer the children,” faith healing was not what he had in mind

T H o R H A N S o N

t he t r iumPh of seeDs

How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History

W e live in a world of seeds. From our

morning coffee to the cotton in

our clothes, seeds support diets,

economies, lifestyles, and civilizations. In The

Triumph of Seeds, award-winning conservation

biologist Thor Hanson builds on his own triumph

in Feathers—itself a masterwork of natural and

cultural history—to explore seeds as both a

natural phenomenon and a human one.

Spanning locations ranging from the

Raccoon Lodge—Hanson’s backyard writing

hideout-cum-laboratory—to the coffee plantations

of the Amazon, from our backyard gardens to the

spice routes of Kerala, The Triumph of the Seeds is a

book of knowledge, adventure, and wonder by an

enchanting writer who embodies both the charm

of stories told by the fireside and the hard-won

expertise of a professor of field biology. A worthy

heir to the grand tradition of Aldo Leopold and

Bernd Heinrich, this book is essential reading

for anyone who loves to see a plant grow.

T H o R H A N S o N is

a conser vation biologist,

Guggenheim Fellow, Switzer

Environmental Fellow, and

mem ber of t he Hu m a n

Ecosystems Study Group. He lives with his wife

and son on an island in Washington State.

a l s o b y t hor h a ns on:Feathers • 978-0-465-02013-3

The impenetrable Forest • 978-1-933-69819-9

basic books 13

N e W H A R D C o v e R • A P R I l

Nature / Science • $26.99 / $33.50 (Can.) hc

5-1/2 x 8-1/4 • 288 pages

978-0-465-05599-9

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04872-4


Author photo © April Saul

F r o m l i t t l e a c o r n s , m i g h t y civilizations g row

PAu l H A l P e R N

einst ein’s Dice a nD

schröDinger’s c at

How Two Great Minds Battled Quantum Randomness to Create a Unified Theory of Physics

A lbert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger

were friends and comrades-in-arms

against what they considered the most

preposterous aspect of quantum mechanics:

its randomness. Although Einstein’s own work

provided early insights into quantum mechanics,

he nevertheless refused to believe that God played

dice with the universe. Schrödinger, too, rebelled

at the indeterminate nature of the universe that

his own work had revealed, and constructed a

fable of a cat that was neither alive nor dead to

highlight the apparent absurdity of a theory

gone wrong.

In Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat,

physicist Paul Halpern tells the story of how

Einstein and Schrödinger searched, first as

collaborators and then as competitors, for a Grand

Unified Theory that would eliminate quantum

weirdness and make the universe seem sensible

again. This story of their quest—which ultimately

failed—provides readers with new insights into

the history of physics and the lives and work of two

scientists whose obsessions drove its progress.

PA u l H A l P e R N is

a professor of physics at the

University of the Sciences in

Philadelphia and the author

of thirteen popular science

books. He lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

basic books 16


Science • $27.99 / $34.99 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 336 pages

978-0-465-07571-3

7 black-&-white images

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04065-0


Author photo © Courtesy of the University of

the Sciences

The little-known story of how two inventors of quantum mechanics g r appled w it h it s f r i g hten i n g randomness in their quest for a Grand Unified Theory

A N D R e W PA l m e R

sm a rt mone y

How High-Stakes Financial innovation is Reshaping Our World—For the Better

S ix years after the financial crisis of 2008,

investment bankers remain villains in

the public mind. But as Economist editor

Andrew Palmer reveals in Smart Money, this

vilified industry is capable of doing great good

for society.

In this sweeping account of the history,

present, and future of financial innovation, Palmer

argues that we need bankers today more than

ever before. From social-impact bonds that fund

safety net programs for the homeless to human-

capital contracts that send lower-class teenagers

to college, bankers are building better lives

for people across the world—and across the

income spectrum.

While acknowledging the role of complex

financial products in causing the Great Recession,

Palmer convincingly argues that the financial

sector is nevertheless the source of surprisingly

effective solutions to the most intractable

problems of the twenty-first century.

A N D R e W PA l m e R

has worked at The Economist

since 2007, as the finance

editor from 2009 to 2013, and

currently as the Americas

editor. He has a master’s degree in international

relations from the London School of Economics

and lives in London.

basic books 18


Business and Economics • $27.99 / $34.99 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 320 pages

978-0-465-06472-4

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04059-9


Author photo © Philippa Gedge Photography

A leading financial journalist argues that the much-maligned financial industr y is in fact successf ully tackling many of the world’s most intractable problems

m A RT I N Fo R D

r ise of t he roBot s

Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

A rtificial intelligence is already well on

its way to making “good jobs” obsolete:

many paralegals, physicians, and even—

ironically—computer programmers are poised to

be replaced by robots. As technology continues

to accelerate and machines begin taking care of

themselves, fewer jobs will be necessary. Unless

we radically reassess the fundamentals of how our

economy and politics work, this transition could

create massive unemployment and inequality as

well as the implosion of the economy itself.

In Rise of the Robots, Martin Ford offers both

an exploration of this new technology and a call to

arms to face its implications. A successful Silicon

Valley entrepreneur, Ford himself has played an

integral role in creating the automated future he

describes. His warning rings clearly: robots are

coming, and we must decide—now—whether the

future will see prosperity or catastrophe.

m A R T I N F o R D, the

founder of a Silicon Valley–

based software development

firm, has over twenty-five

yea r s of e x per ience i n

computer design and software development.

The author of The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation,

Accelerating Technology, and the Economy of

the Future, he lives in Sunnyvale, California.

basic books 21

N e W H A R D C o v e R • m A Y

Technology / Business • $28.99 / $36.00 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 352 pages

12 black-&-white illustrations

978-0-465-05999-7

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04067-4


Author photo © Xiaoxiao Zhao

A stark warning from an artificial intelligence entrepreneur: The coming age of automation will take your job and destroy our economy. What is to be done?

mICHAel STokeS PAu l S e N A N D lu k e PAu l S e N

t he const i t u t ion

An introduction

F rom health care to g un ownership,

marriage to abortion, free speech to

surveillance, every aspect of American

life is shaped by the Constitution. Yet most of us

know surprisingly little about the Constitution’s

contents and meaning and thus are woefully

unprepared to interpret it for ourselves.

In The Constitution, legal scholar Michael

Stokes Paulsen and his son Luke provide a

clear, accessible introduction to the history and

interpretation of this vital document. They offer a

grand tour of the characters and controversies that

have shaped the text itself, while also providing

readers with the tools they need to think critically

about constitutional issues—a skill that is ever

more essential to the continued flourishing of

American democracy.

m I C H A e l S T o k e S PAu l S e N is Disting-

uished Universit y Chair

and Professor of Law at the

University of St. Thomas. He

lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

l u k e PA u l S e N is

a g raduate of Princeton

Un iver sit y. He l ives i n

Minneapolis, Minnesota.

basic books 22


Political Science • $28.99 / $36.00 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 368 pages


978-0-465-05372-8

E-BOOK 978-0-465-05371-1


Author photos © Kristen Stokes Paulsen

An everyman’s guide to the history of—and debates over—the United States C onstit ution

A R N o l D T H AC k R AY

moor e's L aW

The Life of Gordon Moore, Silicon Valley's Quiet Revolutionary

F rom your desk to your pocket, in the

pharmacy and in the stock market, the

technology of silicon transistors—the

bedrock of computers—has reached everyone,

everywhere. We owe their existence to Gordon

Moore, whose seminal work on transistors

has driven computing from the era of clunky

calculators the size of football fields to the era of

Siri. This progress is captured in Moore’s Law,

his observation that computing power doubles

roughly every two years. The result is threefold:

computing has become cheap, powerful, and

ubiquitous. Gordon Moore, as an engineer and

the CEO of Intel, has been both prophet and prime

mover of the ensuing Information Age.

In Moore's Law, Arnold Thackray sheds

light on the growth of Silicon Valley and the

technologies Moore developed there, telling

the story of a man and his inventions that have

transformed commerce, politics, and every other

aspect of human life.

ARNolD THACkRAY

is a historian, the president

of the Chemical Heritage

Foundation, and the author of

many books about the history

of science and technology.

basic books 27


Science/ Biography • $35.00 / $43.99 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 480 pages

978-0-465-05564-7

E-BOOK 978-0-465-05562-3


Author photo © Conrad Erb

The life of the man who harnessed si l ic on t o m a k e p o s si ble t he Infor mation A ge

W e N D e l l WA l l AC H

a Da ngerous m a st er

How to Keep Technology from Slipping Beyond Our Control

F rom combat drones to nanotechnology,

3-D printers to synthetic organisms, our

most recent inventions increasingly defy

the norms for acceptable uses of technology. Who

should be held accountable when machines break

or when people die? What responsibility do we,

as creators and users, have for our technologies?

In A Dangerous Master, ethicist Wendell

Wallach tackles such difficult questions in a

thoughtful reconsideration of our technological

future. Examining the players, institutions, and

values that stand in the way of the regulation of

everything from autonomous robots to designer

drugs, A Dangerous Master proposes solutions for

regaining control of our technological destiny.

Wallach’s nuanced study offers both warnings

and hope, navigating the middle g round

between speculative fears about a dystopian

future and the hype surrounding technological

innovations. A master f ul analysis of the

forces we must manage in our quest to survive

as a species, A Dangerous Master forces us to

confront the practical—and moral—purposes of

our creations.

WeNDell WAllACH

is a consultant, ethicist, and

scholar at Yale University’s

Interdisciplinary Center for

Bioethics. The co-author of

Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong,

he lives in Bloomfield, Connecticut.basic books 28

N e W H A R D C o v e R • J u N e

Science • $27.99 / $34.99 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 320 pages

978-0-465-05862-4

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04053-7


A moral philosopher explains why citizens, not experts, must guide the future of technolog y

m A R k e S S I G

L e sser Be a st s

A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig

U nlike other livestock, which pull plows,

give eggs or milk, or grow wool, a pig

produces only one thing: more pigs.

Incredibly efficient at converting almost any

organic matter into nourishing, delectable meat,

swine are nothing short of a gastronomic godsend.

As historian of science Mark Essig shows in Lesser

Beasts, pork has been a crucial staple of the human

diet since ancient times. Yet the very qualities

that make pigs so essential—their intelligence,

hardiness, and omnivorousness—have also led

people throughout history to demonize them

as craven, opportunistic, and unclean. Today’s

inhumane system of factory farming, Essig

explains, is only the latest instance of people

taking pigs for granted—and the most recent

evidence of how both species suffer when our

symbiotic relationship falls out of balance.

An expansive, illuminating history, Lesser

Beasts celebrates the long-suffering creature that

has been a mainstay of civilization since its very

beginnings—whether we like it or not.

m A R k e S S I G holds

a Ph.D. in US history from

Cornell University and is

the author of Edison and the

Electric Chair. He lives in

Asheville, North Carolina.

w w w . m a r k e s s i g . c o m

basic books 29


History • $27.99 / $34.99 (Can.) hc

5-1/2 x 8-1/4 • 288 pages


978-0-465-05274-5

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04068-1


Author photo © John Fletcher Jr.

A globe-trotting history of the domestic pig, showing how this oft-maligned beast has helped humans survive and thrive from the Neolithic Period to the present day

J e D R A S u l A

De st ruc t ion Wa s m y Be at r ice

Dada and the Unmaking of the Twentieth Century

I n 1916, as World War I raged around them,

a group of bohemians gathered at a small

nightclub in Zurich, Switzerland, for a

series of bizarre performances. Three readers

simultaneously recited a poem in three languages;

a monocle-wearing teenager performed a spell

from New Zealand; another young man flung

bits of papier-mâché into the air and glued

them into place where they landed. One of these

artists called the sessions “both buffoonery and

a requiem mass.” Soon they would be known by

a more evocative name: Dada.

In Destruction Was My Beatrice, modernist

scholar Jed Rasula presents the first narrative

history of the emergence, decline, and legacy

of Dada, showing how this strange artistic

phenomenon spread across Europe and then the

world in the wake of the Great War, fundamentally

reshaping modern culture in ways we’re still

struggling to understand today.

J e D R A S u l A i s

t h e H e l e n S . L a n i e r

Distinguished Professor of

English at the University

of G eorg ia. T he aut hor

of several scholarly works on literature and

modernism as well as two books of poetry, he

lives in Athens, Georgia.

basic books 30


History/Art • $29.99/ $37.50 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 384 pages


978-0-465-08996-3

E-BOOK 978-0-465-06694-0


Author photo © George A. Rasula

A color ful histor y of Dada, the revolutionary but little understood artistic movement that exploded onto the world a century ago—and which still reverberates today

R A J R AG H u N AT H A N

if you’r e so sm a rt,

W h y a r en’ t you h a PP y ?

How to Win at Work Without Flunking Life

A s Ernest Heming way once wrote,

“Happiness in intelligent people is the

rarest thing I know.” Whether they’re

choosing a higher-paying but thankless job over

lower-paying but enjoyable work, or purchasing

an item because it’s cheap rather than desirable,

many smart and successful people claim to

value happiness even as they rationalize their

way into decisions that make them miserable.

In fact, it is often the very qualities that enable

success—drive, intellect, knowledge—that

thwart happiness.

In if You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?

business school professor Raj Raghunathan draws

on original research and interviews with leading

experts in psychology, business, and behavioral

economics to show how the smart-and-successful

can learn to be happy. With a clear-eyed definition

of what happiness is, and urging us to keep in

mind that wealth, power, and control are not

ends in themselves, he shows how even the most

intelligent and driven people can win at work

and at life.

RAJ RAGHuNATHAN is an associate professor

in the McCombs School of

Business at the University

of Texas–Austin. One of the

most popular bloggers for Psychology Today and

a recipient of the National Science Foundation

Career Grant, Raghunathan lives in Austin.basic books 31


Business • $27.99 / $34.99 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 288 pages


978-0-465-08565-1

E-BOOK 978-0-465-05192-2


A leading business expert explains that being smart and successful doesn’t guarantee you happiness—in fact, it may be making you miserable

m A RG A R e T A . N e A l e A N D T H o m A S Z . lYS

ge t t ing (mor e of)

W h at you Wa n t

How the Secrets of Economics and Psychology Can Help You Negotiate Anything, in Business and in Life

A lmost ever y interaction involves

negotiation, yet we often miss the cues

that would allow us to make the most

of these exchanges. In Getting (More of) What You

Want, Margaret Neale and Thomas Lys draw on the

latest advances in psychology and economics to

provide new strategies for anyone shopping for a

car, lobbying for a raise, or simply haggling over

who takes out the trash. Getting (More of) What

You Want shows how inexperienced negotiators

regularly leave significant value on the table—and

reveals how you can claim it.

mARGAReT A. NeAle

is Adams Disting uished

Professor of Management

at t he Gradu ate School

of Business at Stan ford

University. The co-author of Negotiating Rationally,

she lives in Pescadero, California.

T H o m A S Z . lY S

is Eric L. Kohler Chair in

Accounting at the Kellogg

School of Management at

Northwestern University.

He lives in Mettawa, Illinois.

basic books 32

N e W H A R D C o v e R • J u l Y

Business • $27.99 / $34.99 (Can.) hc

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 • 320 pages

17 black-&-white tables and figures

978-0-465-05072-7

E-BOOK 978-0-465-04063-6


Author photo © Nancy Rothstein (Neale)

and Franziska B. Lys (Lys)

From two eminent business school professors, a cutting-edge approach to negotiation that accounts for your counterparts’ irrational biases as well as their rational objectives

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new titlesak-agency.myds.me/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Basic-B… · How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History W e