What We Are Reading Today: Technology and the Rise of Great Powers

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Updated 23 August 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Technology and the Rise of Great Powers

Author: Jeffrey Ding

When scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the moment of innovation—the eureka moment that sparks astonishing technological feats.

In this book, Jeffrey Ding offers a different explanation of how technological revolutions affect competition among great powers. Rather than focusing on which state first introduced major innovations, he investigates why some states were more successful than others at adapting and embracing new technologies at scale.

Drawing on historical case studies of past industrial revolutions as well as statistical analysis, Ding develops a theory that emphasizes institutional adaptations oriented around diffusing technological advances throughout the entire economy.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Mystery of the Mind’ by Wilder Penfield

Updated 09 February 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Mystery of the Mind’ by Wilder Penfield

Can the mind be explained by what we know about the brain? Is a person’s being determined by their body alone or by their mind and body as separate elements?

With a foreword by Charles W. Hendel, an introduction by William Feindel, and reflections by Sir Charles Symonds, “The Mystery of the Mind” is Penfield’s compelling personal account of his experiences as a neurosurgeon and scientist observing the inner workings of the brain in conscious patients.