Books like That used to be us by Thomas L. Friedman

An accessible guide that argues attention is the most valuable resource in our data‑driven world and offers practical ways to reclaim it for deeper reflection, ethical work, and political activism.

David Brooks examines the shift from external accolades to internal virtues, using historical leaders to show how humility, self‑discipline, and moral depth guide true character and life fulfillment.

Forecasting the Rise of the Rest: A Vision of the Post-American World

Ruchir Sharma distills economics into ten practical rules, offering a guide to spotting the political, economic, and social shifts that shape everyday life in a rapidly changing world.

Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon--one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, she surveys an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." Disdain for logic and evidence defines a pervasive malaise fostered by the mass media, triumphalist religious fundamentalism, mediocre public education, a dearth of fair-minded public intellectuals on the right and the left, and, above all, a lazy and credulous public.Jacoby offers an unsparing indictment of the American addiction to infotainment--from television to the Web--and cites this toxic dependency as the major element distinguishing our current age of unreason from earlier outbreaks of American anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism. With reading on the decline and scientific and historical illiteracy on the rise, an increasingly ignorant public square is dominated by debased media-driven language and received opinion.At this critical political juncture, nothing could be more important than recognizing the "overarching crisis of memory and knowledge" described in this impassioned, tough-minded book, which challenges Americans to face the painful truth about what the flights from reason has cost us as individuals and as a nation.From the Hardcover edition.

From Counterculture to Cyberculture explores how computers evolved from Cold War military tools to symbols of a digital, collaborative utopia rooted in 1960s countercultural ideals.

Thomas Friedman argues that the 21st century is shaped by the accelerating forces of technology, globalization, and climate change, urging readers to pause and consider their profound impact on work, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and community.

Presents an alarming scenario of what the world might look like if the United States were truly to let its influence wane.