Survival Of The Fittest

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The daughter of a diplomat disappears on a school field trip—lured into the Santa Monica Mountains and killed in cold blood. Her father denies the possibility of a political motive. There are no signs of struggle and no evidence of sexual assault, leaving psychologist Alex Delaware and his friend LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis to pose the essential question: Why? “Feverish in pace and rich in characters . . . a chilling and irresistible thriller.”—People Working with Daniel Sharavi, a brilliant Israeli police inspector, Delaware and Sturgis soon find themselves ensnared in one of the darkest, most menacing cases of their careers. And when death strikes again, it is Alex who must go undercover, alone, to expose an unthinkable conspiracy of self-righteous brutality and total contempt for human life.

A powerful, counterintuitive new theory of human nature arguing that our evolutionary success depends on our ability to be friendly--from a pair of trailblazing scientists and New York Times bestselling authors. For most of the approximately 200,000 years that our species has existed, we shared the planet with at least four other types of humans. They were smart, they were strong, and they were inventive. Neanderthals even had the capacity for spoken language. But, one by one, our hominid relatives went extinct. Why did we thrive? In delightfully conversational prose and based on years of his own original research, Brian Hare, professor in the department of evolutionary anthropology and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University, and his wife Vanessa Woods, a research scientist and award-winning journalist, offer a powerful, elegant new theory called "self-domestication" which suggests that we have succeeded not because we were the smartest or strongest but because we are the friendliest. This explanation flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Since Charles Darwin wrote about "evolutionary fitness," scientists have confused fitness with strength, tactical brilliance, and aggression. But what helped us innovate where other primates did not is our knack for coordinating with and listening to others. We can find common cause and identity with both neighbors and strangers if we see them as "one of us." This ability makes us geniuses at cooperation and innovation and is responsible for all the glories of culture and technology in human history. But this gift for friendliness comes at cost. If we perceive that someone is not "one of us," we are capable of unplugging them from our mental network. Where there would have been empathy and compassion, there is nothing, making us both the most tolerant and the most merciless species on the planet. To counteract the rise of tribalism in all aspects of modern life, Hare and Woods argue, we need to expand our empathy and friendliness to include people who aren't obviously like ourselves. Brian Hare's groundbreaking research was developed in close collaboration with Richard Wrangham and Michael Tomasello, giants in the field of cognitive evolution. Survival of the Friendliest explains both our evolutionary success and our potential for cruelty in one stroke and sheds new light onto everything from genocide and structural inequality to art and innovation.

The author, an explorer and hospital physician, sets out the genetics, diet and exercise that enable humans to perform at their peak. He dissects his own experiences of crossing Antarctica with Ranulph Fiennes, and other endurance tests, to illustrate how the body functions at its best.

Does God really exist? Are science and religion incompatible bedfellows? Surprisingly, Charles Darwin himself, whose theory of evolution did more than anything to ignite these fundamental debates, refrained from commenting in depth about its philosophical implications for fear of creating yet greater furor. But suppose that he did in fact write down his conclusions, and kept them as a secret addendum to his seminal work, Origin of Species. And suppose his beloved wife Emma, a devout Christian, kept her own secret journal detailing their extraordinary life together, and was the only other person to know of this hidden postscript. Survival of the Fittest is a new novel about a modern-day detective search for these two hugely significant works. Its central character, Maurice, is an eccentric London antiquarian book dealer hired by an equally eccentric American billionaire to track down the documents for his world famous collection of original manuscripts. Maurice's complex investigation ranges across England, and involves him in encounters ranging from the criminal to the romantic and the revelatory. Along the way, he discovers the spiritual struggle within the extraordinary Darwin household, and the effects of that same struggle on the creation of the atom bomb and on modern terrorism. As the hunt becomes more and more intense, the question arises of what to do with the findings. Do we really want to know, or will the answer just stir up a hornet's nest?

One night, seven teenagers wake completely alone and in the dark. Their parents are gone, and it seems everyone on earth has disappeared as well. Worse, the electricity is off. Surrounded by darkness, their differences no longer matter; they are the sole survivors of an alien attack and the last hope for humanity. But in the black of night, can they outrun the hulking creatures with the glowing red eyes? Priya is the exotic girl who says what she thinks. Will was a star athlete before the attack. They find Trevor and Aiyana, the twins; Alex and Ricardo, the tough guys; and finally, Lindsey, the innocent. Together, the seven of them are the last humans on earth but are they really humans at all? They have no idea that the government has known of the incoming alien attack for decades; to prepare they created special children with very special abilities. The chosen seven are part alien and part human, and they exist to fight off the otherworldly forces, threatening to conquer the planet. But with such differing personalities, will the seven be able to put their pride be-hind and work together? They must move beyond the grief of lost friends and family and find the strength to go on; if they don't, the world will die, taken over by monstrous creatures that can smell your fear.

The science behind creating portfolios that adapt to market changes “After ten years of poor stock market returns and yet great bond and gold returns, there is a real thirst for an all-weather portfolio in a high-risk period. Dick Stoken builds that diversified portfolio and also introduces some timing methods to improve returns and lower risks. This is a very timely and useful book.” —Ned Davis, Senior Investment Strategist, Ned Davis Research, Inc. “Dick Stoken’s Survival of the Fittest for Investors is a masterful and unique dissection of what makes the market tick. It represents an indispensable and brand-new approach for the serious investor. A must on every investor’s reading list.” —Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus, CME Group “I selected Stoken’s Strategic Investment Timing as the Best Investment Book of the Year in the 1985 Stock Trader’s Almanac; Survival of the Fittest for Investors will be a leading contender for Best Investment Book of the Year in the upcoming 2013 edition.” —Yale Hirsch, founder, Stock Trader’s Almanac About the Book: Just as the animal kingdom is composed of many species, today’s financial systems are composed of a multitude of independent participants, all over the globe, all influencing the whole. Survival of the Fittest for Investors breaks down the science behind the behavior of these market participants to present a definitive system for building profitable portfolios based on the concept of natural selection. This advanced guide to the cutting-edge science of complex adaptive systems in financial markets tells you where to find and how to track the evolutionary instability underlying these markets. It shows how, with heightened insight and a powerful algorithm, you can survive and thrive in volatile markets by following the simple principles of evolution. Award-winning and critically acclaimed author Dick Stoken punches holes in the outdated, Newtonian cause-and-effect paradigm and helps you see financial markets from a Darwinian perspective, where they function as complex systems that have the ability to adapt. By using his state-of-the-art algorithm, Stoken demonstrates how you can use agent-based modeling to assess the actual way markets behave in order to maximize the upside of your asset allocation. Stoken shows that variation is the key to profitability by using three real-world portfolios, each balancing four major asset classes going back thirty-nine years. Each portfolio clearly demonstrates how to reap consistently impressive profits with lower-than-market risk—regardless of your investment style. Whether you take conservative, traditional, or leveraged positions, this book helps you create portfolios of equities, debt, gold, and real estate that have proven to beat the S&P 500 by up to 22.5 percent! After opening your eyes to the science of complex adaptive systems and the vitality of punctuated equilibrium, Survival of the Fittest for Investors helps you implement the know-how into nuts-and-bolts results by equipping you with such practical tools as: A 1-year/6-month algorithm for accurately simulating evolutionary fluctuations in markets A cutting-edge allocation strategy that takes advantage of our natural “herding” instinct Tips for recognizing and enduring “bubbles” Without Survival of the Fittest for Investors, the evolution of investing may leave your wealth behind.