Most Popular Books by John Cassidy

This is a sceptical history of the internet/stock market boom. John Cassidy argues that what we have just witnessed wasn''t simply a stock market bubble; it was a social and cultural phenomenon driven by broad historical forces. Cassidy explains how these forces combined to produce the buying hysteria that drove the prices of loss-making companies into the stratosphere. Much has been made of Alan Greenspan''s phrase irrational exuberance, but Cassidy shows that there was nothing irrational about what happened. The people involved - fund managers, stock analysts, journalists and pundits - were simply acting in their own self-interest.

How did we get to where we are? John Cassidy shows that the roots of our most recent financial failure lie not with individuals, but with an idea - the idea that markets are inherently rational. He gives us the big picture behind the financial headlines, tracing the rise and fall of free market ideology from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman and Alan Greenspan. Full of wit, sense and, above all, a deeper understanding, How Markets Fail argues for the end of ''utopian'' economics, and the beginning of a pragmatic, reality-based way of thinking. A very good history of economic thought Economist How Markets Fail offers a brilliant intellectual framework . . . fine work New York Times An essential, grittily intellectual, yet compelling guide to the financial debacle of 2009 Geordie Greig, Evening Standard A powerful argument . . . Cassidy makes a compelling case that a return to hands-off economics would be a disaster BusinessWeek This book is a well constructed, thoughtful and cogent account of how capitalism evolved to its current form Telegraph Books of the Year recommendation John Cassidy ... describe[s] that mix of insight and madness that brought the world''s system to its knees FT, Book of the Year recommendation Anyone who enjoys a good read can safely embark on this tour with Cassidy as their guide . . . Like his colleague Malcolm Gladwell [at the New Yorker], Cassidy is able to lead us with beguiling lucidity through unfamiliar territory New Statesman John Cassidy has covered economics and finance at The New Yorker magazine since 1995, writing on topics ranging from Alan Greenspan to the Iraqi oil industry and English journalism. He is also now a Contributing Editor at Portfolio where he writes the monthly Economics column. Two of his articles have been nominated for National Magazine Awards: an essay on Karl Marx, which appeared in October, 1997, and an account of the death of the British weapons scientist David Kelly, which was published in December, 2003. He has previously written for Sunday Times in as well as the New York Post, where he edited the Business section and then served as the deputy editor. In 2002, Cassidy published his first book, Dot.Con. He lives in New York.

Put the brush in your hand. Stick it in the water, then smush it around in one of the colors. Now take a deep breath and plop it down on the page . . . You’re an artist. Yes, really! Young or old, there is an artist in each of us. If yours is hiding (perhaps behind a shred of self-consciousness?), just remember: Art is personal expression. You have your talent. Nobody else has anything like it! If you are ready to discover (or re-discover) your genius, Paint This Book! is here to help. The paints, the brush, and the watercolor paper are all included—plus irresistible encouragement and exercises from authors John Cassidy and Thacher Hurd: Work small: Quick, spontaneous strokes will happen more naturally. Trust your instincts: Watercolor can turn to mush with a lot of revision. You’re better than you think you are! Choose your techniques: You’ll learn about light and shadow (page 43), perspective (page 51), and more. But it’s up to you whether to use these skills often, or never! Either way, there are many artists who do the same. Don’t forget: Sometimes a shimmer of color on the page can look even fruitier than a realbowl of fruit. Between these covers, there are no mistakes. Just add imagination (and water)!

John Cassidy''s poem ''Walking on Frogs'' could almost be a description of the way his poems work. As the critic Dick Davis has said, they have ''a wary ease'' in which ''placid surfaces mask a buried violence or vitality''. Walking on Frogs is his third book of poems. His second, Night Cries (Bloodaxe Books, 1982), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.

Learn how to juggle with this amusing how-to book.

An introduction to the art of throwing, the science of understanding, and the need for avoiding the Australian boomerang, an object which flies in accordance with advanced principles of aerodynamics but in defiance of every shred of common sense.

Take soccer and mix it with juggling. This book introduces the 5 basic kicks, along with various games played with a footbag. Includes information on joining the World Footbag Association.

Just start with a scribble! Start with a Scribble will banish your inner critic and kick-start your inner genius, as you learn to draw with a little how-to and a lot of just-do. An artist-quality pen and watercolor pencils (red and black) are included. Inside, you’ll find: Prompts to inspire you (e.g., “emotional rabbits”) Doodles to finish (“Mrs. Thudkins takes her floppaterasis for a walk”) Techniques to try (only when the mood strikes you), from shading to perspective And plenty of wide-open space to play around in. We’re much less interested in the appearance of something than in the something itself. So, when you’ve settled on your subject (a monster? a cockatoo?), first figure out what its essence should be (ferocious? bashful?) . . . and then, just toss that ball up (artistically speaking) and give it a good swat across the net. Voilà! You’re an artist. Throughout, beloved illustrator Sir Quentin Blake shares sage advice, from “it’s best to name your animal after you draw it” to “don’t worry too much yet about ankles.” The most important lesson? Let go and give in to your own creative spirit! Publisher''s note: Start with a Scribble is an updated North American edition of Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered (Klutz, 1999).

Includes activities in magnetism, light wave craziness, optical illusions, hair dryer science, and bacterial stories.

Crazy Action Contraptions gives young builders everything they need to create ten marvelous machines. Contains simple instructions and 60 assorted LEGO pieces. Consumable. Illustrations.

The Aerobie flying ring incorporates a revolutionary airfoil design with flight characteristics that are little short of incredible. Cassidy offers the definitive word on the theory, design, and practice of the Aerobie, covering its history, ratings, possibilities, and more. Includes one Aerobie.

Discusses the history and mechanics of yo-yos. Illustrates techniques for playing with the yo-yo.

Explains how soap bubbles are formed and what can be done with them.

An illustrated collection of children''s songs includes such classics as Jambalaya, Frere Jacques, The M.T.A. Song, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, The Chicken Song, and Peace Like a River..

Introduces the concept of time and shows how to read a regular and digital watch.

A sudden change of light can transform our perception of the familiar world. Holding such moments of tension, John Cassid gains insights into a situation as he shapes a poem around it. In this new group of poems, he has extended his territory to cover apprehensions of time; his progress is wary but determined, and always held in check by the sureness of his craft. The poems are concerned with the idea of time in many of its aspects: with chance and causality, perspective and circumstance, change and persistence, youth and age. They vary in their approach; some are observations, some speculations, some less formally shaped than others. Changes of Light is published simultaneously with The Fountain, a pamphlet comprising those poems from John Cassidy''s booklet, The Dancing Man (Poet''s Yearbook Award, 1977), which were not included in Cassidy''s book, An Attitude of Mind (Hutchinson, 1978). The title-poem, ''The Fountain'', was the precursor of the time poems of Changes of Light.

The Fountain is a reissue of those poems from John Cassidy''s booklet, The Dancing Man, which were not included in his book, An Attitude of Mind (Hutchinson, 1978). They formed part of a collection which won him the first Poet''s Yearbook Award in 1977. Cassidy''s poems are mostly descriptive, often portraits of people, or scenes from the natural world. Caught in sharp-edged detail, the subject is explored as the poem is shaped, so that the implicit significance of a particular observation or experience is uncovered by the defining action of the poem''s language and imagery, and in the harmonising of its rhythms. The Fountain is published simulataneously with Changes of Light, a pamphlet of new poems all concerned, in various ways, with apprehensions of time; they develop ideas which Cassidy had started to explore in ''The Fountain'', the title-poem of this pamphlet.

More than 50 educators helped develop 21 different interactive "exhibits" on topics such as Trash, Get Lost, Meet the Humans and Earth: A Wet, Dirty, Bumpy Rock for this hands-on geography museum.

A sweeping, dramatic history of capitalism as seen through the eyes of its fiercest critics. At a time when artificial intelligence, climate change, and inequality are raising fundamental questions about the economic system, Capitalism and Its Critics provides a kaleidoscopic history of global capitalism, from the East India Company to Apple. But here John Cassidy, a staff writer at The New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, adopts a bold new approach: he tells the story through the eyes of the system’s critics. From the Haitian rebels who overthrew French colonial capitalism and the English Luddites who rebelled against early factory automation, to the Latin American dependistas, the international Wages for Housework campaign of the 1970s, and the modern degrowth movement, the absorbing narrative traverses the globe. It visits with familiar names—Smith, Marx, Luxemburg, Keynes, Polyani—but also focuses on many less familiar figures, including William Thompson, the Irish proto-socialist whose work influenced Marx; Flora Tristan, the French proponent of a universal labor union; John Hobson, the original theorist of imperialism; J. C. Kumarappa, the Indian exponent of Ghandian economics; Eric Williams, the Trinidadian author of a famous thesis on slavery and capitalism; Joan Robinson, the Cambridge economist and critic of the Cold War; and Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, the founding father of degrowth. Blending rich biography, panoramic history, and lively exploration of economic theories, Capitalism and Its Critics is true big history that illuminates the deep roots of many of the most urgent issues of our time.

Liv is an animal rescuer, beloved by the whole animal kingdom. Be that as it may, there was an owl that hated all of humanity, especially Liv. So, he devised a plan to rid the world of her. He planned to rain down on her the full might of the animal kingdom. However, Manny, a baby bird overheard her plot and flew into action to save Liv. Thus began his harrowing journey through a lambryth of oddball creatures as he makes his way to Liv''s side