MIT Press

Monuments Were Never Meant to Last Forever Art historian Cat Dawson’s new book invites us to contemplate a world populated by subversive monuments — or one that does away with them altogether.

"As we scramble through this terrain of toppled, relocated, mutated monuments or ruminate on those never built, Dawson’s book is a timely reminder to question the fundamental utility of monuments — who are they for, and what work do they actually do?"

@hyperallergic.com reviews "Monumental":

Why Gravity Is So Weird (And May Kill You One Day) Author James Riordon shares 5 key insights from his new book, Crush: Close Encounters with Gravity.

"Gravity is trillions upon trillions of times weaker than the other forces. But for anyone who has taken a tumble or climbed a long flight of stairs, gravity doesn’t feel weak. That’s because gravity is weird."

James Riordon shares 5 insights from his book "Crush: Close Encounters with Gravity":

A display of MIT Press jacket covers, with a headline of "Gifts for the intellectually curious"

From Stanisław Lem's classic sci-fi to beautifully illustrated books on art and science, we've got holiday books for you & yours. Support local bookstores and receive a little discount when you use code MITP15 for 15% off select titles at @bookshop.org: bookshop.org/info/mit-press

Frank Gehry and the Art of Drawing Frank Gehry’s sketches stand in a long artistic lineage, reminding us that architecture often begins where drawing outruns every other tool.

Everyone knows the distinctive curves and lines of Frank Gehry’s buildings. But where do they come from? Gehry, who died this week at 96, described drawing as his way of “thinking aloud.”

#Lakatos Award Lecture | 28 November 2025 Watch the Lakatos Award Lecture 2025 by Lakatos Award winner Mazviita Chirimuuta. Mazviita Chirimuuta received the 2025 Lakatos Award for her book “The… Mazviita Chirimuuta (University of Edinburgh): Apocalyptic Technology: AI and the Limits of Science

Watch her prize lecture on Apocalyptic Technology: AI and the Limits of Science via @lsephilosophy.bsky.social: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KkX...

Mazviita Chirimuuta in a red dress holding a small award next to a man in a grey suit.

Warm congratulations to Mazviita Chirimuuta, who received the 2025 Lakatos Award for her book "The Brain Abstracted" — "an outstanding example of the kind of work being done at the cutting edge of contemporary philosophy of science." mitpress.mit.edu/978026254804...

Very pleased to share THE WEAPONIZATION OF EXPERTISE by @mitpress.bsky.social authors Jacob Hale Russell and Dennis Patterson has been named one of the best books of 2025 by the @newyorker.com magazine!

mitpress.mit.edu/978026204959...

I’m excited to announce that my new book, “What Is Intelligence?” (@mitpress.bsky.social & Antikythera), is now available as an audiobook, narrated by me!

bit.ly/48k8z2f

Strange, it should be under "Our Picks" and "Science and History." Let us know if it's still showing up under that category!

The Strange, Fascinating Psychology of Hypocrisy Author Michael Hallsworth shares 5 key insights from his new book, The Hypocrisy Trap: How Changing What We Criticize Can Improve Our Lives.

"Maybe embracing a little honest hypocrisy is crucial for making progress together."

@mhallsworth.bsky.social shares 5 key insights from his book "The Hypocrisy Trap" with @nextbigidea.bsky.social:

Peter B. Kaufman talks about The Moving Image Peter B. Kaufman is Associate Director of Development at MIT Open Learning. He is the author of The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge (Seven Stories Press, 2021) and founder of…

"We need a common and agreed-upon apparatus for anchoring truths and facts that we consume and distribute on screens."

Author Peter B. Kaufman explains why a Chicago Manual cognate is necessary to navigate the new media that dominates our attention: @chicagomanual.bsky.social

BOMB Magazine | 2025 Small Press Gift Guide A gift for all of the idiosyncratic readers in your life from the small and independent presses we featured this year.

"For the person who keeps an archive of their absences."

Lovely to see Ellen Levy's "A Book About Ray" here. Thanks, @bombmag.bsky.social!

bombmagazine.org/articles/202...

It was a pleasure speaking with @cogdog.bsky.social about #annotation and my latest book "Re/Marks on Power" from @mitpress.bsky.social, have a listen!

Hand holding a copy of Panos Louridas's Essential Knowledge Series book "Cryptography."

A copy of Stephan Raaijmakers's Essential Knowledge Series book "Large Language Models" on a plain background.

We believe knowledge should be shared; that's why we're giving away copies of our Essential Knowledge volumes on cryptography, LLMs, and machine learning. Swing by Table 2 during #NeurIPS to claim yours. Hurry while supplies last! @neuripsconf.bsky.social

In praise of history’s famous first words While death-bed utterances are more famous, baby’s first words have influenced us too.

From April. But you might have missed it. bigthinkbooks.substack.com/p/in-praise-...

Three Ideas for Lowering Electricity Costs For starters, recognize that clean energy is cheap energy.

Electricity prices are soaring while utilities rake in billions in profit. Here's three ideas to bring bills down:
1) Make power cheap in the middle of the day
2) Stop utility profiteering
3) Keep climate impacts off bills

My latest in @theatlantic.com.
www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...

A copy of "What Is Intelligence?: Lessons from AI About Evolution, Computing, and Minds" on a plain background.

"A profound exploration of how mind, matter, and machine intervene." – @bloomberg.com

Learn more about @blaiseaguera.bsky.social's profound exploration into the computational basis of life, "What Is Intelligence": mitpress.mit.edu/978026204995...

Congratulations, Jennifer!!

Is Our Picture of Evolution Still Stuck in the Past? We may have ditched the monkey-to-man meme, but the myth of humans as nature’s “pinnacle of evolution” persists in subtler ways.

Fascinating and so much more true and factual than the outdated inaccurate illustration below that we might be used to.

Is Our Picture of Evolution Still Stuck in the Past? thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu... #ape #darwin #Evolution #human #monkey #naturalselection via @mitpress.bsky.social

Einstein's cryptids: The disputed, but possible, phenomena of the cosmos From white holes to dark stars and multiverses, Einstein’s theory of relativity predicts the possibility of these strange phenomena.

From worm holes to dark stars, an excerpt from James Riordon's new book "Crush" explores a few gravitational cryptids to keep an eye out for in the coming decades: bigthink.com/books/einste... @bigthink.com

Richard Sutton is signing at Table 2 now! Swing by and say hello @neuripsconf.bsky.social #NeurIPS

Following a great talk with Richard Sutton at #NeurIPS, come by Table 2 to check out his textbook, "Reinforcement Learning." Co-written with Andrew Barto, this widely used text focuses on core online learning algorithms: mitpress.mit.edu/978026203924...

This is a great book. Those who study the history of science and technology need to read it!

If you define life by its function—rather than what it’s made of—where does “function” come from?

Grateful for the chance to explore this million dollar question with Julien Crockett in @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, and to share more about the artificial life experiments from my Pi team.

YouTube video by Adam Conover Philosophers Explain How One Person Can Make a Difference with Alex Madva and Michael Brownstein

"this conversation is going to leave you feeling inspired and enlivened... maybe you're going to have a couple ideas about how you can actually do something"

Me and @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social unruin everything with Adam Conover, @adamconover.net!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0O6...

A hand holding a copy of "Monumental: How a New Generation of Artists is Shaping the Memorial Landscape" by Cat Dawson against a plain background.

Delighted to share that Berlin-based architecture writer and curator @carsonchan.bsky.social has included Cat Dawson's "Monumental" in his holiday list of 10 books that defined the year in #design. Read the full list at Cultured Mag: www.culturedmag.com/article/2025... @culturedmag.com.web.brid.gy

Climate, Hope, and the Global Community: A Conversation with Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich by Arley Sorg Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.

Glad to see this interview with me and Joey Eschrich live on @clarkesworldmagazine.com today! Topics include: our new Climate Imagination book, my itinerant upbringing, the mysteries of editing, and our good fortune in working together for over a decade!
clarkesworldmagazine.com/finn-eschric...

We're one week from release of Degrees of Freedom, from @mitpress.bsky.social!

tomwilliamsphd.beehiiv.com/p/degrees-of...

We're excited to meet you at #NeurIPS in San Diego! Visit us at Table 2 during @neuripsconf.bsky.social to discover the latest research in artificial intelligence and machine learning from the Press.