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Seung, Sebastian

CONNECTOME: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, February 2012)
Hardcover (384 pages)



Amazon Top 100 Books of 2012!
The bold and thrilling quest to finally understand the brain—and along with it our mental afflictions, from depression to autism—by a rising star in neuroscience

We know that each of us is unique, but science has struggled to pinpoint where, precisely, our uniqueness resides. Is it in our genes? The structure of our brains? Our genome may determine our eye color and even aspects of our personality. But our friendships, failures, and passions also shape who we are. The question is: how?

Sebastian Seung, a dynamic professor at MIT, is on a quest to discover the biological basis of identity. He believes it in the pattern of connections between the brain’s neurons, which change slowly over time as we learn and grow. The connectome, as it’s called, is where our genetic inheritance intersects with our life experience. It’s where nature meets nurture.
Seung introduces us to the dedicated researchers who are mapping the brain’s connections, neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse. It is a monumental undertaking—the scientific equivalent of climbing Mount Everest—but if they succeed, it could reveal the basis of personality, intelligence, memory, and perhaps even mental disorders. Many scientists speculate that people with anorexia, autism, and schizophrenia are “wired differently,” but nobody knows for sure. The brain’s wiring has never been seen clearly.

In sparkling clear prose, Seung reveals the amazing technological advances that will soon help us map connectomes. He also examines the evidence that these maps will someday allow humans to “upload” their minds into computers, achieving a kind of immortality.

CONNECTOME is a mind-bending adventure story, told with great passion and authority. It presents a daring scientific and technological vision for at last understanding what makes us who we are. Welcome to the future of neuroscience.
Sebastian Seung is Professor of Computational Neuroscience and Physics at MIT and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He has made important advances in artificial intelligence and neuroscience. His research has been published in leading scientific journals and also featured in the New York Times, Technology Review, and the Economist.

Praise:
“…the best lay book on brain science I've ever read.”

–McGill University Professor Daniel J. Levitin in the Wall Street Journal

"A landmark work, gorgeously written. No other researcher has traveled as deeply into the brain forest and emerged to share its secrets." –David Eagleman, author of Incognito and Sum

“‎This is complicated stuff, and it is a testament to Dr. Seung’s remarkable clarity of exposition that the reader is swept along with his enthusiasm, as he moves from the basics of neuroscience out to the farthest regions of the hypothetical, sketching out a spectacularly illustrated giant map of the universe of man.” — New York Times
Rights sold:

Shapiro, Dana Adam
YOU CAN BE RIGHT OR YOU CAN BE MARRIED: Looking for Love in the Age of Divorce
(Scribner, September 2012)
Hardcover, 256 pages
World English rights with Scribner

A timely collection of brutally candid break-up stories resulting from three years of interviews by an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker, YOU CAN BE RIGHT OR YOU CAN BE MARRIED began as an oral history about the failures of an age-old institution and evolved into a practical marriage guide as racy and romantic as it is revelatory.
Skeptical about traditional marriage and fed-up with preachy self-help books telling us how to be better husbands and wives, Shapiro, a thirty-eight-year-old bachelor, decided to crisscross the country with a tape recorder in an effort to better understand the roulette-level odds of maintaining a lifelong romantic union. Believing you learn more from failure than from success, he collected stories from hundreds of divorced people, hoping to uncover the myriad secrets about why love dies.

The result is an all access, wholly original treasure trove of marital wisdom from regular people who thought they’d found “the one” and lived to tell the tales of how it went wrong. No subject was too taboo, and these anonymous interviews reveal heartbreaking, heartwarming insights about sex, fighting, money, addiction, in-laws, and the Internet.

Profoundly personal yet universally relevant, this is a page-turning, voyeuristic peek into the lives of our friends and neighbors that is sure to spark heated debate and serious self-reflection. But ultimately, YOU CAN BE RIGHT OR YOU CAN BE MARRIED is a hopeful examination of modern love.

Dana Adam Shapiro directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary Murderball. He is the author of The Every Boy, a former senior editor at Spin, and a contributor to The New York Times Magazine. He lives in Venice, California.

Praise:
“After reading Dana Adam Shapiro’s fascinating and revealing book, I will never again take my marriage for granted. I would write more, but I have to go buy some scented candles and tidy up the kitchen.”
–A.J. Jacobs, author of Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection

“A wonderful and important piece of thinking and reporting.”

–Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Committed: A Love Story and Eat, Pray, Love

"A book about divorce written by a man who's never been married should be ridiculous. And yet I gobbled up this odd and touching and delicious book. I read it in a single sitting. And what's more, I learned something new about love and marriage and passion and commitment."

–Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road and Love and Other Impossible Pursuits

Sheldrake, Rupert
SCIENCE SET FREE: 10 Paths to New Discovery

(Originally published by Hodder & Stoughton UK in January 2012 as The Science Delusion)
(Deepak Chopra Books/Crown/Random House, September 2012)

Hardcover (400 pages)

The bestselling author of Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home offers an intriguing new assessment of modern day science that will radically change the way we view what is possible.

In SCIENCE SET FREE, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world's most innovative scientists, shows the ways in which science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity.
 
According to these principles, all of reality is material or physical; the world is a machine, made up of inanimate matter; nature is purposeless; consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain; free will is an illusion; God exists only as an idea in human minds, imprisoned within our skulls.
 
But should science be a belief-system, or a method of enquiry? Sheldrake shows that the materialist ideology is moribund; under its sway, increasingly expensive research is reaping diminishing returns while societies around the world are paying the price.
 
In the skeptical spirit of true science, Sheldrake turns the ten fundamental dogmas of materialism into exciting questions, and shows how all of them open up startling new possibilities for discovery.
 
SCIENCE SET FREE will radically change your view of what is real and what is possible.

Rupert Sheldrake studied natural sciences at Cambridge and philosophy at Harvard, took a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Cambridge, and was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. The author of several books and more than fifty scientific papers, he lives in London.


Praise:
“Science is ready to evolve beyond materialism and dogma. Rupert Sheldrake is a pioneer who is paving the way for the future of the sciences.” –Deepak Chopra, M.D., co-author of War of the Worldviews

“Rupert Sheldrake drags ten of the most powerful dogmas out of the basement and into the light of day; and does science, humanity and the world a large, a considerable favour.” –The Independent (UK)

“This provocative and engaging book will make you question basic assumptions of Western science. I agree with Rupert Sheldrake that, among other problems, those assumptions hinder medical progress because they severely limit our understanding of health and illness. I will recommend SCIENCE SET FREE to my colleagues, students, patients, and friends.” –Andrew Weil, M.D., author of Spontaneous Happiness

“Sheldrake is an excellent scientist: the proper, imaginative kind that in an earlier age discovered continents and mirrored the world in sonnets.” –New Scientist

Rights sold:

Stollack, Kayli
GRANNY IS MY WINGMAN

(Amazon Publishing, Fall 2013)

Manuscript due May 2013
World English rights with Amazon

A fun, lighthearted look at the modern dating scene through an irreverent, cross-generational challenge between a grandmother and granddaughter to get back out there and meet people, pitched as Sh*t My Dad Says meets Jane Juska’s A Round-Heeled Woman.
Based on a blog of the same name which has received tremendous attention, the book will tell the story of the year Kayli Stollak, recently dumped by a longtime boyfriend, spent online dating with her single 75-year-old grandmother.  And this is no ordinary granny!  As Stollack writes: “Granny is a ball-busting, shit-talking, gossipy yenta with an anecdote or piece of unsolicited advice for every situation.  At 75, she is a sharp-tongued firecracker with more experience than anyone I know.”
While Kayli is getting over her break-up, her Grandma is busy nursing her own wounds.  She recently made contact with the man whom she had a torrid 25-year affair with and realized the passion they shared was now gone for good.  As Granny and Kayli start dating and compare notes over the course of the year, they learn that the search for happiness hasn’t changed much, whether you’re 25 or 75.
Kayli Stollak is a writer, charity founder and dance move creator located in New York City. She spends her nights online dating and her days laughing about it with her Granny. You can find her work on her blog.
Film rights: Barry Kotler at CAA
Rights sold:

German: Mosaik/RH Germany

Ubel, Peter A.
CRITICAL DECISIONS: How You and Your Doctor Can Make the Right Medical Choices Together
(HarperOne, September 2012)
Hardcover, 368 pages
Combining riveting medical stories with groundbreaking research in behavioral science, practicing physician Dr. Peter Ubel exposes the doctor/patient communication problems that contribute to bad medical decisions and helps create prepared patients who make informed choices for their long term health and happiness.

We’ve all been there, sitting uncomfortably in a paper gown as a doctor impassively describes our prognosis. Sometimes it’s simple and treatable. Other times we get news we can’t fathom, and then are faced with decisions that are literally life and death. How do we decide?
In this revolutionary book, practicing physician, behavioral scientist, and bioethicist Peter Ubel M.D. reveals how hidden dynamics in the doctor/patient relationship keep us, and our loved ones, from making the best medical choices. From doctors who struggle to explain, to patients who fail to properly listen, countless factors alter the course of our care, causing things to go seriously awry.
With riveting stories of Ubel’s own experience in the field, his groundbreaking research, and his personal journey walking loved ones through difficult treatment choices, CRITICAL DECISIONS will forever change the way we communicate inside hospitals and medical offices, where thoughtful decision making matters the most. Dr. Ubel, shows how patients and doctors can learn to become partners, improve communication, and make confident decisions for our future health and happiness.

Peter A. Ubel M.D. is a physician and a behavioral scientist at Duke University. He is the author of three books: Pricing Life, You’re Stronger than You Think and Free Market Madness. He writes for numerous science publications as well as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Psychology Today, and The New England Journal of Medicine.
Praise:
“There cannot be many physicians who also do serious psychological research and explore the ethical dilemmas of their profession. It is unlikely that there is anyone besides Ubel who can do all these things extremely well.”

–Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow

“The doctor’s office is the worst place to make a mistake.  As a physician and a social scientist, Peter Ubel is unparalleled in his understanding of some of the most important decisions we are all facing, or will face.”

--Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational
“Peter Ubel is a top notch scientist and writer. His ideas are important, his style is accessible (with the right balance of humor and compassion) and his topic is timely. We need someone like Peter, no—we need Peter—to help us sort out how patients and their doctors can better work together to make these important decisions.”

--Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness

Rights sold:

Australia/New Zealand: Text Publishing

Chinese (C): Flaneur
German: Verlag Hans Huber

Underwood, Lynn
SPIRITUAL CONNECTION IN DAILY LIFE: Sixteen Little Questions That Can Make a Big Difference
(Templeton Press Trade Paperback, May 2013)
Manuscript due February 2013 (226 pages)

How often do you find moments of deep peace and satisfaction in your day-to-day life? How often does connection with other people, the divine, or nature make you feel more alive? How often are you touched by a sense of awe-inspiring beauty, compassionate love, or pure joy? For many of us, these kinds of experiences tend to be fleeting and all too rare. Fortunately, new research is suggesting that a regular practice of paying attention to experiences like these can help any of us find them more often and cultivate richer, deeper, and more satisfying lives.

In SPIRITUAL CONNECTION IN DAILY LIFE, Lynn Underwood introduces her Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES), which is comprised of sixteen simple, multiple-choice questions that invite us to become more attuned to these extraordinary experiences in ordinary life. The DSES is the definitive set of questions for measuring the experience of spiritual connection and has been used in hundreds of studies, translated into over twenty languages, and used around the world by counselors, therapists, nurses, social workers, clergy from multiple faiths, and business leaders.

SPIRITUAL CONNECTION IN DAILY LIFE offers a step-by-step guide to using the DSES to improve our abilities to sense the “more than” in the midst of our days. Embraced by people from many different cultures, religious traditions, and professional backgrounds, the DSES doesn’t require any “spirituality.” Rather, it simply invites us to focus on aspects of our daily lives such as deep peace, sense of inner strength, longing, and compassionate love. The sixteen questions also provide a common, non-polarizing language for communicating with others about the role of the “more than” in our lives.

Adherents of all faith traditions, as well as people with no religious leanings whatsoever, have experienced profound and lasting benefits from having these experiences, including improved health behaviors, better relationships, decreased stress and burnout, and improvements in daily mood. Now all of us can reap these same long-term benefits with just a little bit of self-reflection and Dr. Underwood’s expert guidance.

Lynn Underwood--scientist-artist-teacher-consultant--is an expert in research design and has inter-disciplinary interest in compassionate love and ethics.



Van Praet, Douglas

UNCONSCIOUS BRANDING: How Neuroscience Can Empower (And Inspire) Marketing

(Palgrave, November 2012)

Hardcover (288 pages)
UK Rights with Palgrave

Every year marketers and advertisers spend billions of dollars and countless resources developing and testing new products and brand messages through consumer research surveys and in-depth interviews. However the outcomes of these efforts are notoriously poor predictors of in-market success, evidenced by the fact that only two out of ten products make it past their initial launch. What are we doing wrong? What questions aren’t we asking?

Utilizing revolutionary concepts from the field of cognitive science, author Douglas Van Praet reveals that consumer decisions are made on the unconscious level, where standard market research does not penetrate. Asking a consumer what they want or why they do what they do is pointless, because even they do not understand their own preferences of the complex procedure by which their unconscious minds make decisions.
Van Praet uncovers the hidden intuitive stories behind successful new product launches and marketing campaigns. By examining real world examples, Van Praet demystifies the process that brilliant advertising and marketing professionals have used to great success, in campaigns such as “Got Milk?"; Nike’s "Just Do It"; and Volkswagen’s infamous "Punch Dub" launch as well as their universally beloved “The Force” (Mini Darth Vader) Super Bowl commercial.

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