{"title":"Books by Peter Ward","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781612199528","title":"The Price of Immortality","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn the tradition of Jon Ronson and Tim Wu,  an absorbing and revelatory  journey into the American Way of Defying Death . . .\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As longevity medicine revolutionizes the lives of many older people,  the quest to take the next step—to live as long as we choose—has spurred a scientific arms race in search of the elixir of life, funded by Big Tech and Silicon Valley.  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Once the stuff of Mesopotamian mythology and episodes of Star Trek, the effort to make humans immortal is becoming increasingly credible as the pace of technological progress quickens. It has also empowered a wild-eyed fringe of pseudo-scientists, tech visionaries, scam-artists, and religious fanatics who have given their lives over to the pursuit of immortality.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Starting off at the Church of Perpetual Life in Florida and exploring the feuding subcultures around the cryonics industry, Peter Ward immerses himself into an eccentric world of startups, scam artists, scientific institutions, and tech billionaires to deliver this deeply reported, nuanced, and sometimes very funny exploration of the race for immortality — and the potentially devastating consequences should humanity realize its ultimate dream.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204924801202,"sku":"9781612199528","price":20.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781612199528.jpg?v=1786023157"},{"product_id":"9780691165806","title":"The Medea Hypothesis – Is Life on Earth Ultimately  Self–Destructive?","description":"In The Medea Hypothesis, renowned paleontologist Peter Ward proposes a revolutionary and provocative vision of life's relationship with the Earth's biosphere--one that has frightening implications for our future, yet also offers hope. Using the latest discoveries from the geological record, he argues that life might be its own worst enemy. This stands in stark contrast to James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis--the idea that life sustains habitable conditions on Earth. In answer to Gaia, which draws on the idea of the \"good mother\" who nurtures life, Ward invokes Medea, the mythical mother who killed her own children. Could life by its very nature threaten its own existence? According to the Medea hypothesis, it does. Ward demonstrates that all but one of the mass extinctions that have struck Earth were caused by life itself. He looks at our planet's history in a new way, revealing an Earth that is witnessing an alarming decline of diversity and biomass--a decline brought on by life's own \"biocidal\" tendencies. And the Medea hypothesis applies not just to our planet--its dire prognosis extends to all potential life in the universe. Yet life on Earth doesn't have to be lethal.   Ward shows why, but warns that our time is running out. Breathtaking in scope, The Medea Hypothesis is certain to arouse fierce debate and radically transform our worldview. It serves as an urgent challenge to all of us to think in new ways if we hope to save ourselves from ourselves.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56294539886965,"sku":"9780691165806","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780691165806_bb9f3842-2655-46f2-9b9d-81db60b9e15b.jpg?v=1786014799"},{"product_id":"9781612198002","title":"The Consequential Frontier","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"A lucid, bright and essential work of reporting, analysis and genuine care. Peter Ward has given us a new way to think about private endeavors in space. Superb.\"⁠\u003c\/b\u003e—Rivka Galchen, author of \u003ci\u003eLittle Labors\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis in-depth work of reportage dares to ask what’s at stake in privatizing outer space\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEarth is in trouble—so dramatically that we’re now scrambling to explore space for valuable resources and a home for permanent colonization. With the era of NASA’s dominance now behind us, the private sector is winning this new space race. But if humans and their private wealth have made such a mess of Earth, who can say we won’t do the same in space?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Consequential Frontier\u003c\/i\u003e, business and technology journalist Peter Ward is raising this vital question before it’s too late. Interviewing tech CEOs, inventors, scientists, lobbyists, politicians, and future civilian astronauts, Ward sheds light on a whole industry beyond headline-grabbing rocket billionaires like Bezos and Musk, and introduces the new generation of activists trying to keep it from rushing recklessly into the cosmos.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith optimism for what humans might accomplish in space if we could leave our tendency toward deregulation, inequality, and environmental destruction behind, Ward shows just how much cooperation it will take to protect our universal resource and how beneficial it could be for all of us.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301762543989,"sku":"9781612198002","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781612198002_0eb1eca5-8e8e-4ff1-9120-762afd315e33.jpg?v=1786023132"},{"product_id":"9781608199105","title":"A New History of Life","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe history of life on Earth is, in some form or another, known to us all--or so we think. \u003ci\u003eA New History of Life \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a provocative new account, based on the latest scientific research, of how life on our planet evolved--the first major new synthesis for general readers in two decades.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharles Darwin’s theories, first published more than 150 years ago, still set the paradigm of how we understand the evolution of life--but scientific advances of recent decades have radically altered that. Now two pioneering scientists draw on their years of experience in paleontology, biology, chemistry, and astrobiology to deliver an eye-opening narrative using a generation’s worth of insights culled from new research. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWriting with zest, humor, and clarity, Ward and Kirschvink show that many of our long-held beliefs about the history of life are wrong. Three central themes emerge. First, Ward and Kirschvink argue that catastrophe shaped life’s history more than all other forces combined--from notorious events like the sudden extinction of dinosaurs to the recently discovered \"Snowball Earth\" and the \"Great Oxygenation Event.\" Second, life consists of carbon, but oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide determined how it evolved. Third, ever since Darwin we have thought of evolution in terms of species. Yet it is the evolution of ecosystems--from deep-ocean vents to rainforests--that has formed the living world as we know it. Ward and Kirschvink tell a story of life on Earth that is at once fabulous and familiar. And in a provocative coda, they assemble discoveries from the latest cutting-edge research to imagine how the history of life might unfold deep into the future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303911207285,"sku":"9781608199105","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781608199105_5c211353-d799-4c3b-92db-de5b44b58608.jpg?v=1786023800"},{"product_id":"9781838369323","title":"King of Sports","description":"'There is no other book in the English language entirely devoted to describing this complex sport. I thought it was high time we had one.'In 1967 Peter Ward crashed in a training ride. While recovering, he wrote the iconic King of Sports: Cycling Road Racing, which hasn't been republished since - until now.   Sixty years ago, King of Sports provided up-and-comers, trainers and veterans with a tried and tested methodology towards not just training and racing, but the lifestyle to go with it. Ward was ahead of his time - he preached the benefits of clean living, while breaking down exactly what that means; he urged his readers to seek out yoga, for 'you will discover much that will benefit you as a cyclist, and it will lead you to a fuller life.'Ward's detailed graphs, diagrams and meticulous listings of equipment and nutrition offer today's tech-fiend cyclist a snapshot into the work ethic of a 1960s amateur cyclist. It demonstrates how far the sport has come, yet how much it has remained unchanged.   This new edition, reimagined for a twenty-first century audience, features a Foreword by former UCI and British Cycling president Brian Cookson, an extended biography of the author, and restored original hand-drawn artwork and photography.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307828195701,"sku":"9781838369323","price":15.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781838369323_cabd26ad-7511-4703-879b-2f76db135714.jpg?v=1786028495"},{"product_id":"9781009572132","title":"Authoritarian Survival and Leadership Succession in North Korea and Beyond","description":"Authoritarian Survival and Leadership Succession in North Korea and Beyond examines how dictators manage elites to facilitate succession. Theoretically, it argues that personalistic incumbents facilitate the construction of a power base of elites from outside of their inner circle to help the successor govern once he comes to power. Then, once in office, successors consolidate power by initially relying on this power base to govern while marginalizing elites from their predecessor's inner circle before later targeting members of their own power base to further consolidate power. The Element presents evidence for these arguments from North Korea's two leadership transitions, leveraging original qualitative and quantitative evidence from inside North Korea. Comparative vignettes of succession in party-based China, Egypt's military regime, and monarchical Saudi Arabia demonstrate the theory's broader applicability. The Element contributes to research on comparative authoritarianism by highlighting how dictators use the non-institutional tool of elite management to facilitate succession.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312032231797,"sku":"9781009572132","price":18.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781009572132.jpg?v=1786017284"},{"product_id":"making-money-in-a-hostile-state","title":"Making Money in a Hostile State","description":"Officially, North Korea is a state-socialist command economy that does not recognize private property and does not permit private enterprise beyond the household. Beneath the façade, however, markets are widespread, affecting the lives of almost every person in the country.   This book offers a pioneering look inside North Korea’s shadow economy, examining the social groups and government policies that shape the country’s market order. Andrei Lankov and Peter Ward trace how North Korean markets have emerged over the past forty years and analyze the state’s shifting strategies for exerting political control over economic activity. They survey four key sectors that are crucial to the daily survival of most North Koreans—farming, fisheries, household production and distribution, and animal husbandry—including both smaller-scale production and larger firms embedded within state structures. Lankov and Ward show how the interactions among entrepreneurs, local officials, and central government policy makers have led to the rise of a unique form of private economic activity.   Making Money in a Hostile State draws on a wide range of sources, such as original interviewees with North Korean escapees, defector memoirs, and official North Korean materials including leaked internal documents. Revealing how markets and entrepreneurship have become a crucial part of the North Korean economy, this book provides new insight into the survival of one of the world’s most repressive regimes.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682701123957,"sku":"9780231224949","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":57536426672501,"sku":"9780231224932","price":117.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-peter-ward.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}