In the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, executives and policymakers are motivated than ever to reduce the vulnerability of social and economic systems to disasters. Most prior work on "critical infrastructure protection" has focused on the responsibilities and actions of government rather than on those of the private sector firms that provide most vital services. Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response is the first systematic attempt to understand how private decisions and operations affect public vulnerability. It describes effective and sustainable approaches - both business strategies and...

In the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, executives and policymakers are motivated than ever to reduce the vulnerability of social and economic systems to disasters. Most prior work on critical infrastructure protection has focused on the responsibilities and actions of government rather than on those of the private sector firms that provide most vital services. Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response is the first systematic attempt to understand how private decisions and operations affect public vulnerability. It describes effective and sustainable approaches both business strategies and...

What do Stone Age axes, Toll House cookies, and Burning Man have in common? They are all examples of code in action.
What is "code"? Code is the DNA of human civilization as it has evolved from Neolithic simplicity to modern complexity. It is the "how" of progress. It is how ideas become things, how ingredients become cookies. It is how cities are created and how industries develop.
In a sweeping narrative that takes readers from the invention of the alphabet to the advent of the Blockchain, Philip Auerswald argues that the advance of code is the key driver of human history. Over the...