Institutional Knowledge: Books By and About MIT from the MIT Press

A renowned engineer and lifelong birder reveals the marvel of how birds work—from the tips of their beaks to the sheen of their tailfeathers.

With over 150 full-color illustrations, a unique gift book for everyone from the avid birder to the bird beginner.

Consider feathers: They define birds’ wings...

A practical handbook for accelerating innovation, both internally and externally, through engagement with innovation ecosystems.

Leaders in large organizations face continuous pressure to innovate, and few possess all the internal resources needed to keep up with rapid advances in innovation, science...

How to build innovation and industrial ecosystems in the US that support global leadership in priority technologies of the future.

A new world order is emerging, and within it, US priorities are shifting. A reconfiguration of global supply chains. The redrawing of geopolitical lines and alliances...

The evolution of MIT, as seen in a series of crucial decisions over the years.

How did MIT become MIT? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology marks the 150th anniversary of its founding in 2011. Over the years, MIT has lived by its motto, “Mens et Manus” (“Mind and Hand”), dedicating itself to...

How the future has been imagined and made, through the work of writers, artists, inventors, and designers.

The future is like an unwritten book. It is not something we see in a crystal ball, or can only hope to predict, like the weather. In this volume of the MIT Press's Essential Knowledge series...

A rallying manifesto for the innovative problem-solving we need to build a better, more verdant, and sustainable planetary existence.

Academics are letting Africa down. With all that we know, what do we have to show for it? Whose lives have been changed for the better by it? What have we done for and...

How minority issues concern all of us, and why a new conception of justice grounded in solidarity can revitalize democracy.

How can the rights of minorities be protected in democracies? The question has been front and center in the US since the Supreme Court’s repeal of affirmative action. In Europe...

The life of trailblazing physicist Mildred Dresselhaus, who expanded our understanding of the physical world.

As a girl in New York City in the 1940s, Mildred “Millie” Dresselhaus was taught that there were only three career options open to women: secretary, nurse, or teacher. But sneaking into...

A provocative call for the transformation of science museums into “idea colliders” that spark creative collaborations and connections.

Today's science museums descend from the Kunst-und Wunderkammern of the Renaissance—collectors' private cabinets of curiosities—through the Crystal Palace exhibition...

An expert exploration of the foundations of America’s science and technology policies, and the dynamics of its innovation system.

Why study science and technology policy? What role does innovation play, and how do we foster it? Economics tells us technological innovation drives economic growth and...

How to create our industrial future with inspiration and lessons from the originators of the industrial revolution.

Climate change, global disruption, and labor scarcity are forcing us to rethink the underlying principles of industrial society. In The New Lunar Society, David Mindell envisions this...

Visual calculating in shape grammars aligns with art and design, bridging the gap between seeing (Coleridge's “imagination”) and combinatoric play (Coleridge's “fancy”).

In Shapes of Imagination, George Stiny runs visual calculating in shape grammars through art and design—incorporating Samuel Taylor...

How innovation hotspots for the world’s aging population may prove to be of vital economic and strategic importance in the years ahead.

Populations around the world are aging, and older adults’ economic influence—already considerable—stands to grow markedly in the decades ahead. Finding ways to make...

An accessible, authoritative, and up-to-date computer vision textbook offering a comprehensive introduction to the foundations of the field that incorporates the latest deep learning advances.

Machine learning has revolutionized computer vision, but the methods of today have deep roots in the history...

A comprehensive update of the leading algorithms text, with new material on matchings in bipartite graphs, online algorithms, machine learning, and other topics.

Some books on algorithms are rigorous but incomplete; others cover masses of material but lack rigor. Introduction to Algorithms uniquely...

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs has had a dramatic impact on computer science curricula over the past decade. This long-awaited revision contains changes throughout the text. There are new implementations of most of the major programming systems in the book, including the...

The first text to take a systems engineering approach to artificial intelligence (AI), from architecture principles to the development and deployment of AI capabilities.

Most books on artificial intelligence (AI) focus on a single functional building block, such as machine learning or human-machine...

An urgently needed exploration of global technology worship, and a measured case for skepticism and agnosticism as a way of life, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Good without God.

Today’s technology has overtaken religion as the chief influence on twenty-first century life and community...

The rich history of a centuries-old document security technology—folding and securing a letter into its own envelope for delivery—and a comprehensive guide to learning how to make your own locked letters.

Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, how did people secure their private...

Why grassroots data activists in Latin America count feminicide—and how this vital social justice work challenges mainstream data science.

What isn’t counted doesn’t count. And mainstream institutions systematically fail to account for feminicide, the gender-related killing of women and girls...

Essays, conversations, selected texts, and a rich collection of thought-provoking artworks celebrate a revolution in bio art. Expertly designed by Omnivore and printed on special papers, including chlorophyll cover and crush citrus and crush cocoa pages.

The texts and artworks in Symbionts provoke a...

A clear, engaging, evidence-based guide to monetizing data, for everyone from employee to board member.


Most organizations view data monetization—converting data into money—too narrowly: as merely selling data sets. But data monetization is a core business activity for both commercial and noncommerci...

A striking analysis of popular board games’ roots in imperialist reasoning—and why the future of play depends on reckoning with it.

Board games conjure up images of innocuously enriching entertainment: family game nights, childhood pastimes, cooperative board games centered around resource management...

How to co-create—and why: the emergence of media co-creation as a concept and as a practice grounded in equity and justice.

Co-creation is everywhere: It’s how the internet was built; it generated massive prehistoric rock carvings; it powered the development of vaccines for COVID-19 in record time...

Two management and technology experts show that AI is not a job destroyer, exploring worker-AI collaboration in real-world work settings.

This book breaks through both the hype and the doom-and-gloom surrounding automation and the deployment of artificial intelligence-enabled—“smart”—systems at work...

A complete overview of quantum mechanics, covering essential concepts and results, theoretical foundations, and applications.

This undergraduate textbook offers a comprehensive overview of quantum mechanics, beginning with essential concepts and results, proceeding through the theoretical foundations...

An integrated introduction to data visualization, strategic communication, and delivery best practices.

Persuading with Data provides an integrated instructional guide to data visualization, strategic communication, and delivery best practices. Most books on data visualization focus on creating good...

A lavishly illustrated catalog of space technology of the future: lab-tested devices, experiments, and habitats for the age of participatory space exploration.

As Earthlings, we stand on the brink of a new age: the Anthropocosmos—an era of space exploration in which we can expand humanity’s horizons...

How to build a flourishing society by using what we know about human nature to design our technology—rather than let technology shape our society.

In Shared Wisdom, Alex Pentland delves into the history of innovation, emphasizing the importance of understanding how technologies and cultural...

An introduction to awe-inspiring ideas at the brink of paradox: infinities of different sizes, time travel, probability and measure theory, and computability theory.

This book introduces the reader to awe-inspiring issues at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics. It explores ideas at the...

How technology and policy can come together to remove carbon from our atmosphere.


Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) is recognized as essential for meeting “net-zero” climate targets. The first definitive resource on CDR, this book is an accessible guide meant to provide a fundamental understanding of the...

The first book on active matter, an emerging field focused on programming physical materials to assemble themselves, transform autonomously, and react to information.

The past few decades brought a revolution in computer software and hardware; today we are on the cusp of a materials revolution. If...

A generously illustrated account of artistic clashes, bureaucratic tangles, and contemporary politics that accompanied the design and building of MIT's Cambridge campus.

At the end of the nineteenth century, MIT occupied an assortment of laboratories, classrooms, offices, and student facilities...

A leading innovation scholar explains the growing phenomenon and impact of free innovation, in which innovations developed by consumers and given away “for free.”

In this book, Eric von Hippel, author of the influential Democratizing Innovation, integrates new theory and research findings into the...

A new approach to safety, based on systems thinking, that is more effective, less costly, and easier to use than current techniques.

Engineering has experienced a technological revolution, but the basic engineering techniques applied in safety and reliability engineering, created in a simpler...

How lessons from kindergarten can help everyone develop the creative thinking skills needed to thrive in today's society.

In kindergartens these days, children spend more time with math worksheets and phonics flashcards than building blocks and finger paint. Kindergarten is becoming more like the...

A POIGNANT LGBT MEMOIR: A leading trans neuroscientist recounts his gender transition, his groundbreaking scientific work, and his advocacy for gender equality in STEM.

“A portrait of a singular personality that was shaped by his status as an outsider.” —Science
 
Ben Barres was known for his...

How the twenty-one-layer Apollo spacesuit, made by Playtex, was a triumph of intimacy over engineering.

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the lunar surface in July of 1969, they wore spacesuits made by Playtex: twenty-one layers of fabric, each with a distinct yet interrelated...

The power of design for transformational change and innovation.

As we transition from the Information Age into the Imagination Age, where creative intelligence and human-only traits are vital to navigating supercomplex and rapidly changing environments, design has become an essential partner to...