THE STUART AGENCY Rights Guide Projects already sold and in various stages of completion sold, or published within the last year Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress By Christopher Ryan (Simon & Schuster, 2019; rights have been sold in Japan, Korea, China, Spain, Russia and Slovakia; remaining translation rights with agent). Sales since October: Over 27,000 in hardcover, ebook and audio combined Material available: Finished book The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live: how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die. Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending—balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths: Civilization is humankind’s greatest accomplishment. Progress is undeniable. Count your blessings. You’re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. Civilized to 1 Death counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the “progress” defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease. Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, Ryan argues, were these pre-civilized dangers more murderous than modern scourges, such as car accidents, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process? At a time when our ecology, our society, and our own sense of selves feels increasingly imperiled, an accurate understanding of our species’ long prelude to civilization is vital to a clear sense of the ultimate value of civilization—and its costs. In Civilized to Death, Ryan makes the claim that we should start looking backwards to find our way into a better future. Praise for Civilized to Death “Engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and thought provoking.” — Booklist “Entertaining and provocative.” —Publishers Weekly "Often zingy and colorful . Civilized to Death is unquestionably well-timed . Ryan is right to highlight the aspects of modern life that have gone off the rails.” —Undark “[A] prescient book about the nature of progress . Civilized to Death will make you see our so-called progress in a whole new light.” —Book Riot “This book takes on 'progress' as a guiding ethos—and does so with gusto.” —The Stranger “It is increasingly clear to many of us that the way we have been living is no longer sustainable, at least as long as we want the earth to outlive us. Civilized to Death is an important guide in this conversation.” —Psychology Today "A fascinating read." —Seattle Times "Every great once in a while, a book comes along that makes you rethink everything you thought you knew. Civilized to Death is without question one of them." —Jesse Bering, PhD, author of The Belief Instinct 2 “Christopher Ryan is one of the most interesting and provocative thinkers of our time. Everyone should read him—you might well disagree but you’ll definitely think differently." —Johann Hari, New York Times–bestselling author of Lost Connections "Read this book and you will never look at the world in the same way again. Humans evolved to survive and reproduce. They were all successful with the second adaptation, with overpopulation that has resulted in famine, overcrowding, and civic strife. Human survival was made possible by the brain's remarkable intelligence. But why hasn't that intelligence produced happier, healthier men and women, even in 'civilized' countries? Christopher Ryan provides the answer in this provocative book, which is destined for classic status. It demonstrates how people are being civilized to death, both literally and metaphorically. It presents a stark picture of how the human experiment may be winding down if not winding up. But it also provides some solutions, brilliant roadmaps that you will find nowhere else, neither in politician's utopian scenarios or futurists' speculations." —Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., co-author Personal Mythology Christopher Ryan, Ph.D. is a psychologist, teacher, and author. Together with Cacilda Jethá, M.D., he is a co-author of the New York Times best seller, Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality (HarperCollins, 2010). Based in Barcelona since the mid-1990s, Christopher has lectured at the University of Barcelona Medical School and consulted at various local hospitals. He speaks about human sexuality to audiences around the world (in both English and Spanish). His work has appeared in major newspapers and magazines in many languages, scholarly journals, and a text book used in medical schools and teaching hospitals throughout Spain and Latin America. He writes regularly for Psychology Today and the Huffington Post. 3 Electric Brain: How the New Science of Brainwaves Reads Minds, Tells Us How We Learn, and Helps Us Change for the Better By Douglas H. Fields, Ph.D. (BenBella Books, 2020; rights have been sold in China; remaining translation rights with agent) Material available: Finished book What is as unique as your fingerprints and more revealing than your diary? Hint: Your body is emitting them right now and has been every single day of your life. Brainwaves. Analyzing brainwaves, the imperceptible waves of electricity surging across your scalp, has been possible for nearly a century. But only now are neuroscientists becoming aware of the wealth of information brainwaves hold about a person’s life, thoughts, and future health. From the moment a reclusive German doctor discovered waves of electricity radiating from the heads of his patients in the 1920s, brainwaves have sparked astonishment and intrigue, yet the significance of the discovery and its momentous implications have been poorly understood. Now, it is clear that these silent broadcasts can actually reveal a stunning wealth of information about any one of us. In Electric Brain, world-renowned neuroscientist and author R. Douglas Fields takes us on an enthralling journey into the world of brainwaves, detailing how new brain science could fundamentally change society, separating fact from hyperbole along the way. 4 In this eye-opening and in-depth look at the most recent findings in brain science, Fields explores groundbreaking research that shows brainwaves can: • Reveal the type of brain you have—its strengths and weaknesses and your aptitude for learning different types of information • Allow scientists to watch your brain learn, glean your intelligence, and even tell how adventurous you are • Expose hidden dysfunctions—including signifiers of mental illness and neurological disorders • Render your thoughts and transmit them to machines and back from machines into your brain • Meld minds by telepathically transmitting information from one brain to another • Enable individuals to rewire their own brains and improve cognitive performance Written by one of the neuroscientists on the cutting edge of brainwave research, Electric Brain tells a fascinating and obscure story of discovery, explains the latest science, and looks to the future—and the exciting possibilities in store for medicine, technology, and our understanding of ourselves. A riveting work of seminal research and gripping storytelling, Electric Brain will encapsulate and explain for the first time the revolutionary new insights into the human brain that are at the forefront of neuroscience. It will be the first book on the neuroscience of brainwaves written for a general audience and will speak to the audience for books on the science of the brain such as Incognito, by David Eagleman, The Future of the Mind, by Michio Kaku, The Tell-Tale Brain by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, The Brain that Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge, Your Brain on Music, by Daniel Levitin and the many popular neuroscience books by the late Oliver Sacks. Praise for The Electric Brain “Forget the hype you’ve heard about ‘brainwaves.’ Read Doug Fields’ facile account of the role of brain electrical activity in mind and behavior.” ◼ Joseph Leddoux, author of The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four- Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains “A lively personal account of the wild west of brain wave research.” ◼ Paul L. Nunez, Ph.D., neuroscientist and author of The New Science of Consciousness: Exploring the Complexity of Brain, Mind and Self 5 “A great book to everyone interested in the most complex matter that exists.” ◼ Gyorgy Buzsaki, author of Rhythms of the Brain and The Brain from Inside Out R. Douglas Fields, Ph.D. is internationally recognized as a neurobiologist and authority on brain development and the cellular mechanisms of memory and is Chief of the Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. He is the author of Why We Snap (Penguin/Dutton, 2016), and The Other Brain (Simon and Schuster, 2008), and he holds degrees from UC Berkeley, San Jose State University, UC San Diego, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford and Yale Universities. His research in neuroscience has been featured in National Geographic, ABC News Nightline, NPR Morning Edition, the BBC World News Service, PBS, and Fox News. He frequently speaks to the general public about neuroscience at major public events including the World Science Festivals in New York and in Genoa, TEDex talk, the Smithsonian Institution, and at many universities throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition to his scientific research, Dr. Fields writes about neuroscience in several popular magazines including Scientific American, Time Magazine, Outside Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Independent, and Scientific American Mind, and he is a regular on-line columnist for The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, Scientific American, the Society for Neuroscience BrainFacts, and others.