The MIT Press

01/12/2026

For years, inflation barely crossed Americans’ minds. Then the pandemic hit — and prices exploded: eggs soared, gas spiked, and flights became unaffordable. Inflation moved from an abstract economic term to the center of a white-hot political debate, shaping the 2024 election. Economist Martha Olney unpacks what drives inflation, the Fed’s balancing act, and the uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs. “If tariffs stay where they are,” she says, “we’re going to see price impacts — likely in 2026."

An award-winning Berkeley economist explains what drives inflation, how the Fed fights it, and what Donald Trump’s dizzying tariff policies might mean for our wallets.

01/12/2026

The science of aging is rife with misleading claims, mistaken assumptions, and outright chicanery. Saul Justin Newman, winner of the 2024 Ig Nobel Prize for research debunking data on the world’s oldest people, sets out to discover what’s rotten and what’s real in the science of dying in his darkly comedic book, "Morbid."

"Morbid" releases June 9th, 2026: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262052719/morbid/

01/11/2026

2025 was supposed to be the Year of the A.I. Agent. According to Gary Marcus, however, AI agents have been a dud. "They’re building clumsy tools on top of clumsy tools," the author of "Taming Silicon Valley" told Cal Newport for The New Yorker:

This was supposed to be the year when autonomous agents took over everyday tasks. The tech industry overpromised and underdelivered.

01/10/2026

Everyone hates a hypocrite. In Dante’s “Inferno,” hypocrites are “sheer filth.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau compared a hypocrite’s soul to “a co**se, without fire, or warmth, or vitality left.” Hannah Arendt called the hypocrite “rotten to the core.” That obsession still runs deep today.

But Michael Hallsworth argues that endlessly rooting out hypocrisy can backfire: “We fall into a self-satisfied certainty,” or “we exhaust the concept of hypocrisy.” His fix? More self-consistency, fewer accusations, more grace: “What matters is the reaction.”

In an era of callouts and gotchas, endlessly hunting out contradictions distorts the problems we’re trying to solve.

01/09/2026

🪶 COVER REVEAL 🪶

In "Birds Up Close," renowned engineer and lifelong birder Lorna Gibson reveals the marvel of how birds work. With over 150 full-color illustrations, feathers, bones, bills, eggs, and flight all come in for scrutiny in this engaging book. Drawing on her expertise and personal experience in both engineering and ornithology, Gibson explores the hidden microscopic structures and engineering principles that keep our avian friends aloft and alive.

Look for "Birds Up Close" this spring, April 28th, 2026: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049894/birds-up-close/

01/08/2026

Even as voice synthesis technologies improved, Stephen Hawking insisted on using his first voice synthesizer, "Perfect Paul," for over 30 years, until his passing. As Reuters reported following his death, Hawking’s synthesized voice "was his tool and his trademark, [a] robotic drawl that somehow enhanced the profound impact of the cosmological secrets he revealed."

In honor of what would have been his 84th birthday, we’re revisiting Sarah Bell’s story on Stephen Hawking’s voice — iconic not just for its sound, but for the identity it carried.

Hawking’s refusal to upgrade his communication system preserved a voice that became iconic, not just for its sound, but for the profound identity it conveyed.

01/07/2026

Virginia McGee Richards’s forthcoming book is a deeply moving photographic documentary of a forgotten escape route for Black freedom seekers. Including an introduction by Imani Perry and a foreword by New York Times photographer James Estrin, this book offers a powerful, living map of Southern history and the Inner Passage in 60 extraordinary photographs.

"The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway" publishes on April 7th, 2026. Learn more, including where to preorder, here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051712/the-inner-passage/

01/06/2026

In celebration of Technology Day, we’ve curated a list of must-read books from leading tech thinkers — John Maeda, Bruce Schneier, Blaise Agüera y Arcas, and De Kai — exploring where AI is headed and how it’s transforming our world. Browse the full collection on our blog. https://mitpress.mit.edu/embracing-the-ai-revolution-on-technology-day-2026/

01/05/2026

Earthworms fundamentally unsettle what the architect knows about form and function. With no visible front or back, writes Teresa Stoppani, these critters move through soil solely by smell and taste.

Yet for Forensic Architecture, these traces were vital tools: Soil from 6,000-year-old Ukrainian settlements revealed human–worm collaboration, inspiring “The Nebelivka Hypothesis” — an ancient city shaped by cooperation, not hierarchy:

When a creature has no discernible front or back and is blind to shape, it unsettles our grasp of form and function.

01/05/2026

In "Expecting Inequity," Khiara M. Bridges — a leading expert on race, class, maternal health, and reproductive rights — provides an unsparing expose of racism in maternal healthcare. Applying on-the-ground observations, data, and personal patient and physician stories, Bridges reveals that wealth does not improve maternal health at all for pregnant black Americans. In fact, the opposite is true.

Look for "Expecting Inequity" in March 2026: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051552/expecting-inequity/

01/03/2026

Stuttering affects more than 5% of all preschool-age children and remains chronic in approximately 1% of adults worldwide. in the Neurobiology of Language, an article on stuttering surveys recent research & priorities for the future:

Abstract. Our understanding of the neurobiological bases of stuttering remains limited, hampering development of effective treatments that are informed by basic science. Stuttering affects more than 5% of all preschool-age children and remains chronic in approximately 1% of adults worldwide. As a co...

01/02/2026

Happy National Science Fiction Day! We have a great stack of Radium Age books ready to read, thanks to The MIT Press Bookstore, and plenty of recommendations for you here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/science-fiction-day-2026-lessons-for-our-coming-apocalypse/