The World Economic Forum Book Club Podcast

Carolyn Kousky is the Associate Vice President for Economics and Policy at the Environmental Defense Fund and the author of Understanding Disaster Insurance: New Tools for a More Resilient Future. In this episode, Kousky dives deep into the world of insurance markets, exposing major vulnerabilities and detailing how private and public partnerships can help built insurance models that are capable of responding to the climate crisis.

In the first episode of 2023, Kate Whiting speaks to academics and authors Professor Andrew Pettegree and Dr Arthur der Weduwen about their book The Library: A Fragile History. They discuss why, despite our love of collecting books, they have often been neglected and become tools and targets during times of war, while romance novels have gone from scourge to saviour of the modern-day library.

In this last episode of 2022, host Beatrice Di Caro and Kate Whiting look back at some of their favourite reads of the year, collate top reads from around the World Economic Forum, and share some of the best quotes from authors who have been on the Book Club Podcast. These include Adam Grant, Elif Shafak and Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka.

Paul Daugherty is the Chief Technology Officer at Accenture and co-author of Radically Human: How New Technology Is Transforming Business and Shaping Our Future. In this episode, he discusses how the pandemic accelerated a shift towards a more human-centered use of AI technology and how artificial intelligence will drive four key areas for companies to be successful in future: talent, trust, experiences, and sustainability.

In this episode, author Jon Alexander joins us to discuss his book Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything Is All of Us. How can we become better citizens? That is the question this book studies, looking at how people and societies moved from the subject story of kings and empires to the current consumer story. He argues it is now time to enter the citizen story.