Mine!: From Personal Space to Big Data, How Ownership Shapes Our Lives

Description

'A delicious book.' - Jared Diamond Who controls the space around an aeroplane seat: you or the person behind you trying to work on their laptop? Who owns your favourite football player? And why do Facebook and Google want your private data? In Mine! Michael Heller and James Salzman reveal the hidden economic and social rules that guide everyday life, demonstrating that much of what we assume about ownership is wrong. Whether a lost wallet, a playground swing or a London flat, Mine! explores what ownership means and why it governs everything we do.

Michael Heller is Professor of Real Estate Law and former Vice Dean for Intellectual Life at Columbia Law School. One of the world's leading authorities on ownership, he is the author of The Gridlock Economy. James Salzman is Professor of Environmental Law at UCLA School of Law. He has written more than ninety articles and nine books, including Drinking Water.

'This delicious book will guide you through the confusing maze of ownership disputesthat bedevil our daily lives.' - Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-winning author of Guns, Germs andSteel 'Mine! does for ownership what Dubner and Levitt's Freakonomics did for money: it showsyou the world through a different lens... Its ideas will certainly get your brain whirring.' -Sunday Times 'Mine! is one of those rare and treasured books that make you feel smarter and changethe way you see the world. I haven't had an experience like this as a reader sinceFreakonomics. A rollicking good read, filled with amazing stories about the secretrules of ownership and why they work in unexpected ways.' - Barton Gellman, three-timewinner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Dark Mirror 'Who knew there are hidden rules of ownership controlling our lives? I didn't until I readthis fascinating, illuminating book. I'm very glad I did.' - Robert Cialdini, bestsellingauthor of Influence