Is the internet destroying the middle class? Why can’t our governments fix problems? How is it that the UN missions to protect people sometimes become spectators to mass murder? The following collection of 2013 book excerpts offers new ways of looking at these questions, as well as at some of the toughest issues we face, from the rise of Asia to the emergence of a cybersecurity state. A summer break from the daily church offers a great chance to absorb these ideas.

Time to read. Time to think.

Photo: iMoved Studio / Shutterstock