The industry, culture and use of marijuana in Canada has transformed over the past decade as the substance was legalized in 2018 and billions of dollars were on the line.

In this episode of Books in 5, the author of "Catch a Fire: The Blaze and Bust of the Canadian Cannabis Industry" joins us to detail the build-up to this major moment, the policy dynamics in the nation's capital regarding health & safety and the entrepreneurs & influencers who hoped to cash in on the moment.

With unparalleled access to the major protagonists and keen understanding of the critical events, Catch A Fire reveals how the legal cannabis industry developed in Canada.

Ben Kaplan is a writer and editor who worked at GQ, New York Magazine, and the National Post. Originally from Brooklyn, Kaplan is a founder and editor of KIND Magazine, distributed in Canada’s legal weed shops, and the owner of iRun, the country’s largest running magazine. His writing has been published in the New York Times and Spin, and he is a frequent television commentator. He lives in Toronto.

https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459754652-catch-a-fire

X:@iRunningBen

https://x.com/irunningben?lang=ko

Technology companies have grown to such size and influence that they now rival states in command of the world.

In this episode of Books in 5, the author of The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley joins us to reveal how Silicon Valley executives frame the conversation surrounding innovation & economic growth to favour their interests, the ways that technology powers so much of the modern experience in ways that is harmful to civic life and the threats to national sovereignty when the government outsources so much to private firms.

Bringing an insider's view into the manner that policymakers have allowed democracy to be undermined by investors & companies who are motivated by the bottom line, The Tech Coup demonstrates the critical need for leaders to stand up for the rights of their citizens.

Marietje Schaake is international policy director at Stanford University Cyber Policy Center and international policy fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Between 2009 and 2019, she served as a member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands. She writes a monthly column for the Financial Times on technology and governance.

https://press.princeton.edu/books/har...

x:@MarietjeSchaake

https://x.com/MarietjeSchaake

Mass incarceration is a uniquely American phenomenon but it is not simply the result of electoral politics.

In this episode of Books in 5, the author of Justice Abandoned:

How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration joins us to highlight the role of the Supreme Court in enabling the trend of ever-more prisoners as the Justices made a number of key rulings over the past few decades that led to changes in the criminal justice system.

Through an in-depth historical investigation increase of pre-trial detention, plea bargaining, stop-and-frisk policies and a number of other critical judicial decisions, Justice Abandoned showcases how the Supreme Court has deviated from their mandate to safeguard the Constitution of the United States.

Rachel Elise Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU School of Law. A past member of the United States Sentencing Commission, she is the author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration.

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978...

x: @RachelBarkow

https://x.com/RachelBarkow

The rise of China over the past few decades has put it on a collision course with America for world primacy with the CCP utilizing it's industrial might & financial leverage over the rest of the world to get it's way.

In this episode of Books in 5, the author of World On The Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century joins us to highlight the history of this new Cold War, why Taiwan matters so much and what American leaders can do to ensure it maintains it's edge with regard to innovation & foreign policy.

With a keen eye to the past and a thorough understanding of the strengths & weaknesses of the competing worldviews & systems, World on the Brink is a must read as it details the urgency with which the United States and it's allies need to coordinate their response to Beijing's aggressiveness without going over the edge into outright war.

Dmitri Alperovitch is a national bestselling author and an internationally recognized thought leader on geopolitics and national security and co-founder and executive chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a think-tank focused on policy solutions in national security, trade and industrial security, and ecological and economic security.

He is also the co-founder of the leading cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.

Alperovitch serves on the Homeland Security Advisory Council of the Department of Homeland Security and as a founding board member of US Government's Cyber Safety Review Board, and has previously served as a special advisor to the Department of Defense. He has been named in Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Leading Global Thinkers and MIT Technology Review’s Top 35 Innovators Under 35. He is the host of Silverado's Geopolitics Decanted podcast.

https://worldonthebrink.com/

x: ‪@DAlperovitch‬

https://x.com/DAlperovitch

The American government has immense power over it's allies and it's rivals because of the primacy of the US Dollar and the US Treasury has utilized this capability through financial sanctions.

In this episode of Books in 5, the author of Bucking The Buck: US Financial Sanctions and the International Backlash against the Dollar joins us to showcase how the targeted nations attempt to mitigate the harms of American sanctions.

Through in-depth research on the effectiveness of these sanctions in bringing Russia, China and other countries to heel and the response by leaders in Moscow, Beijing and other capitals, Bucking the Buck highlights the need for policymakers to better understand the response to their efforts.

Daniel McDowell is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a 2022-23 Wilson China Fellow at the Wilson Center. His research focuses on the international politics of money and finance, with a focus on the role of the United States and China in these arenas. He is the author of numerous articles in top international relations journals as well as Brother, Can You Spare a Billion? The United States, the IMF, and the International Lender of Last Resort (Oxford, 2017).

https://global.oup.com/academic/produ...

x:@daniel_mcdowell

https://x.com/daniel_mcdowell

https://www.danielmcdowell.org/

The transition currently taking place across the world to a clean economy is being powered by a handful of critical metals.

In this episode of Books in 5, the author of Power Metal: The Race For The Resources That Will Shape The Future joins us to detail the opportunities & challenges ahead as individuals, companies & nations attempt to unlock future prosperity by ramping up the mines & factories necessary to develop these new green products.

Through in-depth reporting on the environmental damage that is taking place as well as the shifting geopolitical order, Power Metal showcases how a more sustainable future is being forged in the midst of even greater human impact on the world.

Vince Beiser is an award-winning journalist and author. His first book, The World in a Grain, was a finalist for the PEN / E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and a California Book Award. His work has appeared in Wired, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, among other publications. He lives with his family in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Follow his newsletter at powermetal.substack.com.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

x:‪@VinceBeiser‬

https://x.com/vincebeiser

Elon Musk has been a consequential figure in so many different avenues of modern life in the 21st century but he operates outside the mould of an executive & public leader.

In this episode of Books in 5, the author of Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk joins us to highlight how his fans & supporters, the media, investors big & small and the government have been delighted & challenged by his personality & his business decisions.

Through in-depth reporting of Musk's life & his effect on the world around him, Hubris Maximus is a must-read as it showcases how the world's wealthiest man has garnered so much attention, power & influence.

Faiz Siddiqui is a technology reporter with The Washington Post's Business Desk covering companies such as Tesla and Twitter. His area of coverage has also included ride-hailing and the race to build autonomous cars.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

x: @faizsays

https://x.com/faizsays

If you are someone with the means and the network, you have the ability the hide, move, shield invest and otherwise utilize your money around the globe in a variety of ways that largely go against international treaties and conventional norms.

In this episode of Books in 5, the author of The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks The World joins us to reveal how the wealthy are creating a parallel system of special economic zones, charter cities, global detention centers and a number of other schemes to further their interests.

Through in-depth reporting and a comprehensive overview of the history of elites bringing the concept of "statelessness" into reality, The Hidden Globe is a must-read to understand how those at the top maintain their position.

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian is a journalist whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, New York magazine, the London Review of Books, and other publications. The author of The Cosmopolites: The Coming of the Global Citizen and a 2024 New America National Fellow, she has worked as an editor at The Nation, an opinion editor at Al Jazeera America, and a reporter for Reuters. She grew up in Geneva and lives in Brooklyn.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/667306/the-hidden-globe-by-atossa-araxia-abrahamian/

X: @atossaaraxia

https://x.com/atossaaraxia