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

'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.

Review: This delicious book will guide you through the confusing maze of ownership disputes that bedevil our daily lives. * Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-winning author of Guns, Germs and Steel *
Mine! does for ownership what Dubner and Levitt's Freakonomics did for money: it shows you 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 change the way you see the world. I haven't had an experience like this as a reader since Freakonomics. A rollicking good read, filled with amazing stories about the secret rules of ownership and why they work in unexpected ways. * Barton Gellman, three-time winner 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 read this fascinating, illuminating book. I'm very glad I did. * Robert Cialdini, bestselling author of Influence *
Fascinating... It's immensely clarifying, beautifully written, and perfectly timed -- and it might improve the world to boot. * Cass R. Sunstein, bestselling co-author of Nudge *
With vivid stories and memorable insights, Heller and Salzman decode legal rules about ownership much as Freakonomics decodes economics and psychological rules of incentives. * Martha Minow, Former Dean, Harvard Law School *
Wonderful * Forbes *