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Earlier this month, the celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma turned seventy—an occasion that led him to reflect on not just his own past but also the planet’s future. In a letter to fans, he wrote, “Today, I am worried. In the year 2100, my youngest grandchild will be 76. She will be meeting a world I will not see. I wonder what the world will be like then?” Not long ago, Ma sent us recommendations for three books that have contributed to his thinking on this theme—books that interrogate timeless aspects of human nature, our complex relationships to one another, and our entanglemen

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