The book is about economic developments and policies in the first decade or so after the independence of the fifteen countries that emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. In those years, the countries were beginning the transition from the Soviet central planning system towards market economies. The book focuses on the role of the IMF in this transition. It explains what the IMF was trying to do and why. It discusses the many controversial issues that involved the IMF, including the collapse in living standards, the speed of economic reforms, the introduction of new currencies, the economic crisis in Russia in 1998 and the widespread corruption. The author had an inside seat as head of the department in the IMF responsible for its work in these countries. He knew the leaders and economic policymakers in all the countries. The style is calm and reasoned, not polemical. Personal anecdotes provide context and color.

"We humans are increasingly aware of the way our activities are altering our environment. We rarely reflect, however, that the entire evolutionary history of life on earth is written essentially in terms of organism' modification of their environment, and responses to the subsequent changes. This book is a wonderful exploration of this strangely neglected topic, opening new vistas on how organisms--including humans--construct ecological niches over evolutionary time. After developing a basic theoretical framework, the authors first indicate applications of these new ideas to evolutionary biology, to ecology, and to the human sciences. They even risk some testable predictions. I think this book is a 'must read.'"--Robert M. May, University of Oxford

"There has been a growing understanding in biology that organisms do not simply 'adapt' to preexisting environments, but that they actively change and construct the world in which they live. Not until "Niche Construction," however, has that understanding been turned into a coherent structure that brings together the observations about natural history and an exact dynamical theory. The sobriquet, 'landmark' is casually used to press the virtues of books, but seldom can it be taken seriously, Niche Construction really is a landmark book."--Richard Lewontin, Harvard University

"If the amount of attention warranted by this book is paid to it, the result should be a massive reorientation of evolutionary theory."--David Hull, Northwestern University

"This ambitious book tackles a problem of fundamental importance in science: the whole-hearted synthesis of the disciplines of ecology and evolution. The marriage of these two has often beenannounced, but the consummation of the union is long overdue."--Robert D. Holt, University of Florida

"Organisms are affected by the world in which they live but also influence that world. Importantly, they may play an active role in constructing the ecological niche into which they fit. This construction process inevitably affects the evolution of their descendants. Odling-Smee, Laland, and Feldman have provided the first full-length treatment of an intensely absorbing topic which deserves the close attention of anybody interested in evolution."--Patrick Bateson, The Provost's Lodge, King's College, Cambridge