Mine!

How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives

By: Michael A. Heller, James Salzman

Narrated by: René Ruiz

“Mine” is one of the first words babies learn, and by the time we grow up, the idea of ownership seems natural, whether we are buying a cup of coffee or a house. But who controls the space behind your airplane seat: you, reclining, or the squished laptop user behind you? Why is plagiarism wrong, but it’s okay to knock off a recipe or a dress design? And after a snowstorm, why does a chair in the street hold your parking space in Chicago, while in New York you lose both the space and the chair?

In Mine!, Michael Heller and James Salzman, two of the world’s leading authorities on ownership, explain these puzzles and many more. Remarkably, they reveal, there are just six simple rules that everyone uses to claim everything. Owners choose the rule that steers us to do what they want. But we can pick differently. This is true not just for airplane seats, but also for battles over digital privacy, climate change, and wealth inequality. Mine! draws on mind-bending, often infuriating, and always fascinating accounts from business, history, courtrooms, and everyday life to reveal how the rules of ownership control our lives and shape our world.

©2021 Michael A. Heller (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"An easy-to-read Freakonomics-style ramble through the space-saver wars of South Boston and the ingenious architecture of Disney World’s skip-the-line FastPass+, the book challenges our assumptions about who owns what - and explores how those assumptions can be manipulated, for good or for ill." (The Boston Globe)

“This delicious book will guide you through the confusing maze of ownership disputes that bedevil our daily lives. Who owns your ‘private’ information, your Netflix password, your yard’s airspace, and the chair of your deceased parents that you and your sister now both want? It’s often unclear: read and prepare yourself!” (Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize)

"In Mine!, Heller and Salzman examine a wide array of ways that people lay claim to things, both actual (as in treasure) and more abstract (as in ideas). Since ownership is constructed, it’s always up for grabs." (The New Yorker)

“Thought-provoking.... Mine! sets out to change the way we think about what we own, which is often decidedly at odds with reality.” (The New York Times Book Review)

really enjoyed this book

interesting line of thought , I really enjoyed this book and it's stories.
good

Fantastic book

Great book. I would recommend it to anyone. Just a well written book with great prospective on so many things.

Interesting

Interesting and educational. I was skeptical, but it is an interesting evaluation of social norms mixed with laws and other things you just don’t come across daily

The history of the Mine

This is a very interesting story of the Mine concept over the centuries and generations. The sense of possession has largely changed over the years. What was essential for us in the past seems superfluous today. While companies are taking profit if this cultural change Uber, Apple, Amazon it is not clear if we are victim or actors.

Great, clear, interesting

Really enjoyed this book that gave clear, interesting examples to explain legal notions about property and ownership.

Totally new perspective and easy listen

It was refreshing to think about the definition of ownership can impact society. Easy to understand with good examples. Good to listen to.

A great premier on on ownership

Covers a wide variety of conceptions of ownership and problems and proposed solutions. Then takes a look at their modern application and proposes ways to use ownership to solve modern problems.

Great Overview Of the Legal Implications of Owning

very much enjoyed the listen. would be great if the scope was more international and not mostly focused on examples from the USA. How are these concepts common globally?

Excellent read

Wow. Great perspective that I never considered. We’ll worth the read my personal favorite was on the medical field and patents creating grid lock

Very enlightening and thought provoking!

This was a very interesting dive into the concept of ownership - a concept that I had not before felt the need to fully understand snd/or investigate. What are the rules of ownership and what can we really own in this digital age were questions that emerged for me from the text. Is ownership always legally determined? Is there room for ethical principles to also prevail? These are questions with which I still grapple I highly recommend this book!