Everybody tells you to live for a cause larger than yourself, but how exactly do you do it? The bestselling author of The Road to Character explores what it takes to lead a meaningful life in a self-centered world." -- From Amazon.com summary.

From the influential and hugely popular "New York Times" columnist and bestselling author of "Bobos in Paradise" comes a landmark exploration of how human beings and communities succeed.

A team of soldiers and scientists has five years to find a cure for a plague decimating Earth. War zone: After the Drakh infect Earth with a plague, Captain Gideon is called to Earth and given a new assignment. Using the brand-new Interstellar Alliance deep range vessel Excalibur, he and his crew must search for any clues to a cure for the plague. If a cure is not found within five years, everyone on Earth will soon die. The long road: Earth's strip...

A compendium of literary humor from the pages of "The New Yorker."