The Birth Lottery and Other Surprises By Shehan Karunatilaka head of TED

head of TED

And suppose your friend went on to confess that he wasn't from around here at all

into a world where - as Nabisco CEO Ross Johnson put it - 'a few million dollars are lost in the sands of time'

One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare

The Birth Lottery and Other Surprises By Shehan Karunatilaka head of TEDIt's a simple car bomb, and it's rigged to a busload of schoolgirls. No one knows it is there except for me.' Unpleasant truths await a Sri Lankan president in the back of a London cab. An advertising agency has to come to terms with a blown up collection of pictures of its employees' penises. A man presumed missing, quietly journals by the sea. A being dispassionately recalls the numerous births it had taken and absurd fates it had to endure. An