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Books

I’ve included on this page a selection of primarily nonfiction books, in reverse chronological order roughly by a combination of the date published and the date read, that I’ve found to be insightful, especially around the topics we cover in this blog. Check them out:

Books

{Book Review}: The Innovator’s Dilemma

September 2, 2012
Book: The Innovator's DIlemma The innovator’s dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen

Published by HarperBusiness WorldCat • Read Online • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

 

This summer I took time to re-read an oft-overlooked volume that I believe to be the essential to anyone working in marketing and innovation. In this review, I’ll provide a few examples of why this book needs more attention, particularly …

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Books

{Book Review}: The Idea Factory

August 3, 2012
Book: The Idea Factory The idea factory by Jon Gernter

Published by Penguin Press WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

A marvellous exploration of a research and innovation powerhouse that, even viewed from this age of innovation, surprisingly anticipated many approaches we think of as modern breakthroughs.

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Books

{Book Review}: How Will You Measure Your Life?

July 1, 2012
How Will You Measure Your Life? How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth

Published by HarperCollins WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

 I’ve always had the luxury to work in jobs in which I’ve had great passion for the core mission. I’ve come to realize how rare that is. And, with the twenty-first century making career and personal choices an …

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Books

{Book Review} First Principles: The Crazy Business of Doing Serious Science

October 14, 2010
First Principles: The Crazy Business of Doing Serious Science by Howard Burton

Published by Key Porter Books WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

Having met Howard Burton a number of times and getting to know his clear focus and overarching personal candour, this book presents a very personal story of building the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) in Waterloo, …

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Books

{Book Review} Here Comes Everybody

December 13, 2009
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

Published by Penguin Books WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

Clay Shirky does a fantastic job of explaining why lowered transaction costs from recent inventions like computing, internet and mobility have led to a new world order in which individuals can collectively achieve what organizations used to …

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Books

{Book Review} Outliers: The Story of Success

October 11, 2009
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Published by Little, Brown and Co. WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

Malcolm Gladwell’s counter intuitive take on success. He downplays virtuosic brilliance in favour of timing and sheer hard work. Less research driven than some of his words, like all Gladwell books, a fast and easy read. It was almost spooky to read the …

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Books

{Book Review} Business @ the Speed of Thought

August 22, 2009
Business @ the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates

Published by Warner Books WorldCat • Read Online • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

The late 1990’s was a heady time for visionaries. Before the Dot Com Meltdown, it seems that every senior executive, myself included, spent lots of time prognasticating on how technology was transforming the world. From the perspective …

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Books

{Book Review} Grown Up Digital

April 12, 2009
Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott

Published by McGraw-Hill WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

Don Tapscott is a real cheerleader for the Net Generation (also called Generation Y) and justifiably so. Often maligned, and ill understood, this generation has, at their best, harnessed the power to harness digital technologies to truly make the world a better place. While often …

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Books

{Book Review} The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

June 10, 2008
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

Published by Hyperion WorldCat • Read Online • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

Chris Anderson, a former editor at my favourite magazine, The Economist, and now editor at Wired, presents an in depth analysis of how digital technologies have transformed the means of distribution and hence many business models. Coming from the perspective of an economist and …

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Books

{Book Review} Computer Power and Human Reason

October 1, 2007
Computer power and human reason by Joseph Weizenbaum

Published by W. H. Freeman WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

 

This was a seminal work in exploring themes of computing, artificial intelligence and the limits of technology by Joseph Weizenbaum, MIT professor and social thinker. He considered that computers will always lack human emotions and compassion, and that this would …

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