I am not inspired this year to do a post on the future. So I have opted to do some 2011 compilations instead. The first one is here.
These are some of the best books I read this year and recommend. They are not all recently published, but all are thought provoking examinations of interesting issues.
- The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard W. Hamming. Hamming was a world famous mathematician who also studied where great ideas come from.
- Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen. Christensen applies his disruptive innovation methodology to the U.S. education system and concludes that something like OLPC is the solution to the current problems.
- Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham. Almost included this book as required reading in my entrepreneurship classes.
- In the Plex by Steven Levy. An excellent history of the early days at Google.
- Monsoon by Robert D. Kaplan. Excellent examination of the historical and current issues surrounding the geo-political significance of the Indian Ocean in the next 50 years. Favorite book of 2011.
- The Next Convergence by Michael Spence. One should read a book by a Nobel Prize winner every year. Book discusses the effects of the digital world on future economic growth.
- The Misbehavior of Markets by Bernard Mandelbrot. Mandelbrot researched in fractal geometry, which lead to chaos theory. The world of finance has not been the same ever since. Required reading for any serious student of finance.
And yes I did read Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Good book but I think you need years of experience in entrepreneurship and/or business to fully appreciate the lessons from Job's. This post on Steve Job's best quote may actually explain my rather eclectic reading list.
I find it tough to find good book recommendations. My best source is Hacker News. Arts & Letters Daily is another good source.
All of these books are available on Amazon as e-books.
