Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
Muhammad Yunus
Story of nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunnus' development of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and how he nurtured hundreds of billions of dollars in micro loans of $300 on average and how he changed lives in the process. 98% repayment rates.
Blink
Malcolm Gladwell
Very easy read about the power of enhanced awareness... popular hit
Chaos
James Gleick
Great survey of the history of chaos theory development
Complexity
M. Mitchell Waldrop
Chaos and complexity -- Brian Arthur plays the central role
Democratizing Innovation
Eric Von Hippel
It is pretty darn hard for me not to like this book a lot... The main message is that users indirectly generate the product innovations that are largely adopted thought manufacturers seem to willingly overlook studies supporting this idea perhaps in order to absorb the credit for themselves. If manufacturers incorporated the reality of user innovation into their acknowledged processes far better results would occur....
Does IT Matter?
Nicholas Carr
Nicholas Carr suggested that Information Technology was FULLY commoditized... fails to consider that nearly every company on the planet is either aiming to use technology as a differentiator or aiming to keep up with someone who is... see instead Jim Collins p 144-163 of Good to Great
Future Shock
Alvin Toffler
Absolute classic on change and society... nearly a must read
Guns, Germs and Steel
Jared Diamond
How did civilizations evolve around the planet... Unbelievably good... Pulitizer winner
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Peter F. Drucker
One of the best thinkers walks thru "innovation"
Linked
Albert Laszlo Barabasi
One of the better entries on "network effects"
Mastering the dynamics of innovation
James Utterback
The distinction in between product innovation, dominant design and process innovation... think about Dell vs everyone else
Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win
by William C. Taylor, Polly G. LaBarre
Most anytime I have read something by Polly Labare or associated with Bill Taylor I come out refreshed and inspired and am more open to considering how our business can work better and better everyday... An especially important message is that people matter most of all...
Six Degrees
Duncan Watts
Another winner on "network effects"... easy read
The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure
James Redfield
a search for an ancient manuscript leads to a review of sorts of major changes in society and possible changes ahead
The Future of Peace
Scott Hunt
Scott Hunt interviews a number of world figures to ask there few of what peace is and to understand how their view of peace impacts their view of how change can occur. Psychotics of "change" will love the deep connections and others may fall asleep. I LOVED it!
The Holographic Universe
Michael Talbot
A review of quantum physics leads to a comprehensive review of the world of holistic thinking... interesting collection
The Innovator's Dilemma
Clayton M. Christensen
Shows that innovative companies are unable to follow on with further success due to cultural problems
The Innovator's Solution
Clayton M. Christensen
Superb sequel to his classic Innovator's Dilemma... focus on focusing on "services" and a tie to a brilliant 1975 article by Ted Levitt
Radical Evolution
Joel Garreau
Superbly organized collection of cutting edge thinking of where society and technology growingly meet. The discussion of Jaron Lanier and Jaron's thinking as a separate possibility to Ray Kurzweil's heaven or Bill Joy's hell is extremely useful. Enhanced humans? Who cares so long as there is greater connection?
The Search
John Battelle
A wonderful review of the history of search and Google's role in
it.
The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
Superb piece on issues of centralization and decentralization. In some cases the authors direct speak to the idea we talk of in "uncentralization". I suspect many - like me - will be able to more clearly recognize the current environment having read this book and with the language that the authors provide.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Thomas S. Kuhn
My favorite book on change... published way back in 1962...
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell
Popular recant about why mass markets take off and the phrase "tipping point" has stuck
Unstuck
Keith Yamashita & Sandra Spataro
Identifying points when change is required in companies and how to implement
