Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson

Yes, we know that Steve Jobs revolutionized The Personal Computer, Digital Media Players, Animated Movies, Smart Phones, and Tablet computers. He legitimized the online music market, created a marketplace for digital applications and re-imagined the retail store experience... we lived through this.  

What I took for granted was the fact that these revolutions happened only because of Steve’s unwavering desire to create a truly amazing product.  Yes, the Ipod is amazing. But it is even more amazing when you consider that Sony already sold an mp3 player, and they already had the rights to every artist in their music division.  Furthermore, they had billions of dollars to research and develop anything they wanted. How could Sony, with all their money, all their power, and all their connections possibly lose this contest?  They didn’t have Steve jobs.

The Singularity is Near - Ray Kurzweil

Humans and computers are going to merge.  It is going to happen in 2045... Whoa Dude!

Kurzweil takes a prediction straight from a bad Star Trek episode, and explains year by year, development by development, how it is going to happen.  

Relax, This is actually a positive thing.  

A big difference between computers and humans is that we are unable to download what we know to our offspring.  Computers, on the other hand, instantly start their “lives” with all the knowledge of their predecessors.

Furthermore, computers can improve their capabilities in their own natural lifetime.  What this means is that once we merge with computers, every problem we currently face will be resolved. How? We will either know how to fix the problem, or we will know how to further improve our own capabilities and Then solve the problem.

**Some parts of the book get pretty dense, skim these sections if you need to, but don’t give up!**

A Brave New World

What would you think of a world where you never aged past 25, you were completely healthy until a few days before death, you had constant, casual companionship from the opposite sex, and you had no jealousy of those better off than you.  The catch is that you would have to give up your free thinking.  

The argument for free will is that it differentiates us from the animals. Furthermore, no one else that makes decisions for you will really give you what you truly want... Personally, I’ll take the constant youth, bountiful sexual partners, and complete acceptance of my place in the system. Thanks!

*If you disagree, consider this a direct challenge to embrace your free will and choose to get off your ass and do something noteworthy with your life!

Nudge - Richard Thaler

“Libertarian Paternalism”

The libertarian part embraces the idea that each person should be free to make their own choices, regardless of how harmful they may be. The paternalism part advocates the idea of making it easier for people to choose the options that are generally regarded as in their own best interests.

The classic example would be a school cafeteria.  Kids may love to eat cake.  But studies have shown that, regardless of taste, we are actually more likely to select whatever is at eye level.  Therefore, if it’s (generally) regarded that kids eating more carrot sticks and less cake would be in their best interest, one could arrange the carrot sticks at eye level, while placing the cake below.

A mind-opening, thought inspiring, and encouraging look at simple, achievable, ideas that could change our country for the better.

The Social Animal - David Brooks

This book is a Trojan horse of knowledge. A fascinating conglomeration of research on psychology, neurology, sociology, and political science that is organized and delivered through the lives of two fictional characters who fall in love.  By the end, you will know a little bit about a lot of things you didn’t even realize you were learning!

If psychology interests you in the least, If you have ever enjoyed a Malcom Gladwell book, you will be completely enamoured with this story.  The research behind both characters’ thoughts and actions caused me to feel an even deeper bond with them and at times I even forgot that they were fictional!  This emotional connection is what every writer aspires to achieve, and with Social Animal, David Brooks knocks it out of the park.