Steven Sinofsky
ॐ • Subscribe to https://t.co/HO6BEn7SN1 • seed investing • advising • writing • everlaw boxhq tanium w/a16z … •📷• ॐ •🙏• tweets kept 90 days
60+ Book Recommendations by Steven Sinofsky
The Man from the Future
Ananyo Bhattacharya
A vibrant biography of the renowned scientist and the world he made.Strong recommendation for this book: THE MAN FROM THE FUTURE: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann By Ananyo Bhattacharya @Ananyo https://t.co/wUAAqVDt7L // Super interesting and fun read
Build
Tony Fadell
@pmarca @sriramk @aarthir @GoodTimeShowAS @amazon Good example of an idea maze being followed is his journey to the iPod then iPhone from 15 years earlier described here by @tfadell https://t.co/cT4MVSoiIk
Expert Political Judgment
Philip E. Tetlock
Since its original publication, Expert Political Judgment by New York Times bestselling author Philip Tetlock has established itself as a contemporary classic in the literature on evaluating expert opinion. Tetlock first discusses arguments about whether the world is too complex for people to find the tools to understand political phenomena, let alone predict the future. He evaluates predictions from experts in different fields, comparing them to predictions by well-informed laity or those based on simple extrapolation from current trends. He goes on to analyze which styles of thinking are more successful in forecasting. Classifying thinking styles using Isaiah Berlin's prototypes of the fox and the hedgehog, Tetlock contends that the fox--the thinker who knows many little things, draws from an eclectic array of traditions, and is better able to improvise in response to changing events--is more successful in predicting the future than the hedgehog, who knows one big thing, toils devotedly within one tradition, and imposes formulaic solutions on ill-defined problems. He notes a perversely inverse relationship between the best scientific indicators of good judgement and the qualities that the media most prizes in pundits--the single-minded determination required to prevail in ideological combat. Clearly written and impeccably researched, the book fills a huge void in the literature on evaluating expert opinion. It will appeal across many academic disciplines as well as to corporations seeking to develop standards for judging expert decision-making. Now with a new preface in which Tetlock discusses the latest research in the field, the book explores what constitutes good judgment in predicting future events and looks at why experts are often wrong in their forecasts.@pmarca @sriramk @aarthir @GoodTimeShowAS @pmarca book #1 on predictive markets and why listening to experts in times of dramatic change might not be prudent. Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? - New Edition by ... https://t.co/HapRJqqiyg via @amazon
Build
Tony Fadell
Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat and learned enough in 30+ years in Silicon Valley about leadership, design, startups, Apple, Google, decision-making, mentorship, devastating failure and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia. So that's what this book is. An advice encyclopedia. A mentor in a box. Written for anyone who wants to grow at work--from young grads navigating their first jobs to CEOs deciding whether to sell their company--Build is full of personal stories, practical advice and fascinating insights into some of the most impactful products and people of the 20th century. Each quick 5-20 page entry builds on the previous one, charting Tony's personal journey from a product designer to a leader, from a startup founder to an executive to a mentor. Tony uses examples that are instantly captivating, like the process of building the very first iPod and iPhone. Every chapter is designed to help readers with a problem they're facing right now--how to get funding for their startup, whether to quit their job or not, or just how to deal with the jerk in the next cubicle. Tony forged his path to success alongside mentors like Steve Jobs and Bill Campbell, icons of Silicon Valley who succeeded time and time again. But Tony doesn't follow the Silicon Valley credo that you have to reinvent everything from scratch to make something great. His advice is unorthodox because it's old school. Because Tony's learned that human nature doesn't change. You don't have to reinvent how you lead and manage--just what you make. And Tony's ready to help everyone make things worth making.Just ordered "Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making" by @tfadell. I can't imagine a better opportunity to read about Building from such an experienced master. https://t.co/V4ZUFDVZx8 https://t.co/O5tx8djfkz
Grandstanding
Justin Tosi
We are all guilty of it. We call people terrible names in conversation or online. We vilify those with whom we disagree, and make bolder claims than we could defend. We want to be seen as taking the moral high ground not just to make a point, or move a debate forward, but to look a certain way--incensed, or compassionate, or committed to a cause. We exaggerate. In other words, we grandstand. Nowhere is this more evident than in public discourse today, and especially as it plays out across the internet. To philosophers Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke, who have written extensively about moral grandstanding, such one-upmanship is not just annoying, but dangerous. As politics gets more and more polarized, people on both sides of the spectrum move further and further apart when they let grandstanding get in the way of engaging one another. The pollution of our most urgent conversations with self-interest damages the very causes they are meant to forward. Drawing from work in psychology, economics, and political science, and along with contemporary examples spanning the political spectrum, the authors dive deeply into why and how we grandstand. Using the analytic tools of psychology and moral philosophy, they explain what drives us to behave in this way, and what we stand to lose by taking it too far. Most importantly, they show how, by avoiding grandstanding, we can re-build a public square worth participating in.Super interesting book. If there was to be something like a social network participants manual then this would contribute a good deal. Moral grandstanding is part of human nature but can be counterproductive. Lots to think about. @JustinTosi @BrandonWarmke https://t.co/JjHuMwYex4
The Righteous Mind
Jonathan Haidt
Presents a groundbreaking investigation into the origins of morality at the core of religion and politics, offering scholarly insight into the motivations behind cultural clashes that are polarizing America.@michelletandler Maybe: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion https://t.co/v6hk2kszB8
The Founders
Jimmy Soni
“Deeply reported and bracingly written, this book is an indispensable guide to modern innovation and entrepreneurship.” —Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Code Breaker A definitive, deeply reported look at the origin of PayPal and its founding team, including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, and others whose stories have never before been told. They have defined the modern world. This experience defined them. Today, PayPal’s founders and earliest employees are considered the technology industry’s most powerful network. Since leaving PayPal, they have formed, funded, and advised the leading companies of our era, including Tesla, Facebook, YouTube, SpaceX, Yelp, Palantir, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Airbnb, among many others. They defined 21st-century innovation and entrepreneurship—and still shape that template today. Their names stir passions; they’re as controversial as they are admired. Yet for all their influence, the story of how they first connected and cut their start-up teeth has gone untold. Before igniting the commercial space race or jumpstarting social media’s rise, they were the unknown creators of a scrappy online payment company called PayPal. It would grow to become one of the world’s foremost companies, but that success was anything but certain. From the outset, the team faced industry skeptics, bruising competition, internal strife, the emergence of widespread online fraud, and the devastating dot-com bust of the 2000s. In The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley, award-winning author and biographer Jimmy Soni pulls back the curtain on PayPal’s turbulent early days. With hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to thousands of pages of internal material, Soni shows how the seeds of so much of what shapes our world today—fast-scaling digital start-ups, cashless currency concepts, mobile money transfer—were planted two decades ago. He also reveals the countless individuals whose stories never made the front pages nor earned banner headlines—but whose contributions were vital to PayPal’s success. The Founders is a story of iteration and inventiveness, one that casts a long and powerful shadow over modern life. Jimmy Soni’s narrative offers deep insight into how this once-in-a-generation assemblage of talent came to work together and how that collaboration changed our world forever.I can’t think of anyone in tech who would not both enjoy and learn a great deal from reading “The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley” by @jimmyasoni. No need for my review or thread, just go get it and dive in. https://t.co/4sIyPQUZ3E
One Strategy
Steven Sinofsky
@alvaromb @GergelyOrosz :) One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision Making https://t.co/H37IkPsCA1
Loved
Martina Lauchengco
Most tech companies get marketing wrong because they don't know how to do product marketing right. The next in the bestselling SVPG series, LOVED shows what leaders like Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, and Salesforce do well and how to apply it to transoform product marketing at your company. The best products can still lose in the marketplace. Why? They are beaten by products with stronger product marketing. Good product marketing is the difference between “also-ran” products versus products that lead. And yet, product marketing is widely misunderstood. Although it includes segmenting customers, positioning your product, creating product collateral, and supporting sales teams, great product marketing achieves much more. It directs the best way to bring your product to market. It shapes what the world thinks about your product and category. It inspires others to tell your product’s story. Part of the bestselling series including INSPIRED and EMPOWERED, LOVED explains the fundamentals of best-in-class product marketing for product teams, marketers, founders and any leader with a product and a vision. Sharing her personal stories as a former product and marketing leader at Microsoft and Netscape, and as an advisor to Silicon Valley startups, venture capitalist, and UC Berkeley engineering graduate school lecturer, Martina Lauchengco distills decades of lessons gleaned from working with hundreds of companies to make LOVED the definitive guide to modern product marketing. With dozens of stories from the trenches of market leaders as well as newer startups with products just beginning their journey, the book shows you: the centrality of product marketing to any product’s success the key skills and actions required to do it well the four fundamentals of product marketing and how to apply them how to hire, lead, and organize product marketing how product marketers optimize crucial collaboration with other functions one-sheet frameworks, tools and agile marketing practices that help simplify and elevate product marketing LOVED is an invitation to rethink tired notions of product marketing and practice a more dynamic, customer and market-centric version that creates raving fans and helps products achieve their full market potential.Preorder here (not a promotional link): Loved: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products (Silico... https://t.co/pb0neAusqD
Flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The author introduces and explains the flow psychological theory. He demonstrates how it is possible to improve the quality of life by controlling the information that enters the consciousness.2/ Scaling to lead a product dev organization of a couple thousand (dev, pm, design, test, marketing) led me to the idea of "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Csikszentmihalyi. Walking the halls, async communication, few meetings, minimal formal process. https://t.co/U1TxGyj92O
San Fransicko
Michael Shellenberger
The author of the national bestseller Apocalypse Never examines the problems plaguing America's most liberal cities. San Francisco was once widely viewed as the prettiest city in America. Today it is best known as the epicenter of the homeless zombie apocalypse. What went wrong? Michael Shellenberger has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for thirty years. During that time he advocated for the decriminalization of drugs, affordable housing, and alternatives to jail and prison. But as massive, open-air drug markets spread across the state, overdose deaths rose to over 70,000 from 17,000 20 years ago, Shellenberger decided to take a deep dive into the roots of the crisis. What he discovered shocked him. Crime, poverty, inequality--all the things decades of Democratic rule were supposed to solve. The homelessness crisis is really an addiction and mental illness crisis. The City of San Francisco and other West Coast cities--Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle--not only tolerate hard drug use, including by severely mentally ill people, they subsidize it, directly and indirectly, attracting vagrants from across the United States. And instead of fighting crime, progressives cities enable it. Why is that? In San Fransicko, Shellenberger reveals that the underlying problem isn't a lack of housing, money for social programs, or political will. The real problem is a radical Left ideology that promotes lawlessness, defends addiction, and undermines the foundational values that make civilization possible.San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities // regardless of your political views or even belief in this title, this read is well worth it. You’ll be more informed about the debate after reading. Seattle or SF. https://t.co/F48BgkSFOY #Amazon
The Cold Start Problem
Andrew Chen
A venture capitalist draws on expertise developed at the premier venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, and as an executive at Uber to address how tech's most successful products have solved the dreaded "cold start problem"--by leveraging networks effects to launch and scale towards billions of users. Although software has become easier to build, launching and scaling new products and services remains difficult. Startups face daunting challenges entering the technology ecosystem, including stiff competition, copycats, and ineffective marketing channels. Teams launching new products must consider the advantages of "the network effect," where a product or service's value increases as more users engage with it. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants utilize network effects, and most tech products incorporate them, whether they're messaging apps, workplace collaboration tools, or marketplaces. Network effects provide a path for fledgling products to break through, attracting new users through viral growth and word of mouth. Yet most entrepreneurs lack the vocabulary and context to describe them--much less understand the fundamental principles that drive the effect. What exactly are network effects? How do teams create and build them into their products? How do products compete in a market where every player has them? Andrew Chen draws on his experience and on interviews with the CEOs and founding teams of LinkedIn, Twitch, Zoom, Dropbox, Tinder, Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest -- to provide unique insights in answering these questions. Chen also provides practical frameworks and principles that can be applied across products and industries. The Cold Start Problem reveals what makes winning networks successful, why some startups fail to successfully scale, and most crucially, why products that create and compete using the network effect are vitally important today.My @a16z friend @andrewchen spent ~3 yrs researching high-growth companies (Uber, Dropbox, Airbnb, Pinterest…) and drawing on his experiences to write "The Cold Start Problem" digging into what makes winning networks. Check it out! (link supports @Water) https://t.co/KH3IkYM85d https://t.co/MPr39oFq2S
From Main Street to Mall
Vicki Howard
Richly illustrated with archival photos, this comprehensive study of the American department store industry traces the changing economic and political contexts that brought about the decline of downtown shopping districts and the rise of big-box stores and suburban malls.Book reco: Retail selling, specifically US department stores, have a long and rich history. Studying that history can be a great way to inform opinions on many debates going on today (🙄Amazon). "From Main Street to Mall" (2015) is a wonderful history. 1/ https://t.co/gqzuy9SPyI
IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing)
Emerson W. Pugh
@zeh @cassiozen definitive history of the definitive system https://t.co/SuDaTgE0Kb
Programmers at Work
Susan Lammers
@zeh @cassiozen A time capsule - was standard issue on the Microsoft bookshelf. https://t.co/WdeNN0YFb6
Geniuses at War
David A. Price
"Geniuses at War is the dramatic, untold story of the brilliant team who built the world's first digital electronic computer at Bletchley Park, during a critical time in World War II. Decoding the communication of the Nazi high command was imperative for the success of the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Nazi missives were encrypted by the "Tunny" cipher, a code that was orders of magnitude more difficult to crack than the infamous Enigma code. But Tommy Flowers, a maverick English working-class engineer, devised the ingenious, daring, and controversial plan to build a machine that could think at breathtaking speed and break the code in nearly real time. Together with the pioneering mathematician Max Newman and Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing, Flowers and his team produced--against the odds, the clock, and a resistant leadership--Colossus, the world's first digital electronic computer, the machine that would help bring the war to an end. With fascinating detail and illuminating insight, David A. Price's Geniuses at War tells, for the first time, the mesmerizing story of the great minds behind Colossus, and chronicles their remarkable feats of engineering genius which ushered in the dawn of the digital age"--@zeh @cassiozen https://t.co/7kQ2ZBdQI9
The Box
Marc Levinson
In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about. Published on the fiftieth anniversary of the first container voyage, this is the first comprehensive history of the shipping container. It recounts how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur, Malcom McLean, turned containerization from an impractical idea into a massive industry that slashed the cost of transporting goods around the world and made the boom in global trade possible. But the container didn't just happen. Its adoption required huge sums of money, both from private investors and from ports that aspired to be on the leading edge of a new technology. It required years of high-stakes bargaining with two of the titans of organized labor, Harry Bridges and Teddy Gleason, as well as delicate negotiations on standards that made it possible for almost any container to travel on any truck or train or ship. Ultimately, it took McLean's success in supplying U.S. forces in Vietnam to persuade the world of the container's potential. Drawing on previously neglected sources, economist Marc Levinson shows how the container transformed economic geography, devastating traditional ports such as New York and London and fueling the growth of previously obscure ones, such as Oakland. By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world's workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the globe.Another history of shipping containers (I had a teacher in 9th grade (!) who was obsessed with containers and we spent a whole week on them!) This is a classic. The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger https://t.co/htbSCfKzcN
Arriving Today
Christopher Mims
The Wall Street Journal technology columnist reveals the fascinating story behind the misleadingly simple phrase shoppers take for granted--"Arriving Today"--in this eye-opening investigation into the new rules of online commerce, transportation, and supply chain management. We are at a tipping point in retail history. While consumers are profiting from the convenience of instant gratification, rapidly advancing technologies are transforming the way goods are transported and displacing workers in ways never before seen. In Arriving Today, Christopher Mims goes deep, far, and wide to uncover how a single product, from creation to delivery, weaves its way from a factory on the other side of the world to our doorstep. He analyzes the evolving technologies and management strategies necessary to keep the product moving to fulfill consumers' demand for "arriving today" gratification. Mims reveals a world where the only thing moving faster than goods in an Amazon warehouse is the rate at which an entire industry is being gutted and rebuilt by innovation and mass shifts in human labor practices. He goes behind the scenes to uncover the paradoxes in this shift--into the world's busiest port, the cabin of an 18-wheeler, and Amazon's automated warehouses--to explore how the promise of "arriving today" is fulfilled through a balletic dance between humans and machines. The scope of such large-scale innovation and expended energy is equal parts inspiring, enlightening, and horrifying. As he offers a glimpse of our future, Mims asks us to consider the system's vulnerability and its resilience, and who shoulders the burden, as we hurtle toward a fully automated system--and what it will mean when we are there.Another book is by @mims is "Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door -- Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy" // excellent first hand account of the supply chain - fair warning, not a big fan of negative take on amazon. https://t.co/2V3Bhb922f
The Box That Changed the World
Arthur Donovan
This book was donated by the Containerization and Intermodal Institute (CII), an organization that makes an annual scholarship to the University of Baltimore in support of Merrick School of Business students pursuing a career in the trade and transportation industries.At the core of this topic is the shipping container—a magic box invented in the mid 20th century that revolutionized freight. A fascinating and classic history: The Box That Changed the World: Fifty Years of Container Shipping - An Illustrated History https://t.co/r2o1o0e1kx
Geniuses at War
David A. Price
"Geniuses at War is the dramatic, untold story of the brilliant team who built the world's first digital electronic computer at Bletchley Park, during a critical time in World War II. Decoding the communication of the Nazi high command was imperative for the success of the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Nazi missives were encrypted by the "Tunny" cipher, a code that was orders of magnitude more difficult to crack than the infamous Enigma code. But Tommy Flowers, a maverick English working-class engineer, devised the ingenious, daring, and controversial plan to build a machine that could think at breathtaking speed and break the code in nearly real time. Together with the pioneering mathematician Max Newman and Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing, Flowers and his team produced--against the odds, the clock, and a resistant leadership--Colossus, the world's first digital electronic computer, the machine that would help bring the war to an end. With fascinating detail and illuminating insight, David A. Price's Geniuses at War tells, for the first time, the mesmerizing story of the great minds behind Colossus, and chronicles their remarkable feats of engineering genius which ushered in the dawn of the digital age"--Geniuses at War: Bletchley Park, Colossus, and the Dawn of the Digital Age // good read https://t.co/TQFR8GUC6b
Track Changes
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum
Writing in the digital age has been as messy as the inky rags in Gutenberg’s shop or the molten lead of a Linotype machine. Matthew Kirschenbaum examines how creative authorship came to coexist with the computer revolution. Who were the early adopters, and what made others anxious? Was word processing just a better typewriter, or something more?This is too much. ❤️ BTW, there's a fun book on the history of word processing in literature called "Track Changes" https://t.co/PiOK5DWnFu by @mkirschenbaum https://t.co/XVEWeG5opt
Play Nice but Win
Michael Dell
@rebootdude The audio book is fantastic because of Michael’s narration. I got the printed book because it has some wonderful photos in it.
Play Nice but Win
Michael Dell
25/ Audio version is a treat with Michael narrating the whole book. It makes the biography portions especially touching as we learn about Michael's commitment to family, philanthropy, and people. // END https://t.co/He6JiOtyNo
Play Nice But Win
Michael Dell
From Michael Dell, renowned founder and chief executive of one of America's largest technology companies, the inside story of the battles that defined him as a leader In 1984, soon-to-be college dropout Michael Dell hid signs of his fledgling PC business in the bathroom of his University of Texas dorm room. Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company's survival. What he'd do next could ensure its legacy--or destroy it completely. Play Nice But Win is a riveting account of the three battles waged for Dell Technologies: one to launch it, one to keep it, and one to transform it. For the first time, Dell reveals the highs and lows of the company's evolution amidst a rapidly changing industry--and his own, as he matured into the CEO it needed. With humor and humility, he recalls the mentors who showed him how to turn his passion into a business; the competitors who became friends, foes, or both; and the sharks that circled, looking for weakness. What emerges is the long-term vision underpinning his success: that technology is ultimately about people and their potential. More than an honest portrait of a leader at a crossroads, Play Nice But Win is a survival story proving that while anyone with technological insight and entrepreneurial zeal might build something great--it takes a leader to build something that lasts.1/ @MichaelDell's new book is out "Play Nice But Win" which is a perfect title for one of the most successful, yet low-key and humble CEOs of any industry who is also the OG PC leader. *Everyone* in tech should read this book. Some of what I felt...https://t.co/iQBC9dNvem https://t.co/iY08OwxgE9
Every Building on the Sunset Strip
Ed Ruscha
A complete panoramic pictorial compilation of every building on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California.@alisonmartino Love this book from 1966... https://t.co/ecsQAEmbkI
The Party
Richard McGregor
In this provocative and illuminating account, Richard McGregor offers a captivating portrait of China’s Communist Party, its grip on power and control over China, and its future. China’s political and economic growth in the past three decades has been one of astonishing, epochal dimensions. The most remarkable part of this transformation, however, has been left largely untold—the central role of the Chinese Communist Party. In The Party, Richard McGregor delves deeply into China’s inner sanctum for the first time, showing how the Communist Party controls the government, courts, media, and military and keeps all corruption accusations against its members in-house. The Party’s decisions have a global impact, yet the CCP remains a deeply secretive body, hostile to the law and unaccountable to anyone or anything other than its own internal tribunals. It is the world’s only geopolitical rival of the United States, and is primed to think the worst of the West.China Signals Regulatory Crackdown Will Deepen in Long Push https://t.co/VWeIzI03xm // if this is an interesting topic for you I'd recommend "The Party" by Richard McGregor as a backgrounder for why this is not "new" and entirely in line with expectations. https://t.co/SekUolyE2D
Play Nice But Win
Michael Dell
From Michael Dell, renowned founder and chief executive of one of America’s largest technology companies, the inside story of the battles that defined him as a leader In 1984, soon-to-be college dropout Michael Dell hid signs of his fledgling PC business in the bathroom of his University of Texas dorm room. Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company’s survival. What he’d do next could ensure its legacy—or destroy it completely. Play Nice But Win is a riveting account of the three battles waged for Dell Technologies: one to launch it, one to keep it, and one to transform it. For the first time, Dell reveals the highs and lows of the company's evolution amidst a rapidly changing industry—and his own, as he matured into the CEO it needed. With humor and humility, he recalls the mentors who showed him how to turn his passion into a business; the competitors who became friends, foes, or both; and the sharks that circled, looking for weakness. What emerges is the long-term vision underpinning his success: that technology is ultimately about people and their potential. More than an honest portrait of a leader at a crossroads, Play Nice But Win is a survival story proving that while anyone with technological insight and entrepreneurial zeal might build something great—it takes a leader to build something that lasts.Play Nice But Win: A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader by Michael Dell https://t.co/zBtJMjj9HV // Such a great story to share…available Oct 5 in all formats.
Track Changes
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum
Writing in the digital age has been as messy as the inky rags in Gutenberg’s shop or the molten lead of a Linotype machine. Matthew Kirschenbaum examines how creative authorship came to coexist with the computer revolution. Who were the early adopters, and what made others anxious? Was word processing just a better typewriter, or something more?@mwichary Thank you! 🙏 There’s a fun book about the history of writing using word processors that I love. Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing https://t.co/5Tllfud8W7
The Idea Factory
Jon Gertner
Highlights achievements of Bell Labs as a leading innovator, exploring the role of its highly educated employees in developing new technologies while considering the qualities of companies where innovation and development are most successful.@devinmcgloin @sfpc The book "Idea Factory" describes the original offices of Bell Labs in the City with a ton of detail and first party accounts.
Working Backwards
Colin Bryar
Working Backwards is an insider's breakdown of Amazon's approach to culture, leadership, and best practices from Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, two long-time, top-level Amazon executives..."Working Backwards" is a very good book for product leaders to read. It builds on 6 core Amazon principles AND tells the story of 4 key amazon projects. Written by @cbryar (12+) and @BillCarr89 (15+ yrs) of Amazon. 1/ https://t.co/6HmOloRHfM
The Pattern Seekers
Simon Baron-Cohen
The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention https://t.co/5MPofT4WzE #Amazon
What It Takes
Stephen A. Schwarzman
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From Blackstone chairman, CEO, and co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman, a long-awaited book that uses impactful episodes from Schwarzman's life to show readers how to build, transform, and lead thriving organizations. Whether you are a student, entrepreneur, philanthropist, executive, or simply someone looking for ways to maximize your potential, the same lessons apply. People know who Stephen Schwarzman is—at least they think they do. He’s the man who took $400,000 and co-founded Blackstone, the investment firm that manages over $500 billion (as of January 2019). He’s the CEO whose views are sought by heads of state. He’s the billionaire philanthropist who founded Schwarzman Scholars, this century’s version of the Rhodes Scholarship, in China. But behind these achievements is a man who has spent his life learning and reflecting on what it takes to achieve excellence, make an impact, and live a life of consequence. Folding handkerchiefs in his father’s linen shop, Schwarzman dreamed of a larger life, filled with purpose and adventure. His grades and athleticism got him into Yale. After starting his career in finance with a short stint at a financial firm called DLJ, Schwarzman began working at Lehman Brothers where he ascended to run the mergers and acquisitions practice. He eventually partnered with his mentor and friend Pete Peterson to found Blackstone, vowing to create a new and different kind of financial institution. Building Blackstone into the leading global financial institution it is today didn’t come easy. Schwarzman focused intensely on culture, hiring great talent, and establishing processes that allow the firm to systematically analyze and evaluate risk. Schwarzman’s simple mantra “don’t lose money” has helped Blackstone become a leading private equity and real estate investor, and manager of alternative assets for institutional investors globally. Both he and the firm are known for the rigor of their investment process, their innovative approach to deal making, the diversification of their business lines, and a conviction to be the best at everything they do. Schwarzman is also an active philanthropist, having given away more than a billion dollars. In philanthropy, as in business, he is drawn to situations where his capital and energy can be applied to drive transformative solutions and change paradigms, notably in education. He uses the skills learned over a lifetime in finance to design, establish, and support impactful and innovative organizations and initiatives. His gifts have ranged from creating a new College of Computing at MIT for the study of artificial intelligence, to establishing a first-of-its-kind student and performing arts center at Yale, to enabling the renovation of the iconic New York Public Library, to founding the Schwarzman Scholars fellowship program at Tsinghua University in Beijing—the single largest philanthropic effort in China’s history from international donors. Schwarzman’s story is an empowering, entertaining, and informative guide for anyone striving for greater personal impact. From deal making to investing, leadership to entrepreneurship, philanthropy to diplomacy, Schwarzman has lessons for how to think about ambition and scale, risk and opportunities, and how to achieve success through the relentless pursuit of excellence. Schwarzman not only offers readers a thoughtful reflection on all his own experiences, but in doing so provides a practical blueprint for success.@dangillmor @adityasood The book “What It Takes” is one of the most amazing books about American politics.
Rawhide Down
Del Quentin Wilber
Presidents don’t get privacy. My father understood that — even when he was shot. https://t.co/STBAcTfEKc // Really solid explanation. Also a related/fascinating book -> Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan https://t.co/1KXfHAVuDR
My Years with General Motors
Alfred Sloan
'My years with General Motors' describes the early innovations and development of the company's basic management policies and strategic concepts in such areas as planning and strategy, stabilization, financial growth, and leadership.@kocienda @OED To add to this: My Years with General Motors https://t.co/W2s6NPHoXK and IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing) https://t.co/8GSC6fdyOB and To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design https://t.co/Bv4CAiYdaR
IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing)
Emerson W. Pugh
@kocienda @OED To add to this: My Years with General Motors https://t.co/W2s6NPHoXK and IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing) https://t.co/8GSC6fdyOB and To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design https://t.co/Bv4CAiYdaR
To Engineer Is Human
Henry Petroski
Examines the process of engineering design and explains what can be learned by studying unsuccessful designs and the reasons for their failure@kocienda @OED To add to this: My Years with General Motors https://t.co/W2s6NPHoXK and IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing) https://t.co/8GSC6fdyOB and To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design https://t.co/Bv4CAiYdaR
Creative Selection
Ken Kocienda
@Austen @kocienda’s book on what he has worked on meets what I would think is a requirement—the book should be by someone who built a product. “Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs” https://t.co/BL0Myi6aJy
To Engineer Is Human
Henry Petroski
Examines the process of engineering design and explains what can be learned by studying unsuccessful designs and the reasons for their failure@briannekimmel If by personal I can say professional then “To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design” https://t.co/KswRNhlHbZ A runner up is this short piece by @michaelkinsley https://t.co/Vdq6hHePrH
IBM
James W. Cortada
A history of one of the most influential American companies of the last century. For decades, IBM shaped the way the world did business. IBM products were in every large organization, and IBM corporate culture established a management style that was imitated by companies around the globe. It was “Big Blue, ” an icon. And yet over the years, IBM has gone through both failure and success, surviving flatlining revenue and forced reinvention. The company almost went out of business in the early 1990s, then came back strong with new business strategies and an emphasis on artificial intelligence. In this authoritative, monumental history, James Cortada tells the story of one of the most influential American companies of the last century. Cortada, a historian who worked at IBM for many years, describes IBM's technology breakthroughs, including the development of the punch card (used for automatic tabulation in the 1890 census), the calculation and printing of the first Social Security checks in the 1930s, the introduction of the PC to a mass audience in the 1980s, and the company's shift in focus from hardware to software. He discusses IBM's business culture and its orientation toward employees and customers; its global expansion; regulatory and legal issues, including antitrust litigation; and the track records of its CEOs. The secret to IBM's unequalled longevity in the information technology market, Cortada shows, is its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances and technologies.@sriramk @chrisfralic 2/ Just recently published is this updated history that runs to the modern era. I looked to these books as models as I have been writing. IBM: The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon (History of Computing) https://t.co/hjtNu6o9gb
IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing)
Emerson W. Pugh
@sriramk @chrisfralic 1/2 There are several books about IBM that should be on every product person shelf: IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems https://t.co/YnfxlsSmc5 Memories that Shaped an Industry: Decisions Leading to IBM System/360 https://t.co/dNWYMXPHt2
Memories that Shaped an Industry
Emerson W. Pugh
This book provides a rare and candid glimpse into the innovations as well as the immense risks and imprecisions sometimes involved in technical decision making.@sriramk @chrisfralic 1/2 There are several books about IBM that should be on every product person shelf: IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems https://t.co/YnfxlsSmc5 Memories that Shaped an Industry: Decisions Leading to IBM System/360 https://t.co/dNWYMXPHt2
Married to the Mouse
Richard E. Foglesong
" ... a critical account of how the Disney Co. has used--and also abused--its governmental immunities from the beginning of Disney World to the present ..."--Jacket.@gregde @rseroter @RobertIger If you're interested in what it was like in Orlando due to WDW, this is a fascinating read. Our family moved there in 1975 when Disney was mostly orange groves and some rides. My best friend's family had been in Orlando for 3 generations. So many stories. https://t.co/YVGqZ4Hh98 https://t.co/XhqiODOG4G
To Engineer Is Human
Henry Petroski
Examines the process of engineering design and explains what can be learned by studying unsuccessful designs and the reasons for their failure@jake_weinreb @joelgascoigne @mronge Also suggest reading about failure. Success is easy to write about and the lessons aren't as crisp other than cargo cult. Identifying patterns of failure can often be more valuable. Example: https://t.co/WTk8txdpln https://t.co/jiA93RPFCi
Sweating Bullets
Robert Gaskins
PowerPoint was the first presentation software designed for Macintosh and Windows, received the first venture capital investment ever made by Apple, then became the first significant acquisition ever made by Microsoft, who set up a new Graphics Business Unit in Silicon Valley to develop it further. Now, twenty-five years later, PowerPoint is installed on more than one billion computers, worldwide. In this book, Robert Gaskins (who invented the idea, managed its design and development, and then headed the new Microsoft group) tells the story of its first years, recounting the perils and disasters narrowly evaded as a startup, dissecting the complexities of being the first distant development group in Microsoft, and explaining decisions and insights that enabled PowerPoint to become a lasting success well beyond its original business uses.@toddmckinnon Original…hmm dunno, but must be. Just thinking of major architectural work raced through my head: • port to Windows (post acq) • complete rewrite ("Shark" for 95) • rearchitect gfx '97 • redo innards 2000-3 (kill old file formats) • redo UX 2007 FYI https://t.co/X94GQbgNSd https://t.co/0THn6pPhip
@rabois https://t.co/UH3YCIYxiw
@balajis In the late 70's early 80's the subculture of peppers took hold and this was the "self-sufficiency" bible. It is still on my shelf. Make, grow, build your own, and barter. It was based on the premise of a structural meltdown after moving off gold standard and the old shock. https://t.co/Tu8UYvbZsJ
No Rules Rules
Reed Hastings
Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings reveals for the first time the unorthodox culture behind one of the world's most innovative, imaginative, and successful companies There's never before been a company like Netflix. Not only because it has led a revolution in the entertainment industries; or because it generates billions of dollars in annual revenue; or even because it is watched by hundreds of millions of people in nearly 200 countries. When Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix, he developed a set of counterintuitive and radical management principles, defying all tradition and expectation, which would allow the company to reinvent itself over and over on the way to becoming one of the most loved brands in the world. Rejecting the conventional wisdom under which other companies operate, Reed set new standards, valuing people over process, emphasizing innovation over efficiency, and giving employees context, not controls. At Netflix, adequate performance gets a generous severance and hard work is irrelevant. At Netflix, you don't try to please your boss, you give candid feedback instead. At Netflix, employees never need approval, and the company always pays top of market. When Hastings and his team first devised these principles, the implications were unknown and untested, but over just a short period of time they have led to unprecedented flexibility, speed, and boldness. The culture of freedom and responsibility has allowed the company to constantly grow and change as the world, and its members' needs, have also transformed. Here for the first time, Hastings and Erin Meyer, bestselling author of The Culture Map and one of the world's most influential business thinkers, dive deep into the controversial philosophies at the heart of the Netflix psyche, which have generated results that are the envy of the business world. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with current and past Netflix employees from around the globe and never-before-told stories of trial and error from his own career, No Rules Rules is the full, fascinating, and untold story of a unique company making its mark on the world.No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings https://t.co/CdNMugrX8z // Super excited to preorder the new book by @reedhastings and @ErinMeyerINSEAD. Available for pre-order now (my smile link choice is @Water). https://t.co/l7bWQGb5f2
What It Takes
Richard Ben Cramer
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist looks at presidential candidates from 1988, weaving together childhood vignettes, career highlights, and more to provide insights on the process of campaigning for the presidency. 75,000 first printing. First serial Esquire. BOMC.I was in Dixville Notch for the 1988 primary and it was spectacularly fun (and very cold). Also related, this is the very best book on the primary process and what it takes to really win, "What it Takes" by Richard Ben Cramer. https://t.co/JwAYzNDp8k https://t.co/RtZT2G3aRC
The Fords
Peter Collier
Reveals the story of three generations of Fords, from Henry I, the mechanical wizard of the automobile and his son Edsel, to Edsel's son Henry II, who saved the company from financial ruin and from Lee Iacocca@teddyschleifer The Fords: An American Epic https://t.co/6Yqq5KuEZ4 The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty https://t.co/NGEDfF6qUp
The Rockefellers
Peter Collier
A chronicle of the oil-and power-endowed American family, tracing its fortunes and fames and the activities and careers of individual sons, brothers, and cousins, from the founding father unto the fourth, trust-funded generation@teddyschleifer The Fords: An American Epic https://t.co/6Yqq5KuEZ4 The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty https://t.co/NGEDfF6qUp
Mission Critical
Thomas H. Davenport
Publisher Fact Sheet Presents an authoritative view of the critical business issues surrounding Enterprise Resources Planning implementation.@CyndeMoya @RJMcGirr There are a bunch of books and papers about ERP if that's what you mean. https://t.co/ZDnG1Ybfgh There are several deep dives in History of Computing on specific tools like word processors, databases, spreadsheets.
Track Changes
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum
Writing in the digital age has been as messy as the inky rags in Gutenberg’s shop or the molten lead of a Linotype machine. Matthew Kirschenbaum examines how creative authorship came to coexist with the computer revolution. Who were the early adopters, and what made others anxious? Was word processing just a better typewriter, or something more?@RJMcGirr On word processors, I really enjoyed this book. https://t.co/PiOK5DWnFu
The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out
Clayton M. Christensen
The Innovative University illustrates how higher education can respond to the forces of disruptive innovation , and offers a nuanced and hopeful analysis of where the traditional university and its traditions have come from and how it needs to change for the future. Through an examination of Harvard and BYU-Idaho as well as other stories of innovation in higher education, Clayton Christensen and Henry Eyring decipher how universities can find innovative, less costly ways of performing their uniquely valuable functions. Offers new ways forward to deal with curriculum, faculty issues, enrollment, retention, graduation rates, campus facility usage, and a host of other urgent issues in higher education Discusses a strategic model to ensure economic vitality at the traditional university Contains novel insights into the kind of change that is necessary to move institutions of higher education forward in innovative ways This book uncovers how the traditional university survives by breaking with tradition, but thrives by building on what it's done best.@Austen @jmj @Keith_Wasserman 2011 https://t.co/95AxFxQpiC I was asking about the data about the past 5 years of closures -- "1,200 colleges" which doesn't seem supported unless you are counting the strip mall location of a "college" with 100 of those "campuses", as 100 which the data counts as 1.
Dec Is Dead, Long Live Dec: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equiment Corporation (Large Print 16pt)
Edgar H. Schein
DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC tells the 40-year story of the creation, demise, and enduring legacy of one of the pioneering companies of the computer age. Digital Equipment Corporation created the minicomputer, networking, the concept of distributed computing, speech recognition, and other major innovations. It was the number two computer maker behind IBM. Yet it ultimately failed as a business and was sold to Compaq Corporation. What happened? Edgar Schein consulted to DEC throughout its history and so had unparalleled access to all the major players, and an inside view of all the major events. He shows how the unique organizational culture established by DEC's founder, Ken Olsen, gave the company important competitive advantages in its early years, but later became a hindrance and ultimately led to the company's downfall. Schein, Kampas, DeLisi, and Sonduck explain in detail how a particular culture can become so embedded that an organization is unable to adapt to changing circumstances even though it sees the need very clearly. The essential elements of DEC's culture are still visible in many other organizations today, and most former employees are so positive about their days at DEC that they attempt to reproduce its culture in their current work situations. In the era of post-dot.com meltdown, raging debate about companies ''built to last'' vs. ''built to sell, '' and more entrepreneurial startups than ever, the rise and fall of DEC is the ultimate case study@titterboy2 @pemullen @chrisfralic @RMB Love this book. DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equiment Corporation https://t.co/ADDB7nFXFI
Computer Wars
Charles H. Ferguson
A behind-the-scenes account of why IBM fell behind while other computer companies flourished lays out the terms by which computer firms will do business in the future@ganeumann @varma_ashwin97 @pmarca @benedictevans Computer Wars, which is an extreme take I don't always agree with, is an early view of the post-IBM world of Microsoft that many cite as the origin of the Windows <> Apps ecosystem discussion. 1/2 https://t.co/FWpqn2UV2c
Impro
Keith Johnstone
First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.@technologypoet @farantzos Funny but I never associated the book Impro with being political in a company. I saw it as a great way to understand doing presentations for teams and at conferences.
IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems
Emerson W. Pugh
No new product offering has had greater impact on the computer industry than the IBM System/360. IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems describes the creation of this remarkable system and the developments it spawned, including its successor, System/370. The authors tell how System/360's widely-copied architecture came into being and how IBM failed in an effort to replace it ten years later with a bold development effort called FS, the Future System. Along the way they detail the development of many computer innovations still in use, among them semiconductor memories, the cache, floppy disks, and Winchester disk files. They conclude by looking at issues involved in managing research and development and striving for product leadership.While numerous anecdotal and fragmentary accounts of System/360 and System/370 development exist, this is the first comprehensive account, a result of research into IBM records, published reports, and interviews with over a hundred participants. Covering the period from about 1960 to 1975, it highlights such important topics as the gamble on hybrid circuits, conception and achievement of a unified product line, memory and storage developments, software support, unique problems at the high end of the line, monolithic integrated circuit developments, and the trend toward terminal-oriented systems.System/360 was developed during the transition from discrete transistors to integrated circuits at the crucial time when the major source of IBM's revenue was changed from punched-card equipment to electronic computer systems. As the authors point out, the key to the system's success was compatibility among its many models. So important was this to customers that System/370 and its successors have remained compatible with System/360. Many companies in fact chose to develop and market their own 360-370 compatible systems. System/360 also spawned an entire industry dedicated to making plug-compatible products for attachment to it.The authors, all affiliated with IBM Research, are coauthors of IBM's Early Computers, a critically acclaimed technical history covering the period before 1960.@fmbutt I love this book so much. If you watch "General Magic," reading this gives you an idea of the scope of invention in the 360 project. The biggest difference is the massive gap in product-market fit between the two examples. The scope of 360 and expanse of success are unmatched.
Dealers of Lightning
Michael A. Hiltzik
Read about the Xerox Alto/Star here: Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Ag... https://t.co/GZMClHAdl6
IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems
Emerson W. Pugh
No new product offering has had greater impact on the computer industry than the IBM System/360. IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems describes the creation of this remarkable system and the developments it spawned, including its successor, System/370. The authors tell how System/360's widely-copied architecture came into being and how IBM failed in an effort to replace it ten years later with a bold development effort called FS, the Future System. Along the way they detail the development of many computer innovations still in use, among them semiconductor memories, the cache, floppy disks, and Winchester disk files. They conclude by looking at issues involved in managing research and development and striving for product leadership.While numerous anecdotal and fragmentary accounts of System/360 and System/370 development exist, this is the first comprehensive account, a result of research into IBM records, published reports, and interviews with over a hundred participants. Covering the period from about 1960 to 1975, it highlights such important topics as the gamble on hybrid circuits, conception and achievement of a unified product line, memory and storage developments, software support, unique problems at the high end of the line, monolithic integrated circuit developments, and the trend toward terminal-oriented systems.System/360 was developed during the transition from discrete transistors to integrated circuits at the crucial time when the major source of IBM's revenue was changed from punched-card equipment to electronic computer systems. As the authors point out, the key to the system's success was compatibility among its many models. So important was this to customers that System/370 and its successors have remained compatible with System/360. Many companies in fact chose to develop and market their own 360-370 compatible systems. System/360 also spawned an entire industry dedicated to making plug-compatible products for attachment to it.The authors, all affiliated with IBM Research, are coauthors of IBM's Early Computers, a critically acclaimed technical history covering the period before 1960.Read about the IBM 360/370 here: IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems (History of Computing) https://t.co/E2DSigZeAe
Microsoft Secrets
Michael A. Cusumano
The authors reveal Microsoft's product development, marketing, and organizational strategies@mmullany Very little about Microsoft was written from that era that was focused on products and market. It was all about antitrust/evil "stuff." Early days of Office covered well in "Microsoft Secrets" (M Cusumano and R Selby). And this book chapter (not my fav) https://t.co/sKlpfx5nRk
Why Buildings Fall Down
Matthys Levy
Takes readers on a journey through the history of architectural and structural disasters, from the Parthenon to the Tower of Pisa to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge@pelavarre Applies to pretty much everything. Here’s a whole book about civil engineering. https://t.co/UZlZBNEtNN
Get Together
Bailey Richardson
Although communities feel magical, they don't come together by magic. Get Together is a guide to cultivating a community-people who come together over what they care about. Whether starting a run crew, helping online streamers connect with fans, or sparking a movement of K-12 teachers, the secret to community-building is the same: don't fixate on what you can do for people (or what they can do for you). Instead, focus on what you can do with them. In Get Together, the People & Company team provides stories, prompts, and principles for each stage of cultivating a passionate group of people. Every organization holds the potential to build and sustain a thriving community. Get Together shows readers how companies and customers, artist and fans, or organizers and advocates, can join forces to accomplish more together than they could have alone.Congratulations on the new book #gettogetherbook by @baileyelaine @hi_kaielmer @kevinhuynh via @stripepress Lessons and framework for building community based on experience at the strongest communities around. Plus really nice hardcover production! https://t.co/BDRuIJyz0D https://t.co/YhGboS5DIV
The Rise of the Computer State
David Burnham
The Rise of the Computer State is a comprehensive examination of the ways that computers and massive databases are enabling the nation’s corporations and law enforcement agencies to steadily erode our privacy and manipulate and control the American people. This book was written in 1983 as a warning. Today it is a history. Most of its grim scenarios are now part of everyday life. The remedy proposed here, greater public oversight of industry and government, has not occurred, but a better one has not yet been found. While many individuals have willingly surrendered much of their privacy and all of us have lost some of it, the right to keep what remains is still worth protecting.27/ Burham discusses the need for public awareness. He subsequently wrote the book "The Rise of the Computer State" the threat to our privacy, legal procedures, and the democratic process, providing clear evidence of the present and probable dangers of computer technology. https://t.co/b7DaoWm3ev
Leading Systems
Barry Oshry
Accessible, full of real-life examples, and beautifully written by a pioneer in systems thinking A systems framework based not on hopes and dreams but on thirty years of research on what systems really are Speaks to leadership in the family, community, organization, and nation For over thirty years, Barry Oshry has uncovered core truths about how we operate in large organizations through the Power Lab, an experiential program that has been called "The World Series of Leadership Development Activities." In Leading Systems, Oshry reveals the lessons he has derived from his Power Lab experiences-experiences that have been central to his innovative insights about human systems and system leadership. Oshry maintains that the next evolutionary challenge for human beings is to recognize ourselves as system creatures, see how system processes shape our experiences, and develop the knowledge and skills to master these processes rather than be victims of them. Drawing on his Power Lab experiences, he reveals the possibilities of systems leadership and how effective leadership can provide the basis for creating sane, healthy, effective social systems. Challenging conventional thinking, Oshry shows the limitations of consensus, the importance of unilateral action, and the restrictions that our values-such as egalitarianism, liberalism, conservatism-can place on power. He reveals how the problems we often believe are personal or peculiar to our system or circumstances are in factsystemic, limiting the possibilities of both individuals and the system as a whole-and he demonstrates what it takes to break out and elevate ourselves and our systems to higher levels of possibility. Perhaps most importantly, Oshry shares his experience in discovering what he calls "exhilarating concepts," and shows how these concepts offer unusual insights into the nature of systems, shedding light on everything from organizational dysfunction to the conflicts that occur along lines of race,gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. It is only through this deep knowledge, Oshry says, that system leaders can elevate their systems to those higher levels of possibility to which we aspire. Offering new directions, Leading Systems is essential reading for anyone who wants a deep understanding of how systems work and how to exert enlightened leadership.@sriramk Look into “Power Lab”. Often in systems we fail to account for reality that everyone is in a middle making trade offs. That PM on Notes has to worry about the platform strategy changing and balancing that with Note-takers, for example. https://t.co/Ed4oNJnrnF
Star Fleet Technical Manual
Franz Joseph
Gathers diagrams of spaceships, transporters, control stations, equipment, medical instruments, weapons, shuttlecraft, uniforms, insignia and fleet headquarters, and includes Federation maps and treaties@JaimePrimak Heart of Darkness or Star Fleet Technical Manual
Dreaming in Code
Scott Rosenberg
6/ Another great book for every founder is the story of a later project @mkapor led, "Chandler", which had challenges but also tells great lessons through the book by Scott Rosenberg. https://t.co/qkGLIXWM0r
Bricklin on Technology
Dan Bricklin
5/ A great read is @DanB's book "Bricklin on Technology" which brings together many of his blog posts on issues of the day and issues of technology in general. https://t.co/CSogNhRju7
101 Mission Statements from Top Companies
Jeffrey Abrahams
A streamlined best-of version with statements from the most successful businesses and recognizable brands in America. Includes a step-by-step guide to developing unique, enduring positioning statements.@eringriffith https://t.co/Lc6E7rsd8h