Scott Rewick (Photo credit: Levi Sanford Media)

Unplugged. Scott Rewick . Walking away from a job and getting everything you want in life.2013.  The author has the tire tracks from a life in the tech field ( Advertising to be more exact). You read along as he gets more fed up  with his life – he has made some money but he is on the treadmill.  He breaks away and then finds that there are a few basic assumptions you need to know make this work.  SO the first part of the book establishes his credentials and the end gets you the meat. A quick but useful read.

A 2003 photo of Lewin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the Love of Physics. Walter Lewin. 2010. ISBN 9781430108277. Made famous on Youtube for his dramatic physics lectures at MIT, Lewin has written this book on physics – for everyman.  Its a fascinating world as Lewin takes you through it. His demos are listed and you can see them all on YouTube.  He is also a first rate researcher on Astrophysics and for me his chapters on X-rays, stars, black holes and so on were fascinating. He also does his best explaining the nano world of atoms including his thoughts on string theory.  A side chapter on art is also a treat as he explains the role of artists teaching us to see differently.  A fun and educational read – even if you know nothing about math and physics.

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Death of the PC. The authoritative guide  to the decline of the PC and the rise of post-PC devices. Max Baxter-Reynolds. 2013. ISBN 9780957177840.  The tile was intended to be provocative. The author does see a role for PC’s going forward – for doing work in an office like setting. What does make a good case for is the rise of a plethora of specialty PC machines that are more single minded and not used for work.  He tries very hard to stay machine agnostic so the book has a bit more staying power.   That said he does a pretty good job of putting a spike into the efforts of Microsoft and Blackberry.

Blackberry is doomed because the bulk of any market will support up to 3 different variants on a type, thus for smartphones BBerry is now fourth and falling. I agree and he is completely correct in that the BBerry business units failed to develop tools for developers that extended the platform beyond Mail, Outlook and messaging. This made it too hard for developers.  Apple understood this at the get go and thus an explosion of IOS apps followed the iphone introduction..

Microsoft is doomed until it realizes that going forward not all machines need Office, that there will exist more single use machines that do a great job in non Office uses. The insistence on preserving Office on Windows 8 units makes a hybrid box that has a tremendous increase in complexity – which is counter to what is going on in IOS and Android.   My experience with Windows8/Office 2013 is not that great. I use Windows products less and less each month.

The author makes a telling story on the disappearing reliance on Microsoft at the end when how he details the writing and editing of this book on non Microsoft platforms (Google Docs, Calibre and open source graphics programs).  They used Word 97 for the very last print ready doc which was fed to Calibre for conversion to Mobi and to the Amazon print on demand application.

In my case I would have used an Open Office application for the print ready document.

If you go to his website www.theplatform.io  you can get 10% of this book to have a preview look.

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Estimated Funding Gaps in Medicare and Social Security (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Ageless Generation. How advances in biomedicine will transform the global economy. Alex Zhavoronkov.2013. ISBN 9780230342200.

A provocative and inspirational book. In a relatively few pages, the author has summarized what Kurzweil talked about in Fantastic Voyage , Live long enough to live forever ( 2004) plus he has added the incentive that our Medicare and Social Security systems are unsustainable.

I took a few elements to heart.  With present issues of  a growing skills gap, fewer replacement workers and increased longevity it makes great sense for skilled workers to work until 70 or longer.  This takes pressure off pensions, mediacre and retains mental acuity. I like to say I tried to retire three times and its not for me.  A few more holidays a year interspersed with some amazing interactions with up and coming companies is just about right.

The second item I agree with is that there are no penalties in our system for people whose life style contributes to their eventual huge resources drain on the system.  I talk about smokers,  heavy drinkers,  overly sedentary people who are a series of heart attacks and extended care  just waiting to happen. There is no eventual financial pressure on people who live a  self abusive lifestyle ( except early loss of employment income).   Japan has an annual belt size test that is gaining some ground in their fight against obesity.

A worthwhile read for everyone and it just might change your attitude to growing old. And the author believes that is a very good thing.

Cover of Fantastic Voyage (Special Edition)

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Pick Up the Damn Phone! How people, not technologies seal the deal. Joanne S. Black. 2013. ISBN 9781935961468.  The author is an expert at referral selling and I reviewed her previous excellent sales book . No More Cold Calling.  This new book is very valuable as it is an attempt to bring reality to the onslaught of content marketing material that proposes to “replace” selling.  She hits it right on the head, unless you are selling a commodity low value item, to make the sale you need to meet the buyer face to face and build that trust. She still acknowledges the very real value in social media and content marketing in the hands of a skilled sales and marketing team.  The author is no Luddite but an experienced sales professional who “tells it like it is”, sales is still tough and will remain so. And for that her two books should be on any sales managers and top performers desktop library shelf.  Great for a cross country read.

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My My Myanmar. Tales from the new frontier of capitalism. Jonathan Nichols. 2013. ISBN 9781628401301. A business  fable loosely based on today’s Myanmar ( Burma to Canadians).  I have a relative who has done business in Burma and the corruption, cronyism, and lack in intelligence by outside investors/agencies is quite well portrayed.  The author has written a few books on Burma so he knows the lay of the land.  Anyone wishing to do business there should be very careful.

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Make Your Life a Masterpiece. Peter Legge. 2006. ISBN 0969544790. A series of short examples by easily one of Canada’s best public speakers. Peter loves to illustrate great ideas and motivate others.  These are very useful for that. I would suggest you have this on the top  of your desk to grab when you need a bit of a pick me up. Clearly , easily written, you could read it in a few hours, but you would miss out on the impact of contemplation. –

This Book is Overdue. How librarians and cyber librarians can save us all. Marilyn Johnson. 2010. ISBN 9780061962103. A surprising book in that it covers quite a bit of ground . Topics range form protecting civil liberties, copy write, freedom of the press, Second Life by Linden Labs, cyber librarians , physical libraries and what is happening to them, collections, archiving , referencing  and what to do with Henry Millers archives (among others) . Not badly written I can not say I loped through this. Lots of food for thought and it gives me ideas on how libraries are remaining relevant. and continue to do so. Plus lots of insight into many personalities among librarians.

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