Avogadro Corp, A.I. Apocalypse, The Last Firewall, The Turing Exception.  William Hertling. 2013. Four  interesting  scifi books on the future by this author.  Avogadro Corp  ( Loosely modeled on Google I suspect)  is the world’s largest Internet company , which in the work of making email more efficient, an AI  emerges.  A.I. Apocalypse is years after, when  a whole civilization of  A.I is created through an evolutionary computer virus.  The Last Firewall is years after that when A.I . is embedded into our society and a  rogue A. I  attempts to take over the World.  The Turing Exception pits the wworld against an AI group, with the US and China behaving ,like they always do.  Lots here to chew on in the three books. The author writes a fast easy to read book that is compelling as just enough predictable  human responses are there to make the premise believable.  Good for an escapist cross country read.  See more at www.williamhertling.com

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how to kill a unicorn. How the world’s hottest innovation factory builds bold ideas that make it to market. Mark Payne.2014. ISBN 9780804138734.   I really took my time with this book as it contains the kernel of how Fahrenheit 212 works.   It is easily one of the better innovation books on the market., right up there with Ed Cattmull’s,  Creativity Inc.    Payne explains exactly how they and you can follow their experience in getting to those breakthrough great ideas.  Key to it is their goal/ belief, ” Its more than great products, it’s  great businesses with products igniting them. ‘   A good cross  country read , that I am sure you will go back to many times to refresh your thoughts. The book  is applicable to all businesses.  Its also a concise, easy to read book.

The Lean CEO. Leading the Way to World-Class Excellence. Jacob Stoller.   2015. ISBN 9780071833073.  This is the missing  book that puts together the plethora of lean successes across industries , public sector and geographies.  You will learn not only where Lean came from ( Deming and much more) , but how successful it has been in some many sectors and why it has not been more widely adopted in N America.  For tech companies after the Lean Startup you must  become the lean grownup to survive and grow. This book will help point the way.  Clearly written with  lots of examples makes this an engrossing book. Well worth anyone’s time to sit down and read it.

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I’d Rather Die. Public Speaking Survival Skills. Robert Scanlon. 2015. ISBN 0994409206.  You can always learn something new.  I have been confidently public speaking for 50 years and innumerable time. I have been told I am quite a good, interesting speaker.  After reading this book I am better prepared to put my public speaking up onto a completely different level.  This is the soup to nuts, one book to do it all, concise bible on public speaking.  My take aways  are so many and yet everything he says fits so well with all I have learned and studied  over the years ( We seem to have read most of the same books and  used similar videos) .  I recommend this book to anyone who has to speak to any group.  If you use this book , you will be doing your audience an incredible favor and saving them from “just another ” presentation.

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