Best Books of 2009 from The Economist

Read The Economist magazine reviews of their top books of 2009 at Page-Turners or listen to the podcast. The podcast made me wish I had the time and money to read them all. Here are some of the books that caught my interest.

Their pick for the best book on "the war on terror" is The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen. OUP; 384 pages; $27.95. C. Hurst; £20

General David Petraeus’s adviser on counter-insurgency advocates mixing military theory with a deep knowledge of culture and tradition among tribal peoples to try and win the “war on terror”.

They state that most books on global warming are highly partisan but they say this one is a well thought out exception, Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity by Mike Hulme. Cambridge University Press; 432 pages; $28.99 and £15.99

How global warming has been transformed from a physical phenomenon that is measurable and observable by scientists into a social, cultural and political one, by a professor of climate change at the (now controversial) University of East Anglia. In the crowded and noisy world of climate-change publications, this book will stand out.

The Economist also recommends as worth reading an "absolutely terrifying" novel where climate change is central to the story. The plot takes place in the future with major coastal cities like New York and Miami under water after the polar ice caps melt.. Check out Ultimatum by Matthew Glass. Grove Atlantic; 400 pages; $24. Atlantic Books; £9.99

Politics meets the rising tide of climate change.

If you're most interested in the recent financial crisis, The Economist recommends Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin. Viking; 624 pages; $32.95. Allen Lane; £14.99

A riveting fly-on-the-wall account of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and what came afterwards.

New Ways for Computers to Interact with People and Physcial Objects

This video podcast really opened my eyes to the possibilities for new ways to interact with computers. Pranav Mistry demonstrates many amazing technologies he’s developed to help us interact with the objects around us in more natural ways. Check out the video to see demonstrations of:

• Wearable computers which project the user interface onto walls, blank sheets of paper, or even skin
• The ability to place real, physical objects on computer screens and the computer interprets the object as a request for information. For example, placing an airline boarding pass on the screen would retrieve directions on how to walk to the departure gate.
• Facial recognition software that retrieves information about the person and/or their expertise and then projects information about the person onto their shirt
• The ability to use your fingers to grab text and/or images in printed material and drop it into a document you are editing by touching a touch screen.

See the video on the TED.com site or download it from iTunes.

Hip Hop Stars Who are Internet Technology and Social Media Savy

When I listened to this podcast from Stanford Technology Ventures, I was amazed to hear hip-hop artists who were articulate about the use of the internet, crowd sourcing, social media, digital branding, and more as ways of promoting themselves, their music, their merchandise (or "merch"), and more.  This is basically a panel disucssion in front of a crowd of Stanford University MBA students.   One of them makes a remark about people not taking him seriously but "five million ring tones later" he gets the last laugh.

Successful Independent Promotion: From Artist to Entrepreneur

Hip-hop artists Quincy Jones III and Chamillionaire discuss mastering the business side of the music industry. Keeping up with cutting-edge technologies, production logistics, and finding creative ways to gain direct audience contact are essential tactics for the self-produced artist in the digital age.

Be sure to check out the video or listen to the audio on iTunes.

The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age

This podcast really made me think. Today so much information about our lives is archived and stored basically forever.  However, our biological memory fades.  This podcast poses the question, "Would we be better off if our digital memories faded (or expired) over time like our biological memory?"  Would it be easier to move on and get on with life easier or quicker? to think more clearly? 

Check out Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Inbox, episode 133.

Here's a link to the book discussed, Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age

Poor Malawian Farmer Becomes an Inventor and Brings Hope to Africa

This is a truly inspiring story of how a poor Malawian teenager, a "poor farmer in a nation of poor famers" took inspiration at age 14 from science books and used parts he got in a scrap yard to change his life.  The following is a quote from his biography:

William Kamkwamba, from Malawi, is a born inventor. When he was 14, he built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap, working from rough plans he found in a library book called Using Energy and modifying them to fit his needs. The windmill he built powers four lights and two radios in his family home.

After reading about Kamkwamba on Mike McKay's blog Hactivate (which picked up the story from a local Malawi newspaper), TEDGlobal Conference Director Emeka Okafor spent several weeks tracking him down at his home in Masitala Village, Wimbe, and invited him to attend TEDGlobal on a fellowship. Onstage, Kamkwamba talked about his invention and shared his dreams: to build a larger windmill to help with irrigation for his entire village, and to go back to school.

Following Kamkwamba's moving talk, there was an outpouring of support for him and his promising work. Members of the TED community got together to help him improve his power system (by incorporating solar energy), and further his education through school and mentorships. Subsequent projects have included clean water, malaria prevention, solar power and lighting for the six homes in his family compound; a deep-water well with a solar-powered pump for clean water; and a drip irrigation system. Kamkwamba himself returned to school, and is now attending the African Leadership Academy, a new pan-African prep school outside Johannesburg, South Africa.

He shows there is hope for poor developing countries.  You really must check out these two video podcasts from TED:

•  "William Kamkwamba on building a windmill" (the original TEDTalk at age 19)
  
•  a more recent TEDTalk "William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind" (also on iTunes)

 Here's a link to William's book:

 If you enjoy this or any of my other recommendations, please leave a comment!

How the Internet Really Works and How it Encourages Random Acts of Kindness

If you've began to think of the Internet as becoming more trouble than it is worth because of phishing attempts, viruses, and other ways that one man tries to take advantage of another, this video podcast will certainly make you think again. 

Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of Internet law, first does a great job of explaining in a humorous way how low-level technology that makes the Internet possible actually works and how dependent it is on people voluntarily playing by the rules.  He gives a great example of what happens when this does not happen when he describes how Pakistani internet censorship inadvertently hijacked YouTube a couple of years back.

He then goes on to provide real-world examples of how people who do not know each other come together on the Internet to voluntarily provide value to others and even self-police themselves.

Watch "The Web As Random Acts of Kindness" on Ted.com or download the talk on iTunes.

Unpleasant "Secret Sites" and Misidentification of Criminals

This video podcast is both interesting and painful to watch but I feel like it is something people need to watch, especially conservative "law and order" types like myself.

The first half of the video will also open your eyes.  Taryn Simon provides glimpses behind the scenes at various unpleasant "secret sites" you've probably never heard of where nuclear waste is stored, where human bodies are allowed to decay to improve crime scene investigation techniques, and where the Federal Government grows marijuana for research purposes.  Also, did you know the Library of Congress puts out a braille edition of Playboy magazine?

In the second half of this video, Taryn provides a stark reminder that eyewitnesses have been wrong and victims can be wrong.  Sometimes the wrong person was sent to prison for years and exonerated later when improved DNA analysis technology became available.  Decades of lives were lost.  In one story, 13 different people identified the wrong man as being at the scene of the crime.

Check out "Taryn Simon photographs secret sites" from Ted.com.  It is also available on iTunes.