Best of
Technology

2021

Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX


Eric Berger - 2021
    Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race it is private companies, led by SpaceX, standing alongside NASA pushing forward into the cosmos, and laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling startup, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company’s first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company’s inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.Filled with never-before-told stories of SpaceX’s turbulent beginning, Liftoff is a saga of cosmic proportions.

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race


Nicole Perlroth - 2021
    One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election, and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine).For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world's dominant hoarder of zero days. U.S. government agents paid top dollar-first thousands, and later millions of dollars- to hackers willing to sell their lock-picking code and their silence. Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market. Now those zero days are in the hands of hostile nations and mercenaries who do not care if your vote goes missing, your clean water is contaminated, or our nuclear plants melt down.Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers, and a few unsung heroes, written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, The New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms race to heel.

Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World


Cade Metz - 2021
    Through the lives of Geoff Hinton and other major players, Metz explains this transformative technology and makes the quest thrilling.--Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker Recipient of starred reviews in both Kirkus and Library JournalTHE UNTOLD TECH STORY OF OUR TIMEWhat does it mean to be smart? To be human? What do we really want from life and the intelligence we have, or might create?With deep and exclusive reporting, across hundreds of interviews, New York Times Silicon Valley journalist Cade Metz brings you into the rooms where these questions are being answered. Where an extraordinarily powerful new artificial intelligence has been built into our biggest companies, our social discourse, and our daily lives, with few of us even noticing.Long dismissed as a technology of the distant future, artificial intelligence was a project consigned to the fringes of the scientific community. Then two researchers changed everything. One was a sixty-four-year-old computer science professor who didn't drive and didn't fly because he could no longer sit down--but still made his way across North America for the moment that would define a new age of technology. The other was a thirty-six-year-old neuroscientist and chess prodigy who laid claim to being the greatest game player of all time before vowing to build a machine that could do anything the human brain could do.They took two very different paths to that lofty goal, and they disagreed on how quickly it would arrive. But both were soon drawn into the heart of the tech industry. Their ideas drove a new kind of arms race, spanning Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and OpenAI, a new lab founded by Silicon Valley kingpin Elon Musk. But some believed that China would beat them all to the finish line.Genius Makers dramatically presents the fierce conflict between national interests, shareholder value, the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and the very human concerns about privacy, security, bias, and prejudice. Like a great Victorian novel, this world of eccentric, brilliant, often unimaginably yet suddenly wealthy characters draws you into the most profound moral questions we can ask. And like a great mystery, it presents the story and facts that lead to a core, vital question:How far will we let it go?

Ask Your Developer: How to Harness the Power of Software Developers and Win in the 21st Century


Jeff Lawson - 2021
    The landscape has shifted from the classic build vs. buy question, to one of build vs. die. Companies have to get this right to survive. But how do they make this transition?Software developers are sought after, highly paid, and desperately needed to compete in the modern, digital economy. Yet most companies treat them like digital factory workers without really understanding how to unleash their full potential. Lawson argues that developers are the creative workforce who can solve major business problems and create hit products for customers—not just grind through rote tasks. From Google and Amazon, to one-person online software companies—companies that bring software developers in as partners are winning. Lawson shows how leaders who build industry changing software products consistently do three things well. First, they understand why software developers matter more than ever. Second, they understand developers and know how to motivate them. And third, they invest in their developers' success.As a software developer and public company CEO, Lawson uses his unique position to bridge the language and tools executives use with the unique culture of high performing, creative software developers. Ask Your Developer is a toolkit to help business leaders, product managers, technical leaders, software developers, and executives achieve their common goal—building great digital products and experiences.How to compete in the digital economy? In short: Ask Your Developer.

Flying Blind: Boeing's Max Tragedy and the Lost Soul of an American Icon


Peter Robison - 2021
    The largest exporter in the US, it played a central role in the early days of commercial flight, World War II bombing missions, and moon landings. It remains a linchpin in the awesome routine of air travel today. But the two crashes of its 737 MAX 8, in 2018 and 2019, exposed a shocking pattern of malfeasance, leading to the biggest crisis in the company's history. How did things go so horribly wrong at Boeing?Flying Blind is the definitive expos� of a corporate scandal that has transfixed the world. It reveals how a broken corporate culture paved the way for disaster, losses that were altogether avoidable. Drawing from aviation insiders, as well as exclusive interviews with senior Boeing staff, past and present, it shows how in its race to beat Airbus, Boeing skimped on testing, outsourced critical software to unreliable third-parties, and convinced regulators to put planes into service without properly equipping pilots to fly them. In the chill that it cast over its workplace, it offers a parable for a corporate America that puts the interests of shareholders over customers, employees, and communities.This is a searing account of how a once-iconic company fell prey to a win-at-all-costs mentality, destabilizing an industry and needlessly sacrificing 350 lives.

Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire


Brad Stone - 2021
    Since then, Amazon has expanded exponentially, inventing novel products like Alexa and disrupting countless industries, while its workforce has quintupled in size and its valuation has soared to well over a trillion dollars. Jeff Bezos’s empire, once housed in a garage, now spans the globe. Between services like Whole Foods, Prime Video, and Amazon’s cloud computing unit, AWS, plus Bezos’s ownership of The Washington Post, it’s impossible to go a day without encountering its impact. We live in a world run, supplied, and controlled by Amazon and its iconoclast founder.In Amazon Unbound, Brad Stone presents a deeply reported, vividly drawn portrait of how a retail upstart became one of the most powerful and feared entities in the global economy. Stone also probes the evolution of Bezos himself—who started as a geeky technologist totally devoted to building Amazon, but who transformed to become a fit, disciplined billionaire with global ambitions; who ruled Amazon with an iron fist, even as he found his personal life splashed over the tabloids.

The Cold Start Problem


Andrew Chen - 2021
    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.

We Are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People


Eliot Higgins - 2021
    . . Riveting . . . What will fire people through these pages, gripped, is the focused, and extraordinary investigations that Bellingcat runs . . . Each runs as if the concluding chapter of a Holmesian whodunit' Telegraph'We Are Bellingcat is Higgins's gripping account of how he reinvented reporting for the internet age . . . A manifesto for optimism in a dark age' Luke Harding, ObserverHow did a collective of self-taught internet sleuths end up solving some of the biggest crimes of our time?Bellingcat, the home-grown investigative unit, is redefining the way we think about news, politics and the digital future. Here, their founder - a high-school dropout on a kitchen laptop - tells the story of how they created a whole new category of information-gathering, galvanising citizen journalists across the globe to expose war crimes and pick apart disinformation, using just their computers.From the downing of Malaysia Flight 17 over the Ukraine to the sourcing of weapons in the Syrian Civil War and the identification of the Salisbury poisoners, We Are Bellingcat digs deep into some of Bellingcat's most successful investigations. It explores the most cutting-edge tools for analysing data, from virtual-reality software that can build photorealistic 3D models of a crime scene, to apps that can identify exactly what time of day a photograph was taken.In our age of uncertain truths, Bellingcat is what the world needs right now - an intelligence agency by the people, for the people.

We Are Bellingcat: Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News


Eliot Higgins - 2021
    Soon, the identity of one of the suspects was revealed: he was a Russian spy. This huge investigative coup wasn't pulled off by an intelligence agency or a traditional news outlet. Instead, the scoop came from Bellingcat, the open-source investigative team that is redefining the way we think about news, politics, and the digital future.We Are Bellingcat tells the inspiring story of how a college dropout pioneered a new category of reporting and galvanized citizen journalists-working together from their computer screens around the globe-to crack major cases, at a time when fact-based journalism is under assault from authoritarian forces. Founder Eliot Higgins introduces readers to the tools Bellingcat investigators use, tools available to anyone, from software that helps you pinpoint the location of an image, to an app that can nail down the time that photo was taken. This book digs deep into some of Bellingcat's most important investigations-the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, Assad's use of chemical weapons in Syria, the identities of alt-right protestors in Charlottesville-with the drama and gripping detail of a spy novel.

Einstein's Fridge: How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe


Paul Sen - 2021
    “Although thermodynamics has been studied for hundreds of years…few nonscientists appreciate how its principles have shaped the modern world” (Scientific American). Thermodynamics—the branch of physics that deals with energy and entropy—governs everything from the behavior of living cells to the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Not only that, but thermodynamics explains why we must eat and breathe, how lights turn on, the limits of computing, and how the universe will end. The brilliant people who decoded its laws came from every branch of the sciences; they were engineers, physicists, chemists, biologists, cosmologists, and mathematicians. From French military engineer and physicist Sadi Carnot to Lord Kelvin, James Joule, Albert Einstein, Emmy Noether, Alan Turing, and Stephen Hawking, author Paul Sen introduces us to all of the players who passed the baton of scientific progress through time and across nations. Incredibly driven and idealistic, these brave pioneers performed groundbreaking work often in the face of torment and tragedy. Their discoveries helped create the modern world and transformed every branch of science, from biology to cosmology. “Elegantly written and engaging” (Financial Times), Einstein’s Fridge brings to life one of the most important scientific revolutions of all time and captures the thrill of discovery and the power of scientific progress to shape the course of history.

Androids: The Team That Built the Android Operating System


Chet Haase - 2021
    But they couldn't get investors interested. Today, Android is a large team at Google, shipping an operating system (including camera software) to over three billion devices worldwide.This is the inside story, told by the people who made it happen.“What are the essential ingredients that lead a small team to build software at the sheer scale and impact of Android? We may never fully know, but this first person account is probably the closest set of clues we have.”–Dave Burke, VP of Android Engineering“Androids captures a strong picture of what the early development of Android, as well as the Android team, was like.”–Dianne Hackborn, Android Framework Engineer“Androids is the engaging tale of a motley group of coders with a passion to make insanely great products who banged out the operating system when that idea seemed nuts.True to his geek genes, Chet Haase tells this remarkable tale of technical and business success from the trenches, an inspiring, massive collective effort of dozens of programmers who flipped their seemingly late timing to their advantage, and presaged a generation of platform builders. Read Androids to discover what it takes to create a hot tech team that shipped a product running today on more than 3 billion devices.”–Jonathan Littman, co-author of The Entrepreneurs Faces: How Makers, Visionaries and Outsiders Succeed, and author of The Fugitive Game

God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning


Meghan O'Gieblyn - 2021
    "A meditation on what it might mean to be human in an age of ever-accelerating technology"--

Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry


Jason Schreier - 2021
    In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it. The business of videogames is both a prestige industry and an opaque one. Based on dozens of first-hand interviews that cover the development of landmark games -- Bioshock Infinite, Epic Mickey, Dead Space, and more -- on to the shocking closures of the studios that made them, PRESS RESET tells the stories of how real people are affected by game studio shutdowns, and how they recover, move on, or escape the industry entirely. Schreier's insider interviews cover hostile takeovers, abusive bosses, corporate drama, bounced checks, and that one time the Boston Red Sox's Curt Schilling decided he was going to lead a game studio that would take out World of Warcraft. Along the way, he asks pressing questions about why, when the video game industry is more successful than ever, it's become so hard to make a stable living making video games -- and whether the business of making games can change before it's too late.

Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town


Charles L. Marohn Jr. - 2021
    Marohn Jr. delivers an accessible and engaging exploration of America's transportation system, laying bare the reasons why it no longer works as it once did, and how to modernize transportation to better serve local communities.You'll discover real-world examples of poor design choices and how those choices have dramatic and tragic effects on the lives of the people who use them. You'll also find case studies and examples of design improvements that have revitalized communities and improved safety.This important book shows you:The values of the transportation professions, how they are applied in the design process, and how those priorities differ from those of the public. How the standard approach to transportation ensures the maximum amount of traffic congestion possible is created each day, and how to fight that congestion on a budget. Bottom-up techniques for spending less and getting higher returns on transportation projects, all while improving quality of life for residents. Perfect for anyone interested in why transportation systems work - and fail to work - the way they do, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer is a fascinating insider's peek behind the scenes of America's transportation systems.

The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them


Euan Angus Ashley - 2021
    Euan Ashley, Stanford professor of medicine and genetics, brings the breakthroughs of precision medicine to vivid life through the real diagnostic journeys of his patients and the tireless efforts of his fellow doctors and scientists as they hunt to prevent, predict, and beat disease.Since the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, the price of genome sequencing has dropped at a staggering rate. It’s as if the price of a Ferrari went from $350,000 to a mere forty cents. Through breakthroughs made by Dr. Ashley’s team at Stanford and other dedicated groups around the world, analyzing the human genome has decreased from a heroic multibillion dollar effort to a single clinical test costing less than $1,000. For the first time we have within our grasp the ability to predict our genetic future, to diagnose and prevent disease before it begins, and to decode what it really means to be human.In The Genome Odyssey, Dr. Ashley details the medicine behind genome sequencing with clarity and accessibility. More than that, with passion for his subject and compassion for his patients, he introduces readers to the dynamic group of researchers and doctor detectives who hunt for answers, and to the pioneering patients who open up their lives to the medical community during their search for diagnoses and cures. He describes how he led the team that was the first to analyze and interpret a complete human genome, how they broke genome speed records to diagnose and treat a newborn baby girl whose heart stopped five times on the first day of her life, and how they found a boy with tumors growing inside his heart and traced the cause to a missing piece of his genome.These patients inspire Dr. Ashley and his team as they work to expand the boundaries of our medical capabilities and to envision a future where genome sequencing is available for all, where medicine can be tailored to treat specific diseases and to decode pathogens like viruses at the genomic level, and where our medical system as we know it has been completely revolutionized.

QAnon and On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults


Van Badham - 2021
    In this daring investigation, Van exposes some of the internet’s most extreme communities to understand conspiracy cults from the inside. QAnon and On is the story of the modern internet, the farscape of political belief and a disinformation pipeline built between the two that poses an ongoing threat to democracy itself. Shocking and mesmerising in equal measure, this book will open our eyes to the dangers of partisan belief.

The Tyranny of Big Tech


Josh Hawley - 2021
    In The Tyranny of Big Tech, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri argues that these mega-corporations - controlled by the robber barons of the modern era - are the gravest threat to American liberty in decades.To reverse course, Hawley argues, we must correct progressives’ mistakes of the past. That means recovering the link between liberty and democratic participation, building an economy that makes the working class strong, independent, and beholden to no one, and curbing the influence of corporate and political elites.Big Tech and its allies do not deal gently with those who cross them, and Senator Hawley proudly bears his own battle scars. But hubris is dangerous. The time is ripe to overcome the tyranny of Big Tech by reshaping the business and legal landscape of the digital world.

The Perfect Police State: An Undercover Odyssey into China's Terrifying Surveillance Dystopia of the Future


Geoffrey Cain - 2021
    Most citizens cannot discern between enemy and friend. Social trust has been destroyed systematically. Friends betray each other, bosses snitch on employees, teachers expose their students, and children turn on their parents. Everyone is dependent on a government that nonetheless treats them with suspicion and contempt. Welcome to the Perfect Police State. Using the haunting story of one young woman’s attempt to escape the vicious technological dystopia, his own reporting from Xinjiang, and extensive firsthand testimony from exiles, Geoffrey Cain reveals the extraordinary intrusiveness and power of the tech surveillance giants and the chilling implications for all our futures.

Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future


Saul Griffith - 2021
    We have to do something now--but what? Saul Griffith has a plan. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint--optimistic but feasible--for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith's plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future.Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low-interest "climate loans." Griffith's plan doesn't rely on big, not-yet-invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses--but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs--up to twenty-five million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else.

The Exponential Age: How Accelerating Technology is Transforming Business, Politics and Society


Azeem Azhar - 2021
    It all points to a world that is getting faster at a dizzying pace.Azeem Azhar, renowned technology analyst and host of the Exponential View podcast, offers a revelatory new model for understanding how technology is evolving so fast, and why it fundamentally alters the world. He roots his analysis in the idea of an “exponential gap” in which technological developments rapidly outpace our society’s ability to catch up. Azhar shows that this divide explains many problems of our time—from political polarization to ballooning inequality to unchecked corporate power. With stunning clarity of vision, he delves into how the exponential gap is a near-inevitable consequence of the rise of AI, automation, and other exponential technologies, like renewable energy, 3D printing, and synthetic biology, which loom over the horizon.And he offers a set of policy solutions that can prevent the growing exponential gap from fragmenting, weakening, or even destroying our societies. The result is a wholly new way to think about technology, one that will transform our understanding of the economy, politics, and the future.

Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century


Tim Higgins - 2021
    The first car company to be valued at $1 trillion, its electric vehicles can be found across the globe, coveted symbols of both wealth and virtue. The company's rise has elevated its CEO, the mercurial and charismatic Elon Musk, into a celebrity--not to mention making him the richest man in the world.But Tesla's success was far from guaranteed. Founded in the 2000s, the company was born from a simple but audacious vision: to create an electric car that could best any gas-guzzling competitor. Tesla wasn't the first company to try: Electric cars had been trotted out--and thrown on the scrap heap--by carmakers for more than a century. But where onlookers saw a history of failure, Musk and a small band of Silicon Valley engineers and entrepreneurs saw only opportunity. The car, they decided, was in need of disruption. So Tesla pitted itself against the biggest, fiercest business businesses in the world, setting out to make a car that was quicker, sexier, smoother, and cleaner than any on the road.But as the saying goes, to make a small fortune in cars, start with a big fortune. Tesla would undergo a hellish fifteen years, beset by rivals, pressured by investors, hobbled by whistleblowers, buoyed by loyal supporters. Time and time again, Musk would find himself in the public crosshairs, threatening to bring the company he had initially funded largely with his own money to the brink of collapse.Wall Street Journal tech and auto reporter Tim Higgins had a front-row seat for the drama: the pileups, wrestling for control, breakdowns, and, the unlikeliest outcome of all, success. A story of impossible wagers and unlikely triumphs, Power Play is an exhilarating look at how a team of eccentrics and innovators beat the odds--and changed the future.

Building Mobile Apps at Scale: 39 Engineering Challenges


Gergely Orosz - 2021
    By scale, we mean having numbers of users in the millions and being built by large engineering teams.For mobile engineers, this book is a blueprint for modern app engineering approaches. For non-mobile engineers and managers, it is a resource with which to build empathy and appreciation for the complexity of world-class mobile engineering.

An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination


Sheera Frenkel - 2021
     Once one of Silicon Valley’s greatest success stories, Facebook has been under constant fire for the past five years, roiled by controversies and crises. It turns out that while the tech giant was connecting the world, they were also mishandling users’ data, spreading fake news, and amplifying dangerous, polarizing hate speech. The company, many said, had simply lost its way. But the truth is far more complex. Leadership decisions enabled, and then attempted to deflect attention from, the crises. Time after time, Facebook’s engineers were instructed to create tools that encouraged people to spend as much time on the platform as possible, even as those same tools boosted inflammatory rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and partisan filter bubbles. And while consumers and lawmakers focused their outrage on privacy breaches and misinformation, Facebook solidified its role as the world’s most voracious data-mining machine, posting record profits, and shoring up its dominance via aggressive lobbying efforts. Drawing on their unrivaled sources, Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang take readers inside the complex court politics, alliances and rivalries within the company to shine a light on the fatal cracks in the architecture of the tech behemoth. Their explosive, exclusive reporting led them to a shocking conclusion: The missteps of the last five years were not an anomaly but an inevitability—this is how Facebook was built to perform. In a period of great upheaval, growth has remained the one constant under the leadership of Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. Both have been held up as archetypes of uniquely 21st century executives—he the tech “boy genius” turned billionaire, she the ultimate woman in business, an inspiration to millions through her books and speeches. But sealed off in tight circles of advisers and hobbled by their own ambition and hubris, each has stood by as their technology is coopted by hate-mongers, criminals and corrupt political regimes across the globe, with devastating consequences. In An Ugly Truth, they are at last held accountable.

Tornado: In the Eye of the Storm


John Nichol - 2021
    It is an extraordinary account of courage and fortitude. ‘We were doing about 620 miles-per-hour, 200 feet above the desert, in total darkness. Everything was running on rails as we approached the target. Then all hell broke loose.  I remember the missile being fired at us; I broke left and shouted, “Chaff!”   ‘ All I could see was a flame, like a very large firework, coming towards me. Then there was a huge white flash. I remember an enormous wind and then I was knocked unconscious.  My last thoughts were that I was going to die. ’ In 1990, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighbouring Kuwait, setting in motion a chain of events that had unimaginable political, military and personal repercussions, which still reverberate around the globe today.This is the story of the aircrew at the heart of Operation Desert Storm, almost none of whom had any prior experience of armed combat. It is the story of the Tornado’s missions, of those who did not return - and of the families who watched and waited as one of the most complex conflicts in recent history unfolded live on television. It is a story of untold fear and suffering, and astounding courage in the face of hitherto unimaginable adversity.

In the Camps: China's High-Tech Penal Colony


Darren Byler - 2021
    Based on hours of interviews with camp survivors and workers, thousands of government documents, and over a decade of research, Darren Byler, one of the leading experts on Uyghur society and Chinese surveillance systems, uncovers how a vast network of technology provided by private companies―facial surveillance, voice recognition, smartphone data―enabled the state and corporations to blacklist millions of Uyghurs because of their religious and cultural practice starting in 2017. Charged with “pre-crimes” that sometimes consist only of installing social media apps, detainees were put in camps to “study”―forced to praise the Chinese government, renounce Islam, disavow families, and labor in factories. Byler travels back to Xinjiang to reveal how the convenience of smartphones have doomed the Uyghurs to catastrophe, and makes the case that the technology is being used all over the world, sold by tech companies from Beijing to Seattle producing new forms of unfreedom for vulnerable people around the world.

The Missing Readme: A Guide for the New Software Engineer


Chris Riccomini - 2021
    You'll also learn design processes and how to partner with an engineering manager to get things done. Do's and Don'ts deliver information in a nutshell, and "Level Up" sections point to further reading. Real-world stories are woven in throughout to reinforce key points.This book is for you if you can answer "yes" to any one of these questions:- Do you feel like the newbie on your engineering team?- Are you wondering how to review code or write a design document?- Are you worried about breaking existing code?- Are you overwhelmed by the thought of being "on-call"?- Are you surrounded by unfamiliar acronyms like SLA, SLO, PPP, 1:1, OKR?- Are you questioning the point of sprint planning meetings, story points, and stand-ups?

First Platoon: A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance


Annie Jacobsen - 2021
    The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: It is about a platoon of mostly nineteen-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the U.S. Department of Defense's quest to build the world's most powerful biometrics database, with the power to identify, monitor, catalogue, and police people all over the world.First Platoon is an American saga that illuminates a transformation of society made possible by this new technology. Part war story, part legal drama, it is about identity in the age of identification. About humanity--physical bravery, trauma, PTSD, a yearning to do right and good--in the age of biometrics, which reduce people to iris scans, fingerprint scans, voice patterning, detection by odor, gait, and more. And about the power of point-of-view in a burgeoning surveillance state.Based on hundreds of formerly classified documents, FOIA requests, and exclusive interviews, First Platoon is an investigative expos� by a master chronicler of government secrets. First Platoon reveals a post-9/11 Pentagon whose identification machines have grown more capable than the humans who must make sense of them. A Pentagon so powerful it can cover up its own internal mistakes in pursuit of endless wars. And a people at its mercy, in its last moments before a fundamental change so complete it might be impossible to take back.

The Disconnect: A Personal Journey Through the Internet


Róisín Kiberd - 2021
    I felt both seen and like I could see more after reading' Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun'Spectacular ... lion-hearted in its honesty, and insightful to the point of brilliance' - Lisa McInerney, author of The Glorious HeresiesWe all live online now: the line between the internet and IRL has become porous to the point of being meaningless.Roisin Kiberd knows this better than anyone. She has worked for tech startups and as the online voice of a cheese brand; she's witnessed the bloated excesses of tech conferences and explored the strangest communities on the web. She has traced the ripples these hidden worlds have sent through our culture and politics, and experienced the disorienting effects on her own life.In these interlinked essays, she illuminates the subject with fierce clarity, revealing the ways we are more connected than ever before, and the disconnect this breeds. From the lure of the endless scroll, to the glamour of self-optimisation; from the cult of Energy Drinks to the nostalgic world of Vaporwave music; and from silicon town centres to dating tech bros, Kiberd explores the strange worlds, habits and people that have grown with the internet. She asks what we have gained, what we have lost, and what we have given willingly away in exchange for this connected life.

Living in Data: A Citizen's Guide to a Better Information Future


Jer Thorp - 2021
    Data--our data--is mined and processed for profit, power, and political gain. In Living in Data, Thorp asks a crucial question of our time: How do we stop passively inhabiting data, and instead become active citizens of it?Threading a data story through hippo attacks, glaciers, and school gymnasiums, around colossal rice piles, and over active minefields, Living in Data reminds us that the future of data is still wide open, that there are ways to transcend facts and figures and to find more visceral ways to engage with data, that there are always new stories to be told about how data can be used.Punctuated with Thorp's original and informative illustrations, Living in Data not only redefines what data is, but reimagines who gets to speak its language and how to use its power to create a more just and democratic future. Timely and inspiring, Living in Data gives us a much-needed path forward.

In Plain Sight: An Investigation Into UFOs and Impossible Science


Ross Coulthart - 2021
    UFOs, UAPs, flying cigars, extraordinary new technologies ... Are we not alone?Award-winning investigative journalist Ross Coulthart has been intrigued by UFOs since mysterious glowing lights were reported near New Zealand's Kaikoura mountains when he was a teenager. The 1978 sighting is just one of thousands since the 1940s, and yet research into UFOs is still seen as the realm of crackpots and conspiracy theorists.In 2020, however, after decades of denial, the US Department of Defence made the astonishing admission that strange aerial and underwater objects frequently reported and videoed by pilots and tracked by sensors are real, unexplained, and pose a genuine national security concern.Compelled to investigate, Coulthart has embarked on what's become the most confronting and challenging story of his career, speaking to witnesses, researchers, scientists, spies and defence and intelligence officials and insiders. What he has found suggests that the world is on the cusp of extraordinary technological breakthroughs and cultural revelations.Bizarre, sometimes mind-blowing and utterly fascinating, In Plain Sight tells a story that's largely escaped the radar of mainstream media coverage but has been there all along. Now it's time to observe what's in front of our eyes.

Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation


Kevin Roose - 2021
    After decades of sci-fi fantasies and hype, artificial intelligence has leapt out of research labs and Silicon Valley engineering departments and into the center of our lives. Algorithms shape everything around us, from the news we see to the products we buy and the relationships we form. And while the debate over whether or not automation will destroy jobs rages on, a much more important question is being ignored:What does it mean to be a human in a world that is increasingly built by and for machines?In Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation, New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose lays out a hopeful, pragmatic vision of how people can succeed in the machine age by making themselves irreplaceably human. He shares the secrets of people and organizations that have survived technological change, and explains how we can protect our own futures, with lessons like- Do work that is surprising, social, and scarce (the types of work machines can't do). - Demote your phone. - Work near other people. - Treat A.I. like an army of chimpanzees. - Add more friction to your life.Roose rejects the conventional wisdom that in order to compete with machines, we have to become more like them--hyper-efficient, data-driven, code-writing workhorses. Instead, he says, we should let machines be machines, and focus on doing the kinds of creative, inspiring, and meaningful things only humans can do.

Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do about It


Douglas S. Bursch - 2021
    Social media platforms have become toxic and polarizing environments. Many of us are overwhelmed and disillusioned by the endless online conflict and negativity. How did we get here, and what can we do about it? The internet is changing not only how we communicate but also what we communicate. Pastor and former radio host Douglas Bursch provides a spiritual examination of why social media divides people and how Christians can address polarization through a ministry of peacemaking. He unpacks how technology radically changes the way we communicate--digital media dehumanizes and disembodies us, dulling our ability to know when to speak and when to remain silent. But healthy online communication is possible through a constructive posture of reconciliation. Bursch offers practical examples of how to proactively manage social media and handle online conflict in redemptive, reconciling ways. Change the discourse of online Christian communication. Discover how we can use social media in a positive, Christ-like manner.

Kill It with Fire: Manage Aging Computer Systems (and Future Proof Modern Ones)


Marianne Bellotti - 2021
    Aging computer systems present complex technical challenges for organizations both large and small, and Kill It with Fire provides sound strategies for spearheading modernization efforts.Kill It with Fire examines aging computer systems, the evolution of technology over time, and how organizations can modernize, maintain, and future-proof their current systems.In playful and engaging prose, Marianne Bellotti uses real-world case studies to illustrate the technical challenges of modernizing complex legacy systems, as well as the organizational challenges of time-intensive maintenance efforts. The book explains how to evaluate existing architecture, create upgrade plans, and handle communication structures. Team exercises and historical analyses of complex computer systems make this a valuable resource for those in both older and newer companies, and will help readers restore or create systems built to evolve as time goes on.

Cashless: China's Digital Currency Revolution


Richard Turrin - 2021
    This represents a road map for our shared digital currency future and a long-term threat to US dollar dominance.China is changing the very nature of money and borrowing heavily from cryptocurrency to cement its role as the world's financial technology leader.Cashless is written by the best-selling author of Innovation Lab Excellence, an award-winning expert in fintech innovation, career banker, and technology expert who has experienced China's cashless revolution firsthand as a former US resident living in China. It reveals how: ● China's digital currency can help you better predict and navigate the cashless future coming to the US-and the world ● Your company may be tempted to use China's system to make cross-border payments ● The EU, UK, Japan and India are developing digital currencies ● Digital payment will change our relationship with money and promote financial inclusionCashless shows you the future. It offers a comprehensive analysis of China's digital payment systems so that you can better prepare for the rise of digital currencies.It is a must-read for all business leaders and professionals looking for a decided competitive advantage.

Extreme Entrepreneurship: Inspiring Life and Business Lessons from Entrepreneurs and Startups around the World


Adam J. Sulkowski - 2021
    Written by an award-winning professor at a top-ranked entrepreneurship school based on his interviews with startup founders in some of the more than 120 countries he has visited, there are no Silicon Valley stories of free office perks here. Instead, you can expect to find uniquely inspiring stories and universal lessons about life and business from interesting people and places around the world.

The Christmas Rental


Aurora Paige - 2021
     He’s a hot bar owner with no desire to settle down. What happens when you rent a date for the holiday, but a phone app matches you to your forever-plus-one? Alexis Commitment wasn’t a priority. I was an independent woman and handled everything on my own, no man necessary. My family couldn’t understand the concept. So, I developed the Holidates app to help people like me who just needed a date to bring home to their families during the holidays. I tested it out on myself and my holidate turned out better than expected—nice, likeable, easy to be with. Of course, I forgot that relationships were simple when there was nothing on the line. No future, no heartbreak, no getting along for long periods of time. Then the unthinkable happened. We were snowed in and had to share a bed. No biggie. Until I realized I wanted to share more than one night. But a deal is a deal. And I wouldn’t break it...unless that’s what he wanted, too. Wesley I never met a woman who didn’t want a long-term commitment. So when a dating app matched me with Alexis, we were the perfect couple, blissful in our “for now” arrangement. I could survive anything for a few days. Except with her, I wasn’t just surviving--I was actually enjoying myself. When bad weather ruined our chance to go home and end the date, I was happy about it. I wasn’t ready to be done, so I bit the bullet and asked her to be my New Year’s Eve holidate, too. She agreed, but she didn’t know I planned to have her all the days in between. I wasn’t a resolution kind of guy, but if I was, I’d vow to convince Lexi to be mine forever.The Holidates SeriesNeed a date for a holiday event? A family dinner with nosy relatives pestering you about settling down? The Holidates App is the perfect answer to your busy lifestyle needs. With this dating app, find the perfect rental date; both parties set the terms and conditions, absolutely no strings attached.Join your favorite instalove authors every month of the year for a new holidate story gone bad...or oh so right. Holidates will prove tested and true to give you ALL the feels and become your new favorite app.

Product-Led Onboarding: How to Turn New Users Into Lifelong Customers (Product-Led Growth Series Book 2)


Ramli John - 2021
    

The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can't Think the Way We Do


Erik J. Larson - 2021
    What hope do we have against superintelligent machines? But we aren't really on the path to developing intelligent machines. In fact, we don't even know where that path might be.A tech entrepreneur and pioneering research scientist working at the forefront of natural language processing, Erik Larson takes us on a tour of the landscape of AI to show how far we are from superintelligence, and what it would take to get there. Ever since Alan Turing, AI enthusiasts have equated artificial intelligence with human intelligence. This is a profound mistake. AI works on inductive reasoning, crunching data sets to predict outcomes. But humans don't correlate data sets: we make conjectures informed by context and experience. Human intelligence is a web of best guesses, given what we know about the world. We haven't a clue how to program this kind of intuitive reasoning, known as abduction. Yet it is the heart of common sense. That's why Alexa can't understand what you are asking, and why AI can only take us so far.Larson argues that AI hype is both bad science and bad for science. A culture of invention thrives on exploring unknowns, not overselling existing methods. Inductive AI will continue to improve at narrow tasks, but if we want to make real progress, we will need to start by more fully appreciating the only true intelligence we know--our own.

The 7th Property: Bitcoin and the Monetary Revolution


Eric Yakes - 2021
    

Larimer Street


Timothy Browne - 2021
    There is power in going through—in surviving. And in the final analysis, losing some battles but winning the war. Larimer Street, downtown Denver, 1907—Jim Goodheart, a tall and handsome man, loses everything. Staggering in drunkenness and desperation on a dark night in November, he decides to drink a bottle of carbolic acid and make room in the world for a better man. Jim stumbles onto the doorstep of the rescue mission on Larimer Street, Denver’s skid row.In spite of Jim’s life-long battle with alcoholism, and by divine redemption, he becomes known as the captivating leader of the Sunshine Rescue Mission. Through World War I and the horrific 1918 Influenza epidemic, the mission serves the destitute in an era without safety nets or social programs.The pain of WWI and his personal war against alcoholism brings him to the point of losing it all again, except his loving wife, Ada, and his faith. Larimer Street is a story of courage and redemption. It is not a story of Jim’s success over his challenges, but a story of triumph through his weaknesses and failures.Fans of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale, and Unbroken will enjoy this riveting saga of history, faith, and love.

Software Architecture: The Hard Parts: Modern Tradeoff Analysis for Distributed Architectures


Neal Ford - 2021
    These are the difficult problems architects face, what this book's authors call the hard parts. These topics have no best practices, forcing architects to understand various tradeoffs to succeed. This book discusses these hard parts by not only investigating what makes architecture so difficult, but also by providing proven ways to address these problems and make them easier.The book explores topics such as choosing an appropriate architecture, deciding on service granularity, managing workflows and orchestration, managing and decoupling contracts, managing distributed transactions, and optimizing operational characteristics such as scalability, elasticity, and performance. As practicing consultants, the authors focus on questions they commonly hear architects ask and provide techniques that enable them to discover the tradeoffs necessary to answer these questions.

Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry Into the News


Jeffrey Bilbro - 2021
    W. F. HegelWhenever we reach for our phones or scan a newspaper to get "caught up," we are being not merely informed but also formed. News consumption can shape our sense of belonging, how we judge the value of our lives, and even how our brains function. Christians mustn't let the news replace prayer as Hegel envisioned, but neither should we simply discard the daily feed. We need a better understanding of what the news is for and how to read it well. Jeffrey Bilbro invites readers to take a step back and gain some theological and historical perspective on the nature and very purpose of news. In Reading the Times he reflects on how we pay attention, how we discern the nature of time and history, and how we form communities through what we read and discuss. Drawing on writers from Thoreau and Dante to Merton and Berry, along with activist-journalists such as Frederick Douglass and Dorothy Day, Bilbro offers an alternative vision of the rhythms of life, one in which we understand our times in light of what is timeless. Throughout, he suggests practices to counteract common maladies tied to media consumption in order to cultivate healthier ways of reading and being. When the news sets itself up as the light of the world, it usurps the role of the living Word. But when it helps us attend together to the work of Christ--down through history and within our daily contexts--it can play a vital part in enabling us to love our neighbors. Reading the Times is a refreshing and humane call to put the news in its place.

Memories Live Here: A Novel


Marc Sheinbaum - 2021
    Churchill. Gandhi.Your dead mother.Josh Brodsky is at the top of his game. At his new Silicon Valley job, he’s on the verge of an invention that uses artificial intelligence to bring back the greatest leaders in history. But his top-secret code becomes encrypted by a devastating ransomware attack—was the malware planted by Josh’s troubled brother Donny? When the brothers uncover their dead mother’s diaries, the family careens toward a rendezvous with AI to discover the truth behind their father’s mysterious death thirty years ago, and the stunning secret their mother carried to her grave.“This extraordinary work of fiction cleverly blends intrigue, mystery, and science fiction…not only will it keep its readers on the edge of their seats from the very first page, but at the end it will leave them reflective, and wanting to know more…”-THECOLUMBIAREVIEW.COM"...fast-paced fusion of soft science fiction and family drama… Most of all, the novel is well written and proof of Sheinbaum's talent in storytelling. In short, this tale is well worth the read.”U. S. REVIEW OF BOOKS

Ada Lovelace (Inspired Inner Genius)


Inspired Inner Genius - 2021
    The inspirational tale of Ada Lovelace! Inspire strength, innovation, and unlimited possibilities.This book consists of 5 parts:I: Illustrated biography — Printed in full color and written like a storybookII: Extended biography — Curated to deepen your child’s knowledge about Ada Lovelace, our extended biography is also perfect for school reports...III: Gallery — An iconic photo of Ada Lovelace...IV: Glossary — Reinforce your child’s learning with simplified explanations of advanced vocabulary...V: Muse Museum — Introduce your little ones to a myriad of other inspirational individuals in our book collection...Age Specifications:This illustrated biography book is geared to boys and girls aged from 5 to 10 years old but it is suitable for any child (toddlers, preschool, and kindergarten) who is interested in reading.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Business: A No-Nonsense Guide to Data Driven Technologies


Steven Finlay - 2021
    They are being applied across many industries to increase profits, reduce costs, save lives and improve customer experiences. Consequently, organizations that understand these tools and know how to use them are benefiting at the expense of their rivals.Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Business cuts through the hype and technical jargon that is often associated with these subjects. It delivers a simple and concise introduction for managers and business people. The focus is on practical application and how to work with technical specialists (data scientists) to maximize the benefits of these technologies.This revised and fully updated edition contains several new sections and chapters, covering a broader set of topics than before, but retains the no-nonsense style of the original.Steven Finlay is a data scientist and author with more than 20 years’ experience of developing practical, business focused, analytical solutions. He holds a PhD in management science and is an honorary research fellow at Lancaster University in the UK.

Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut


Nicholas Schmidle - 2021
    But most of all is it a story about how we all search for meaning in pursuit and fulfillment of our dreams …

Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door-Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy


Christopher Mims - 2021
    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.

Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age


Felicia Wu Song - 2021
    Today's digital technologies are designed to captivate our attention and encroach on our boundaries, shaping how we relate to time and space, to ourselves and others, even to God. Our natural longing for relationship makes us vulnerable to the industrializing effects of social media. While we enjoy the benefits of digital tech, many of us feel troubled with its power and exhausted by its demands for permanent connectivity. Yet even as we grow disenchanted, attempting to resist the digital powers that be might seem like a losing battle. Sociologist Felicia Wu Song has spent years considering the personal and collective dynamics of living in digital ecosystems. In this book she combines psychological, neurological, and sociological insights with theological reflection to explore two major questions:What kind of people are we becoming with personal technologies in hand? And who do we really want to be? Song unpacks the soft tyranny of the digital age, including the values embedded in our apps and the economic systems that drive our habits and their subtle yet pervasive effects. She then explores pathways of meaningful resistance that can be found in Christian tradition, especially counter-narratives about human worth, embodiment, relationality, and time. Considering digital practices through the lens of liturgy and formation, she offers practical experiments for individual and communal change. In our current digital ecologies, small behavioral shifts are not enough to give us freedom. We need a sober and motivating vision of our prospects to help us imagine what kind of life we hope to live--and how we can get there.

Beyond Leaning In: Gender Equity and What Organizations are Up Against


Melanie Ho - 2021
    But sales are declining, and her strongest women leaders are departing one after the other.It isn’t until she enlists the “reverse mentorship” of the much younger Cassandra that Debra begins to understand the challenges the next generation of women leaders face and the impact on the bottom line. But can she respond fast enough to save her company and her job?Beyond Leaning In is a different kind of business book—based on research, but told as a novel and designed to spark discussion among friends, family, classmates, and co-workers across genders and generations.Through the perspective of female and male characters across generations, readers gain new insights about why gender gaps are so hard to close despite our best intentions. We are inspired to think differently about what both individuals and organizations must do to ensure all employees thrive.

Steve Jobs (Inspired Inner Genius Book 2)


Inspired Inner Genius - 2021
    (Warning: Reading could become addictive)II: Extended biography — Curated to deepen your child’s knowledge about Steve Jobs, our extended biography is also perfect for school reports...III: Gallery — Impress your little ones with an iconic photo of Steve Jobs...IV: Glossary — Reinforce your child’s learning with simplified explanations of advanced vocabulary...V: Muse Museum — Introduce your little ones to a myriad of other inspirational individuals in our book collection...Age Specifications:This illustrated biography book is geared to boys and girls aged from 5 to 10 years old but it is suitable for any child (toddlers, preschool, and kindergarten) who is interested in reading. Your kid will love it!About Steve Jobs:Crowned as one of the greatest innovators of this century, Steve Jobs was the man behind the Apple we all know today. Before he was globally renowned as the CEO of Apple, Steve's life wasn't the most smooth sailing and conventional one. Despite the initial hardships, Steve remained optimistic and explorative. This combined with his passion for technology pushed him to create a company of his own. This company was none other than the Apple we know today, which has since then established itself as one of the greatest tech companies in the world.

Better Onboarding


Krystal Higgins - 2021
    Gain practical strategies and techniques for designing effective guidance, whether you’re working through a redesign, launching new features, rolling out service updates, or welcoming back returning users. Set aside the tutorials, manuals, and intrusive instructions of the past, and learn how to use guided interaction to help users find their way—and get value out of every step.

Our Sunburnt Country


Anika Molesworth - 2021
    She formed a bond with the land as though it were a member of her family. When the Millennium Drought hit, though, bringing with it heatwaves and duststorms, the future she'd always imagined for herself began to seem impossible.As she learned more about the causes of - and the solutions to - the extreme weather that was killing her land and her livelihood, Anika became fired up and determined to speak out. Talking to farmers and food producers all around the world, she soon realised that there was a way forward that could be both practical and sustainable - if only we can build up the courage to take it.Beautifully written and full of hope, Our Sunburnt Country shows that there is a way to protect our land, our food and our future, and it is within our grasp.Praise for Our Sunburnt Country:'In Australia our climate debate can be depressing. In the hands of Anika Molesworth it is uplifting and full of hope.' - Craig Reucassel'Anika Molesworth invites us to imagine a better future. Read this book and be inspired.' - Michael E. Mann'In a hope-filled, personal tale framed by her family farm in a sun-baked landscape, Anika Molesworth weaves philosophy, science and a poet's eye into a heartwarming tale of how to help heal the planet.' - Matthew Evans'This is an important, accessible and evocative book written by a farmer and scientist in that most vital of spaces: the future of our Earth. This book can be part of the solution.' - Charles Massy'A personal journey spurred by climate change in the west of NSW, learning what can be done and why it is worth doing.' - Ross Garnaut

Delivering the Digital Restaurant: Your Roadmap to the Future of Food


Carl Orsbourn - 2021
    

Revolution Day


Blair Denholm - 2021
    A man’s mutilated naked body hangs from a tree, a cross carved into his back.But there’s something different about this crime. The victim is a black African student. With Gorbachev’s policies of Glasnost and Perestroika giving society new freedoms, right wing extremists are emerging from the shadows. Voloshin fears the murder can only be a race-hate crime. On the eve of the Revolution Day parade, security is tight and the city is on high alert. Anonymous bomb threats linked to the lynching escalate fears Moscow is about to explode.But is this all a distraction?The authorities issue a directive. Cover up the murder and protect the reputation of the Communist regime. But Voloshin, no friend of the system, ignores the order. With the KGB and government ministries obstructing his search for justice, the Captain must also conquer his own frailties that threaten to cripple the investigation.

Firepower: How Weapons Shaped Warfare


Paul Lockhart - 2021
    In Firepower, acclaimed historian Paul Lockhart tells the story of the evolution of weaponry and how it transformed not only the conduct of warfare but also the very structure of power in the West, from the Renaissance to the dawn of the atomic era. Across this period, improvements in firepower shaped the evolving art of war. For centuries, weaponry had remained simple enough that any state could equip a respectable army. That all changed around 1870, when the cost of investing in increasingly complicated technology soon meant that only a handful of great powers could afford to manufacture advanced weaponry, while other countries fell behind. Going beyond the battlefield, Firepower ultimately reveals how changes in weapons technology reshaped human history.

Flash Forward: An Illustrated Guide to Possible (And Not So Possible) Tomorrows


Rose Eveleth - 2021
    Each artist chooses a subject close to their heart—Ignatz Award nominee Julia Gfrörer, for instance, will imagine a future in which robots make art—and presents their chosen future in their own style. Drawing on her interviews with experts in various fields of study, Eveleth will then report on what is complete fantasy and what is only just out of reach in insightful essays following the comics. This book introduces compelling visions of the future and vividly explores the human consequences of developing technologies. Flash Forward reveals how complicated, messy, incredible, frightening, and strange our future might be.CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS INCLUDE: Matt Lubchansky, Sophie Goldstein, Zach Weinersmith, Box Brown, Maki Naro, John Jennings, Julia Gfrörer, Chris Jones, Blue Delliquanti, Amelia Onorato, Kate Sheridan, Sophia Foster-Dimino, Ziyed Ayoub, Ben Passmore

The Computers That Made Britain


Tim Danton - 2021
    Those machines would inspire a generation.The Computers That Made Britain tells the story of 19 of those computers – and what happened behind the scenes. With dozens of new interviews, discover the tales of missed deadlines, technical faults, business interference, and the unheralded geniuses who brought to the UK everything from the Dragon 32 and ZX81, to the Amstrad CPC 464 and Commodore Amiga.

Becoming a Data Head: How to Think, Speak, and Understand Data Science, Statistics, and Machine Learning


Alex J. Gutman - 2021
    You'll become a more valuable employee and make your organization more successful.Thomas H. Davenport, Research Fellow, Author of Competing on Analytics, Big Data @ Work, and The AI AdvantageYou've heard the hype around data--now get the facts.In Becoming a Data Head: How to Think, Speak, and Understand Data Science, Statistics, and Machine Learning, award-winning data scientists Alex Gutman and Jordan Goldmeier pull back the curtain on data science and give you the language and tools necessary to talk and think critically about it.You'll learn how to:Think statistically and understand the role variation plays in your life and decision making Speak intelligently and ask the right questions about the statistics and results you encounter in the workplace Understand what's really going on with machine learning, text analytics, deep learning, and artificial intelligence Avoid common pitfalls when working with and interpreting data Becoming a Data Head is a complete guide for data science in the workplace: covering everything from the personalities you'll work with to the math behind the algorithms. The authors have spent years in data trenches and sought to create a fun, approachable, and eminently readable book. Anyone can become a Data Head--an active participant in data science, statistics, and machine learning. Whether you're a business professional, engineer, executive, or aspiring data scientist, this book is for you.

Rule of the Robots: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything


Martin Ford - 2021
    AI is impossible to avoid online. And it has already changed everything from how doctors diagnose disease to how you interact with friends or read the news. But in Rule of the Robots, Martin Ford argues that the true revolution is yet to come. In this sequel to his prescient New York Times bestseller Rise of the Robots, Ford presents us with a striking vision of the very near future. He argues that AI is a uniquely powerful technology that is altering every dimension of human life, often for the better. For example, advanced science is being done by machines, solving devilish problems in molecular biology that humans could not, and AI can help us fight climate change or the next pandemic. It also has a capacity for profound harm. Deep fakes—AI-generated audio or video of events that never happened—are poised to cause havoc throughout society. AI empowers authoritarian regimes like China with unprecedented mechanisms for social control. And AI can be deeply biased, learning bigoted attitudes from us and perpetuating them. In short, this is not a technology to simply embrace, or let others worry about. The machines are coming, and they won’t stop, and each of us needs to know what that means if we are to thrive in the twenty-first century. And Rule of the Robots is the essential guide to all of it: both AI and the future of our economy, our politics, our lives.

Developer Marketing Does Not Exist: The Authentic Guide to Reach a Technical Audience


Adam DuVander - 2021
    

Read Write Code: A Friendly Introduction to the World of Coding, and Why It’s the New Literacy


Jeremy Keeshin - 2021
    In 1440, the invention of the printing press laid the groundwork for massive increases in literacy and ushered in the modern era.Today, computers and the internet are causing a similar tectonic shift. Reading and writing are foundational skills, and in our digital world, coding is too.But coding can be intimidating to learn. What is code? Where do you even start?In Read Write Code, Jeremy Keeshin demystifies the world of computers, starting at the beginning to explain the basic building blocks of today's tech: programming, the internet, data, apps, the cloud, cybersecurity, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and more.As CEO and Co-founder of CodeHS, Keeshin has helped teach coding to millions of students over the last decade. Complex concepts are explained in friendly and engaging ways, with interactive examples and practical tips. This book is a must-read for modern educators and anyone who wants to understand why code matters today.

The Five Forces That Change Everything


Steven S. Hoffman - 2021
    Nanotech is at the point where it's possible to unleash invisible robots and new materials into the world that permanently alter life on Earth. With genetic engineering, we have taken evolution into our own hands, creating new species of plants and animals that never existed before. We're developing AIs that can predict future events, create lifelike simulations, and learn from their own mistakes. And space technology is advancing toward the point where visiting other planets and discovering alien life forms will no longer be the stuff of science fiction. In The Five Forces That Change Everything, Steve Hoffman, venture capitalist and CEO of Founders Space, takes you on a journey to see what the most brilliant minds of our age are dreaming up. Hoffman reveals how new scientific breakthroughs and business ventures are poised to reshape our lives and turn science fiction into fact. From Silicon Valley biohackers boosting their IQs to scientists in Japan creating lifelike robots, and Chinese labs developing human-monkey chimeras, Hoffman gives an inside look at the limits of what's possible and the impact these developments will have.

The Genes That Make Us: Human Stories From a Revolution in Medicine


Edwin Kirk - 2021
    From the success of our conception and the development of our sexual characteristics, to the colour of our skin, hair, and eyes. From our height and weight, to our daily health. And, unfortunately, our genes are involved in an untold number of diseases. For many, the first time that genetics truly matters is in a doctor’s office as they learn about a condition that may affect them, their unborn children, or even their wider family. Yet from the first laborious survey of the human genome twenty years ago to the commercial machines that now sequence 6,000 genomes per year, a revolution is taking place in medicine. Genetic screening is already available for major diseases and will become an increasingly prevalent medical tool. Around the world, teams of researchers are working on cures for diseases such as cancer, certain degenerative disorders, and a host of syndromes, while others are inventing new ways to conceive — and even modifying our genome in ways that could change what it means to be human.Navigating this world of heartbreaking uncertainties, tantalising possibilities, and thorny questions of morality is Professor Edwin Kirk, who in addition to having over two decades of experience is that rare doctor who works both in the lab and with patients. In The Genes That Make Us, he explains everything you need to know with humour, insight, and great humanity.

A Bestiary of the Anthropocene: On Hybrid Plants, Animals, Minerals, Fungi, and Other Specimens


Nicolas NovaAnna Lowenhaupt Tsing - 2021
    Designed as a field handbook, it aims at helping us observe, navigate, and orientate into the increasingly artificial fabric of the world.Plastiglomerates, surveillance robot dogs, fordite, artificial grass, antenna trees, Sars-Covid-2, decapitated mountains, drone-fighting eagles, standardised bananas… each of these specimens are symptomatic of the rapidly transforming “post-natural” era we live in. Often without us even noticing them, these creatures exponentially spread and co-exist with us.A Bestiary of the Anthropocene seeks to capture this precise moment when the biosphere and technosphere merge and mesh into one new hybrid body. What happens when technologies and their unintended consequences become so ubiquitous that it is difficult to define what is “natural” or not? What does it mean to live in a hybrid environment made of organic and synthetic matter? What new specimens are currently populating our planet at the beginning of the 21st century?

NPR's Podcast Start Up Guide: Create, Launch, and Grow a Podcast on Any Budget


Glen Weldon - 2021
    

Oh You Robot Saints!


Rebecca Morgan Frank - 2021
    From a riveting robobee sonnet sequence that links weapons of war and industrial fixes for infertility to a microdrama sketching out a missing Sophocles play on the mythical bronze man, Talos, these muscular poems blur and sing the lines between machines and the divine. This lyrical exploration of the ongoing human desire to create life navigates wonder and grief, joining the uncanny investigation of what it is to be, to make, and to be made.

Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishing


John Brookshire Thompson - 2021
    From the surge of ebooks to the self-publishing explosion and the growing popularity of audiobooks, Book Wars provides a comprehensive and fine-grained account of technological disruption in one of our most important and successful creative industries.Like other sectors, publishing has been thrown into disarray by the digital revolution. The foundation on which this industry had been based for 500 years - the packaging and sale of words and images in the form of printed books - was called into question by a technological revolution that enabled symbolic content to be stored, manipulated and transmitted quickly and cheaply. Publishers and retailers found themselves facing a proliferation of new players who were offering new products and services and challenging some of their most deeply held principles and beliefs. The old industry was suddenly thrust into the limelight as bitter conflicts erupted between publishers and new entrants, including powerful new tech giants who saw the world in very different ways. The book wars had begun.While ebooks were at the heart of many of these conflicts, Thompson argues that the most fundamental consequences lie elsewhere. The print-on-paper book has proven to be a remarkably resilient cultural form, but the digital revolution has transformed the industry in other ways, spawning new players which now wield unprecedented power and giving rise to an array of new publishing forms. Most important of all, it has transformed the broader information and communication environment, creating new challenges and new opportunities for publishers as they seek to redefine their role in the digital age.This unrivalled account of the book publishing industry as it faces its greatest challenge since Gutenberg will be essential reading for anyone interested in books and their future.

Full Circle Marketing


Wayne Mullins - 2021
    Marketing strategies that work every single time they are used, and in many ways, these two fundamental strategies are like natural laws. And just like natural laws, you can choose to ignore them, or even pretend they don't exist, but your decision doesn't invalidate the laws. Jump out of an airplane, and you don't invalidate the law of gravity; you prove it. The same is true for the strategies you'll discover in the pages of this book. You can ignore them, or even intentionally violate them, but your decision won't invalidate their reality. Instead your results, or lack thereof, will merely confirm their existence.

The Big Book of Small Python Projects


Al Sweigart - 2021
    The 100+ short programs in Big Book of Small Python Projects are designed to help beginning-to-intermediate programmers expand their knowledge of how to deploy Python creatively and effectively by offering coding examples that will help them to tackle their own coding challenges.The 100+ short, complete Python programs in this book are designed to help beginning-to-intermediate Python programmers broaden their skills by providing a diverse set of coding examples they can study, emulate, and draw inspiration from. The programs range from classic card and board games and mazes, to math and probability demos, and mad libs. The author includes the complete code for each program, as well as commentary and suggestions for how to modify and experiment with code.

The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope


Daniel Greene - 2021
    Greene shows how the digital divide emerged as a policy problem and why simple technological solutions to complex social issues continue to appeal to politicians and professionals who should (and often do) know better.

After Dinner Conversation - Season Three: After Dinner Conversation Short Story Series


Kolby GranvilleJulie Sondra Decker - 2021
    Short stories span all genres; science-fiction, near-future, dystopia, spiritual, fantasy, urban fantasy, AI, historical fiction, contemporary women, political, horror, thriller, and children's stories. The important thing is that the story is compelling, and that it asks a specific ethical or moral question. Imagine the "trolley problem" in short story form.Reader Reviews"...a terrific collection of short stories (for teaching) courses on civics, ethics, or contemporary social problems, in high school or junior college." Philosophy Professor at Chapel Hill, Luc Bovens"Tears Your Heart. Heart breaking discussions fueled by this book." Amazon Reviewer MariaJ"...these stories as a whole so far, have been haunting, staying with me long past finishing." Amazon Reviewer Andrea L. StoeckelEach short story is also accompanied by discussion questions for the reader, or for a group of readers, to discuss. Many of the short stories have associated podcast discussions on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, and Youtube, as well as on our website, After Dinner Conversation.

Peter 2.0: The Human Cyborg


Peter Scott-Morgan - 2021
    I urge people to read it' Stephen Fry'A remarkable story . . . you're left desperate to take nothing for granted' Radio Times __________ Peter, a brilliant scientist, is told that he will lose everything he loves. His husband. His family. His friends. His ability to travel the world. All will be gone. But Peter will not give up. He vows that this will not be the end and instead seeks a completely new beginning . . . Peter has Motor Neurone Disease, a condition universally considered by doctors to be terminal. He is told it will destroy his nerve cells and that within about two years, it will take his life too. But, face-to-face with death, he decides there is another way. Using his background in science and technology, he navigates a new path, one that will enable him not just to survive, but to thrive. This is the astonishing true story about Peter Scott-Morgan: the first person to combine his very humanity with artificial intelligence and robotics to become a full Cyborg. His discovery means that his terminal diagnosis is negotiable, something that will rewrite the future.And change the world. By embracing love, life and hope rather than fear, tragedy and despair, he will become Peter 2.0. __________'Compelling . . . Scott-Morgan is a true one-off. It is in the telling of the love story, rather than the technical details of becoming a cyborg, that this book succeeds' The Times 'What's striking is Peter's constant optimism, bravery and his ability to find radical answers to problems that have confounded Britain's brightest minds' Daily Telegraph 'A soaring love story' Financial Times 'Fascinating and extremely moving' Sun

Value it Up: Simplifying the Art of Intrinsic Valuation


Rattan Joneja - 2021
    This book helps you understand Intrinsic Valuation or Discounted Cash Flow Valuation and apply them for superior returns.The book explains how business valuation empowers people to gain insights and control in the realm of investing and value creation and elucidates the Art of Business Valuation. Together with the key growth drivers of any given stock, and explaining the concepts with real-world examples, the book has 17 different Stories of how celebrated investors like Warren Buffett, George Soros, Peter Lynch, etc, conducted stock market analysis and analyzed value drivers to create huge wealth. This book takes you on a powerful journey of learning about intrinsic valuation.You’ll Learn:The quintessence of successful investment is to understand the worth of a company.The book teaches, explains, and elucidates the process of Intrinsic Valuation that will enable you to value any company and help you become an intelligent investor and a stock market wizard.A simple method to compute Expected Market Returns (EMR) is used in the computation of Cost of Capital under the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). S&P 500 was researched for over 100 Years to understand what returns should Stock Market Investors expect in the long-term. The EMR is one of the most important variables in Corporate Finance.Whether you are interested in earning superior returns on your investments in securities or creating value in your company - now is the time to learn. Learning how to value a business has limitless potential.

Beyond Good: How Technology is Leading a Purpose-driven Business Revolution (Kogan Page Inspire)


Theodora Lau - 2021
    

Why Privacy Matters


Neil Richards - 2021
    Ad networks monitor our web-surfing to send us more relevant ads. The NSA screens our communications for signs of radicalism. Schools track students' emails to stop school shootings.Cameras guard every street corner and traffic light, and drones fly in our skies. Databases of human information are assembled for purposes of training artificial intelligence programs designed to predict everything from traffic patterns to the location of undocumented migrants. We're eventracking ourselves, using personal electronics like Apple watches, Fitbits, and other gadgets that have made the quantified self a realistic possibility. As Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg once put it, the Age of Privacy is over. But Zuckerberg and others who say privacy is dead are wrong. In WhyPrivacy Matters, Neil Richards explains that privacy isn't dead, but rather up for grabs.Richards shows how the fight for privacy is a fight for power that will determine what our future will look like, and whether it will remain fair and free. If we want to build a digital society that is consistent with our hard-won commitments to political freedom, individuality, and humanflourishing, then we must make a meaningful commitment to privacy. Privacy matters because good privacy rules can promote the essential human values of identity, power, freedom, and trust. If we want to preserve our commitments to these precious yet fragile values, we will need privacy rules.Richards explains why privacy remains so important and offers strategies that can help us protect it from the forces that are working to undermine it. Pithy and forceful, this is essential reading for anyone interested in a topic that sits at the center of so many current problems.

Owner Shift: How Getting Selfish Got Me Unstuck


Mike Malatesta - 2021
    Being a successful one is a long shot. The stress makes you feel like you're fighting everything at once. Regulations. Red tape. Employees, vendors, and customers. Even family and friends, sometimes.But what about yourself?All too often, entrepreneurs become their own worst enemies, designing systems that keep them stuck without even realizing it. When that happens, it's easy to blame the lack of progress on other people. They're not helping you. They're the problem.Owner Shift is the no-holds-barred, breakthrough story of Mike Malatesta's own journey through excitement, pain, grit, and mistakes—showing you how to take back your power, evaluate your business objectively, and claim the future you want.When it feels like the world is against you, Owner Shift reveals the Five Words that can reignite your fire—making you a better leader, attracting new levels of success, and helping you accomplish more than you ever thought possible.

The Authenticity Code: The Art and Science of Success and Why You Can’t Fake It to Make It


Sharon Lamm-Hartman - 2021
    When you become more authentic, you do what you came here to do and be who you came here to be. You communicate more effectively, and the success you desire in your life and career becomes achievable. Dr. Sharon teaches in a fun, engaging, and honest parable style, and at the end of each chapter, you apply her proven practical tools to your own life and career. The effectiveness of these tools is proven from the over 20 years that Dr. Sharon’s company, Inside-Out Learning, has been teaching them to their Fortune 500, mid-, and small-size business clients. Results across thousands of clients include getting promoted, landing a dream job, significantly increasing sales and revenue, developing confidence and loyalty, greatly enhancing professional, leadership, and communication skills, and improving your personal life. The promotion rate for individuals is 50-80% within a year of completing one of Inside Out Learning’s 3- to 5-day programs. Now you have the opportunity to achieve these exceptional results in an easy-to-read book format.The Authenticity Code™ tells the story of a fictional corporate vice president choosing a sales director from two talented protégés. After they present their cases, he realizes that neither of them is impressive enough to qualify. Instead of giving up, the leader sets out to teach his candidates what they need to know via The Authenticity Code™ Program. Like the candidates in the book, you, the reader, will learn to look within yourself and decide who you truly are and what you really want from life and work—and how to go about getting it. Now Dr. Sharon encourages you to enjoy the parable, apply the tools, develop your own authentic brand statement, and achieve the success you desire.

Lead from the Core: The 4 Principles for Profit and Prosperity


Jay Steinfeld - 2021
    Against all odds to succeed, Steinfeld’s journey in business included failed acquisitions, partnerships gone wrong, perpetual self-doubt, deaths in his family, budget-limited guerilla marketing, corporate buy-outs, brutal market competition, and a complete disruption of industry leaders, including Amazon and big-box retailers. To build something meaningful like Steinfeld, you need to do more than dream about it. You need to Lead from the Core. Learn Steinfeld’s “Four Es”—a set of guiding principles that help overcome any obstacle to your organization’s success: Evolve Continuously, Experiment Without Fear of Failure, Express Yourself, and Enjoy the Ride.In these pages, you’ll also learn specific, actionable tactics, including: -How to start a business with little money and experience-Ways to avoid the early failure that plagues many businesses-Strategies to scale beyond the startup phase-Exactly how to communicate with boards and investors-Proven lessons to attract potential acquirers of your company Told with humor and heart, Lead from the Core is not just a roadmap to make your company a resounding success. It’s a masterclass for leaders looking to prevent costly business mistakes, no matter where you are in your journey.

The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots


Kate Darling - 2021
    But MIT Media Lab researcher and technology policy expert Kate Darling argues just the opposite, and that treating robots with a bit of humanity, more like the way we treat animals, will actually serve us better. From a social, legal, and ethical perspective, she shows that our current ways of thinking don't leave room for the robot technology that is soon to become part of our everyday routines. Robots are likely to supplement--rather than replace--our own skills and relationships. So if we consider our history of incorporating animals into our work, transportation, military, and even families, we actually have a solid basis for how to contend with this future.A deeply original analysis of our technological future and the ethical dilemmas that await us, The New Breed explains how the treatment of machines can reveal a new understanding of our own history, our own systems and how we relate--not just to non-humans, but also to each other.

Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing


Christopher A. Bail - 2021
    We use social media as a mirror to decipher our place in society but, as Chris Bail explains, it functions more like a prism that distorts our identities, empowers status-seeking extremists, and renders moderates all but invisible. Breaking the Social Media Prism challenges common myths about echo chambers, foreign misinformation campaigns, and radicalizing algorithms, revealing that the solution to political tribalism lies deep inside ourselves.Drawing on innovative online experiments and in-depth interviews with social media users from across the political spectrum, this book explains why stepping outside of our echo chambers can make us more polarized, not less. Bail takes you inside the minds of online extremists through vivid narratives that trace their lives on the platforms and off--detailing how they dominate public discourse at the expense of the moderate majority. Wherever you stand on the spectrum of user behavior and political opinion, he offers fresh solutions to counter political tribalism from the bottom up and the top down. He introduces new apps and bots to help readers avoid misperceptions and engage in better conversations with the other side. Finally, he explores what the virtual public square might look like if we could hit reset and redesign social media from scratch through a first-of-its-kind experiment on a new social media platform built for scientific research.Providing data-driven recommendations for strengthening our social media connections, Breaking the Social Media Prism shows how to combat online polarization without deleting our accounts.

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: AI, Machine Learning, and Deep and Intelligent Medicine Simplified for Everyone


Parag Suresh Mahajan - 2021
    

Quantum Computing (WIRED guides): How It Works and How It Could Change the World


Amit Katwala - 2021
    But what precisely is it and what is its true potential?In this superbly insightful, one-stop guide WIRED journalist Amit Katwala tells you everything you need to know about the next computer revolution. He explains the highly complex science that lies behind it. He describes the competing efforts of the likes of Google, Microsoft and Chinese companies Tencent and Alibaba to create a viable quantum computer, and the different routes they have taken to meet the immense technical challenges involved. He considers the technology's potential application in spheres as diverse as medicine, cyber security and clean energy. And he addresses the fundamental question: how close are we to seeing quantum computers become a widespread reality.

The BDD Books: Formulation


Seb Rose - 2021
    The Gherkin format is supported by many BDD tools, including the different flavors of Cucumber, Behat or SpecFlow, but the ideas described in the book are also suitable for other BDD tools, like JBehave or Robot Framework.This book is written for everyone involved in the specification and delivery of software: product owners, business analysts, developers, and testers.This is the second in the BDD Books series that will guide you through the entire development process, including specific technical practices needed to successfully drive development using collaboratively-authored specifications and living documentation.

Amber Undercover


Em Norry - 2021
    Just your average teenager. Life revolves around school and my best mate, Vi. Nothing too dramatic, and certainly nothing dangerous.Well. That's how things used to be. But now, my life is way more complicated: Mum and Dad have a massive secret and Vi's being all moody. But, bigger than that-I've just been recruited as a secret agent! That's right. Me. An actual spy. Exciting? It would be, if I had a clue what I was doing . . .

The NFT Revolution 2021: 2 in 1 Basic guide for beginners + Crypto art & Real Estate Edition. Create, buy, sell and make a profit with non-fungible tokens


Crypto Dukedom - 2021
    

The Rise of Technosocialism: How Inequality, AI and Climate will Usher in a New World


Brett King - 2021
    Richard Petty explore the seismic social changes that will be thrust on the world over the coming decades. The Rise of Technosocialism seeks to answer how our children will live with AI and climate disruption, the impact of COVID-19 in our lives along with which economies will likely emerge victorious in an always-on, smart world.

The Hydrogen Revolution: A Blueprint for the Future of Clean Energy


Marco Alverà - 2021
    But in The Hydrogen Revolution, Marco Alverà argues that we don’t need to upend our lives. We just need a new kind of fuel: hydrogen. From transportation and infrastructure to heating and electricity, hydrogen could eliminate fossil fuels, boost economic growth, and encourage global action on climate change. It could also solve the most bedeviling aspects of today’s renewable energy—from transporting and storing wind and solar energy and their vulnerability to weather changes to the inefficiency and limited utility of heavy, short-lasting batteries.  The Hydrogen Revolution isn’t just a manifesto for a powerful new technology. It’s a hopeful reminder that despite the gloomy headlines about the fate of our planet, there’s still an opportunity to turn things around.

Mastering the Lightning Network: A Second Layer Blockchain Protocol for Instant Bitcoin Payments


Andreas M. Antonopoulos - 2021
    This second-layer payment protocol works on top of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to provide near-instantaneous transactions between two parties. With this practical guide, authors Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Olaoluwa Osuntokun, and Rene Pickhardt explain how this advancement will enable the next level of scale for Bitcoin, increasing speed and privacy while reducing fees.Ideal for developers, systems architects, investors, and entrepreneurs looking to gain a better understanding of LN, this book demonstrates why experts consider LN a critical solution to Bitcoin's scalability problem. You'll learn how LN has the potential to support far more transactions than today's financial networks, ushering in an era of global micro-transactions at sub-second resolution.In several parts, this book examines:The challenges of scaling blockchain technology and why the Lightning Network was inventedLN basics including wallets, nodes, and lightning paymentsLightning payment channels and how they workRouting payments by constructing paths of payment channels from sender to recipient, including onion routing, and atomic multi-path paymentsLightning developments such as eltoo, Schnorr signatures, HODL invoices, JIT routing, channel splicing, and channel factoriesBuilding applications on Lightning (Lapps)

People Before Tech: The Importance of Psychological Safety and Teamwork in the Digital Age


Duena Blomstrom - 2021
    But many business leaders have become too focused upon digital transformation, leading them to neglect other vital elements of their organization. Built upon fascinating research and an international array of case studies, People Before Tech is an incisive examination of how organizations--through their digital transformations--become stranded with optimized teams and disenfranchised employees. As new technologies are introduced, teams and individual employees are often taken for granted – the uniquely human benefits that arise from a well-structured, collaborative team become neglected, and the employees themselves become unmotivated and overly dependent upon the technical, quantifiable benefits of technology. In People Before Tech, Duena Blomstrom shines new light upon the importance and potential of teams in modern organizations. The book analyzes the benefits of unique methods of working (such as "Agile") and explores how academic concepts such as "psychological safety" can boost employees' confidence and ability to work effectively and intuitively within teams.Duena highlights that it is vital not just to implement technology, but also to integrate it into the existing organizational culture and structure, before providing practical guidance and advice on how business leaders and HR professionals can heighten efficiency and effectiveness of workplace teams through collaborative and innovative initiatives.

Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World


Mo Gawdat - 2021
    This book is not for engineers who write the code or the policy makers who claim they can regulate it. This is a book for you. Because, believe it or not, you are the only one that can fix it. – Mo GawdatArtificial intelligence is smarter than humans. It can process information at lightning speed and remain focused on specific tasks without distraction. AI can see into the future, predicting outcomes and even use sensors to see around physical and virtual corners. So why does AI frequently get it so wrong?The answer is us. Humans design the algorithms that define the way that AI works, and the processed information reflects an imperfect world. Does that mean we are doomed? In Scary Smart, Mo Gawdat, the internationally bestselling author of Solve for Happy, draws on his considerable expertise to answer this question and to show what we can all do now to teach ourselves and our machines how to live better. With more than thirty years' experience working at the cutting-edge of technology and his former role as chief business officer of Google [X], no one is better placed than Mo Gawdat to explain how the Artificial Intelligence of the future works.By 2049 AI will be a billion times more intelligent than humans. Scary Smart explains how to fix the current trajectory now, to make sure that the AI of the future can preserve our species. This book offers a blueprint, pointing the way to what we can do to safeguard ourselves, those we love and the planet itself.

Medellin Acapulco Cold (A Cold War, Book 3)


Bill Fortin - 2021
    Now, the world’s most dangerous drug dealer threatens to use it, and he’s got his entire criminal network protecting the weapon. It’s a race against time as CIA agent Rick Fontin has to assemble a team, locate the weapon, and stop Escobar before he kills thousands.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Surviving and Thriving in a World of Digital Giants


R "Ray" Wang - 2021
    Which kinds of companies will thrive and which will get crushed by the powerful forces in the global business landscape now at work? This groundbreaking new guide will help you adapt and change your business to thrive among digital giants, including Google, Facebook, and Amazon.Drawing on considerable original research and case studies from Wang’s acclaimed firm, Constellation Research, this groundbreaking guide reveals which kinds of companies will thrive and which will get crushed by the powerful forces now at work.Ultimately, you will understand how the business world is changing in the face of extreme competition and, most importantly, you will learn how to adapt now to stay relevant and in demand.Everybody Wants to Rule the World will help you:Understand the power of Data-Driven Digital Networks and how they have driven the most successful companies of our time.Learn how extreme consolidation is changing the global business landscape and what this means for businesses of all types and sizes in terms of understanding where you fit in the value chain.Gain insights into what innovative companies are doing right now to position themselves in this new reality.Take your business from status quo to market leader.

The Hard Way Home: Stories and Photographs


Chris Burkard - 2021
    It features breakout sections on cameras and technique and behind-the-scenes “making-of” notes that provide a unique look into an extraordinary life. In these essays, Burkard discusses how he balances the nomadic life with his role as a father and husband. He travels to the most remote locations on earth and creates inspiring, unforgettable images. Burkard addresses the modern question: What does it mean to be an explorer in the digital age?

How to Live With the Internet and Not Let It Run Your Life


Gabrielle Alexa Noel - 2021
    The internet is addictive, but Gabrielle Alexa Noel has advice to save our mental health and offline relationships from social media and tech monopolies.Whether it’s sending nudes safely, protecting our data, or helping LGBTQI+ youth thrive, How to Live With the Internet and Not Let It Run Your Life is here to keep us safer, happier, and free to keep sliding into DMs.

Redefining Success: Stories, Science, and Strategies to Prioritize Happiness and Overcome Life's "Oh Sh!t" Moments


Michael BiarnesMichael Biarnes - 2021
    During his journey he spoke with countless individuals who, regardless of career accomplishments, at some point struggled to feel truly happy or fulfilled with life. He discovered that they had undergone a transformation like he had, one that highlighted the need to redefine success and embrace a new mindset.Redefining Success: Stories, Science, and Strategies to Prioritize Happiness and Overcome Life's "Oh Sh!t" Moments explores the intersection of the science of happiness and society's definition of success. Among the many stories included in this book, you'll meet eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, and ESPN's Matthew Berry, reliving their experiences and learning powerful lessons along the way.With a mix of stories, science-backed strategies, and practical exercises that are included in interactive workbooks, Redefining Success has something for everyone. There is no secret formula to success that any “guru” can share. Scientific research confirms that you hold the power to redefine success for yourself in order to achieve greater happiness and fulfillment in your own life.

How Humans Judge Machines


Cesar A. Hidalgo - 2021
    Using data collected in dozens of experiments, this book reveals the biases that permeate human-machine interactions.Are there conditions in which we judge machines unfairly? Is our judgment of machines affected by the moral dimensions of a scenario? Is our judgment of machine correlated with demographic factors such as education or gender?C�sar Hidalgo and colleagues use hard science to take on these pressing technological questions. Using randomized experiments, they create revealing counterfactuals and build statistical models to explain how people judge artificial intelligence and whether they do it fairly. Through original research, How Humans Judge Machines bring us one step closer tounderstanding the ethical consequences of AI.

The Provider Cookbook: Fish and Game Recipes for Eating Wild and Living Off the Land


Chad Belding - 2021
    Those who hunt, fish, and enjoy wild game know that we should always respect and cherish our food and where it comes from. For hunter/chef Chad Belding and MMA star Chad Mendes, hunting and ethical farming are crucial ways to reinforce our connection to nature. In The Provider Cookbook, Belding and Mendes share recipes and stories to celebrate this way of life and keep it alive for generations to come. Here you’ll find everything from comfort-food classics to more refined cuisine, including: • Wild Game Stroganoff • Bear Bourguignon • Elk Pizza Meatballs • Korean Barbecue Venison Street Tacos • Wild Turkey and Dumplings • Mossy Pond’s Smother-Fried Quail • Duck Egg Rolls • Pulled Goose Barbecue Sandwiches • Seared Tuna Medallions • Cajun Fried Catfish Sandwiches • Brian’s Coconut Curry Halibut They also share tips for properly storing food, plus recipes for domestic meats and their favorite vegetable sides and sauces. Accompanied by gorgeous food and landscape photography, the recipes and stories in The Provider Cookbook will take you on a journey from field and farm to table.

Code as Creative Medium: A Handbook for Computational Art and Design


Golan Levin - 2021
    It provides a collection of classic creative coding prompts and assignments, accompanied by annotated examples of both classic and contemporary projects, and more than 170 illustrations of creative work, and features a set of interviews with leading educators. Picking up where standard programming guides leave off, the authors highlight alternative programming pedagogies suitable for the art- and design-oriented classroom, including teaching approaches, resources, and community support structures.

Untethered: Overcome Distraction, Build Healthy Digital Habits, and Use Tech to Create a Life You Love


Sini Ninkovic - 2021
    Eighty-eight percent of Americans feel uneasy leaving their phone at home. It is all too common to hear that our tech has taken over our lives. But what if the problem isn't our smartphone, but rather the way we’re using it?After a lifelong struggle with digital dependency, Sini quit his job at Apple to live in a van and begin a long journey toward freedom from technology. But in the process, he learned that the key to inner peace was not found in removing technology from his life, but in rethinking his relationship with it. Along the way, he interviewed countless industry experts, attended intensive meditation retreats, and became a certified Digital Wellness Educator.The tools he discovered were so transformative that sharing them with the world has become his personal mission.In this groundbreaking and practical new guide to digital freedom and atomic habits, tech-guru-turned-wellness-instructor Sini Ninkovic argues that there are counterintuitive mindsets and methods for transforming our relationship with technology - and our life along with it.Untethered will guide you along a journey to improve your relationships with your digital devices, the closest people in your life, and most importantly, yourself. It will teach you to:1. Take control of your attention span and put an end to endless distractions2. Defeat FOMO and stop social media from hijacking your emotions3. Quit using your devices to procrastinate the important things in your life4. Follow through with tiny habit changes to support healthy sleep5. Establish healthy boundaries with your emails, apps, and notifications6. Resist misinformation and manipulation from advertisers7. Prevent online shopping, gaming, and gambling from depleting your time and savings8. Discover dozens of digital tools to make you more productive9. Pursue a path of self-realization that goes beyond the digital and into the spiritual10. Create long lasting change that will drive you away from distractionThis book will help you redefine your routines, develop healthier digital habits, and live a more fulfilled life in control of your attention. It will show how your smartphone and the apps on it can captivate you, how you can “upgrade” your mind to move away from this dependency, and the novel tools that will help you regain control over your habitual smartphone usage to create a more fulfilled future

The Exit-Strategy Playbook: The Definitive Guide to Selling Your Business


Adam Coffey - 2021
    Learn how to assemble a team of expert advisors to prepare your business for sale. Walk step by step through a typical investment-banker-led midmarket sale process from start to finish.Adam Coffey has spent the last twenty years as CEO of three private-equity-backed national service companies. Through his experience executing a buy-and-build strategy, he has bought and sold more than 100 companies ranging in size from $1 million to $1 billion. Selling your business is an art. Learn from an experienced artist how to successfully navigate the sale process.This book isn't about selling fast—it's about selling smart and achieving maximum value for the time and effort you've put into your company. Pick up The Exit-Strategy Playbook today and get an instant PhD in the art of the business sale.