Top Five Books of 2017
One of my colleagues recently asked me if I would share the top five books that I read in 2017. It was an interesting process trying to narrow down a “top five”. This past year I have read (or mostly completed) nearly 60 books. My list was also fairly well curated through thoughtful recommendations from friends and colleagues who all have high standards. So narrowing down the top five was a challenge.
However, I thought the process would be useful not only for forcing me to revisit my 2017 library and the immense knowledge I was fortunate enough to obtain from it, but also for all my friends and team members to know what I was reading and finding influential. After all, many of my thoughts on business, product design, management, and the general way I think about the world are informed by what I read. These views are constantly evolving as I find better information that I can synthesize and put into action.
So for those who work with me at Spur or Appleton, these books might prove useful in trying to understand my thought processes at work and some of the big ideas informing our actions and initiatives. For my friends, these books are the top five from a list of about 60 carefully selected books I read in 2017 that I found most interesting, informative, and enjoyable. This list is in no certain order but rather collectively represents my “top five”.
Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson
I have always found the topic of how certain things “go viral” or end up becoming popular very interesting. In Hit Makers, Thompson approaches popularity from a scientific perspective that introduces the reader to a view of skepticism about “going viral” and helps break down what makes certain products, songs, and people popular while others never gain traction.
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Harari
In 2016, I read Harari’s magnificent book Sapiens, so I couldn’t wait to read Homo Deus (literally, I used a UK account on Audible to get a copy of the book before it released in the US). In his latest work, Harari explores what the future of humanity might look like as our technology continues to progress. Will we become gods who circumvent death and become masters of the universe, or will we be faced with a more dystopian outcome?
Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson
The basic premise of McAfee and Brynjolfsson’s Machine, Platform, Crowd is that these three powerful forces shape and will continue to shape our future. They explore how AI and machine learning are extending the bounds of what technology can do, how new platform business models are disrupting (or will soon disrupt) almost every type of industry, and how the the internet has given rise to a powerful, decentralized crowd and what that means for the future.
Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
I rarely find management books all that insightful or useful. However, when the most successful hedge fund manager in the world decides to share his thoughts on how to approach life and management, we should all take notice. Principles is an in-depth look at what one of the most successful self-made people on the planet thinks about how to manage your life and your work. For managers, the work principles section is simultaneously thought-provoking and highly practical, approachable, and actionable.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Understanding how the most fundamental laws of the universe work seems like a no-brainer to me, yet most people are intimidated by the subject. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is a short, very accessible, and well-written overview of astrophysics, told in an enjoyable narrative format. Tyson does a great job helping you understand your place in the cosmos and providing a big picture introduction to how it all works.
