Our top 8 reads to kick off 2019
Technology, design ethics, empathetic listening, and innovative organizations — here’s a list of what we’ve been reading and enjoying to take you into a new year.
Future Ethics, by Cennydd Bowles
Technology is a powerful shaper of our lives, and the conversations we have about it have become more and more focused on ideas of privacy, choice, and well-being. Future Ethics is a practical discussion about the role of ethics in technology today, and in how we create, design, and evaluate it.
Read it for: An approachable look at the role of ethical design in society.
Tell Me More: Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say, by Kelly Corrigan
If you haven’t listened to the Domain7 podcast on empathy and assertion, go listen now. And then give this book a read. It’s a wonderful collection of personal essays about human connection, listening, and empathy — 12 case studies on everything from mediating family conflict to embracing loss.
Read it for: A great reminder that communicating well means asking good questions and listening closely.
Iconic Advantage, by Soon Yu
For the design junkies among us, a look at how brands use timeless design to stand out and create emotional connection. Yu advocates for a different way of looking at innovation than we’re used to: rethinking and protecting your brand’s fundamental strengths.
Read it for: A compelling reason for sticking with your organization’s core principles.
Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now, by Alan Rusbridger
An industry in the middle of groundbreaking digital upheaval, journalism is fighting tooth and nail to come out the other side intact. Written by the former editor-in-chief of the Guardian, it’s part memoir, and part call-to-arms to guard journalism’s principles while embracing our new digital reality.
Read it for: An insightful perspective on how one industry is dealing with a digital metamorphosis.
Leading from the Emerging Future, by Otto Scharmer & Katrin Kaufer
Written by one of the founders of MIT’s u.lab, Leading from the Emerging Future is a theory and practice for fostering reflection and leading positive change — shifting from innovating for self-interest, to innovating to generate wellbeing in society.
Read it for: A philosophical overhaul of our assumptions around leadership and progress.
Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms, by Hannah Fry
In a time when technology seems to be making more and more decisions, what does it mean to be human? Mathematician Dr. Hannah Fry leads a fascinating journey through how data, algorithms, and AI are touching areas like health, justice, transportation, and the arts.
Read it for: A human explanation of how algorithms work, why they matter, and how we can live with them.
Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World, by Scott Harrison
Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water, delves into what went into building one of the most influential and progressive charities in the world, known by their innovative brand storytelling and for their radical donation model.
Read it for: A fascinating origin story of a well-regarded and innovatively-designed NGO.
The Humans, by Matt Haig
Last but not least, our fiction pick: a perspective-shifting look at humanity — its oddities and gems — through a funny sci-fi lens, from the viewpoint of an alien sent to Earth on a mission to thwart our mathematical progress.
Read it for: Something hilarious and charming, that will make you happy to be a human among other humans.
