technology - Book Reviews

More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources — and What Happens Next

Did you know the world's paper consumption peaked in 2013 and total global paper use has been declining ever since? Or that since 1982, America has taken an area the size of Washington State out of cultivation while simultaneously increasing total crop tonnage by 35%? Welcome to the power of

4-stars

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road

The "Silk Road" online drug market roared to life during my last year of college and the founder, Ross Ulbricht, was taken down shortly after I graduated. A thought-provoking inside-look at the investigation.

3-stars

How Economics Shapes Science

Stephan reveals how economic incentives have made American science risk averse and turned our universities into lobbying superpowers and employment pyramid schemes.

3-stars

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

"Homo Deus" is a provocative but ultimately scattered, shallow, and incorrect analysis of liberal political history and what recent developments in our scientific understanding mean for the future of our society. It's a frustrating book to review. There are a few great frameworks in here that changed how

innovation

The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age

"The Digital Doctor" is an interesting take on the history of Electronic Health Records and how they're changing medicine for better and for worse in America. I'm not particularly interested in this specific topic, but the book is valuable as a case study of the challenges of integrating

winning

The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch

"The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World From Scratch" is a fascinating thought experiment about how to build the ideal manual for a reboot of civilization. Dartnell decides that a good post-apocalypse reboot manual has a few critical ingredients: instructions for short-term survival a roadmap for longer-term rebooting

5-stars

Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age

I was looking at my highlights for Paul Graham's "Hackers and Painters" and it seems like I basically highlighted the entire book. It's that good. At its core, this is a book about how changes in technology (particularly computer tech) have changed economic and social realities... and the