From time to time, I take one or two hours per week just go wander in the social media world. I “escape” on Facebook and watch what others are doing, what movies do they watch, what are their description. I do the same thing on Twitter and, more recently, on Google+.
Many people have in their profile description “tech lover”, “tech
enthusiast” or “tech evangelist”, so I have to wonder – being obsessed
about iPhone, iPad, Android, computers and all other things is really what a “tech lover” should be? After all, we’re talking mainly about consumer electronics here, not necessarily about technological breakthroughs.
That’s why I thought about a list of books that every geek should
read so that he could proudly call himself a tech lover, not only
because he loves gadgets and recent
technology but because he believes in science, he believes in the power of technology and its philosophy.
Thought provoking book, written by the well-known futuristic author Ray Kurzweil where he speaks about
technological singularity as being the blind point
in human evolution, the moment when on Earth could appear entities
smarter than humans. So, what will happen during that “clash”? Nobody
knows.
6. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
I remember having read this book when I was 12. At that point,
robots seemed like such a far point in human evolution. But, look around, we already have
robots that can think and take autonomous decisions. Will they be our friends, will they be our enemies?
This book is utterly important for business owners and it highlights
the huge effect of the social media on the financial factor of many
companies in the world. A basic line from this book is
this one
“the more your company lets outsiders in, or even turns the company
over to the masses, the more new ideas are generated, the more new
products are developed, and the more problems are solved.”
“The most compelling book ever written on why a transformative
technology”s trajectory threatens to stifle that technology”s greatest
promise for society. Zittrain offers convincing road maps for redeeming
that promise.” The books speaks about the Internet having a “bad” ending
if we’re not going to influence it for the good of society.
A good example that I can think of is how Twitter helped people
report from Egyptian riots. The books comprises in 352 pages information
from the start of the Internet and the author tries to predict what
could the Internet transform into if we will not be able to control it.
Seems like a heavy tech book at first, but as you read the first
pages you realize the genius of the author and how did he make it
readable for everybody. One could view this book as a sci-fi one, as the
author suggests that governments could change the “code” of the
Internet
and make it controllable. It’s another book about the Internet, but,
this author tries to prove that the Internet could be the key for us to
restart the democratic process that seems lost. A wonderful book that
combines Internet – the juice of technology with a futuristic view of
the political aspect of the World.
It’s all about information, James Beniger suggests. From the very
first wheel that humans made until 3D processors, it’s all about
information. Beniger argues that information has been used by society to
control production, that’s what made possible the big transition from
the feudal society into the industrialized one, when people, using
information shaped into machines and factories, could control
production, thus feeding the needs of the entire society. It’s a
must-read in your library.
My personal no.1 is this awesome written book by the genius of sci-fi, Herbert Wells. Why
The Time Machine?
Because traveling in time has been the biggest dream for humanity, a
possibility that we were talking about since childhood. It will remain a
wonderfully written book, ready to make you dream and get lost in webs
of desire. It will make you wanna go back and see how big the dinos were
and see how will humanity look like one hundred years from now.
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