AUTHORS: Ian Goldin and Chris Kutarna
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury – ISBN :HB978-1-4729-3637-0
What it’s about ? : As the introductory blurb so clearly asserts “Age of Discovery” explores the world on the brink of a new Renaissance and asks :How do we share more widely the benefits of unprecedented progress? How do we endure the inevitable tumult generated by accelerating change ? How do we each thrive through this uncertain time ?”
Who’s it for ? : Basically, this is a primer for our next future by two very smart Oxford academics. To be effective in the new digital world you need to know this stuff, so anyone who wants to understand tomorrow today would do well to read this.
Why Read it ?: It’ll add hugely to your knowledge of the world as it is today and where it will be tomorrow.
What’s the style ?: Well written in a fast-paced style. Walks the reader through history to help explain how we got where we are. A nice read for bedtime or a long night home. Only niggle, many of the graphs are very difficult to read and interpret. We think the publishers missed a trick to link it to an easy reference website to show graphs, well, more graphically.
And the best advice? : We really liked Chapter 3 “New Tangles” that lays out the mixed up bowl of digital spaghetti we’ve created for ourselves. It unravels many of the questions we are all asking.
…. and if only time to read one chapter ?: Chapter 6 (page 139) titled, “Cathedrals, Believers and Doubt.” Again a helpful set of insights, that may go part way to reassuring us, although the mere fact of reading this book is going to provoke a lot of disquieting thoughts about what happens next.
How MCE rate it ?: It’s a five-star read with five-star content. Take off a corner for the rather poor graphic displays and it scores four and a half. But we’ll reread this again and again. Most unusual for a business book it’s exciting !
How to buy it ? Please use this link : http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/age-of-discovery-9781472936370/. Or try Amazon.
