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Many people take time during the holidays to look back on the past year. Reading is a big part of my life, so around this time I usually re-visit the books I’ve read during the year and highlight the ones that stood out. I share these lists in case you’re looking for book recommendations for the holidays. (Note these aren’t necessarily books that were published during the past year — this just happens to be when I got around to them.)
Without further preamble, here are five books I enjoyed and learned from in 2019:
Design Unbound: Designing for Emergence in a White Water World by Ann Pendleton-Jullian and John Seely Brown. A map for pragmatic design-doing — not for making products and services better (or even better products and services), but for operating at a higher, more systemic level: that of social, economic, ecologic transformation. Buy it on Amazon.com (volume 1/volume 2) or see my book notes.
Design by Concept: A New Way to Think About Software by Daniel Jackson. A compelling argument for the importance of conceptual modeling in software design. It includes clear examples and an actionable framework for defining such models. (The book is billed as a “prepublication draft”; I’d love to read the “final” version.)
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger. A memoir/leadership manual from one of the great business leaders of our time. Mr. Iger took the job of Disney CEO at a troubled time for the company; he revived its fortunes by skillfully implementing a clear, compelling strategic vision. My book notes.
Churchill: Walking With Destiny by Andrew Roberts. Makes the case that Churchill — flaws and all — was the right person at the right time to (literally) save the world. What’s more interesting is that he knew this, even from an early age. (At 16 he predicted he’d save England from an invasion.) He was also hilarious.
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, by James C. Scott. A treatise on the relationship between top-down and bottom-up organization frameworks. Argues that states seek to simplify social structures to make them more “legible.” (I.e., easier to measure and manage.) This impulse has led, in the most extreme cases, to disastrous top-down “high modernist” schemes. The book is engaging, disturbing, and mind-changing.