by Ulrich Beck
This important book by one of Europe’s leading social and political theorists draws together key essays which argue that a new frame of reference is needed to understand the world risk society in which we live today. Beck focuses on ecological and technological questions of risk, and their sociological and political implications. In doing so, he discusses and answers some of the criticisms provoked by his earlier and much cited work on risk society.Beck argues that we now have an “earth politics”…

by Lisa Gitelman

In Always Already New, Lisa Gitelman explores the newness of new media while she asks what it means to do media history. Using the examples of early recorded sound and digital networks, Gitelman challenges readers to think about the ways that media work as the simultaneous subjects and instruments of historical inquiry. Presenting original case studies of Edison’s first phonographs and the Pentagon’s first distributed digital network, the ARPANET, Gitelman points…

by Gerard Goggin

Cell phones and mobile technologies are omnipresent in everyday life, yet the cultural implications of mobile phones have been neglected. This book aims to fill this gap, providing the first comprehensive, accessible, and international introduction to cell phone culture and theory. It offers a clear yet sophisticated overview of mobile telecommunications, putting the technology in historical and technical context. Cell Phone Culture is a fascinating…

by Christopher Chase-Dunn
1 customers reviewed this article averaging 1.0

by Andy Kessler
57 customers reviewed this article averaging 4.0

Andy Kessler’s first book was a memoir that sought to answer the question: why had Wall Street analysts gone from being the market’s toughest, most unsentimental critics to becoming the biggest cheerleaders of every technology stock that came along. WALL STREET MEAT explained that analysts went from being paid by the buy side (people who bought stocks) to being paid by the sell side (the bankers who issued stocks.) So it was no wonder that the bankers were getting all the support.

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by Marvin Minsky
33 customers reviewed this article averaging 4.5

For some artificial intelligence researchers, Minsky’s book is too far removed from hard science to be useful. For others, the high-level approach of The Society of Mind makes it a gold mine of ideas waiting to be implemented. The author, one of the undisputed fathers of the discipline of AI, sets out to provide an abstract model of how the human mind really works. His thesis is that our minds consist of a huge aggregation of tiny mini-minds or agents that have…

by Henry Kressel
5 customers reviewed this article averaging 5.0

Everybody knows that digital technology has revolutionized our economy and our lifestyles. But how many of us really understand the drivers behind the technology - the significance of going digital; the miniaturization of circuit boards; the role of venture capital in financing the revolution; the importance of research and development? How many of us understand what it takes to make money from innovative technologies? Should we worry about manufacturing going offshore? What is the role of India…

by John Naisbitt
14 customers reviewed this article averaging 3.5

In recent years, as John Naisbitt gave speeches across all continents and advised political and business leaders across the world, he would be asked with greater and greater frequency: “How do you know what you know? How do go about making these insights? How can we learn the process?”

In Mind Set!, John Naisbitt reveals how to develop and experience the power of 11 cognitive tools that will allow readers to understand the trends transforming…