Three Books
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Name three books that have fundamentally changed your view of the world. Here are mine.
“Future Shock”. 1970. Alvin Toeffler. The author predicts social upheaval based on the pace of technological change and absolutely nails it.
“Rise of the Robots”. 2015. Martin Roberts. Predicts the jobless future. It’s happening now and it’s easy to see.
“The man who broke capitalism”. Gelles. 2022.
Explains why GE, once the largest company in the world, is now a bit player in the airplane engine business, GE appliances are now Chinese and Boeing planes keep falling out if the sky.
Your faves?
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I checked Rise of the Robots out of the library and will read it after I'm done with Vance's book. I may go back to Future Shock.
Name three books that have fundamentally changed your view of the world.
I'm still thinking about this.
Funny thing is, when I've gone back and re-read books that I thought had a significant impact on me, most of the time I find myself wondering why I thought it was such a great read originally.
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The books that made the biggest impact for me is a tough call. I suppose I'd have to say Ulrich Neisser's 1967 book Cognitive Psychology, whose focus and methods inspired my PhD and most of my career.
But the most memorable books for me are novels, and they do vary. On the shortest list I would have to place Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda for its sheer imaginative force, and Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon for its spectacularly beautiful writing.
