A little over two years ago, I decided to start reading again. I put a heavy emphasis on science fiction as I wanted to develop better insight into where technology was heading. It’s amazing how much technology we use in our every day life has been depicted or foreshadowed in science fiction novels.

One of the first novels I read was Avogadro Corp by William Hertling. It’s a great novel depicting what happens when artificial intelligence (AI) runs amok. Since then, I’ve had an interest in reading and learning more about AI. It should come as no surprise then that Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson showed up in my Amazon recommendations. It fit with my science fiction and AI themes, so I added it to my 2014 reading list. It finally made it to the top of my queue last month.

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“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
-Mark Twain

I’ve read a number of non-fiction books, and a few have lived up to Twain’s quote. Most notable are Charlie Wilson’s War about the Afghan conflict in the 1980’s and The Money and the Power about the history and emergence of Las Vegas.

My latest non-fiction read, Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton is another “truth is stranger than fiction” account of the founding and growth of Twitter.

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It’s hard for a book that comes so highly recommended to meet expectations, let alone surpass them. The Martian by Andy Weir is one such book. It lived up to its billing and more.

I added the book to my reading list after it appeared in the Amazon recommendation engine, but it was a review of the book by Brad Feld that piqued my interest. I’ve picked up a few other strong science fiction reads through Brad’s blog. and his favorable review encouraged me to move it ahead of other titles on my 2014 reading list.

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At some point over the last year, I was recommended Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan that Works by Ash Maurya. While it sounds like a book that would be about running, it’s not about fitness in the physical sense at all. Running Lean is about fitness in the business sense.

It’s the third book I’ve read in the “Lean Startup” series, as I recently completed Lean UX and Lean Analytics. After completing all three, I wish I had picked up Running Lean first.  (On the other, it’s entirely possible I should have got The Lean Startup by Eric Ries first, which I haven’t read yet.)

Here are my observations and a few of the many notes I took while reading the book.

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Earlier this year, I decided to subscribe to Amazon’s Science Fiction & Fantasy Newsletter to stay abreast of new releases and to pick up some new reading material. I don’t know why, as Amazon’s recommendation engine has done a fine job of filling my reading list to nearly 100 titles at this point. Anyways, my subscription paid off when I saw The Atlantis World by A.G. Riddle show up as a new release. Since I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in The Origin Mystery Trilogy (reviews here and here), The Atlantis World immediately jumped to the top of my reading queue. In fact, it was tough not setting aside my current reading and starting this one immediately!

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In my quest for ideas to help me with my business, I decided to continue down the Lean Startup path and picked up Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster by Alistair Croll and Ben Yoskovitz. The lean startup craze is in full bloom, and I’ve been trying to get my head around exactly what it means and how it is implemented. Lean Analytics looked as though it could help me along in the process.

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With a name like Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, I didn’t know what to expect when I added the book to my 2014 reading list. It ended up there because it was highly recommended by Brad Feld, and I’ve had good luck with his past recommendations – favorites Avogadro Corp. and Wool are two that immediately come to mind. The book finally popped to the top of my stack this month, and it was time to dive into author Robin Sloan’s first book.

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Since part of my science fiction reading has involved post-apocalyptic scenarios, it should come as no surprise that I happened across One Second After by William R. Forstchen. The book chronicles the events in a rural North Carolina town after a high altitude nuclear detonation hits the United States with an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). Without getting into technical details, the effects of an EMP have the potential to render nearly all electronic devices useless, including anything that relies on electronics. Mobile phones, computers, and even cars are paralyzed. More importantly, the public infrastructure that we depend upon that supplies water and electricity is also crippled.

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At a recent conference, I ran into an old acquaintance, Jeff Corbett. During an address to the conference attendees, he mentioned Neil Postman’s Technopoly. Over a beer later in the evening, we discussed the implications of technology, and I recommended he read Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, which I though was a better read than Technopoly. In return he suggested I check out Trust Me, I’m Lying : Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan Holiday. I just finished it, and I expect it will have a lasting effect on how I consume media, particularly online media.

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When I read Brave New World last year, I was amazed at how Aldous Huxley was able to predict the effect technology would have on society. The Circle by Dave Eggers is of the same mold, with a couple of very important differences. For one, the technology that Eggers describes in The Circle is not nearly as far-fetched as that described in Brave New World. Most, if not all, of the technology described in The Circle is available now. It’s the application that’s evolving. Second, Eggers predictions aren’t that far into the future. I would suspect that a lot of what is described in The Circle will come to pass within the next ten years, if not sooner.

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