It's an OK textbook. I was hoping for more data analytics content and for MUCH MORE charts and when to use them. This doesn't go any further than basiIt's an OK textbook. I was hoping for more data analytics content and for MUCH MORE charts and when to use them. This doesn't go any further than basic bar charts and line charts.
This is mostly about "affordances", "avoiding clutter", "using color sparingly" and of course about storytelling.
There is a nice "pulling it all together" chapter at the end, where a bad bar chart is transformed into a better line chart.
It doesn't waste time, is a pretty quick read. But I can't say I learned much from it....more
This book is excellent. Every chapter goes straight to the point. All terms are clearly defined, each chapter has a little real world case study, a coThis book is excellent. Every chapter goes straight to the point. All terms are clearly defined, each chapter has a little real world case study, a concise summary and some homeworks. At the end there is even a full case study analysed with R and with Python.
This is targeted at someone who knows nothing about Data Analytics and wants to get a quick overview over the entire field and I think it fully achieves that goal....more
I'd say if you have read The Sovereign Individual, then this book is great, it's aNot too sure what to think about this.
I'd give 3.5 stars if I could.
I'd say if you have read The Sovereign Individual, then this book is great, it's almost like a sequel to that book. However, it doesn't make predictions, it wants you to do something (start or join a network state).
The first third is really good. One truth bomb after the other to show that labels like "leftism" or "right wing" or "Democrats" and "Republicans" don't really mean much any more. The author provides a good dose of red pills to show (with lots and lots of backlinks) how stupid and evil the modern state is (including all parties). This part of the book is to convince you that network states are needed to get out of the stalemate (capitalism vs communism) that the world is in right now.
The next part deals with defining all aspects of the network state. It's done well enough.
The final part deals with how to start a network state, but unfortunately this part is the smallest and least convincing part of the book. The author is also quite nebulous on how exactly a blockchain should be used to form the backbone of a network state (seems pretty damn important, why not reveal any details). I think this is in parts because the author doesn't really know and because a blockchain with enough throughput doesn't even exist yet (Bitcoin / LN seem to be almost there, though).
So I think it all boils down to "nation states bad, no longer serve modern humans" -- fully agree.
Therefore, "just take a blockchain, create an internet forum, gather a community, crowdfund real estate all over the world, and then somehow (nobody knows how) gain recognition by the UN"
I'm actually not sure if this is the right path forward. The insanity of our times seems to stem in large parts from division. If we divide our people into a million more smaller sub-groups, China is just gonna walz over the entire world, using their brainwashed billion human drones as cannon fodder.
I'm also not sure of the "opt-in" aspect of network states will work out. If you have contributed to a certain network state and amassed clout and riches, can you really just opt out when things turn sour? I doubt that. People can opt out to quit shitty jobs, and yet, 90% of the population works jobs that they absolutely hate.
Still. All in all, this is quite a good book. Full of truth bombs and a few good novel ideas....more
First of all: It's too wordy. Almost all chapters use two Systems Archetypes, as if you could explain the entire I'm a bit conflicted about this book.
First of all: It's too wordy. Almost all chapters use two Systems Archetypes, as if you could explain the entire world with just two systems. It's good to have some repetition, so you learn while reading, but I wished it would be more concise.
Secondly: While the book focuses on building organisations that have a grand vision and purpose in order to bring out the best in us... it solely uses examples like Shell, BP, Microsoft, The World Bank... in my opinion some of the most morally bankrupt organisations on the planet. Even though everything described makes sense, the fact that the author couldn't come up with more inspiring case studies leaves a sour taste.
Thirdly: While the first half is pretty well structured and each chapter builds on the previous ones, the entire second half of the book dissolves into an unstructured mess of feel-good case studies. I only skimmed those. There might be a few hidden gems in there, but the signal to noise ratio is too high to even attempt to find them.
If you wanted to apply this in your company, the concepts are all very very vague. It's probably possible if you think very hard for a week, armed with pen and paper, but there are no clear pointers in this book.
The best chapter is probably the one about personal mastery, but it is largely just quotes from "The Path of Least Resistance", so I would recommend to read that instead.
All in all, not too sure if I would recommend this. The Systems Archetypes in the appendix are probably the most useful part of the book (and make up only 10 pages)....more
Giving this four stars because even though I only understood about 20% of the book, it fascinated me and occasionally blew my mind.
However, any reviewGiving this four stars because even though I only understood about 20% of the book, it fascinated me and occasionally blew my mind.
However, any reviewer that says that only basic math is needed to read this book is clearly detached from reality.
It's really really heavy stuff. I have a hunch though that someone with the right maths foundation would be presented with some very useful tools here. The explanations about how certain formulas are derived and used seemed to be dense, but elaborate enough.
If I manage to retire early and decided to deepen my knowledge about complex systems, I would read this book again, at a snails pace, and then brush up my math in the process....more
It's an OK book. As others have stated, the pace at which the problems get resolved in this book is disingenuous, but otherwise it's a nice and engagiIt's an OK book. As others have stated, the pace at which the problems get resolved in this book is disingenuous, but otherwise it's a nice and engaging story, albeit a bit over the top.
I'm not sure if I got anything out of this for my company, as we have been doing "ten deployments per day" basically from day one. Thinking of the whole business as an assembly line is a train of thought I might explore more and I will probably read a few of the other books quoted in this one, especially The Goal and The DevOps Handbook....more
I would argue that this is one of the most important books of this decade. For sure, Snowden probably published this in order to raise his chances to I would argue that this is one of the most important books of this decade. For sure, Snowden probably published this in order to raise his chances to ever get a pardon, so there is a lot of auto-biographical stuff in there that is supposed to paint a picture of an innocent tech nerd who just wants to serve his country -- but in the few passages where he gives a tiny glimpse into the crimes that the NSA/CIA were conducting on a massive scale, this book should blow your mind.
As a society, we are progressing towards a point of no return where basically every democracy in the world will inevitably turn into an autocracy, simply because the technology allows it. As a people, we HAVE to be aware of this danger and we HAVE to ask ourselves what we can do to prevent this.
Most of us are squarely in the "I've got nothing to hide" camp. Read this book, and you will change your mind....more
I agree with everything in this book. But it's the same anecdotal bullshit of an inflated ego as all his other books (which I all agree with as well).I agree with everything in this book. But it's the same anecdotal bullshit of an inflated ego as all his other books (which I all agree with as well).
If you have read Kahneman, don't read this. It's basically a ripoff of all of Kahneman's ideas.
The basic message could be summed up in 3-5 pages and does not justify this tome: "Universe big. Universe complicated. Math and science bad. Math and science cannot predict universe."
NO SHIT, SHERLOCK.
Seriously, just read Kahneman.
If you are super into philosophy, though, read this, because this man has read a lot and you could get a lifetime of reading recommendations just form this single book.
5 stars for a great world view and all. 1 star for impossibly dense and annoying writing style. Since negative signals weigh stronger than positive ones, 2 stars in total....more
Maybe the only downside is, even though it is a super short book, it is still extremely repetitive: 40% of the book is the exact same messagIt’s nice.
Maybe the only downside is, even though it is a super short book, it is still extremely repetitive: 40% of the book is the exact same message:
“DON’T PITCH! Ask about THEIR lives, their problems, their current solutions/workarounds�.
However, given how easy it is to fall back into "pitch mode", maybe it is worth hammering that message into my brain.
We are about to launch a new product soon at my company and we do have an extremely narrowly segmented customer group, so I will sit down with this book on my lap and prepare myself for some customer meetings. This book came just at the right time.
And by the way: Without this book I would 100% guaranteed have performed every single mistake outlined in this book.
I loved the chapter about note taking at the end and adding context via little symbols and emojis.
If you are in charge of a product or company and you often interface with your customers and potential customers, this book is probably worth your time -- and it doesn't demand much of your time anyways!...more
I think it's good, but extremely repetitive. Confirms a lot of things I have read in other books this year. Am I stuck in a reading-bubble? 🤔
Will postI think it's good, but extremely repetitive. Confirms a lot of things I have read in other books this year. Am I stuck in a reading-bubble? 🤔
Will post more review notes later this week after I am done taking notes for this book...
EDIT 2019-07-03: Downgraded from 4 stars to 3. I never cared to revisit this and then I got hit by The Culture Code, which has the exact same message as this book, but is better in every possible way....more
Fantastic book! And it came at the perfect moment in my life. Last weekend I was at a company retreat at Bali with the upper management of my company.Fantastic book! And it came at the perfect moment in my life. Last weekend I was at a company retreat at Bali with the upper management of my company.
Here is what we did: First we created an environment of belonging. Our CEO made it clear that she deeply cares about us and that she needs us for the next big step. Then we created a sense of purpose and discussed "the endgame". Our crazy big mission that is going to be so insane that we will have to grow in all kinds of ways to have even a tiny chance of achieving it. AND THEN we agreed that this weekend will be all about truth-seeking and that brutal honestly will be allowed, no, required. For the first time in our five-year professional relationship we dared to criticise and doubt each other on a level that goes beyond the proverbial "asian courtesy".
This was probably the best weekend I had in years. Then we took the plane back home to Singapore and THEN, on the plane flight, I read this book and I simply had my mind blown.
I teared up three or four times while reading this book. On the one hand because is it very well written. The prose flows smoothly and the cases are all super powerful stories, most notably the story of the legendary Christmas truce during WWI. On the other hand because we accidentally just did almost everything that is outlined in this book and the strong positive emotions that were still bouncing around in my head now got verified and amplified by the facts and ideas presented in this book.
Of all the many books that I have read this year, this one will probably make the biggest impact on my career. I just can't wait to read this again with pen and paper and turn it all into action.
If you lead teams, this is a mustread.
By the way, I recently read Thinking In Bets. It's almost the exact same message but I think The Culture Code is vastly better written, has better case studies, has better signal to noise ratio and leaves you with a much clearer idea of how to implement things in your own life. If you are on the fence, read this one....more
Easy 5 stars for me. I'm currently designing a new product for our company and this book gave me super simple and actionable steps to improve the prodEasy 5 stars for me. I'm currently designing a new product for our company and this book gave me super simple and actionable steps to improve the product right from the start.
There are no grand secrets revealed here. If you have read Atomic Habits and Thinking Fast And Slow you probably heard all of this before, but it is put into a really nice context here and the "Do This Now" summaries at the end of each chapter are indeed extremely helpful. Easy to use this book as a little reference guide whenever the need arises....more
After the bleak (but awesome) Homo Deus I needed something positive. And even without Homo Deus, I evidently needed this book because of the 13 questiAfter the bleak (but awesome) Homo Deus I needed something positive. And even without Homo Deus, I evidently needed this book because of the 13 questions it asks at the beginning, I only got four correct.
That means that EVEN THOUGH I have travelled large parts of Asia in the past eight years and been to some Level 2 and Level 3 income countries, I was still stuck in the outdated worldview that was imprinted on me by schools and media 20 years ago. This is just mind-blowing. I’m pretty happy that this book opened my eyes.
It’s tough to actually apply this to every-day life, though. You really have to make a very conscious effort force yourself to ignore your intuition and demand to see some data before coming to any rushed conclusions. And of course it takes significant skill to interpret raw data correctly -- skills that are not taught in this book.
I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone. It's a super fast, enjoyable and eye opening read....more
I found it a bit dense and hard to read. The examples were mostly US presidents and other great war mongers and executives at giant monopolies.
The booI found it a bit dense and hard to read. The examples were mostly US presidents and other great war mongers and executives at giant monopolies.
The book doesn't even give many insights into the tricks and tools that these great minds applied, instead the author just presents his conclusions as fact and dogma.
I have little doubt that the facts make sense, though, so I think this book is pretty good.
However, the core message of this book could be summed up in just one or two pages (and basically is summed up like that in the last chapter) and it turned out that I basically intuitively do much of what is said in this book. I can always do better, of course, so this book was a nice little nudge to push me further into the right direction....more
Whoa. This author is woke as fuck. This book is an absolute intellectual treat.
When I read The Sovereign Individual, I also read Sapiens at the same tWhoa. This author is woke as fuck. This book is an absolute intellectual treat.
When I read The Sovereign Individual, I also read Sapiens at the same time and was delighted to realise that these two books complement each other very well.
Homo Deus basically makes reading the much denser and much more difficult and tiring to read The Sovereign Individual obsolete. Forget about the Sovereign Individual. Read Homo Deus instead.
The first 65% of this book are actually about the past. It is quite redundant with the content in Sapiens, but I still enjoyed reading it a lot and it has enough new takes in it that warrant a reading. Besides, I really enjoy this author's writing style. It just flows very naturally. The language is not unnecessarily obfuscated. The author is clearly intelligent and open minded and there is some humour sprinkled in for good measure.
The last chapter gets to the real meat: All organisms are just algorithms. There is no soul. If that is true, what will be the implications for society? Spoiler: It doesn't look good. We will eventually design better algorithms, therefore liberalism will die, Dataism will emerge, humans will be regarded as worthless (because they don't process data efficiently enough any more) and probably leave the stage of this cosmic theatre.
This book is freaking terrifying. Everything described in this book is already happening on small scales TODAY, extrapolating it into the future doesn't require strong mental gymnastics at all.
Therefore, this book is a warning sign. We are about to open pandora's box, at this point it is basically inevitable. We NEED to educate more people about this, or else we might not like the final outcome of our data- and technology-fetish.
Everyone should read this. Even if you don't care about the future part, you will still learn a lot about the past and present....more
I found this to be an excellent book that should be on pretty much anyone's book shelf. My review can be found here: I found this to be an excellent book that should be on pretty much anyone's book shelf. My review can be found here: ...more
First of all: This book can be summarised in four to six pages. The rest is case studies and anecdotal evidence. But that's OK. It's not an overly lonFirst of all: This book can be summarised in four to six pages. The rest is case studies and anecdotal evidence. But that's OK. It's not an overly long book, so the ratio of signal to noise is bearable.
If you need to craft messages in order to motivate teams or to sell products, I would recommend this despite all flaws. There are two or three nice examples in this book that gave me some good and actionable ideas for my own daily work.
I have three qualms with the book:
1. Every example is about American companies, American sports clubs, American products or American people. Virtually NONE of them have any meaning to me, except for JFK, of course, who is some godlike figure that gets used as an example in every single self-help book ever written. This problem is of course a personal one, if I grew up in the US, I would have had a better connection to the content.
2. The one chapter that tries to bring some serious science into play and quotes Kahneman on priming effects, uses a bunch of studies that all turned out to be not reproducible. (see )
3. In several chapters we find sentences like "this food is labelled as low fat, we all know that this is the healthier option" -- I admit, this is a personal pet peeve of mine, but after reading A LOT about nutrition this year, my blood starts boiling when some uninformed idiot starts parroting the benefits of the American food pyramid. This author seriously believes that eating food high in fat makes you fat.
Granted, wether or not the food that was part of the example is actually healthy, has no impact on the lesson that the author tried to get across, but this and point #2 raise red flags for me. It seems that the author is a rather uninformed person, heard some outdated science a while ago that fit well into his own confirmation bias and so he decided to write a quick book.
Man! I loved this book. It's a tough and long read, but the author is so full of energy, curiosity and obsession with the topic, it is super entertainMan! I loved this book. It's a tough and long read, but the author is so full of energy, curiosity and obsession with the topic, it is super entertaining to read.
The ideas could have been distilled into a much shorter volume, of course, and some of the chapters felt a bit redundant to me, but overall I would say author really tried to shed light on a complicated topic from all possible angles.
The amount of research that must have gone into this boggles my mind.
This book asks big questions:
1. What is life? 2. What is intelligence/consciousness? 3. What is evolution?
I find it unbelievable that this was written some 20 years ago. If these people have thought so sharply at that time, now that most of their predictions have come true and are slowly drifting into mainstream consciousness, I must wonder what these people are theorising about TODAY.
Overall, there is little actionable knowledge in this book, but it helped me to make A LOT MORE SENSE of this chaotic and hyper connected world we are living in today. Someone who is in their teens/twenties today and needs to decide how to align their life should devour this book.
If you are on a quest, I'd recommend to read The Sovereign Individual, Sapiens, Homo Deus and then this. It will all come together oh so nicely, I promise!
This was probably the most mind blowing book I have read in a decade or more....more
Loading...
