Disclaimer: I ve known Prashant for over 7 years and have worked closely on many projects. Biases are natural but I will try to keep this article as oDisclaimer: I ve known Prashant for over 7 years and have worked closely on many projects. Biases are natural but I will try to keep this article as objective as possible.
Context for the book - With 2 years of Covid-19 behind us we are now living in a world very different from what used to be a year ago. Large events such as conferences are being scheduled, people have started traveling for work and leisure, employers are open to people working from office. Government, employers and society are equipped with sufficient training, knowledge and tools to deal with another variant of the virus and everyone is expected to be act responsibly and stay vigilant.
Future of Work - How work getting done post pandemic is about creating an environment that is flexible, adaptive, responsible and inclusive which to me is what book aims to highlight as ‘Future of Work’.
What the book is - Change is inevitable and the book talks about ~30+ such change ideas that will influence Future of Work. All of them may not be applicable to you but some of them maybe highly relevant. The book is not about prescriptions or how to guidelines. The considerations listed are ideas you may chew on to see whether it helps you improve your organizational work culture.
It discusses about how physical products are going to be conceived and tested first virtually before being prototyped. Every product will need to offer some sort of online experience replicating the “touch and feel” as people’s attention and energy are online. Often times, the internet is the only place they go for product discovery. The book also refers to ‘persuasive technology’ from BJ Fogg which talks about influencing user behavior by proactively leading them to outcomes you want than being reactive. While this has been used for decades at facebook, google or amazon, traditional businesses have an opportunity to do so in their organization with the current tools available. The concept of super-humans is mentioned that talks about a case where instead of humans just instructing machines to do routine tasks via automation, a hybrid avatar will exist which are basically machines reaching out to humans for seeking inputs to work on more complex tasks. While the world is moving away from physical work attributes like dress code, physical location wherever possible, there is a need for something else to be in its place to create a sense of belonging, purpose and engagement. The culture of organization becomes paramount here and will need structure and tools that helps propagate itself.
I wouldn’t call this book a practitioner’s handbook but ideas and references made me think and research on how it may impact me and my customers....more
The is the best investment of my 10 hours and $10 dollars this week. This is such a great introduction to the whole crypto ecosystem. After hours of YThe is the best investment of my 10 hours and $10 dollars this week. This is such a great introduction to the whole crypto ecosystem. After hours of YouTube and dozens of attempts at crypto trading, I have come to realization that I am not getting any better at understanding crypto or its underlying technology blockchain. So, I thought it’s time to get back to old fashioned way to learning. By reading cover to cover of a book and understanding the fundamentals.
The first few chapters deal exclusively with money in general. It dives into history of ‘money’ and briefly explains how things evolved to what it is today. Fun fact – As much as people make it sound that ‘barter system’ is how our ancestors traded, history shows us barter was actually pretty messy with very little adoption and didn’t actually last too long. What found mass adoption is the ‘credit’ system. I borrow an egg from you today, and in the future, I am obliged to give you corn. The book does a good job in explaining how banking system in general works and the various parties involved when you make bank transfer. Things get wildly complicated if it is a cross border foreign currency bank transfer. Hence the need of various entities like the ‘clearing’ bank, ‘correspondent banks’, SWIFT codes etc. Author does a very good job in covering the basics of cryptography. Even if you work in Information Technology, it is a good reminder of the use cases of PGP, Hashes, symmetric, asymmetric encryption and digital signatures.
By the time the author gets to bitcoin and blockchain, he has pretty much laid out the context and helped you appreciate how complex, inefficient and centralized the current financial system is. He talks mostly about Bitcoin, why its formed, how its formed and how it works as placeholder for cryptocurrencies. His explanation of distributed ledger is pretty solid and easy to understand. Many things of blockchain technology like block creation process, how minders work are covered at a high level but not very useful as it requires a lot more attention and effort and certainly beyond the scope of an intro book. But it does a good job of highlighting and educating you on the various challenges of the technology that exists today and very clearly distinguishes ‘Proof of Work’ and ‘Proof of Stake’ approaches to blockchain.
The perils involved with operating crypto wallets and trading via exchanges are pretty well explained. While the lack of decentralization and regulation give you a lot more freedom and power, that also means it is a breeding ground for miscreants. You could easily fall into their traps if you are not prepared enough before playing with your money. The book talks about exchange trading fees, gas fees and the price fluctuations, reward mechanisms at a high level. Later part of the book covers Ethereum pretty well and highlights the differences with Bitcoin. Tokens also introduced how they are different from cryptocurrencies. It briefly talks about private blockchains such as Corda, Hyperledger fabric and JP Morgan Quoram.
To me the highlight of the book is how it covers blockchain basics. The very fundamentals of why a blockchain is different from a database. While ledger immutability can be achieved via a ledger database, what blockchain adds over ledger immutability is decentralization and the “Trust boundaries”. Trust boundaries really determine whether you need a private blockchain or a public blockchain. It dispels the common myth that parties involved in a blockchain are anonymous which certainly is not true for private blockchains. It talks about when you need a private blockchain and when to use a public blockchain.
Overall, this is a pretty solid introduction to cryto and blockchain. It broadly covers everything you need to know from history, financial systems, technology, investing and what the future holds. I am going to (re)read this book again in 6 months’ time. Highly recommended. Neither oversimplified nor complicated, just right for an introduction book. ...more
I don’t know what to make of this book. I don’t even know whether I am supposed to be entertained or educated. Maybe both. Is this supposed to be a buI don’t know what to make of this book. I don’t even know whether I am supposed to be entertained or educated. Maybe both. Is this supposed to be a business book or a philosophy book? I am confused. Meant to be both? For most parts it feels like reading a personal diary that didn’t go through much editing.
It has snippets of good information. He talks about it being easier to walk straight into and a cold shower and deal with the cold in your body than planning to mitigate feeling cold. Another thing he drills into you is the cost of being ambitious or successful. As long as we are in a rat race, the best we can aspire to do is be a rat who is able to look up at the sky and appreciate the clouds once in a while. He does a good job in explaining why working for someone is a bad idea and leaves you no room to create any significant wealth. The author is a seasoned tech entrepreneur and his insights around starting a business, wealth creation are very insightful and fun to read.
The single biggest takeaway in the book is his emphasis on why it is important to be grounded and thorough with “first principles” of economics, science and maths. This makes perfect sense in my experience. Instead of being level 300 in calculus, what will really help in the real world is knowing arithmetic inside out. Instead of reading 100 books on economics, it makes sense to read Adam Smith 3 times.
But the author strays quite a lot. There is plenty of BS and gross oversimplifications. The moment he steps into the realm of “happiness” or “life”, his writing falls apart. I need to recall the author is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and I am not reading Werner Erhard or Osho.
It is designed to be discontinuous with plenty of “twitter” quotes, many of which are abrupt and out of context. There are some interesting thoughts. Read it at your own peril. ...more
They say everything is bigger in Texas. I say even Texas is not big enough for McConaughey and his ideals. This is the story of a Southern boy pouringThey say everything is bigger in Texas. I say even Texas is not big enough for McConaughey and his ideals. This is the story of a Southern boy pouring out 35 years of his view of life into what he calls as an “approach book”.
This is definitely not a must read. Certainly not suited for everyone’s taste. Many parts are poorly written, unrelatable, philosophical and too “preachy” to my full liking.
But parts of it are certainly unique, funny, raunchy and interesting. I am impressed that he preserved the scraps of paper that he scribbled 35 years ago. I loved the fact he chose to be authentic and vulnerable in the book. I loved the fact that he was willing to share the dirty details of his childhood and parents. I loved the fact that he admits being lost is his entire 20s and 30s. I loved he didn’t exaggerate his struggles in Hollywood and make it sound like a rags to riches story.
Matthew McConaughey is a Hollywood showman and an entertainer. He’s got style, great story telling skills and a strong original Southern accent. These are his strengths and these are the only things you should expect from the book....more
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