Books in 2014 - Part 2

More book recommendations, from Infonetics Research's Andrew Schmitt and ADVA Optical Networking's Ulrich Kohn.

Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for carrier transport networking at Infonetics Research

It has been a bit of a thin year for me. And what I’ve read is a little outside the job. It seems like with all of the new media at hand I make less time for long-form consumption.

My wife is a big rower and I bought The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown for her. But then someone recommended it to me and I started reading it before she could. It is a fantastic underdog story about the University of Washington crew team and their road to the Berlin Olympics. It has lots of colour of what 1920's and 1930's America was like and it does a good job of conveying the subtleties of the sport. The central character has everything in life stacked against him but relies on a bottomless ability to suffer both in and out of the boat to grind his way towards a goal. There is so much vivid detail about the personalities and the races that I am slightly skeptical about whether it was all accurate but a fantastic read nonetheless.

Probably my favourite book of 2014 was Zero to One: Notes on startups, or how to build the future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters, and I’m sure I won’t be the only one to mention it. It is like the anti-business book, blowing up all of the conventional thoughts surrounding start-ups and makes for a refreshing read. Excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Blake Masters deserves more credit than he has received for canning the thoughts of Peter Thiel in a very readable way.

I re-read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury after 20-plus years. I decided to read this again with more life experience under my belt. Sci-fi when first written 60 years ago, it now outlines a frightening and plausible adjacent reality to ours. I don’t watch much TV but I see others consumed by popular culture media; it isn’t really that different than what happens in this book – only the outcome is. Like Brave New World, it was a remarkable window to the future when written.

In the last 20 years the media’s reach and power has soared with the Internet and mobile. Media is a weapon whose power has vastly expanded from 1950's America, not unlike the exponential increase in weaponry after World War II. This creation of so many new media sources was supposed to bring many more voices and result in a more balanced media. I am no longer confident this is happening as folks can now pick and choose the media sources that re-enforce their own biases – just as the characters in 451 do. So far this has been harmless in the USA but I’m afraid of what might happen here or in other parts of the world. I suppose one benefit to the current media structure is it is still 'Antifragile', as it is free, but that is not the case in places like China.

Michael Lewis is one of those authors that can take any subject and make it interesting but Wall St. certainly grants him a home field advantage. But Flash Boys is not one of my favourite books of his. But he does a great job outlining how high-frequency trading is conducted, and allows one to understand how it happens. It is shameful that the existing market structure knowingly allows buy/ sell orders to be front-run; it was like owners of a large bazaar allowing pickpockets to roam freely. There is some colourful mention of the use of optics and the physical means of getting ahead of legitimate orders at exchange points throughout the country.

Tyler Hamilton’s story The Secret Race: Inside the hidden world of the Tour de France closed the book on the Lance Armstrong scandal, and removed the mystery and shadows of doubt about what happened during the Tour de France during those years. The book walks the reader through what happened during Lance’s big victories, and Tyler’s solo career and subsequent downfall. You realise that everyone was doping, and that competing was not possible otherwise.

I had the chance to meet Tyler, ride with him and talk about his career at length. His brother is my son’s ski coach. He told me that the big lesson here applies to everyone – at many points in your career someone is going to make you do something wrong or illegal in order to get ahead, and they will tell you that it is OK because everyone else does it. That is where you have to be prepared to find another path, even at the expense of your dreams.

Once you lose trust, which he has, you can never go back. It is an extremely important lesson for my work too.

Ulrich Kohn, director of technical marketing at ADVA Optical Networking

The book that springs to mind is Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street by Tomáš Sedláček. It is one of those books you buy in passing, put aside, happen to start reading months later and become completely absorbed. It combines a broad outline of the history of economics with views on social, cultural and ethical development.

What’s clear is that much thought and research went into the writing. However, there is also plenty of speculation. So much so, that it is impossible to read without a great deal of personal reflection. This is especially true with Adam Smith’s concept of the ‘Invisible Hand,’ which assumes that stronger players who strive to further their own gains act in a way that also serves society.

As a communications engineer, this intrigues me.

The Internet has changed almost every aspect of our social and business lives. It enables us to continually stay in contact with our friends, family and colleagues. We have access to almost any desired information in real-time. We’re living in an era of shared wisdom and opinions. What or who controls this? Is there an Invisible Hand that makes sure we as a society make best use of innovative communication services similar to the model described by Adam Smith in the 18th century?

The book discusses Smith’s model and outlines the criticism and limitations as the Invisible Hand that could not solve all economic problems, such as the high unemployment rates in Europe in the early 20th century. John Maynard Keynes' suggestions for governmental control as self-regulation did not lead to a fair balance among all participants in the economic system. Today, it is widely accepted that fiscal and legal measures need to act as a safeguard.

The Internet is mainly a self-controlled environment. This approach so far has served us well. An Invisible Hand made sure that all participants benefitted. However, there is increasing concern that strong players can gain value in a way that impacts that balance. Various organisations are initiating action such as the EU’s intention to strengthen the right of users on ownership of their data and their network identities. It is fascinating to see those analogies between the historic development of economic systems and the present discussion about the Internet.

Tomáš Sedláček combines economic history with social, cultural and ethical development that inspires and triggers further thought. In his book, he outlines how ethical principles shape economic systems. I would love to see a similar book on the impact of communication on our society and culture.

The development of the Internet is driven by technical capabilities and innovative applications. A reflection on the social and cultural impact of such innovation is limited to expert discussion; a wider discussion could be fruitful, and some would argue, urgently required.

For Part 1, click here