Books of the year 2016 - Part 1

Each year Gazettabyte asks industry figures to comment on books that they recommend. Here are BT's Andrew Lord's and Cignal's Andrew Schmitt's recommendations to kick off this year's reviews.

Andrew Lord, Head of Optical Research at BT.

Quantum technologies are flavour of the month, with huge government investments from around the world. The title and cover of Bananaworld: Quantum Mechanics for Primates by Jeffrey Bub, suggest a book that will ‘unpeel’ a tough but increasingly important subject for general readers. 

The book itself is, however, far deeper than its cover suggests, going way beyond the basics, and attempting to forge a link between quantum mechanics and the structure of information. 

Imagining a strange world in which bananas exhibit quantum effects might just confuse rather than aid the general reader, but those wishing to probe the deeper information theory questions will find much here to ‘chew on’.

 

Andrew Schmitt, founder of Cignal AI

Starting a company with a wide customer base requires a lot of ‘infrastructure’ that I didn’t realise would consume so much time. I like to build things so it has been a real thrill but also a lot of work. I think I gravitated towards fun things to read as a result of having my hands full. All of them were outstanding.

A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge, and Seveneves by Neal Stephenson require a great deal of mental fortitude but unfold on such a grand scale that they are very appealing. Stephenson is a favourite of mine, ever since reading Snow Crash in college. He’s like William Gibson except with a sense of humour.

I also reread Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Let’s just say it felt a lot less sci-fi the second time around. If you look at the monoculture of ideas in politics, education, even business – it’s a dangerous situation. A big reason populism is emerging in the West is because people are sick of getting told what to think by “smart” people, and the perceived loss of control. It is a healthy rebellion despite a lot of the downside because the alternative – everyone thinking in lockstep – is far more dangerous.

I had greater ambitions for non-fiction and have several unread Kindle books on my iPhone. I wanted to read The Hard Thing about Hard Things from Ben Horowitz but have not. Other titles include The Comeback: How Larry Ellison's Team Won the America's Cup by G. Bruce Knecht and American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle.

The book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance is a great read. There are a lot of haters out there who don’t like Tesla for various reasons – his government funding, climate-change skeptics who don’t like his views, and who knows what else? Fine by me. But after reading this book you have to acknowledge the massive, ridiculous undertaking of starting both a rocket company and an electric car company. It is insane. Yet this guy has managed to keep the wheels from coming off so far. He has burned through people, capital, and relationships but the results are impressive.

He may not be everyone's idea of a nice guy – whatever - but he is a walking, breathing, living image of the American ethos of invention and capitalism. Whatever money it costs the US government is more than offset by the example he sets for others that anything is possible provided you have enough time, money, and guts.