Books of 2023 - Final part

Gazettabyte has been asking industry figures to pick their reads of the year. In the final part, contributions are from Larry Dennison, Tim Doiron, Catherine White and Neil McRae.

Larry Dennison, Network Research Group, Nvidia

At this point in my life, book reading is to unwind and is mostly fiction. I get nearly everything else from reading selected technical papers, the daily news and Real Clear Politics. There is just so much cognitive dissonance in the news and editorials that I retreat into fantasy for some down-time.

The best books for me this year are the Beware of Chicken series. This is a light-hearted, martial arts/ cultivation world. Most of the world believes that 'one strives for the heavens alone'. The main protagonist believes that 'everything is connected' and that relationships and doing the right thing are most important. This creates a central set of likeable characters who prevail and grow when challenges arise.

The other series is The Wandering Inn, a truly massive work with a multitude of likable and unlikable characters. Very rich world building, the main character is Erin who was transported from Earth and becomes an inn keeper. Erin sees the good in nearly everyone, including goblins, which results in her finding ways of dispelling prejudice. It isn’t always happy but there is always a sense of noble conduct.

Tim Doiron, Vice President, Solution Marketing, Infinera

In recent years, my reading has leaned toward technology, leadership, marketing, and history. However, with a son who recently completed his master’s degree in psychology, I found myself in 2023 developing an interest in topics related to human behavior and how people are wired.

In parallel with my newfound interest in psychology, I was asked to give a presentation at one of our recent leadership events. In that presentation, I referenced four books that had an impact on me and my thinking in 2023.

Three of these books were written in the past few years and the fourth is an older one that I revisited to prepare for my presentation. I’ll explain.

The first book is Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, by Adam Grant, an organisational psychologist and well-known author. In Think Again, Grant identifies four styles commonly used to approach problems: preacher, prosecutor, politician, and scientist. While each of these approaches might be useful under certain situations, Grant argues that we should spend more time thinking like a scientist. We need to remain curious, challenging our own positions and assumptions and inviting others around us to do the same.

The world is changing fast, and positions that were accurate yesterday may not hold for today or tomorrow. For most of us in the technology industry, thinking like a scientist might come naturally, but we may not always apply it when making tradeoffs or debating strategies with colleagues. The second book is Dare to Lead: Bare Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brenee Brown. 

Brown is a research professor and storyteller in areas of shame, empathy, courage, and vulnerability. Brown has worked with all types of companies and organisations. To be courageous, you must be vulnerable. And vulnerability involves fear, uncertainty, and risk. If you find yourself thinking about effective leadership, this is a great book.

If we are going to think like a scientist and be courageous leaders, how do we solidify and anchor change in our organizations and our companies? That’s where John P. Kotter’s Leading Change comes in. I read this book 20 years ago and revisited it in preparation for my leadership presentation. We need to anchor change in the company culture if it’s going to stick. While this book isn’t new, the eight steps Kotter outlines for helping transform any organisation remain relevant.

Finally, as a marketeer I am always thinking about effective communications. Earlier this year, one of my colleagues at Infinera shared Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz.

In our digital and social-media infused life, the ability to deliver relevant, concise, and impactful information has never been more important. This book provided some useful tips and scenarios and was a fast read. Maybe I don’t need to write all those white papers after all. Nice!

Catherine White, Researcher, Optical and Quantum technology, BT.

One book I read is Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters by Oliver Franklin-Wallis.

Technology has contributed to creating more waste than providing good solutions to solving the harm waste creates. There is also much work to be done to reclaim valuable materials.

At BT, there are programmes to reclaim and recycle materials from technical waste, among other initiatives for sustainability. For example, BT Group looks to circular networks in sustainability drive.

Wasteland is well written and brings home – in great detail – what we all basically know and must not ignore. It is also a fascinating, and sometimes horrifying journey waste takes once we say goodbye to it.

Another book I read is Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence by James Lovelock. I am a great admirer of Lovelock and his early work on ecology. He was a brilliant, multi-talented engineer, and his Gaia theory, though it has a New Age association to some people, was based on computer simulations.

Lovelock lived for over a century, and his final book was published a few years ago, providing a startling vision of the future in which the predominant new intelligent life forms of the galaxy will be artificial, and the first of them (at least on this planet) created by us.

I am not sure he is right. I hope he is not because the thought is unsettling (though he has been proved to be prescient about many things). But his ideas are thought-provoking, even as a strawman to criticise, and it is the final work of a great individual.

During a break in Devon, I picked up a secondhand copy of a book of short stories The Rest of the Robots by the classic sci-fi author, Isaac Asimov.

It’s not his best robot book but I found an interesting story within this book in which the robotic proof-reader makes changes to the meaning of the text it is correcting, to match hard coded AI ethical rules that subsume other rules, with unintended effects.

Asimov had remarkable perception of the future but reading his work makes it clear he did not go far enough in predicting the sophistication with which AI would be able to reason. However, he was right about the unpredictability, and that is the key message for me. We finally need a robot psychologist like Asimov’s Susan Calman!

Neil McRae, Chief Network Strategist, Juniper Networks

The first book I read earlier this year was I May Be Wrong: And Other Wisdoms from Life as a Forest Monk, by Björn Natthiko Lindeblad.

I was recommended to read this by a friend. He recommended the book to help me with a big change in my life that I was going through, having left the company I worked for 12 years and sensing it was going to be more difficult than I might like to admit.

The book is the story of the author, a monk in Thailand. What I liked about this book is how closely the author seemed to mirror my thinking but from a totally different vantage point and wildly different life choices. He illustrates the struggle of being a monk and the realities of life, but it also teaches that the simplest things will make a difference in the world.

I found this approach inspiring, and the ending, well, I'm not going to give it away, but in a world where mental health is increasingly important, this energised me and got me moving on my next journey much quicker.

Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission by Eileen Collins and Jonathan Ward is the amazing life story of Eileen Collins, the first female Space Shuttle Command and Pilot.

I have been fortunate to meet Eileen on many occasions, and the book surprised me in the way that Eileen had to deal with some brutal highs and lows, with immense mental strength during difficult times for her and for NASA and the Space Shuttle programme, and then the pressure of being the public face of the return to flight programme.

She is known for being the first female space shuttle pilot and commander, but Eileen was also the first woman to fly the F-15 fighter jet.

The book tells me that if you are determined enough and hungry enough, the sky is not the limit.

Comments

[Catherine White]

Wonderful suggestions from the great Neil McRae, who deserves to be before me on any reading list (or maybe it is a question of last but certainly not least.) I will be reading both his recommendations.