Books of 2023 - Part 3

Gazettabyte has been asking industry figures to pick their reads of the year. In Part 3, Noam Mizrahi, Katharine Schmidtke, Steve Suarez, and Vladimir Kozlov share their readings of the year.

Noam Mizrahi, EVP, corporate CTO at Marvell.

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek is a book about the obvious. It is so obvious, in fact, that it is very hard to do. We all want our message to get through so that people understand, see things through our eyes and share our vision.

When we start a journey, we know very well why we do it. This is also when we inspire and motivate the most, ourselves and others. But, as we develop our company, products and careers, intuitively, routine makes us focus on what we do and how we do it, and in some (or many) cases, we forget why we do it.

Once we forget the why, it is harder for us to experience a sense of accomplishment and, in most cases, will make it harder for us to inspire others to follow our vision.

Focus on the why as a means for inspiration and motivation. I find this simple advice something I always try to remember and in everything I do.

This book did not necessarily tell me what to do or how to do it, but I sure know why it was vital for me to read it.

Katharine Schmidtke, Ph.D., Eribel Systems LLC

Integrated Photonics for Data Communications Applications, Edited by Madeleine Glick, Ling Liao, and Katharine Schmidtke (2023), is the book I definitely read most in 2023!

This book, the inaugural volume in a series on integrated photonics, is a testament to the collaborative expertise inspired by Prof. Kimerling at MIT. It is the culmination of a three-year collaboration between co-editors Madeleine, Ling and me. We are incredibly grateful to the over ninety authors, each a leader in the field, whose technical expertise shines through and makes the content enriching and inspiring.

Diving into the world of advanced photonic devices and integrated photonic circuits, the book explores key concepts, design principles, performance metrics, and manufacturing processes. It goes beyond the theoretical, offering a comprehensive view of the practical aspects crucial for understanding and advancing this field.

One of the book's strengths is its examination of the current trends and commercial requirements in data communication for data centres and high-performance computing. The inclusion of contributions from end users sharing key performance indicators adds a valuable real-world perspective.

At its core, the book dissects the fundamental building blocks of integrated photonics, unravelling the complexities of lasers, modulators, photodetectors, and passive devices. It's a holistic journey through the individual elements that collectively form the intricate web of photonic integrated circuits.

Over the summer, I was back in England clearing out old bookshelves and discovered the series of spy novels by the British writer, John le Carré. I picked up The Little Drummer Girl, published in 1983. The story follows the manipulations of Martin Kurtz, an Israeli spymaster who intends to kill Khalil – a Palestinian terrorist who is bombing Jewish-related targets in Europe, particularly Germany – and Charlie, an English actress and double agent working on behalf of the Israelis.

It's a thrilling and complex plot with many unexpected twists and turns, but this story has no heroes. Everyone loses something, including Charlie, who loses her mind. Reading it forty years after its writing, I experienced déjà vu during the events which started on October 7th, 2023.

I've had the book Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business, by Aswath Damodaran on my reading list since its publication in 2017, and it certainly lived up to the anticipation.

The author delves into the intricacies of valuing companies, offering a profound analysis beyond the numbers. What sets this book apart is its exploration of the transformative power of storytelling in the business world.

As engineers, we often underestimate the impact of a well-crafted narrative. The author argues that a logical and rational story, when presented effectively, can breathe life into facts and figures.

The book emphasizes the importance of storytelling in making data understandable and unforgettable. The art of storytelling is revealed to be a compelling force that captivates audiences, making it challenging to dismiss even seemingly improbable valuations.

What struck me was the insight into how companies, seemingly without substantial revenue, can achieve remarkably high valuations.

By reading this book, you gain a deeper understanding of the alchemy that occurs when a compelling story intertwines with the cold, hard metrics of business. It's a valuable read, shedding light on the often-underestimated influence of narrative in shaping perceptions and valuations.

Von der Nutzlosigkeit Erwachsen zu Werden, by Georg Heinzen and Uwe Koch (1994) can be translated as 'Growing up from Uselessness' or, because it's a double entendre, 'About the Uselessness of Growing up'.

The book is a farce about a tragic victim of the German education crisis of the 1970s and the job market of the 1990s. At thirty, still unemployed and living at home, this hopeless character discovers that having graduated high school, his education is helpful for everything but not needed for anything.

I wasn't educated in Germany, but this mood was contagious throughout the rest of Europe, and I, too, struggled to get my first job during the recession of the 1990s.

Reading it now, with two teenagers preparing to launch themselves into the workforce in a few years, I'm sure they feel the same way. This might seem to be a depressing topic for me to dwell on, but the book is a fun read filled with ironic humour and many relevant topics for today.

Steve Suarez, Founder & CEO of HorizonX

This year marked a significant milestone for me. I took the courageous step of pursuing my lifelong aspiration of entrepreneurship. My goal is to empower organisations to innovate effectively and at scale. In a world where innovation is consistent and a requisite, there is a demand for skilled professionals who can excel in this realm across all industries and geographies.

To equip myself, I recognised the necessity to acquire new competencies, particularly in sales and the fundamentals of operating a thriving consulting business. To this end, I started listening to The Consulting Bible: How to Launch and Grow a Seven-Figure Consulting Business, by Alan Weiss, 2nd Edition in audiobook format, which I listened to during my commutes to London.

The insights have been invaluable. It has sharpened my focus on what drives business success and has influenced my approach to consulting. The lessons learned have been instrumental in shaping my entrepreneurial journey, allowing me to concentrate on strategies that make an impact.

I am eager to share more about how these learnings have transformed my business practices and the innovative solutions I can offer clients.

Vlad Kozlov, CEO and founder of LightCounting Market Research

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, by Ed Yong, reads like poetry, but it offers the depth of a Ph.D thesis, or several, with its range of topics.

You may already know that bats navigate the world using echolocation. Still, it works and it is fascinating, an incredible level of complexity chiselled by evolution over millennia, one mutation at a time. Even a recovering communist may wonder if evolution can do such a feat.

The book is dense and you have to take it in slowly. I'm almost finished now, and the most incredible chapter so far was on electric fields. Not about hundreds of volts that stingrays use but weak electric fields that many fish use to navigate murky waters. Unbelievable.

I am saving the next chapter on magnetic fields for the holidays.

A must read for anyone interested in high-tech innovation. Yes, this is a cutting edge technology. It is also a journey into a parallel world, or worlds, of creatures around us. What drives them remains a mystery, but all of them are caused by something in their lives. And it is more than just hunger.