100 books like Subprime Attention Crisis

By Tim Hwang,

Here are 100 books that Subprime Attention Crisis fans have personally recommended if you like Subprime Attention Crisis. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights

Edward D. Hess Author Of Own Your Work Journey! The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change

From my list on helping you become your best self.

Why am I passionate about this?

My entire academic life of over 20 years has been focused on how to help people and organizations become their Best Self. I am the author of 15 books. Six of my books were published by Academic Presses: Cambridge University Press; Stanford University Press; and Columbia Business School Publishing. My work has appeared in over 400 global media publications including Fortune magazine, European Business Review, HBR, SHRM, Fast Company, WIRED, Forbes, INC., Huffington Post, Washington Post, Business Week, the Financial Times, CEO World as well as on CNBC Squawk Box, Fox Business News, Big Think, WSJ Radio, Bloomberg Radio with Kathleen Hayes, Dow Jones Radio, MSNBC Radio, Business Insider, and Wharton Radio.

Edward's book list on helping you become your best self

Edward D. Hess Why did Edward love this book?

In the Era of Smart Technology, many of you will have work if you can think differently than the Technology can think. Examples are thinking creatively, innovatively, and going into the unknown and figuring things out.

This book is all about Insights - seeing new associations, new connections, new trends, patterns, and irregularities. Gary Klein gives you the tools to become an explorer: an Insightful Person who can open new avenues, new opportunities, and new ways of thinking. I learned a lot from Gary Klein, and I am sure you will, too.

By Gary Klein,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Seeing What Others Don't as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Insights--like Darwin's understanding of the way evolution actually works, and Watson and Crick's breakthrough discoveries about the structure of DNA--can change the world. We also need insights into the everyday things that frustrate and confuse us so that we can more effectively solve problems and get things done. Yet we know very little about when, why, or how insights are formed--or what blocks them. In Seeing What Others Don't, renowned cognitive psychologist Gary Klein unravels the mystery. Klein is a keen observer of people in their natural settings--scientists, businesspeople, firefighters, police officers, soldiers, family members, friends, himself--and uses a marvelous…


Book cover of The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You

Paul Armstrong Author Of Disruptive Technologies: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate and Respond to Digital Disruption

From my list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always asked why too many times I am told. From my early days studying psychology to working for Myspace out in LA and now with clients in London, my fondness for understanding what drives change, inertia, and pain has always been a focus. I knew from an early age that understanding people and how they are affected by, use and fear change and technology would be a useful skill to focus on. Doing so has enabled me to work with big brands, and smart cookies and interview some of the best minds of our generation. I recently brought everything under one roof, TBD Group, to help people see around corners.  

Paul's book list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns

Paul Armstrong Why did Paul love this book?

Rob used to write for The New York Times and I was lucky enough to interview him on my podcast Mouthwash. His book is an inspiring read that helps you notice more around you. Beyond this it’s a rallying cry for attention and how you choose to utilise it. The book isn’t meant to be a business book, but I have found that there are massive sections that should be applied to business – especially in this remote working world. Buy one for you and one for a friend. 

By Rob Walker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Art of Noticing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Notice more, and notice more joy in the everyday.

Distracted? Overwhelmed? Feel like your attention is constantly being pulled in different directions? Learn how to steal it back.

Accessible and inspiring, this book features 131 surprising and innovative exercises to help you tune out white noise, get unstuck from your screen and manage daily distractions.

Make small yet impactful changes and bring focus to the things and people that are most important to you.


Book cover of Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation

Paul Armstrong Author Of Disruptive Technologies: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate and Respond to Digital Disruption

From my list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always asked why too many times I am told. From my early days studying psychology to working for Myspace out in LA and now with clients in London, my fondness for understanding what drives change, inertia, and pain has always been a focus. I knew from an early age that understanding people and how they are affected by, use and fear change and technology would be a useful skill to focus on. Doing so has enabled me to work with big brands, and smart cookies and interview some of the best minds of our generation. I recently brought everything under one roof, TBD Group, to help people see around corners.  

Paul's book list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns

Paul Armstrong Why did Paul love this book?

I am a huge fan of making complex things simple and understandable, Kevin does this superbly well with Futureproof. From putting the nine rules on the cover to explaining each in a way that makes you shun the Hollywood stereotypes that are burned into our brains, the book explores how AI and automation will change the way we do business and beyond. It’s a must-read. 

By Kevin Roose,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Futureproof as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Kevin Roose provides a clear, compelling strategy for surviving the next wave of technology with our jobs - and souls - intact... Futureproof is the survival guide you need' Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit

In this timely, counterintuitive, and highly practical guide to the age of A.I. and automation, a New York Times technology columnist argues that the key to success is making yourself more human, not less.

The machines are here. After decades of sci-fi doomsaying and marketing hype, advanced A.I. and automation technologies have leapt out of research labs and Silicon Valley engineering departments and into the…


Book cover of The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st-Century Techonology?

Paul Armstrong Author Of Disruptive Technologies: A Framework to Understand, Evaluate and Respond to Digital Disruption

From my list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always asked why too many times I am told. From my early days studying psychology to working for Myspace out in LA and now with clients in London, my fondness for understanding what drives change, inertia, and pain has always been a focus. I knew from an early age that understanding people and how they are affected by, use and fear change and technology would be a useful skill to focus on. Doing so has enabled me to work with big brands, and smart cookies and interview some of the best minds of our generation. I recently brought everything under one roof, TBD Group, to help people see around corners.  

Paul's book list on disrupting your competitors sleeping patterns

Paul Armstrong Why did Paul love this book?

Tracey’s first book was a smash hit with tech and business folks alike for its take on where identity is going after she had a run-in with Facebook. From the initial fascinating (and frankly scary) story, Tracey explores how identity is changing and that’s important for any business out there. You’ll explore all facets of what identity means and could mean in the future. As we rethink ourselves and create digital twins, understanding the psychology behind this area will be business-critical in the coming years. 

By Tracey Follows,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Future of You as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the future, how many identities will you have? How many do you want? Digital technology is causing us to think differently about who we are and who we could become, but with the right knowledge we can turn this incredible capacity to our advantage.

'Who am I?' is one of the most fundamental questions of all. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to answer as technology enables us to negotiate and create many different versions of ourselves.

In our digital, data-driven world, Facebook gets a say in verifying who we are, science can alter our biology, and advances in…


Book cover of The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity

Daniel M. Gerstein Author Of Tech Wars: Transforming U.S. Technology Development

From my list on understanding current tech war future of humanity.

Why am I passionate about this?

Everyone uses technology, but few stop to think about where these technologies come from and what this trajectory means to humanity. During my professional career, I have dedicated myself to public service focused on security and defense as a U.S. Army officer, senior government civilian, and in think tanks, industry, and academia. My journey has taken me to over 60 countries where I have witnessed humankind's best and worst. The difference is often in how our technologies are used—to build cities, feed populations, and develop life-saving vaccines or to oppress peoples or as tools of war. 

Daniel's book list on understanding current tech war future of humanity

Daniel M. Gerstein Why did Daniel love this book?

This book speaks to the opportunities and challenges for the participants in today’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) competition. It highlights the barriers to entry in this tech war—high costs, advanced hardware such as semiconductors and high-performance computing, and perhaps most importantly, access to human capital.

This book provides a roadmap for thinking about the current AI tech competition. It also highlights what is at stake if the United States does not lead in this space. The idea of AI development led by an authoritarian regime or a nation that does not place humanity first could arrive at solutions that are unfriendly and perhaps even hostile to humanity. 

By Amy Webb,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Big Nine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

We like to think that we are in control of the future of "artificial" intelligence. The reality, though, is that we--the everyday people whose data powers AI--aren't actually in control of anything. When, for example, we speak with Alexa, we contribute that data to a system we can't see and have no input into--one largely free from regulation or oversight. The big nine corporations--Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, IBM and Apple--are the new gods of AI and are short-changing our futures to reap immediate financial gain.

In this book, Amy Webb reveals the pervasive, invisible ways in which…


Book cover of Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal

G. Pascal Zachary Author Of Showstopper! The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft

From my list on the human dimension of writing computer code.

Why am I passionate about this?

The author was the chief Silicon Valley writer for The Wall Street Journal during the first of the 1990s. He went on to become an acclaimed scholar in the history of science, engineering, and innovation. At the peak of his journalism career, the Boston Globe described Zachary as the most talented reporter on the Journal's staff. Zachary went on to write technology and innovation columns for The New York Times, Technology Review, and Spectrum magazineZachary has also taught courses on science and technology studies at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Arizona State University, where he was a professor from 2010-2020. He lives in northern California. 

G.'s book list on the human dimension of writing computer code

G. Pascal Zachary Why did G. love this book?

Software runs the digital world. While Facebook, Amazon, and Google may look like services, they are run by code. The same for Twitter is essentially a networked program that enables mass communication in multiple directions. Bilton deftly follows four coders – Ev Williams, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass – who stun the software world with the dramatic impact of their software creation. While Bilton’s narrative emphasizes the quirky men who made Twitter, and falls short of explaining the coding achievements of this benighted quartet, Hatching Twitter provides a vivid reminder that success in software often doesn’t go with the sharpest understanding of how software works, and what programs deliver.

By Nick Bilton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hatching Twitter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A tale of Machiavellian plots and coups d'etat, it's just all so gripping' Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2

THE ULTIMATE 21ST CENTURY BUSINESS STORY

Since 2006, Twitter has grown from the accidental side project of a failing internet start-up, to a global icon that by 2013 had become an $11.5bn business. But the full story of Twitter's hatching has never been told before.

In his revelatory new book, New York Times journalist Nick Bilton takes readers behind the scenes of Twitter as it grew at exponential speeds, and inside the heads of the four hackers who created it: ambitious millionaire…


Book cover of Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America

Brian Blum Author Of Totaled: The Billion-Dollar Crash of the Startup that Took on Big Auto, Big Oil and the World

From my list on future entrepreneurs of business and tech.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a business and technology journalist with a particular interest in mobility startups. I penned my book after purchasing an EV from startup Better Place, only to discover the company was nearly bankrupt. How did I miss that? I’m supposed to be able to do due diligence! I started writing about cars as a reporter for the Advanced Interactive Media Group. I’m a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post and Israel21c and have also ghostwritten four business books. Before I wrote about tech, I was starting companies: My own Internet publishing startup, Neta4, raised $3.2 million in 1998. I received my B.A. in Creative Writing from Oberlin College.

Brian's book list on future entrepreneurs of business and tech

Brian Blum Why did Brian love this book?

When I was deliberating over whether I could write a nonfiction business book of my own, Julia Angwin’s detailed insider story of the rise and fall of the first uber-popular social media site was my inspiration.

I loved the way she mixed deep reporting with revealing interviews to describe how MySpace changed the world—and how it was then done in that very changing world. This book never got the acclaim it deserved, but for me it was transformational.

By Julia Angwin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Stealing MySpace as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A fast-paced and deeply reported look at the unlikely success of MySpace, the Web 2.0 phenomenon, and the drama surrounding one of the biggest deals of the Internet age. Barely funded, technologically inept, conceptually derivative, and driven by rivalries, the company that was to morph into the biggest Internet site in the world had an unlikely beginning. This is the fascinating and surprising story that includes all the elements of a great business narrative: obsessive characters from co-founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe to Rupert Murdock, relentless and unlikely innovation, and dizzying back room deal-making; all centered around an epic…


Book cover of The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network

Joanne McNeil Author Of Lurking: How a Person Became a User

From my list on the origins of the tech industry.

Why am I passionate about this?

Joanne McNeil has written about internet culture for over fifteen years. Her book considers the development of the internet from a user's perspective since the launch of the World Wide Web. Her interest in digital technology spans from the culture that enabled the founding of major companies in Silicon Valley to their reception in broader culture.

Joanne's book list on the origins of the tech industry

Joanne McNeil Why did Joanne love this book?

A memoir that covers Losse’s experience working at Facebook from 2005 when she was the company’s 51st hire. Losse weaves her own experience—at first as a low-level employee in customer support and later as Mark Zuckerberg’s ghostwriter—with sharp analysis of Silicon Valley’s changing role in politics and culture. A powerful reckoning with her own complicity working for a company that exhibited dangerous “totalitarian” ambition from its very beginning.

By Katherine Losse,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Boy Kings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Kate Losse was a grad school refugee when she joined Facebook as employee #51 in 2005. Hired to answer user questions such as "What is a poke?" and "Why can't I access my ex-girlfriend's profile?" her early days at the company were characterized by a sense of camaraderie, promise, and ambition: Here was a group of scrappy young upstarts on a mission to rock Silicon Valley and change the world.

Over time, this sense of mission became so intense that working for Facebook felt like more than just a job; it implied a wholehearted dedication to "the cause." Employees were…


Book cover of Burn Book: A Tech Love Story

Ann Nocenti Author Of The Seeds

From my list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a storyteller. I’ve told stories through journalism, theater, film, and comics. When I was the editor of a film magazine, Scenario: “The Magazine of the Art of Screenwriting” I interviewed filmmakers about the craft of telling a great story. As a journalist, I love original sources and voices, for the way they tell a personal version of history. They say history is told by the winners. I prefer the reverse angle—history told, not by the “losers” but by true, strong, authentic voices. I somehow want to read, reveal, recommend, and illuminate marginalized voices.

Ann's book list on books that sweep you into another person’s delightful mind

Ann Nocenti Why did Ann love this book?

Kara Swisher has spent decades writing about and reporting on the tech kings of the world, including Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and others. Her insights into the rise of tech giants from the early 1990s to the present illuminate the forces that have shaped our world

I loved Swisher’s insight into these powerful men. She’s blunt, funny, and direct in how she exposes their flaws, and the book feels like it’s written by someone who understands and is fed up with these white, controlling male demigods of tech. I imagine the book’s title refers to how she’s burning all bridges by telling all.

As a journalist who was raised pre-internet, I could deeply relate to Swisher’s outrage in lines such as “What struck me was how easily people could be manipulated by fear and rage, and how facts could be destroyed without repercussions.”

By Kara Swisher,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Burn Book as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Instant New York Times Bestseller

From award-winning journalist Kara Swisher comes a witty, scathing, but fair accounting of the tech industry and its founders who wanted to change the world but broke it instead.

“Swisher, the bad-ass journalist and OG chronicler of Silicon Valley…takes no prisoners in this highly readable look at the evolution of the digital world…Bawdy, brash, and compulsively thought-provoking, just like its author, Burn Book sizzles” (Booklist, starred review).

Part memoir, part history, Burn Book is a necessary chronicle of tech’s most powerful players. From “the queen of all media” (Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal), this…


Book cover of Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley

Rick Umali Author Of Learn GIT in a Month of Lunches

From my list on working in the computer industry.

Why am I passionate about this?

My curiosity and enthusiasm for computers and what they can do has not faded since I first encountered them in grade school (with the Commodore VIC-20). At this stage in my life, I’m thrilled that I can still get paid to play with them and make them do things. The computer industry is both my daily grind and my playground. You can come at this field casually, or intensely, but as long as you can interact with the computer, the computer will welcome you. The five books in this list paint the possibilities of work in this challenging but rewarding industry: failure, success, immortality, and everything in between. Enjoy!

Rick's book list on working in the computer industry

Rick Umali Why did Rick love this book?

Most of my work experiences have been with startups, but that statement is a bit misleading. To be more accurate, I worked at early-stage companies, since the smallest company I worked for was already 35 people. Chaos Monkeys conveys both the excitement and drudgery of founding a real start-up (Antonio starts with two other co-founders).

Antonio’s book takes us from his cushy job on Wall Street to making the leap to running his own venture. Antonio’s flavorful style is the perfect voice as he takes you into those meetings at which money is exchanged, contracts are signed, and options are handed out. His company’s exit and his summation of what was gained and lost are the bread and butter conversations of anyone who’s ever worked in a high-tech startup. This is an illuminating and insightful book.

By Antonio Garcia Martinez,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Chaos Monkeys as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An adrenaline-fuelled expose of life inside the tech bubble, Chaos Monkeys lays bare the secrets, power plays and lifestyle excesses of the visionaries, grunts, sociopaths, opportunists and money cowboys who are revolutionising our world. Written by startup CEO and industry provocateur Antonio Garcia Martinez, this is Liar's Poker meets The Social Network.

Computer engineers use 'chaos monkey' software to wreak havoc and test system robustness. Similarly, tech entrepreneurs like Antonio Garcia Martinez are society's chaos monkeys - their innovations disrupt every aspect of our lives, from transportation (Uber) and holidays (Airbnb) to television (Netflix) and dating…


Book cover of Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights
Book cover of The Art of Noticing: Rediscover What Really Matters to You
Book cover of Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation

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