2020 Book Recommendations

Before 2020 comes to an end, I have compiled for you the books I read and liked throughout this year. I have arranged a list of 24 books in four categories, just as I have done the previous year:

· The social impact of technology,

· Political economy,

· Entrepreneurship and innovation,

· Biography: The political and business world.

Although these categories appear to be the main deterministic parameters of our economic and social relations, they reflect my thoughts on the overall outlook that there is no separate discussion from political and historical conjunctures.

I read the books on Kindle and if you like to read, I would definitely recommend you to get yourself one. It is ideal to get the books right away and to read anywhere. Also, it is disappointing that these books have not been translated into Turkish. The lack of translation in popular topics such as digitalization and technology is reflected through a massive lack of knowledge in regards to reaching different segments of the society.

THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY

Since September, I have been sharing technology, society and policy-related articles, reports, social media content and books that I have read in a weekly e-mail newsletter. You can subscribe here.

· Don’t Be Evil: (Rana Foroohar) One of the best books on the monopoly in the digital world. In particular, Foroohar has well documented the tactics that Google and Facebook use to eliminate their competitors.

· Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity: (Scott Galloway) This book has been written during the pandemic. Galloway updates his arguments from his famous book “The Four” (on monopolization in the digital world) with the digitalizing effect of corona virus.

· The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation: (Carl Benedikt Frey) Frey describes how the reactions to the new technology replaced by the workforce at the start of the industrial revolution changed over time when it had started to increase the value of the technology workforce, rather than replacing it. Artificial intelligence now stands for a substitute for the workforce. How will reactions to AI be shaped?

· Head, Hand, Heart: Why Intelligence Is Over-Rewarded, Manual Workers Matter, and Caregivers Deserve More Respect: (David Goodhart) Goodhart tells us that in an era of AI, as AI gets things done better than people, the value of manual work and craftwork will increase. Although, the systems of developed countries are far from responding to this change.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

· Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There: (David Brooks) This book describes the class discrimination between educated and non-educated people with very good examples from the history. In a period in which global inequalities increase, the two books mentioned above describing the impact of the technology on the labor market could be read with the book that I am currently reading, “The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?” (Michael Sandal).

· Why We’re Polarized: (Ezra Klein) If polarization on the labor market is on one side of the medal, on the other side there is political polarization. Although this book was been written focusing on the US, there are many findings parallel to Turkey. One reason for political polarization is digitalization and income inequality, and another reason is social media. However, other historical reasons should not be ignored.

· Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior: (Leonard Mlodinow) The book provides a roadmap for those interested in using the most primitive emotions in the human brain. You can read this book in order to understand different tactics from politics to marketing.

· Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit: (Ashley Mears) One of the most interesting books I have read this year. The results of a 2-year field survey in the global nightclub world by a sociology professor who is a former model. How are revenue gaps reflected in the nightclub world? How do concepts of power and gender work there? The nightlife came temporarily to an end with 2020, so instead we started reading books about it.

· Has China Won? : The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy: (Kishore Mahbubani) This books seems to be more boring after the previous recommendation I gave. However, I still wanted to include it because I read at least one book per year about China. The author is one of the most important “opinion leaders” in the world. The basic argument of the book is that China should be understood in its own circumstances, and most Chinese opposition rhetoric in the west is based on weak foundations.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

Three books I have read this year are about the stories of Uber, Snapchat and Square, technology companies founded in the last ten years and that joined the world’s most important technology companies. In these books, there is an impression that technology business is structured around male-dominant and engineer thinking while ignoring social concerns (Uber), there is also how technology and entertainment could be combined to battle a monopoly such as Facebook (Snapchat), finally there is also how creating innovation in layers could create a powerful technology company (The Innovation Stack — Square):

· Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber: (Mike Isaac)

· How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story: (Billy Gallagher)

· The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time: (Jim McKelvey)

The other two books are about how technology entrepreneurship ecosystems could be developed:

· Regulatory Hacking: A Playbook for Startups: (Evan Burfield & J.D. Harrison) This book is a great example from the US, that a technology initiative, which is the essential thesis of the consulting firm I have raised over the past two years, should be part of the public relations business model from the very first day.

· The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (Techstars): (Brad Feld) an updated version of a similar book published by the author years ago. I couldn’t see a big addition, frankly.

And the last book is about my previous work place, GE. In this book, they talked about why GE is innovating or unable to innovate, and some of them tell stories that I have witnessed over years. Those interested in innovation in big companies should read it:

· Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric: (Thomas Gryta) This book can be read along with “Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change” (Beth Comstock) which I have read in 2018.

BIOGRAPHY

I have read quite a bit of biography this year. I split these books into political and business categories. The first two books in politics-history are from the US.

· The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir: (John R. Bolton) on R. Bolton’s book has made a great echo this year. Bolton was also recognized as the national security adviser of Trump in our country. The book is a good source to discover Trump’s interesting character. However, the author has obviously turned his diary notes into a book and was too prolonged because of the lack of editorial intervention that the book was published in a hurry.

· The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III: (Peter Baker & Susan Glasser) Although this book is too long, it is so immersive. James Baker is one of the relenting statesmen who I am a fan since my childhood. I like the fact that he entered into politics after the age of 40 and became very successful.

Then Saudi Arabia and Russia:

· Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power: ‘The Explosive New Book’: (Bradley Hope) This book tells about the interesting World of Saudi Arabian Prince MBS.

· Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West: (Catherine Belton) This book sheds light on Putin’s life. The main thesis of the book was that the CSS had anticipated the collapse of the Soviet Union and held power in the long term, making a deep plan to avoid being under this wreckage.

Business world:

It was a pleasure to read together the biographies of Michael Ovitz, owner of the Creative artists Agency which was once Hollywood’s biggest agency, and Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, who left this year, in both books they make each other’s gossip:

· Who Is Michael Ovitz? : (Michael Ovitz) I recommend reading this book for anyone doing business from lawyers to managers based on their relationship networks.

· The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company: (Robert Iger)

This is the story of two families from Baghdad, which made up modern Shanghai, is 19. It is also useful for understanding globalization at the end of the 18th century and China.

· The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China: (Jonathan Kaufman) I had written an article called “In the nineteenth century two of the world’s richest men were out of Turkey” in the Dünya Newspaper. The book of Kaufman could be read along with the book called MR 5%.