Category: Globalization

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Latest Read: Algorithms To Live By

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths. Brian is the author of The Most Human Human, a Wall Street Journal bestseller, New York Times editors’ choice, and New Yorker favorite book of the year. Tom is a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Princeton University. In addition, he directs the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences.

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths

At first glance the idea of brining algorithms into our daily lives seems a bit too much, even for a budding computer nerd. At the same time, Brian and Tom prove that most of us are already doing this daily.

I recall spending many hours programming SQL while living in Chicago and realizing how much more efficient my grocery shopping would be if I actually transformed my shopping list into a SQL table:

SELECT * FROM FoodGroup
ORDER BY GroceryStoreIsle;

So I can certainly agree. Yet this idea still may seem daunting. If you begin thinking about repeating tasks you perform, even laundry should certainly make you believe there is a better way.

Algorithms will certainly make this possible. Therefore, you may be spending too much time repeating tasks. This is where the book reveals how you can become efficient, by sharing the history and development of many common algorithms. You will certainly discover a few frameworks.

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Latest Read: The Premonition

The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis. A tough, certainly insightful look at men and women who understood and directly confronted the pandemic at the beginning. At the same time, they ran into bureaucratic roadblocks. Their efforts to save the country is the story of this book.

the premonition a pandemic story

For instance, as early as January 2020, Dr. Charity Dean, the assistant director of the California Department of Public Health in 2020. She certainly understood the coming pandemic and began warning California State officials. Surprisingly, Charity Dean was even prohibited from publishing the word “pandemic” in her research reports. Furthermore, as stunning as it may seem, her boss and the state locker her out of planning meetings.

Dr. Carter Mecher, senior medical advisor to the Veterans Administration initially helped craft the Bush Administration’s pandemic response plan. As a result, at the very beginning stages in January 2020, he observed similarities to the 1918 Influenza flu. Indeed, Carter was the early advocate to shut down schools to reduce spread. Tragically, he lost his own mother to COVID.

At the same time, Joe DeRisi PhD, a biochemist at UC San Francisco was involved in the development of the ViroChip. This is used to rapidly identify viruses in bodily fluids. He led a team to develop a very early COVID-19 testing facility at the outbreak of pandemic.

Dr. Richard Hatchett an epidemiologist was another who warned early on about the coming pandemic. He also contributed to the Bush era pandemic response plan. This book is a sobering reality of what could have been. These medical professionals were stopped by the same system they were trying to save. Michael certainly makes it very clear the US does not have a healthcare system.

Tipping point ignored

Surprisingly, President George W. Bush read The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. As a result, he triggered a plan to confront the next pandemic with Rajeev Venkayya, Richard Hatchett and Carter Mecher. This plan continued through the Obama Administration, but stopped under Trump.

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Latest Read: The Hospital

The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town
by Brian Alexander. This book is a powerful story involving the small city of Bryan in Northwest Ohio. The local hospital and the collapse of the American healthcare following the 2008 recession is tragic.

The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town

Growing up in Northwest Ohio, this book feels personal. As if it was written about a town just west of home. It was, an hour west of Lucas County heading to Chicago on the Ohio turnpike. In addition, I have not read a book that clearly conveys the struggles and failure of our country’s healthcare system. As many health professionals, doctors, government, and community business leaders admit throughout the book, there is no healthcare ‘system’ in America today for those working multiple jobs who still cannot afford healthcare offered by their employer.

There is no healthcare ‘system’ in America today. Many health professionals, doctors, government, and community business leaders admit throughout the book.

Many working multiple jobs still cannot afford healthcare offered by their employer. The abuse heroin along with stunning numbers of citizens with diabetes is frankly depressing in itself. Yet, it is depression that is leading to a rise in suicides across Williams County. Guns, drugs, or rope are the tool around Williams County. Men and women, mothers and fathers from their early 20s to their late 60s. It proves that suicide, like COVID is spreading without restriction across Northwest Ohio.

Brian writes difficult stories of many failing to survive the 2008 recession. Keith Swihart, is just one of many who struggles with holding a down job while in declining health. He is one of many who do not have basic income to acquire medical prescriptions including insulin.

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Latest Read: The Secret Life of Groceries

The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr. Benjamin is writing about an amazing resource that impacts our lives: the grocery store. For the most part, the amount of research Benjamin spent over a period of five years pays off most handsomely.

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr

Consequently, The Secret Life of Groceries allows readers to look deeply across supply chains that impact everyone across this country and most industrial nations.

Benjamin begins with a history of American grocery stores. Certainly interesting to read about the founder of Trader Joe’s, how a Texas oil company launched 7-Eleven, and why shopping carts were a late addition in 1937.

I believe the history of change would be most appealing to readers as we today take for granted so many elements within our local grocery stores.

However, amazing as it sounds grocery stores had to hire men to push the cards as women were shopping. The globalization of stores and supply chains are addressed. I also really enjoyed learning about the the grocery story supply chain from many points of view. For this purpose, from Texas to Tokyo: 7-Eleven is a 2005 subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan Company which runs over 1,700 stores across 17 countries. Food is an amazing global business.

Trucking industry

The chapter that I especially found interesting was Part II: Distribution of Responsibility. It begins: Three A.M. Outside the Aldi Distribution Center in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and certainly does not disappoint. In fact, Benjamin was actually riding with a truck driver to learn all about her world. Amazing how trucking companies prey upon people promising the sky yet leaving many in debt for decades.

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Latest Read: This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth. Nicole covers cybersecurity and digital espionage for The New York Times. Certainly this is one of the more anticipated books addressing a new cyber arms race. More than ever before, it is imperative to understand how a global market for Zero Day exploits began and today how it is certainly tipping the scales.

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends The Cyberweapons Arms Race

Quite frankly, Nicole’s reporting will stun readers. This book will also surprise long time IT professionals.

As it seems so often in life, by chance, a ‘stumbling’ idea took hold. Initially a company in 2003 began buying exploits from hackers for as little as $75. Fast forward to today, a good iOS zero day commands over $3 million dollars.

Nicole begins her reporting role at the NYTimes by reviewing secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden and Glen Greenwald.

This of course revealing the illegal spying on American citizens by the Bush Administration. At the same time, this project was tapping phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Guardian obtained copies via Greenwald who passed a copy to the NYTimes. This proved to be her introduction to the cyber world.

In addition, Nicole retells the hard lessons from Soviet spying (actually from within the US embassy) in Moscow back in the 1950s. This reveals a good baseline to today’s advanced attacks including the resources and dedication necessary to carry them out.

Cyber weapons for Board rooms

Chapter One’s Closet of Secrets is certainly mandatory reading for organizational leaders. It will become very apparent that organizations must reconsider their outdated understanding of information security. One cannot walk away from this book ignoring an often repeated message: your organization has already been hacked, or your organization does not yet realize it has been hacked. Thus, Nicole makes the case in her interviews with hackers that every computer, phone, network, or storage drive has been compromised.

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