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Design Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: Sapiens

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Yuval holds a PhD from the University of Oxford. He is a professor at the Department of History in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

This is an amazing book about the history of humans that should be in every K12 school. The topics he is documenting is certainly stunning. In fact, Yuval is addressing the entire evolution of human kind.

At first glance anyone would not consider that an entire history of anthropology, geography, psychology, religion, ideologies, and even how sapiens will evolve with robotic parts. This is a compliment to Yuval’s efforts.

In fact, by retracing human history, some key lessons emerge regarding historical folklore. On example is both chimps and sapiens can only organize into groups at a maximum of 150. So, humans have long believed in many myths that have ultimately sidelined the truth.

By documenting sapien migrations from eastern Asia moving into Alaska, Yuval obviously reveals movement south through Canada and down the west coast of America into Mexico culminating into South America’s southern tip roughly 150,000 years ago.

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Education Innovation Reading

Latest Read: In a Different Key

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan, Caren Zucker. This book was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. John is a journalist, broadcaster and debate moderator. Caren is a television news producer who has worked most extensively with ABC News. She also produced and cowrote a six-part series on autism for PBS in 2011.

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan, Caren Zucker

The subject is certainly a challenging topic for many. Likewise, this book should be mandatory reading, not just parents of an autistic child. In fact, this can be used as a 101 textbook for society.

John and Caren are providing a foundational history of Autism. In fact, they are indeed providing the historical context to understanding medical and social developments in treating children. There is certainly a wealth of insights for any reader. Much of the discovery will surprise the reader.

Instead, their approaches treating children for “autism” began in the 1930s. Historically the examination of treatments for children labeled insane span the early 1900s. However, a significant European study was delivered on June 4th 1944. However, D-Day landings insured the report would be given little attention across Europe and in America.

John and Caren introduce Donald Triplett, the first child to be documented with autism. Dr. Leo Kanner who published a landmark paper Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact in 1943 established Donald’s diagnosis.

This contradicted the tale of Bettelheim’s theory of autism, in which the lack of a mother’s warmth to her child was the source of autism. This theory is also known for some reason as Refrigerator mother theory due to the term established in the mid 1950s as a label for mothers (or fathers) of children diagnosed with autism or schizophrenia

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Blockchain Cloud Cyberinfrastructure Education Globalization Innovation Network OpenSource Reading Technology

Latest Read: Blockchain Basics

The Blockchain Basics by Daniel Drescher. This is a very basic blockchain book. I would recommend this to someone completely unfamiliar with blockchain. Daniel hits his mark as he places a repeated template for each step. In this design, I felt the book had trouble flowing for anyone who has already read a blockchain textbook.
Blockchain BasicsDaniel pushes the elementary lessons through 25 steps.

There is a very basic outline to the security of the blockchain. Again this book has a specific target audience: Newbie.

I have to admit that I was bored reading the text. yet was impressed by the lessons and related topics that are presented.

Yet his lessons and related topics are simple to follow. For an overall tip of the iceberg, you can fly through this book and then move to Don Tapscott, William Mougayar and Melanie Swan.

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Blockchain Cloud Cyberinfrastructure Design Education Globalization Innovation IoT Network OpenSource Reading Technology

Latest Read: Blockchain – Blueprint for a New Economy

When Melanie Swan’s book Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy written under the O’Reilly series was available I was eager to start reading. This is a thoughtful overview to the Blockchain. There is much to learn about the role of cryptocurrency and the blockchain but this is not the sole focus of her work.

Blockchain - Blueprint for a New EconomyMelanie, like Tapscott paints a wide brush across the Blockchain. Too similar to Tapscott perhaps? No. If the blockchain’s focus was just security then it would command a smaller, narrow focus on IT infrastructure. Yet Melanie provides a wider arena to learn how Blockchains especially in healthcare hold enormous possibilities.

My first book Don Tapscott’s The Blockchain Revolution was interesting. William Mougayar’s The Business Blockchain was better. My thirst for knowledge continues.This is possibly the best of the three at providing a deeper dive to the possibilities of a truly changing technology.

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Blockchain Cloud Cyberinfrastructure Education Globalization Innovation Network OpenSource Reading Technology

Latest Read: The Business Blockchain

William Mougayar’s new book The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice, and Application of the Next Internet Technology provides a blueprint overview that compliments Tapscott’s Blockchain Revolution previously reviewed. Mougayar is able to specifically touch on the Blockchain’s architecture. Tapscott painted with a wide brush addressing everything possible with the Blockchain’s decentralized trust solution.
The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice, and Application of the Next Internet TechnologyMougayar moves slightly forward addressing v 3.0 aimed at audiences wider than banking. A key view is that Blockchain will not just be for the enterprise. This will create a new crypto economy. It will be interesting to watch this grow. Care to take a live look? Here is the blockchain.info site.

He views the blockchain will revolutionize the roles of existing financial intermediaries including PayPal. Blockchains will force change upon them. They can adapt or die like the dinosaurs. Blockchains will disrupt oldschool, imperial organizations as the trust boundary shifts value away from them after hundreds of years.

Banks are clearly the key target of the blockchain infrastructure. To no surprise even the Federal Reserve has been given a blockchain briefing in June. The focus byMougayar beyond another blockchain overview is a breakdown of trust, obstacles and challenges to the Blockchain technology. The issue is much stronger in the financial services marketplace as Wall Street and international banks are now testing blockchains. He touches briefly implementing Blockchain technologies and closes by pushing the message of decentralization as a key in moving forward.