Future Books

Allison Taylor hit a homerun with her brilliant epic, "The Future of Willow Springs Park." This is a must read for any small child. Taylor is an up and coming children's author with fresh and innovative ideas that will stimulate your child's mind. Hurry up and order this book now while it still lasts and jump on the Allison Taylor train, because it's about to leave the station! Hats off to Ms. Taylor for a fine piece of literary genius.

Allison Taylor is a brilliant author. Her inventive language and vivid imagery make this a must read. Once you start you can't stop. The ending is creative but I'm not going to tell you. You will just have to read it for yourself. Go out and get it today. People are ripping them off the shelves; get it while you still can.

What do computers and information technology do for organizations? How have they changed, and, more importantly, how might they change the way we structure, manage, and operate organizations? If these questions interest you, then this is the book for you.

First, the author guides you through a thorough examination of how human characteristics (limited memory, processing constraints, emotions) condition organizational structure. Next, he explores how technologies of all sorts (e.g., writing, printing, telecommunications) affect organizations by relieving these limitations. Finally, only after establishing this very important context, does he turn to what exactly information technology means to organizations. Computers, he concludes, affect organizations primarily through two characteristics -- their enormous and enormously accessible memories, and their unparalleled communicating and coordinating potential.

Having established these foundations, his conclusions -- what sort of organizational structures IT facilitates -- follow logically and smoothly. Whether or not you agree with these conclusions, taking the journey with the author to arrive at them is both entertaining and educational. This book is authoritative, well-written, and hugely educational.

After a thorough analysis of man's organization and technology, Groths sets out to investigate the new forms of organization that IT faciliates. His innovations includes 'The Joystick Organization', the Meta-Organization' and ' The Organized Cloud'.

Groth is no IT nerd, nor a Luddite. He is surprisingly sober on the digital economy, and often funny. There are not too many people on this planet who integrates Sokrates' dialogues, Mintzberg's organization theory and the technical intricacies of computer systems into one single framework. There may be good reasons not to, but when Groth does this, you feel it is natural and coherent.

Explores a broad range of ideas about organization and management based on the premise that time, space, and mass are fundamental dimensions of all businesses. A few of the ideas introduced are: mass customization, real-time organization, any time / any place organization, distinguishing between a business and its organization, and the shift to producing intangible products. Discusses the changing nature of the economy. Captures today's key trends for strategic thinking and organizational change. Recommended.

Can you not be compelled by a visionary author who opens this edition of his book with a review of the first edition, written in 1987! The 20-page new introduction and review is one of the most fascinating parts of the book. In a fairly modest way, not self-serving, Davis shows how most of his ideas have come to pass. Some are in still in development, and a couple of previous case studies have since flopped eg Sears one-stop-shop. But overall I thought it was a remarkable performance, and a key source of credibility for the book and the author. How many other business writers have put themselves to this same public test - not many that I know of, with the exception of Peter Drucker.

In 1987 Davis introduced concepts such as competing on speed, and mass customization. Today we accept that time has become intrinsic to business logic, and mass customization is now developing its own mass following. In this new edition he sticks with the powerful thinking tool he proposed earlier, namely that time, space and mass are fundamental dimensions of business. It is through exploring the extremes of this framework that new services and business models have eventuated. Davis shows us how to use that rather esoteric framework to help re-think our business. And I think very successfully, although it seems hard to grasp at first glance.

For example, we all take for granted the shrinkage of mass - miniaturisation. The thesis is that all core products will shrink, and the intangible component must grow for a business to remain sustainable. So we must extend our minds to take on the challenge of defining the knowledge-value in a mortgage or a pair of socks. The redistribution of product "space" will dramatically alter industries such as health care and education. Witness the advent of on-line training programs for computer skills, which can now result in Microsoft certified staff. Employees do these programs at work while doing their current jobs. And Microsoft's Encarta Learning Centre is another redistribution of educational product space.

Of course there are other books that cover the same ground as above. But this one is the seminal work, from a fundamental mental model. It has stood the test of a decade and is still completely current. And it has more - "organisations run by marketplace economics", "the misconception of having internal customers", "the business is not the organisation", "successful strategy self-destructs" etc.

I must comment on the one glaring anomaly that stands out in reviewing progress over the ten years from the first edition. It is the lack of progress in developing and implementing new organisations, and new ways of working together. This lack of change is astounding to me in the context of the other change that is framed by the book. As Davis remarks in his new preface "the organisational precepts are yet to come". For that reason alone I would recommend this book to every business leader.

Dance becomes a language and language becomes a dance in Kat Corbett's exciting sequel to First-String Future. Tori tests her own wings, first as she helps heal a family's pain by becoming their lost daughter, Heather, in a brilliant dance she helps choreograph, and later by flying to Russia to visit her pen-pal, a dance student at the school of the world-famous Maryinsky Theatre Ballet. Here, the streets of St. Petersburg come alive as Tori falls in love with her new "family." Granny tells a heart-wrenching story of how she was separated from her family as a child in World War II, and Tori takes to heart the Russian adage that bread stands for all the things you need and salt for all the things to make life happy. Tori's love of animals shines alongside her love of dance, and by standing up for her convictions, she inspires others to do the same. Then, on a day of miracles, she transforms herself from a "frog princess" into a "swan princess."

What a beautiful and touching story!! This book helped me understand and appreciate how different school, ballet training, and life in general is for a teenager in Russia compared to what it is like for me here in the United States.

John Benson's Future Stars 2001-2002 provides excellent, detailed information on hundreds of little-known minor league players, and does a good job of projecting how they will perform in the Majors. His introductory chapters explain the methods he uses - and it's not just guesswork and hunches. He approaches player evaluation as a science and has a long track record for identifying future stars. Highly recommended!

This is the "cleanup hitter" in the lineup of John Benson baseball books. The scientific approaches used in this book to evaluate young minor league talent are validated by the excellent track history of his future predictions for success at the major league level. The success of my annual league drafts has improved greatly during the 3 years I have used this book. Unfortunately many fellow managers are now onto this book also. This book is perfect for finding some little known player to pick in the lower draft rounds and to watch him become a star. Its an excellent tool for ranking the annual crop of rookies.

This book was wirtten in 1999, and after 2.5 years I saw lots of the things they said is getting real.
The book is mostly about American culture but therearesome parts which is global. And they really catch my attention.
The part that is most interesting and true is the converstaion with Richad Holbroke. His future forecast about terrorism was right. After 9/11, it became reality.
If you want to have a different point of view from experts, read this book.

This book captivated me this summer, and has lead me to look into and research other areas of our changing world...It is a must-read for any college student who wants to take an active role in the next millenium.

"Attack cities only when there is no alternative," advised Sun Tzu 2500 years ago, and after studying recent urban battles, Dr Hills comes to the same conclusion. However two-thirds of the world now live in cities, many of which have a population of 5 million or more. And some of the cities are controlled by inhumanely cruel regimes, or by hostile and dangerous ones.

These regimes pose a dilemma for liberal Western nations. If they do not intervene, they are seen as condoning brutality, and they risk being harmed by large-scale organized crime, or by WMDs.

But if they do intervene, they often become involved in a war that makes existence for the regime's victims even more brutal, consequently increasing hostility towards the West.

Hills compares the response of highly trained British forces in Northern Ireland and Basra (with 3 months special training followed by only 4 months active service) with those of French in Algiers, the Israelis in Jenin, plus the Americans in Hue and Baghdad, and she makes a very detailed analysis of the Russians in Grozny.

These forces all began with rules of engagement calling for minimum aggression, to protect non-combatants and the urban infrastructure. But when the intervening soldiers started receiving significant casualties, their tactics became much more violent. Hills relates how entire Russian artillery batteries, with unlimited supplies of surplus Cold War ammunition, were used to level tenement buildings containing just one sniper. To little avail: the demolished buildings then impeded their armoured vehicles while their Chechen enemy were still protected in tunnels and sewers.

Despite the recent development of digitized technology that was so successful in the open country of Afghanistan, today's urban warfare remains surprizingly similar to that of three decades ago. GPS and sensors are not as effective as mouse-holing bars and mirrors on sticks. She notes that the most effective urban weapons are the controversial thermobaric rockets derived by combining WWII-style RPGs and flame throwers.

Western armies are developing tactics for urban warfare, but Dr Hills says that to date that there have been no strategic urban studies done in the West. She suggests that the critical strategic element is infantry with high morale, good NCOs, and relevant urban training.

The first section of this book is rather heavy going. Try dipping into some of the more descriptive chapters in the middle of the book first. And if you only have limited time, go to the last chapter and "afterword" where she has summarized all her thinking.

Dr Alice Hills was formerly a lecturer at the UK Joint Services Staff College at Shrivenham, and now lectures in conflict, development and security at the University of Leeds.

The fighting in Iraq has tought the US Army several things about MOUT (That's Army talk for Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain). The Army spent years thinking about, planning for, buying equipment for fighting the Russian Army coming through the Fulda Gap in Germany. Then they had to learn about fighting in jungle. Then they fought some in desert. Now all of a sudden they are getting killed one or two at a time fighting while trying to patrol a city.

In a city there isn't much need for the Abrams tank. But a Humvee isn't enough. The new Stryker armored vehicle that the Army is just now fielding used a new concept in armor for the Army (www.army.mil/features/stryker/default.htm) - although not for the Marines which have been purchasing this vehicle under the name LAV (Light Armored Vehnicle).

Equipment is just one of the points covered in this book which is a survey of current thinking from around the world. Other points include the general concepts of such operations, other technologies such as air power, the different types of operations from policing to warfighting and much more.

This is one of the first books to begin to define this type of fighting which has been largely learned by accident at troops have had to engage in fighting in cities around the world.

This is likely to be the way of war in the future.

The year is 2073. The United States has been divided with parcels of land given to African Americans. These are institutionalized ghettos, surrounded by walls, guarded, and monitored heavily by police (called "Bruisers" for their love of inflicting pain). The story follows two men living in New Watts: Ashleigh and Zeke. Ashleigh is a radical actor who presents street plays based on outlawed books such as The Autobiography of Malcolm X (his great, great grandfather). Zeke works for The Man by day (for which he gets a pass outside of the city) while running a cell of Black Radicals by night.

It's only a matter of time until the two men's paths cross. As it is, the whole book becomes "a matter of time." From the opening scene which sets up a device used by law enforcement to reverse time after a crime has occurred (where the criminal would be arrested for something they intend to do), author Kent Smith introduces a science fiction element which sounds like it might rival the "pre-crime" scenario of Philip K. Dick's "Minority Report." When Ashleigh and Zeke team up, they decide to hijack the time travel device and use it for resetting history, going back to 1964 and encouraging Malcolm X to initiate a Black Revolution.

When Ashleigh finally sees his ancestor, it's the moment when Malcolm X is stabbed in an airport bathroom. Scared out of his wits, Ashleigh pulls off the greatest performance of his life, taking over the life of X. Black Power meets the Space Time Continuum in this insightful take which draws upon Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Future X also strongly recalls Michael Moorcock's sci-fi classic, Behold the Man, in which a time traveler assumes the life of Jesus of Nazareth, bowing to a fate which seems predestined.

Holloway was a notoriously cheap publisher. It's obvious that they didn't spend much (if anything) on proofreading Smith's work. It's dotted with typos, occasional homonym abuse (perfectly understandable), and an occasional misspelling ("looser" rather than "loser"). Luckily, these are easy to overlook due to the story being so compelling.

As a young Blackman who has been an astute reader since I was a child, I found this book incredible. Kent has a wonderful ability of story telling unlike anything I have read in quite some time. In the book I found this extremely interesting that he fingered the RAND Corporation in experimenting with time travel, Marshall Law and "the outlaw of reading books", just like it used to be back on the PLANTATION............. HMMMM. If you like science fiction, then this is a must have, you won't be able to put it down till your finished.

The book gave implicit points on how to be an effective leader specifically in the area of communicating with stakeholders, developing a comprehensive plan, and estabishing people skills.

Future-Focused Leadership: Preparing Schools, Students, And Communities For Tomorrow's Realities by Gary Marx (President, Center for Public Outreach, Vienna, Virginia) is an intricate and detailed study and philosophical outlook on various strategies and understandings of organizing schooling facilities, students and environmentally involved citizens for a greatly potential driven future for not only youth, but as well the general community. Exploring the realities of social direction as varying trends and outside influences take a community through differing involvements and activities, Future-Focused Leadership informs both educators and community leaders of what best may suit the pursuit and education of their potential future leaders. Future-Focused Leadership is very strongly recommended to educators, school counselors, and building principles and school board members.

This is a book to be read by everyone, not just city planners, not just ecologists, not just politicians or city administrators, but every city dweller all around the world. It is not too simple, it is not too complex; it addresses most important issues not just on the present problems of cities but, more important, on how to face them and on how to make more livable cities. It seems no one knows where urban growth is taking us or the world as a whole; no one can tell but there are tendencies that tell us we may be sailing on and into unchartered waters; the author explores several of such tendencies, maladies and possible remedies, but above all, tells us, finally, that everyone of us is responsible (and how we are and what to do) for the future of our own cities and that there are ways to overcome problems so to make cities a joy to live in the near and the not so near future.

This is a book to be read by everyone, not just city planners, not just ecologists, not just politicians or city administrators, but every city dweller all around the world. It is not too simple, it is not too complex; it addresses most important issues not just on the present problems of cities but, more important, on how to face them and on how to make more livable cities. It seems no one knows where urban growth is taking us or the world as a whole; no one can tell but there are tendencies that tell us we may be sailing on and into unchartered waters; the author explores several of such tendencies, maladies and possible remedies, but above all, tells us, finally, that everyone of us is responsible (and how we are and what to do) for the future of our own cities and that there are ways to overcome problems so to make cities a joy to live in the near and the not so near future.