Books like Judas Unchained — picked by fans

I love gutsy books by outsiders, and Ms. Saxena, as a woman of color working in the Ivy League and the worlds of artificial intelligence and Big Data, is very much an outsider.

That makes her deep knowledge and insights into how AI and Big Data are changing business even that much more interesting. Plus, this is one of the only books I’ve read that explains how artificial intelligence works in a clear, direct way that doesn’t assume the reader already knows about things like machine learning and neural nets. 

I adored this fast-paced near-future dystopian book by debut author Tal M. Klein. Prepare to be thrown into an innovative world where teleportation is the primary means of travel, and people don't think twice before taking advantage of this convenience. Though, as we soon find out, maybe they should. 

There are so many fun tidbits in this novel such as nanotechnology and genetically engineered mosquitoes that help clean the air. You'll also find plenty of nostalgic references for fans of books such as Ready Player One. Prepare for engaging characters, unique worldbuilding, thought-provoking philosophical questions, and plenty of twists to keep you guessing.

Is tech a science? Close enough.

I was on my way home from the grocery store, and I heard Naomi Alderman in an interview about this, her latest book, on NPR’s All Things Considered. It's a good thing I didn’t buy ice cream that day because I sat in the car in the driveway, listening until the end. Hearing her, I knew I had to read the book. And when I did, I couldn’t put it down (the reading equivalent of sitting in the driveway listening to the radio?).

Populated with extraordinary characters, from genuinely good to incredibly greedy, this book both frightened me and gave me hope, but it never let me go until, well, after the last page (yeah, there’s a little bit of a trick at the end).

When I’m not developing AI methods (or writing about them) I read. Most of what I read is science fiction. There’s nothing more imaginative than a good science fiction book, and many science fiction stories have inspired us to develop whole new technologies. This one probably won’t do that, but it has such a bizarre mind-bending world that I couldn’t resist recommending it. Niven is great at this kind of thing – the Ringworld books were a favourite of mine as a kid, and frankly, I could recommend another 30 of his books. But Integral Trees is entertaining, a little bizarre, and it even has diagrams to illustrate the underlying concepts at the start – what more could you ask for in a science fiction book?

It is the best reference guide on Valuations.

Includes a chapter on forecasting performance which is closely related to my book. It’s mainly focused on Discounted Cash Flow valuation adapted for many including banks, high-growth, cyclical companies, Emerging Markets, etc).

There exists also a version that gives access to the Excel spreadsheet that one can use to model future financial performance of companies and value them.

The framework presented in Corporate Lifecycles deals with the same core issue of Stages and Challenges of Organizational Growth as dealt with in my own book, but from a different perspective. The author is a former academic who has developed his own framework of corporate lifecycles and his methodology of organizations working through them. The book presents a different framework of corporate life cycles and emphasizes the managerial styles that are appropriate to reach stage of the corporate lifecycle. The author has seen and worked with a large number of companies that have employed his methods. He presents his perspective and insights for this role as a participant-observer. 

We like this book because it has a “reader-friendly” style, which is particularly important for anyone unfamiliar with the subject. This also makes it practical for students of all levels and those interested in exploring a new area of interest.

The main topics of corporate finance are covered, giving detailed explanations of key principles while considering real-life situations by utilising practical examples to illustrate the issues explored. It provides an effective bridge between theory and practical application of techniques used by professional managers to achieve corporate objectives. The inclusion of questions for review and discussion allows the reader to self-test and reflect on their understanding and encourage critical thinking.

Our advice, brew a big mug of tea and make a start.

Warren Buffet, the famous investor, is also revered as a master communicator. His annual Letters to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders are models of clear, transparent writing. They are the best showcases I know for the impact of presenting difficult material in “plain English.” Buffet makes financial information accessible and even interesting to the layperson with an unassuming colloquial tone, humor, anecdotes, and language based on the concrete short words of natural speech. He always delivers substance, even acknowledging his own poor decisions.

The enviable result: he generates trust, the critical ingredient of persuasion. I love introducing students to Buffet’s writing and seeing them analyze what works so well. The letters are available online, but this book usefully collects them along with other Buffet writings and commentary.

The process of business valuation lies at the core of value investing. That’s what Damodaran, longtime Professor of Finance at NYU, addresses in this book. An excellent distillation of the key business valuation approaches that are most relevant for investment, The Little Book of Valuation will make the valuation work less daunting and less arduous for the lay investor of the 21st century. 

As well, like the two previous books, this book also underscores the fact that, without a systematic approach to valuing publicly-traded stocks as if they were private companies, proper value investing is not even possible, let alone profitable. Perhaps to underscore this truth, one of the recommendation blurbs is provided by Shannon Pratt, one of the leading gurus of private business valuation and the author of my 4th book pick.

Reading this book had a profound impact on me–as did the author himself. I had the privilege of meeting Colin Mayer in his wood-paneled office and interviewing him for my own book—an experience that deepened my respect for his thinking. I found myself nodding in agreement as he laid out how far corporations have drifted from their true purpose.

I was struck by his call to move from ownership to stewardship and how closely it aligned with my own belief that purpose must sit at the heart of business. His critique helped sharpen my understanding of corporate governance and reaffirmed my beliefs in the need for a better way forward for business and its relationship with society.