Thread by @amywebb

📚It's #WorldBookDay. Many authors and independent bookstores are struggling right now. Today I'll be tweeting some of my favorite books, some upcoming books I recommend, and some of my favorite indie bookstores around the world.📚

To start, here are some of my favorite books on AI. The Master Algorithm by @pmddomingos was terrific. I loved You Look Like A Thing and I Love You by
@JanelleCShane Novacene & Society of Mind are essential reading. (Included my own book on AI: The Big Nine.) #WorldBookDay

If you're into numbers, here are some wonderfully entertaining and deeply interesting books! Trekonomics by @trekonomics, Prime Number Conspiracy from @QuantaMagazine & @7homaslin, and two favorites by the inimitable @stevenstrogatz - Joy of X and Infinite Powers #WorldBookDay

And now, a shout-out to one of my favorite indie bookstores, @BearPondBooks in Vermont. I visited last fall and had an amazing experience -- walked out with an armful of books they recommended for my daughter. She's now a fan of the Jedi Academy series

bearpondbooks.com

Two of my favorite KSR books. (Controversy! Not the Mars trilogy!) #WorldBookDay

I loooooooved @futuretense Fiction, which included some of my favorite authors: @Annaleen @MadelineAshby. #WorldBookDay

My friend @kaliouby has a brand new book out: Girl Decoded. It's part memoir, part commentary on the future of AI and human emotion. Here she is talking about it on the @tferriss show. #WorldBookDay

https://twitter.com/kaliouby/status/1252952624065851392

And now for some books that I'm excited to read in May and June:

📚THE SOUL OF AN ENTREPRENEUR by @saxdavid

📚THE LAST PRESIDENT OF EUROPE by @wdrozdiak

📚THE DISSENT CHANNEL by @lizzyshackelfor

📚THE JAKARTA METHOD by @vinncent

#WorldBookDay

I've been waiting for a loooong time to read @rebeccarecap's REIMAGINING CAPITALISM IN A WORLD ON FIRE and it's finally out next week.

(What's a girl got to do to get on a galley list?!)

#WorldBookDay

📚And now... books that should be on every futurist's bookshelf! These books have a lot of wear and tear because I go back to them often. I'll show you a picture first, then I'll go into a bit more detail about each one.📚#WorldBookDay

The Art of the Long View by @peterschwartz2 is one of the oldest and best books on scenario planning, while the newer Strategic Reframing by Rafael Ramirez and Angela Wilkinson offers a deep dive into the Oxford scenario planning approach. They're both very good! #WorldBookDay

Strategy by @LawDavF was recommended by the smartest human I know (Jim Baker at the Office of Net Assessment) - it's a beast, but absolutely essential reading. #WorldBookDay

Scenarios aren't useful if they don't lead to some kind of strategic action. That's where @rgmcgrath's Seeing Around Corners comes in. Helps put scenarios into action. #WorldBookDay

The beginning of the process - finding & tracking change - is vitally important. Get it wrong and scenarios will be too narrow. The Signals Are Talking (by me!) explains my quantitative modeling technique to find signals, define trends and track the velocity of change over time.

And of course: The Innovators Dilemma (Clayton Christensen), Speculative Everything by Tony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Profiles of the Future (Arthur C. Clarke), Future Shock (Alvin Toffler) and The Futurists (essays by various futurists). #WorldBookDay

When I'm at home, I start every morning sitting in this chair next to this magnificent Hilma af Klint @Guggenheim poster and read one page from The Daily Drucker. Then I spend a minute reflecting and actively linking what I've read back to my current work. #WorldBookDay

Shout-out to another terrific independent bookstore, @TheIvyBookshop in Baltimore. They're continuing to host virtual author events -- check them out! #WorldBookDay

theivybookshop.com

Every year for the past 13 years, @FTI has published a book of tech trends, scenarios and ideas for the future. Here are our past four issues, designed by the insanely talented @emilycaufield. #WorldBookDay

In fact, you can get a printed edition of our annual @FTI tech trends report on Amazon #WorldBookDay

amazon.com/2020-Tech-Tren…

My favorite bookstore in Japan is Kinokuniya. When I lived in Tokyo, I used to hang out at the one across the from Shinjuku station. There was a nice little shop to get tea and sit outside. (It was crazy visiting the branch in Dubai last year!)

kinokuniya.co.jp

Speaking of Japanese... I love seeing how artists design my book covers for local markets. Here are a few examples of my books in other languages. #worldbookday2020 #WorldBookDay

More science fiction recommendations! If you're not yet familiar with the Binti series by @Nnedi, what are you waiting for? #WorldBookDay

One of my favorite series is Foundation by Asimov, and I re-read after the 2016 election. It's taken on new meaning for me... #WorldBookDay

And of course, there is no use putting together a must-read list without Octavia Butler, the grandmama of science fiction and a lifelong inspiration to me and to countless others. Here's her website. #WorldBookDay

octaviabutler.org

Ok, I've been at this all day. It's your turn.

What are your favorite, must-read books? #WorldBookDay