The Perfect Thanksgiving Reading List

Before we go too much further I should say that I'm professing to have the perfect thanksgiving reading list, for the tech savvy professional who really should be turning off during the holidays - but probably won't.

So disclaimers out of the way, if you are anything like me you don't really stop during holiday season - but sneak at least one book with you so that you can get some cerebral stimuli when everyone else is dozing post turkey. This list is a bit of a mixed bag - coming from my beautifully mixed bag of a life. So what you'll see is some cloud, some marketing, some information management, some sport and one classic that everyone should (re-)read at least once.

Happy holidays.

Make it all about me

It's not often I can say that I both know the author of a book and had the pleasure of working with him - but in this case I do. I worked for Colin (a long time ago) at a company called ISL in the UK. ISL were one of the forerunners in the data mining field (Big Data for the young ones out there) and Colin was and is one of the pioneers. This book takes data mining and adds it to omnichannel marketing to come up with a fantastic roadmap for how to put the customer at the centre of a modern business. Not only inspiring - it's a very practical guide to how to radically rethink how you operate.

America's Game - The NFL at 100

Yes I'm a brit - and yes, I love football - American football. How and why is a story for another time, but this set of beautifully written tales takes in a number of the best, gnarliest, happiest and saddest stories of the first 100 years of the NFL. If, like me, you'll be settling down to watch the Cowboys win, and the Lions lose again on Thanksgiving this will make the ideal accompaniment.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services

OK - so this might seem like the odd one in the bunch but for anyone working in the information management space, this year's MQ is a goodie. Why - well things are moving about in the report more than they have done for a while - new entrants, big names dropping off, and an increased understanding and appreciation (at least publicly) for what end-users are really looking for are all apparent in this years version. But it's a weighty tome - so either read it over coffee for breakfast, or settle down at the end of the day and let it help you into the thanksgiving land of nod.

Practical Artificial Intelligence

OK - so having said that it's not often I know an author and have had the pleasure of working with him, this is the second book on my short list where both are true. Alan Pelz-Sharpe is a smart dressing english, ex-analyst who now resides in the Boston area. He has spent a long while exploring the likes of blockchain and emerging technologies but in this book he brings his unique style to artificial intelligence. For anyone who is looking to get a solid grasp of what AI really means, and how it can be applied to real world problems - this is the place to do that. And the fact that it's written by a thespian, come dance DJ, come Yorkshireman should just make you want to read it even more.

Neuromancer

And finally, here comes my classic - Neuromancer by William Gibson. Gibson is widely recognized as the father of cyber-culture and despite the fact that I first read this book many, many years ago it keeps giving me more on every re-read. From the mind-bending scale of narrative, to the subtlety and intricacies of the characters - this is one book that you have to read. And before you say - oh I'm not into all that sci-fi stuff - this is about as close to a primer for the next 10 years of tech as you will find anywhere. Just take a look at how much of the storyline is already available and you will realize just how important a text this was and is.