The Future of Ideas : The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World by Lawrence Lessig

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
"If The Future of Ideas is bleak, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Author Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor and keen observer of emerging technologies, makes a strong case that large corporations are staging an innovation-stifling power grab while we watch idly. The changes in copyright and other forms of intellectual property protection demanded by the media and software industries have the potential to choke off publicly held material, which Lessig sees as a kind of intellectual commons. He eloquently and persuasively decries this lopsided control of ideas and suggests practical solutions that consider the rights of both creators and consumers, while acknowledging the serious impact of new technologies on old ways of doing business. His proposals would let existing companies make money without using the tremendous advantages of incumbency to eliminate new killer apps before they can threaten the status quo. Readers who want a fair intellectual marketplace would do well to absorb the lessons in The Future of Ideas."
-Rob Lightner
*This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

"Lawyers. Accountants. Radiologists. Software engineers. That's what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of "left brain" dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which "right brain" qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. That's the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times.
In the tradition of Emotional Intelligence and Now, Discover Your Strengths, Daniel H. Pink offers a fresh look at what it takes to excel. A Whole New Mind reveals the six essential aptitudes on which professional success and personal fulfillment now depend, and includes a series of hands-on exercises culled from experts around the world to help readers sharpen the necessary abilities. This book will change not only how we see the world but how we experience it as well."
-Daniel Pink's blog.

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The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded] : A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman

"History of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter "Y2K to March 2004," what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations, giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization? And with this "flattening" of the globe, which requires us to run faster in order to stay in place, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?"
-http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/worldisflat.htm

Friedman at MIT.

Why Tom Friedman Does Not Compute by Gary Stager

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Millenials Rising by Neil Howe and William Strauss

"A decade ago, in Generations, Strauss and Howe predicted many of the youth trends America is beginning to see today. Now, in Millennials Rising, the authors show how today's teens are recasting the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged. The authors also show how Millennials are held to higher standards than adults apply to themselves … how they're a lot less violent, vulgar, and sexually charged than the teen culture older people are producing for them … how, over the next decade, they’ll entirely recast what it means to be young … and how, in time, they could emerge as the next great generation."
-http://www.millennialsrising.com/

But the book at Amazon.

Other books we recommend...

Click on the title of the book to find the book on Amazon. Click on the author's name to go to their website.

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson

Raw Materials for the Mind by David Warlick

Blog : Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World by Hugh Hewitt

Empowering Students With Technology by Alan November

Good to Great by Jim Collins