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Monster: A Tough Love Letter On Taming the Machines that Rule our Jobs, Lives, and Future
"In their 'deliberately short book' IT analysts, management consultants and technology practitioners Roehrig and Pring explore how big a beast technology has become, and how we can tame it to maintain our freedom and privacy while still realising its benefits. The pandemic has shown just how much we rely on technology and how addictive it has become…The authors address the important questions…[and] urge us not to slay the monster but rather to leverage its power and reorient technology as a tool for good."
―Financial Times Monster explains how we can responsibly engage with technology, and avoid its darker tendencies, while accepting its necessary gifts. The authors, insiders at one of the world's largest tech consulting firms, give a unique take on: Written for managers, leaders, and employees at companies of all sizes and in all industries, Monster will help you understand and take control of technology's powerful role in your life and your organization. "You must read this book."
―Michael Schrage , Research Fellow, MIT Sloan School Initiative on the Digital Economy "Pithy insights and recommendations on helping tech fulfill its potential as a force for good."
―Erik Brynjolfsson , Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and co-author of The Second Machine Age "Making technology serve―not subvert―the public interest requires better leaders, not more engineers and coders. Monster explains how to become one of those leaders."
―Rosabeth Moss Kanter , Harvard Business School Professor and author of Think Outside the Building "A bracing new book about some of the most pressing questions of our time."
―Carl Benedikt Frey , Oxford Martin Citi Fellow at Oxford University and author of The Technology Trap "Provocative and concise, Monster is an important book on rescuing ourselves from technology that now feels corrosive and overwhelming."
―Daniel H. Pink, author of WHEN , DRIVE , and TO SELL IS HUMAN "Clarifies a complex web of issues and provides bold steps for a healthier economy, society, and future."
―Francisco D'Souza , former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant "Sheds light on how we can collectively use technology for the good of all."
―Soumitra Dutta , Founding Dean, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University "A cornucopia of pragmatic, actionable, and bold ideas."
―Gary J. Beach , Publisher Emeritus, CIO magazine and author of U.S. Technology Skills Gap
―Financial Times Monster explains how we can responsibly engage with technology, and avoid its darker tendencies, while accepting its necessary gifts. The authors, insiders at one of the world's largest tech consulting firms, give a unique take on: Written for managers, leaders, and employees at companies of all sizes and in all industries, Monster will help you understand and take control of technology's powerful role in your life and your organization. "You must read this book."
―Michael Schrage , Research Fellow, MIT Sloan School Initiative on the Digital Economy "Pithy insights and recommendations on helping tech fulfill its potential as a force for good."
―Erik Brynjolfsson , Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and co-author of The Second Machine Age "Making technology serve―not subvert―the public interest requires better leaders, not more engineers and coders. Monster explains how to become one of those leaders."
―Rosabeth Moss Kanter , Harvard Business School Professor and author of Think Outside the Building "A bracing new book about some of the most pressing questions of our time."
―Carl Benedikt Frey , Oxford Martin Citi Fellow at Oxford University and author of The Technology Trap "Provocative and concise, Monster is an important book on rescuing ourselves from technology that now feels corrosive and overwhelming."
―Daniel H. Pink, author of WHEN , DRIVE , and TO SELL IS HUMAN "Clarifies a complex web of issues and provides bold steps for a healthier economy, society, and future."
―Francisco D'Souza , former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant "Sheds light on how we can collectively use technology for the good of all."
―Soumitra Dutta , Founding Dean, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University "A cornucopia of pragmatic, actionable, and bold ideas."
―Gary J. Beach , Publisher Emeritus, CIO magazine and author of U.S. Technology Skills Gap
176 pages, Hardcover
Published March 16, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 3, 2024
a bit dystopian, a bit fatalist and only partially aligning with my personal beliefs about the current state of technology and its future. a mixed bag, but also some valid points on digital oligarchs and data ownership and control, strict data usage regulations and data security, for example.
it is important to understand that safe collection and analysis of data (big data, data mining, data projections) has a huge potential for positive outcomes for humanity, not just negative manipulation, i think this was not emphasised enough (one example here would be the analysis of health data and DNA, genetic, and future treatments and cures for various problems, including lifespan, this is data people perceive as highly sensitive, but it's also extremely useful, and the important part to take note with is data anonymisation).
"it's impossible to BE rather than BE ONLINE" - funny
it is important to understand that safe collection and analysis of data (big data, data mining, data projections) has a huge potential for positive outcomes for humanity, not just negative manipulation, i think this was not emphasised enough (one example here would be the analysis of health data and DNA, genetic, and future treatments and cures for various problems, including lifespan, this is data people perceive as highly sensitive, but it's also extremely useful, and the important part to take note with is data anonymisation).
"it's impossible to BE rather than BE ONLINE" - funny
September 9, 2021
3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ • Raises interesting questions and concerns about the privacy and even cognitive capabilities that we sacrifice to what we still, as the authors say, charmingly call our “phone.” Advances quite a few new governmental legislative restrictions that I wouldn’t be comfortable with passing all of (talk about losing liberties,) but it does make sense to heed their warnings about the massive and irreversible monster we seemingly cannot live without. They also reminded us to distraction how short they were going to make this book-okay, dudes, we get it! It’s short!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews