1) Emergence - Steven Johnson Is about how various and sometimes complex patterns evolve out of seemingly simple things/beings. The book delves into how ants operate and how their colonies get sophisticated over time, with proper planning for space(for ex: their colonies have graveyards and dust bin at opposite corners) and work distribution etc. I also liked the bit about how cities evolve, their planning etc and self improving software. How various things and beings use feedback to improve themselves. All in all a very interesting read.
2) The Human Zoo - Desmond Morris Its a zoologist's take on anthropology themed around the basic fact that humans have culturally advanced really fast but biologically(and in most other senses) they haven't advanced that much, in the sense that we are not well programmed to fit the city needs, pressures and problems. He refers to a city as human zoo not a concrete jungle as our behaviour and problems resemble more to animals kept in over crowded zoos. While I am here, I'll write about other books too 3) Made to stick - Chip Heath Its a great book about what makes certain ideas and messages stick while others get forgotten. It delves into what makes proverbs, urban legends cross the boundaries of countries and spread across various languages and cultures. According to the author for an idea/message to stick it has to be(and involve) *S - Simple, U - Unexpected, C- Concrete, C-Credible, E-Emotional, S-Story 4) talk to the SNAIL - Stephen Clarke A light and funny(mocking too) take on the french. 5) Founders at work - Jessica Livingston Series of about 42 interviews with founders/co-founders of web startups including guys behind hotmail, gmail, firefox, hot or not and more 6)Anatomy of buzz - Emanuel Rosen ( currently reading) Is based on "Word of Mouth". What it is , how it works and how it can be leveraged..Really Interesting Hope it helps :) *
