Curious Random Thoughts

http://algorithmstoliveby.com/ This is one of the more thought provoking books that goes deep into the different algorithms that we use or we could use for everyday decisions. The authors pose a variety of everyday problems; for e.g. when should one stop looking for a life partner (or buying a home) and make a decision OR what's the best strategy to do your laundry OR what is the best strategy to play a slot machine OR how should you organize your bookshelf (or your email Inbox) OR what strategy should you adopt for the seating plan at your wedding OR how do your predict the future OR how to plan your next ten city vacation. While presenting solutions for these and a whole host of problems, the authors delve deep into the details of each of those algorithms. Some of you might recognize algorithms like merge sort or least recently used but there are also many esoteric algorithms like Bayes rule, Laplace Law or Hill climbing for which you might have to dust your memory. This book ...

https://www.adamgrant.net/originals Originals explores the world of non-conformists shaking their business, their field and the world. Adam Grant delves deep into the background and psyche of these leaders. Adam Grant tries to shatter the myth that they are great risk takers and first movers. He provides many examples of these leaders where they always had a plan B and they waited a long time before striking it big in their field. You will read many interesting stories including the one about an entrepreneur who always pitches to his investors why one should not invest in his company. There is a also great story about that famous investor, Ray Dalio, who fires employees who fail to criticize him. You will read about how Seinfeld almost didn't make it to primetime television as well as the failure behind Segway. You will be interested to learn about the employee who challenged Steve Jobs and won a promotion as well as about a little known Serbian behind many of the spring revolu...

http://www.netflixed.com/ I had a lot of misconceptions on the origins of Netflix before reading this book (that the idea of mail-order DVDs came to Reed Hastings when the local Blockbuster store levied a big late fee for his DVD rentals). Gina Keatings book, Netflixed, not only clears up those myths but also goes into great detail on how the other founder Marc Randolph started the mail order business with Reed Hastings playing second fiddle before he took it over and pushed out Marc from the company. She also portrays an intriguing behind the scenes story on how Netflix almost didn't make it to primetime America. For those of you who didn't follow their rise all along, you will be intrigued to know that Blockbuster Online (yes, Blockbuster!) almost killed Netflix if not for the short-sightedness of that famous investor, Carl Icahn. This book mainly covers the business side of the rise of Netflix; for those of you wanting to understand the technology side of Netflix you will...