Currently finished:

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (2nd reading)

Groundswell by Christine Li and Josh Bernoff (2nd reading)

The Moral Animal by Robert Wright (TERRIBLE book, btw)

On the nightstand:

Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Planet Google by Randall Stross

Spent: Sex, Evolution and Consumer Behavior by Geoffrey Miller

Rules of Thumb by Alan Webber

The Power of a Positive No by William Ury

On Order:

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss

The Extreme Future by James Canton

The Transparent Society by David Brin
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore; Regis McKenna
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder

What is on your must read list? I have a few projects coming up that require researching and studying a variety of theories and viewpoints, and I’m actively seeking books I have not considered yet. Do you have a seminal work not listed here you rely on for future theory or psychology/sociology of technology? Does one of these works speak to you? What resonates with you?

note: links in this blog may be Amazon affiliate links

Topics on Fire is one of the many ways I’ve been tying to make social media effect real world change. This is a topic near and dear to my heart these days (you can tell, I went so far as to submit a panel for SXSW on the idea, which you can find, and vote on, here). The first two episodes talked about the poverty gap and technology and ways to use social media to bridge the gap, and led to a companion piece on Technosailor here on the Hidden Human Costs of the Government Going Green.

This week’s podcast will talk about the Generation Gap and Technology and ways to solve the problem/bridge the gap. We have a stellar cast of panelists and what looks like it will be a lively chat room, so please stop by Sunday night, August 24th at 11:00 PM Eastern to the TalkShoe podcast here. As a rule I only allow the panelists to talk for the main podcast, however; if you have a TalkShoe account I do tend to open all mics at the end for everyone to weigh in.

Moderating: me (Leslie Poston, UptownUncorked, Blorge and BGWE)

Representing the Millenials / Generation Y we have Ben Grossman of the PlenaryGroup and creator of the famed TalkToRunningMan.com campaign and in chat Michael J Cohen, programmer and web designer

Representing the Generation X / Slacker Generation we have Jim Keenan of Cre8Buzz, myself and Gradon Tripp of DesignBoston (schedule permitting)

Representing the Baby Boomer generation we have Jack Herman of Barnhouse Lighting (and father of John Herman, Gravityland.com creator) and Jonathan Yarmis of AMR Research

I got a phenomenal response to my call for panelists on this topic. I chose panelists in the order they shouted their interest. If you weren’t chosen, I do hope you come to the chat and participate so we can benefit from what you have to say. If you have an agenda item suggestion for us on this topic, please leave it in the comments.

See you all there!

The call recording is on TalkShoe and in the sidebar of this blog. You can also subscribe in iTunes under Topics on Fire