In this article, we will review the best realism books selected by Fortune editors for 2023. These books will reveal how the algorithms of life and business have changed, and about the humans who created this digital world we live in daily. We wish you a year filled with words and reading.
Book “Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral” by Ben Smith
This book discusses the revolution of digital traffic in the early 21st century and the key figures who contributed to this revolution. The book recounts the success story of Nick Denton and Jonah Peretti, who discovered the value of rapid online dissemination and traffic increase. However, the two companies are no longer the same way now. Gawker Media, a leading blog company, was sued by former wrestler Hulk Hogan, secretly supported by billionaire Peter Thiel, before being sold in large parts to the private equity-backed Jo Media, thus losing its identity completely. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed News shut down this year, while the BuzzFeed brand still exists within a larger company with Huffington Post, trading at a fraction of its peak valuation. Ben Smith uses a beautiful Shakespearean comparison in his book to refer to the characters of Hamlet’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern but mentions them in the context shaped by Tom Stoppard, the great British playwright who emerged in 1966 with the play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” which talks about how Hamlet’s college friends believed they were the main characters only to discover they were just secondary appearances in the greatest play of all time. However, I can’t overlook how punk rock music changed music forever, even though it ended after a few years. All revolutions end. – Nick Lichtenberg, Editor-in-Chief
Book “The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend” by Rob Copeland
This book provides a sharp insight into the culture of the largest hedge fund in the world. Rob Copeland, who has covered the industry and billionaire Ray Dalio in particular for over a decade in major American newspapers, covers a huge array of reports on the richest man in Connecticut and his hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. The report includes horrific accounts of sexual harassment, interwoven with numerous tales related to the cultish behavior surrounding Dalio’s “Principles,” which remind us of another word that begins with the same letter: the panopticon prison of continuous surveillance, where Dalio shows a video of an officer (female) whom he humiliated, and who openly cried for years afterward in front of employees in a ritual of cruelty. Dalio was still angry about the book when he spoke at the Fortune Global Forum in Abu Dhabi last November, but to this day he has not challenged any of the book’s claims in any courtroom outside of Bridgewater’s headquarters in Connecticut, which of course is not a real headquarters. – Nick Lichtenberg, Editor-in-Chief
Book “Glossy: Beauty, Ambition, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss’s Glossier” by Marissa Meltzer
This book tells the story of the rise and fall of the beauty brand “Glossier” in a readable and thoughtful manner. In the late 2010s, “Glossier” dominated the cosmetics market with its simple marketing and focus on “no-makeup makeup.” Emily Weiss, a co-star on MTV’s Hills and founder of Into the Gloss, was the one leading the brand which became a symbol of the now-defunct “girl boss” era. Meltzer’s portrayal of the enigmatic Emily Weiss makes the book engaging and thought-provoking. The decline of the “Glossier” empire in the book is emblematic of the shift from the aesthetics of the 2010s to those of the 2020s: when consumers grew tired of millennial pink, raw authenticity replaced it with the curated sparkle of Instagram. Investors became more cautious of so-called “unicorns.” The book contains a mix of news, information, and nostalgia, and I found myself finishing it in just a few days. – Ashley Lutz, Executive Editor of Growth
Book
“Pandora’s Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV” by Peter Biskind
This book discusses the evolution of the television industry in the 21st century and the key figures who contributed to this development. Peter Biskind, who has been tracking Hollywood for a long time, lays out in his book, which is part of an unofficial trilogy on what he calls the “movements” in the entertainment world, first with his book “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls,” then “Down and Dirty Pictures,” and now “Pandora’s Box.” The book feels refreshing as it offers the perspective of the former editor-in-chief of Premiere magazine and current contributing editor at Vanity Fair on the revolution that was broadcast on television, first on HBO, then on basic cable, and then on streaming services. Biskind combines cultural criticism with hard-hitting reporting, making former HBO chief Michael Fox nostalgically recall how “going out strong in the 1990s was heart-wrenching,” while revealing his true feelings about the broadcasting revolution: “how brains, guts, and greed have corrupted television.” Warning: He discovers at the end of his inquiry that content is not king; money is always king. – Nick Lichtenberg, Editor-in-Chief of News
“Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career” by Kristi Coulter
If the years following the pandemic have brought a breath of empowerment to workers with the so-called “great reshuffle” and “quiet quitting,” then “Exit Interview” offers an objective examination of the serious work culture that this movement has rebuffed. This sometimes exhausting read tells the story of Kristi Coulter during her time at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle in the early 21st century, but Amazon is not the real star here; it is Coulter’s frustrated ambition as she navigates the maze of escalating demands phrased in corporate-speak. The book features a mix of startup chaos—working in “offices” strapped to the hulls of ships—with the mind-numbing bureaucracy of the second largest employer in the U.S. (Coulter describes starting work on Sundays to be ready for a company-wide meeting on Wednesday. In other meetings, managers ranked their direct reports according to the order in which they would be thrown from a lifeboat). The absurd and infuriating drama found in this book will resonate with any woman who has spent time in the male-dominated realm of technology. – Irina Ivanova, Deputy Editor for News
“The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma” by Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar
Despite its title, Mustafa Suleyman’s book, founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, is not entirely pessimistic. He states that the evolution of artificial intelligence could solve humanity’s greatest challenges—and there is a chance it could lead to catastrophic events we cannot foresee due to the nature of transformative technology. The real question is whether our systems can adapt quickly enough. Suleyman immediately sees the threat of AI being used to manipulate elections, as he warned in a commentary piece in Fortune in September. The coming months are expected to test this theory as many nations hold critical elections in 2024, heightening uncertainty around the globe. In a few years, our world will not look the same, as our fortunes are changed by this shift. To fully understand the writer’s warnings and promises, we must remember that these are not the words of another businessman expressing his opinion on the latest technology, but the words of someone interested in ethics and politics who finds himself at the front lines of the technological revolution—or as he calls it, a shift in power. – Mohamed Al-Assar, Comments Editor
Book
“Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy” by Quinn Slobodian
In this book, Quinn Slobodian, a Canadian historian at Wellesley College soon to transfer to Boston University, presents a detailed vision of the evolution of capitalist economics and significant economic movements seeking to separate democratic state from capitalist development. He questions why capitalist development seeks to detach itself from the democratic state? It prefers to operate in “special economic zones” instead and offers Hong Kong, Singapore, and Dubai as examples of regions that flourished in the 1970s, 1990s, and the new millennium when large corporations wanted to ease tax burdens and bothersome regulations. But there is also the example of Honduras and a potential area there called “Prospera,” which is promoted by American economist Paul Romer. One thing is for sure: this region will not be the last. – Nick Lichtenberg, Editor in Chief of News
“Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital” by Elise Hu
Korean beauty products are the best in the world – or at least that’s what I’ve heard. But this conclusion does not surprise me: South Korea has long excelled in innovation, cultural influence, and soft power. But what does the “K-Beauty” industry – not just cosmetics, but also K-pop and cosmetic surgery – actually look like? And what does it mean for women and men in South Korea? In her book “Flawless,” Elise Hu transforms her reporting from her time as Seoul correspondent for National Public Radio into a comprehensive investigation of business, gender politics, and technology. – Nicholas Gordon, Editor at Hong Kong
“The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives” by Ernest Scheider
Reuters journalist Ernest Scheider takes readers on a journey through American history, geopolitics, and the business world to uncover uncomfortable truths and overlooked trade-offs in the energy transition space. It seems completely contradictory. To move away from fossil fuels, humans must rely on the mining industry, whose history is fraught with violence and pollution. With global competition for key minerals to power future electric vehicles and electronics, there are no good options. Should the United States depend on China for key minerals, or accept the chaos that mass mining may cause to American landscapes and communities? Does the government know what it is doing when the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, which encourages clean technology adoption, seems so uncoordinated? Can future companies deliver on their high promises when faced with serious issues in major projects? Fortune readers will find chapters on the stance of Michael J. Kowalski, CEO of Tiffany & Co., who took a revolutionary stance on ethical sourcing 20 years ago, and Elon Musk’s efforts to secure Tesla’s future supplies of critically important minerals. – Mohamed Al-Asar, Commentary Editor
“Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy” by James Stewart and Rachel Abrams
The recent years have been a rich era of family drama, as seen in television and newspaper coverage of the Kardashian family, the Murdochs, and the British royal family, alongside their fictional counterparts in the HBO series Succession and Netflix’s The Crown. In this context, journalists James Stewart and Rachel Abrams from
Source: https://www.aol.com/fortune-favors-books-editors-favorite-103000521.html
.lwrp .lwrp-title{
}.lwrp .lwrp-description{
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-container{
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-multi-container{
display: flex;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-double{
width: 48%;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-triple{
width: 32%;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-row-container{
display: flex;
justify-content: space-between;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-row-container .lwrp-list-item{
width: calc(12% – 20px);
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-item:not(.lwrp-no-posts-message-item){
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-item img{
max-width: 100%;
height: auto;
object-fit: cover;
aspect-ratio: 1 / 1;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-item.lwrp-empty-list-item{
background: initial !important;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-item .lwrp-list-link .lwrp-list-link-title-text,
.lwrp .lwrp-list-item .lwrp-list-no-posts-message{
}@media screen and (max-width: 480px) {
.lwrp.link-whisper-related-posts{
}
.lwrp .lwrp-title{
}.lwrp .lwrp-description{
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-multi-container{
flex-direction: column;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-multi-container ul.lwrp-list{
margin-top: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px;
padding-top: 0px;
padding-bottom: 0px;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-double,
.lwrp .lwrp-list-triple{
width: 100%;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-row-container{
justify-content: initial;
flex-direction: column;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-row-container .lwrp-list-item{
width: 100%;
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-item:not(.lwrp-no-posts-message-item){
}
.lwrp .lwrp-list-item .lwrp-list-link .lwrp-list-link-title-text,
.lwrp .lwrp-list-item .lwrp-list-no-posts-message{
};
}
Leave a Reply