These 9 books had an impact on our thinking in 2016. Find out why they are worthwhile reads and could be a valuable use of your time.
Providing our recommendations based on what we read in 2016 seems a more valuable insight than a simple review of 2016 or prediction for 2017. We hope you agree.
Many of these books featured in our Love Lose monthly feature posts. Here we rate and explore in a little more depth.
Worthwhile healthcare reads
- The Futures of Health – Spaces + Places of Care – It is our highest recommended read. It anticipates what reasonable predictions we can make about the future of care in 2025 and beyond? Patrick Glinski from Idea Couture presented aspects from their thought provoking book at a Hacking Health Cafe. Chapter 5 on Economic + Human Values in Healthcare is pertinent to the ongoing discussion about outcomes. The book is well structured around shifts, tension matrices, narratives and design principles. It is well referenced and illustrated; reminding me a little of Business Model Generation.
2. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. Dr. Gawande is a spellbindingly good storyteller of the highest order. It challenges our healthcare assumptions about the goals of healthcare and what quality of life means. The book makes our lifetime must read list, whether you work in healthcare or not. His 2014 BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures – The Future of Medicine are articulate, measured and insightful. The podcasts are the perfect accompaniment to his outstanding book Being Mortal as well as complementing this wider topic.
We are graduating from the century of the molecule to the century of the system.” Atul Gawande
3. What Matters Most – Patient Outcomes and the Transformation of Health Care by The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM). This downloadable book presents the why, how and what of building transformation in value-based health care through outcome measurement. The book is centred on multiple case studies and personal insights that brings a great resonance to it.
Worthwhile business reads
4. Hacking Marketing: Agile practices to make marketing smarter, faster and more innovative by Scott Brinker book could not have come at a more apt time. Hacking Marketing looks at parallels in innovation between software and marketing in a digital age. The premise of Brinker’s book is that the software IT teams in corporations appreciated early on that the speed of the digital revolution required a new approach to managing projects.
“Marketing is a digital profession,” says Scott Brinker
5. The 10% Entrepreneur by Patrick J. McGinnis – Sound advice for smart creatives no matter what stage you are in your career. Although we had already taken the plunge with our own business, it has led us further into mentoring local technology start-ups.
Thought provoking reads
6. Prisoners of Geography – Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about global politics by Tim Marshall – This was a very engrossing book on geopolitics. The book seems remarkably poignant in our politically charged world. It stimulated me to refer to When Cultures Collide by Richard D. Lewis, another exceptional book.
7. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson – An unputdownable book. Lots of fascinating insights into how recently much has been discovered. A recurring theme through the book is how many discoveries are dismissed as ridiculous for a quarter of a century or more, before being explored again by others, who then may also never be credited as a team for the discovery. Highly rated for geeks.
8. Secret Path – is the graphic novel by Gord Downie & Jeff Lemire accompanied by an album and animated movie. It portrays the disturbing story of how one boy, Chanie Wenjack, is symbolising the tragic effects of the residential school system in Canada. We encourage to watch, listen and read more of this poignant multi-media work.
On a lighter note
9. Just to ensure some balance and that we try to read as broadly as we can we also recommend Nanette’s Baguette by the marvellous Mo Willems. This is another Mo Willems classic. Highest rating for young children or grown-ups.
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