Books

Here are several examples of current books that may inform us about changes taking place in our society as we move into the 21st century. We cannot form a useful vision to guide us in developing a 21st century education if we do not understand the context of the world in which we live.

In groups of 3-5 choose one of these or select another for your reading circle that will help us learn what knowledge and skills are needed to live, work and play in these times. Before you choose one, look at a number of them that appeal to you and read the corresponding reviews. You may wish to follow the links to other books of similar content. This is not a complete list. Please keep us apprised of what you are learning and thinking about on the discussion board under the section "book circles".

• You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier

• Googled: The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta

• What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis

• Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns By Clayton M. Christensen, Curtis W. Johnson, and Michael B. Horn

• The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr

• The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman

• A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age by Daniel Pink

• Critical Technology Issues for School Leaders by Susan Brooks-Young

• The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent by Richard Florida

• The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life by Richard Florida

• Five Regions of the Future by Barker and Erickson

• Get Back in the Box : Innovation from the Inside Out by Douglas Rushkoff 

• The Art of Innovation : Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm by Tom Kelley

• The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures by Frans Johansson

• Paradigms : Business of Discovering the Future, The by Joel A. Barker

• FutureThink: How to Think Clearly in a Time of Change by Edie Weiner

• Powerful Times : Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World by Eamonn Kelly

• FAB: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop--From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication by Neil Gershenfeld

• Transforming e-Knowledge: A revolution in the sharing of knowledge By Donald Norris, Jon Mason and
  Paul Lefrere

• The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown

• Human-Built World : How to Think about Technology and Culture (science * culture) by Thomas P. Hughes

• The Singularity Is Near : When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil

• The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil

• Radical Evolution : The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human by Joel Garreau