Books Archives - NevilleHobson.com

Unpicking the vicious cycle of anger, hostility, and outrage on social networks

If you’ve been wondering why footballers get racially abused online all the time, why some people make disgusting death threats on social networks, or why presumably otherwise sensible celebrities say offensive things in their tweets about other people, a new book may well provide the light bulb of clarity you’ve been seeking. It’s certainly something I’ve wondered about: why, in the past few years, has there been such a significant and notable increase in vile behaviours online where people say…

SDF 30: Of Giants and Donkeys

On the first day after Brexit Day, Thomas, Sam and I joined in conversation on the Big Day that didn’t happen. #NoBrexitDay, in a hashtag. In this latest installment of our Small Data Forum podcast, episode 30, we again discuss the political shenanigins in the ongoing Brexit saga as we now head towards a General Election in the UK on December 12. We set the scene with a just-published book from the four men behind ‘Led By Donkeys,’ a political…

Why the gig economy fits well with the lives of Baby Boomers

We Baby Boomers are benefiting significantly from the gig economy, says author, speaker and optimist Tim Drake. Not just as consumers by it providing lower prices and more convenience, but as participants too. It’s an important bolt-on to something bigger, he says, enabling new ways of doing business to emerge, and a fresh outlook on what ‘work’ is. But is it something we should think about taking a much more active role in? Baby Boomers fit into what I call…

The Fourth Transformation: A vision of the near tomorrow from Shel Israel and Robert Scoble

One of the things I like most about The Fourth Transformation, the new book from Shel Israel and Robert Scoble published in December 2016 that I just finished reading, is the way in which it will help you to join up the dots and begin to understand the fundamental, disruptive and accelerating changes we already see around us brought by advances in technology – notably, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) – and massive shifts in…

From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker

In a few weeks’ time, the next episode in the Star Wars saga will be in the cinema. I already have my tickets and can’t wait to see it! It’s hard to imagine sometimes that the very first Star Wars film – what’s now known as “Episode 4: A New Hope” – in the Star Wars series was released in 1977, nearly 40 years ago. I was at the opening night in London. Before that, though, I’d read the book,…