MC

Very helpful

Revisado: 07-20-22

I really like the approach of energy being the dynamic being discussed. A unique topic topic perhaps not uncommon category. Well done.

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The Good, The Bad, and The...

Revisado: 03-16-19

The Good, The Bad, and The ... Unnecessary

This is a laudable work indeed on the part of Ms. Rosenblat, who is much more than an author with this work; her book, it's more a comprehensive investigative and detailed field report on everything Uber, i.e. everything that is so very wrong with Uber. Does she, Alex Rosenblat, have an axe to grind? LOL she has a thousand axes to grind, and wow, she does in extraordinary fashion, grind them most all on Uber and in ways that make me wonder about her motives. She is so committed, so thorough in her attack, and yes, this book is a full on attack of EVERYTHING Uber. Was she scorned by Travis Kalanik back in high school or college? Did her family own a traditional taxi company that was made completely obsolete by Uber and other technology taxi companies? I have no idea, but I do wonder, for her work is on a scale uncommon for just an exposé, or even many serious treatments on a topic; you get the feeling her intent was to single-handedly destroy Uber. If that was her aim, did she succeed? No. But damn she tried.

The Good

She does expose some questionable methods of Uber's business model, but they appear to me to fall into the category of creative ways of maximizing profit on a capitalistic playing field and doing a tremendously successful job of it. Does the latter justify the former? Probably not in some respects but Uber is certainly not alone and, well, if one is to indict Uber then one will also indict much of corporate America.

The Bad

Running with two erroneous background assumptions: a) that Uber is different from most any other American multi-national company and that Uber is singularly unfair to its employees and the independent contractors that choose to use its app. (this is a horse she just cannot stop beating). b) the idea that a startup or disruptive business model must when it pivots do so not only to survive as a company but also in a way to abide by existing government regulations, no matter how old or inapplicable those regs might be. This is an absurd notion because if applied, it could likely arrest or destroy the very thing that makes an idea creative or beneficial in the first place. The fact that government regulators cannot keep up with innovation is a regulatory problem, not a company one.

Technology has enabled many industries to be more corrupt than they ever were. No surprise there. But to portray Uber as a special case and alone in its Machiavellian corporate management, operational methods, or marketing schemes is just naive. But again, the author is young, so while I call this out as a major weakness in her approach, at the same time I am still very, very impressed with her potential for this type of authorship. She is a bright light.

The Unnecessary

Her liberal bias with the typical attendant assumptions, including this odd trend to want to deny the common physical differences between the sexes as an attempt to "equalize" the genders. This bias drips heavily in places and is palpable from start to finish. She takes some potshots (e.g. at white people, the POTUS) so fashionable today with liberals, which amounted to a whole star taken off of the five total that I might, if it weren't also for the foregoing naiveté (another whole star deduction), have given her. But she is a woman of her time (millennial I am guessing), a time when the political pendulum has swung high and far to the left.

I wish her well and hope to give her fives stars on one of her future books.

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A most important work

Revisado: 07-24-18

All true scientists must read Sheldrake’s book. As everything in our world is in need of disruption, and rightly so, the mechanistic view of science is no exception. Perhaps it should have been the first to be so.

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A college outline read by an academic

Revisado: 04-13-18

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I like the narrator but this was the wrong book for him. With respect to the author who I assume is a young, bright academic, this book is not suitable for an audiobook

What do you think your next listen will be?

A book on cloud computing better suited for audio book format.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Pros: seemingly comprehensive coverage.

1) book organization -- like an outline for a school assignment;
2) despite the herculean attempt to differentiate between IAAS, SAAS, PAAS etc, I was rendered completely confused near the end of the book.
3) The narrator, who is actually one of my favorites, was the wrong choice; only made the automaton writing all the more robotic.
4) Use cases seemed based more on theory than actual practice.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Seemingly thorough coverage and a good effort to illustrate use cases. Few books on the subject at this price point written for the layperson.

Any additional comments?

Too much filler that only obfuscated the information. The book could have been cut to half the words.

Sorry for the negative review, but I don't feel I got value for $ spent.

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Great read

Revisado: 08-19-16

Appreciate the authors for writing this book on a barely yet emerging but eminently important technology...and glad I came across it.

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Simply the best out there

Revisado: 12-10-15

After trying Rosetta Stone, Busuu, Pimsleur, classes, books, and other approaches to learn a foreign language (for me mainly Spanish), I am finally learning thanks to Paul Noble.

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Not enough takeaways for the price of the book

Revisado: 09-23-15

Would you try another book from Thomas H. Davenport and Jinho Kim and/or Alan Sklar?

No

What was most disappointing about Thomas H. Davenport and Jinho Kim ’s story?

Lacked substance for anyone above high school or sophomore in college

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Alan Sklar?

Since book is for a younger audience, perhaps a younger narrator.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The book spoke of the value of quantitative analysis and hit its mark there most of the time, but not really in any way that isn't already known. It should have practiced with examples what it actually preaches in the book: make quantitative analysis assessable to the non-quants, in the language of non-quants. While it spoke in the language of non-quants, it didn't quite transfer any specific knowledge.

I will however seek other books to help me attain what the title of this book promised. And that is why I must give this book two stars. I spared it a one star because it does an admiral job being a cheerleader for quantitative analysis; that, and learning about a certain hedge fund manager.

Any additional comments?

this book had too much filler; it could have been written seemingly in half the pages

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