Monday, October 10, 2022

The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything

Matthew Ball
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WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER
Amazon: Editors' Choice in Nonfiction

Tim Sweeney (CEO of Fortnite-maker Epic Games): “Matthew Ball’s essays have defined, analyzed, and inspired the Metaverse for years. His book is an approachable and essential guide to the strategic, technical, and philosophical foundations of this new medium.”

From the leading theorist of the Metaverse comes the definitive account of the next internet: what the Metaverse is, what it will take to build it, and what it means for all of us.


The term “Metaverse” is suddenly everywhere, from the front pages of national newspapers and the latest fashion trends to the plans of the most powerful companies in history. It is already shaping the policy platforms of the US government, the European Union, and the Chinese Communist Party.

But what, exactly, is the Metaverse? As pioneering theorist and venture capitalist Matthew Ball explains, it is a persistent and interconnected network of 3D virtual worlds that will eventually serve as the gateway to most online experiences, and also underpin much of the physical world. For decades, these ideas have been limited to science fiction and video games, but they are now poised to revolutionize every industry and function, from finance and healthcare to education, consumer products, city planning, dating, and well beyond.

Taking us on an expansive tour of the “next internet,” Ball demonstrates that many proto-Metaverses are already here, such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox. Yet these offer only a glimpse of what is to come. Ball presents a comprehensive definition of the Metaverse before explaining the technologies that will power it―and the breakthroughs that will be necessary to fully realize it. He addresses the governance challenges the Metaverse entails; investigates the role of Web3, blockchains, and NFTs; and predicts Metaverse winners and losers. Most importantly, he examines many of the Metaverse’s almost unlimited applications ...

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

領導者的數位轉型 : 哈佛大學教授給組織領導者的AI時代競爭策略 (Competing in the Age of AI)

馬可.顏西提 (Marco Iansiti), 卡林.拉哈尼 (Karin R. Lakhani)
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「破壞式創新正持續扭轉我們所熟悉的產業競爭樣貌。
對於渴望在嶄新商業環境中永續發展的企業領導者,
本書絕對是一本令人信服的必讀之作!」
―克雷頓.克里斯汀生(Clayton Christensen)

經歷新冠肺炎疫情的衝擊,我們已經沒有拖延的藉口
為求企業永續,數位轉型勢在必行!


● 領導者該如何帶領企業成功「數位轉型」?
● 行政首長該如何讓施政邁向「數位治理」?
● 組織成員該如何理解大規模「組織變革」?

本書兩位作者為哈佛商學院教授,他們將長年專研「數位轉型」與「創新管理」領域的研究與觀察寫成本書,向新時代企業領導者傳達一項重要的觀念:所謂「數位轉型」並非硬要將公司轉變為完全截然不同的營運型態,而是當傳統型組織導入數位營運的同時,仍保有過去所積累的文化及競爭優勢,在新與舊的交織之間啟動全新一波的成長動能。

本書透析「數位轉型」的企業實戰案例,例如仰賴「AI工廠」迅速從研發到製造的莫德納(Moderna)疫苗、宜家家居(IKEA)的數位化零售轉型、英國線上購物平台奧凱多(Ocado)、健康科技公司派樂騰(Peloton)等,詳盡說明當傳統型組織面對層出不窮、無法預測的指數型危機威脅時,如何布局未來動能、深化敏捷與彈性、有效提升數位時代中的組織競爭力。

作者向所有組織領導者大聲疾呼:「還有什麼是比新冠肺炎疫情更好的證據?」不論你的組織型態是新或舊,即使「病毒」沒有找上你,競爭者終究也會找上你。我們已經沒有拖延的藉口,每個組織都必須致力於組織流程、營運系統與競爭能力的變革!

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, October 3, 2022

The Bright Book of Life: Novels to Read and Reread

Harold Bloom
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
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America's most original and controversial literary critic writes trenchantly about forty-eight masterworks spanning the Western tradition—from Don Quixote to Wuthering Heights to Invisible Man—in his first book devoted exclusively to narrative fiction.

In this valedictory volume, Yale professor Harold Bloom—who for more than half a century was regarded as America's most daringly original and controversial literary critic—gives us his only book devoted entirely to the art of the novel. With his hallmark percipience, remarkable scholarship, and extraordinary devotion to sublimity, Bloom offers meditations on forty-eight essential works spanning the Western canon, from Don Quixote to Book of Numbers; from Wuthering Heights to Absalom, Absalom!; from Les Misérables to Blood Meridian; from Vanity Fair to Invisible Man. Here are trenchant appreciations of fiction by, among many others, Austen, Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy, James, Conrad, Lawrence, Le Guin, and Sebald.

Whether you have already read these books, plan to, or simply care about the importance and power of fiction, Harold Bloom is your unparalleled guide to understanding literature with new intimacy.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

NLP來自潛意識的語言力量:掌握主導權的14種說話模式 (Words That Change Minds)

雪兒‧羅斯‧夏爾凡 (Shelle Rose Charvet)
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當你理解人們如何做出決定時,就可以對他們的行為產生關鍵性的影響
NLP語言行為量表(LAB Profile®)應用聖經,自學NLP必讀
NLP LAB Profile®權威大師著作在台唯一出版!


如果你能在三句話中了解對方,世界上還有什麼事難得倒你?
想要知道客戶的下一步是積極回應,還是不理不睬?
想要激發工作夥伴的熱情,你該怎麼說?

神經語言程式學(NLP)讓你從對話中洞悉別人,進而改變、引導他們
任何人的態度、特質,或行為,幾乎都可以被拿來拆解和分析,並從中找出影響這個人的方法,如果你懂得使用語言的奧祕,你就可以從內到外徹底改變一個人!

藉由語言行為量表的分析,你可以比對方更了解他自己
語言行為量表(LAB Profile®)是從NLP發展出來的一套分析方法,是以NLP的全套型態為根據,透過這套方法,可以察覺激發人們的動力如何產生,如何處理資訊,如何決策,讓你學會如何為特定人士和團體客製化你的語言,引發對方的動力,進而改變他們的想法和行為。

重點不是說話的內容,而是說話的方式
藉由語言行為量表,你可以提升自己的洞察力,預測別人的想法,以最適合的方式與他人進行交流,並透過不同的說話方式改變別人的行為,並且在他們做決定前發揮關鍵性的影響。

當你可以輕易辨識出激發別人的動力來源以及他們的思考和決策方式時,你將能夠:
‧跟任何人建立非常融洽的關係,進行有效溝通
‧降低衝突和誤解的可能
‧縮短你的銷售週期,並且讓顧客滿意
‧設計出強而有力的行銷和廣告活動
‧招募到適任的人才,並為他們提供表現的舞台
‧大幅改善你的協商成果和談話效果
‧打造出可以滿足各種需求的學習計畫,提升對自我的認識和競爭力
‧學習一套全新的方法,讓你的輔導技巧和你的培訓事業更上一層樓
‧帶領高績效的團隊,讓團隊成員充分發揮長處,不被他們的缺點拖累 ......

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, September 26, 2022

Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe

Steven Strogatz
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
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Without calculus, we wouldn't have cell phones, TV, GPS, or ultrasound. We wouldn't have unraveled DNA or discovered Neptune or figured out how to put 5,000 songs in your pocket.

Though many of us were scared away from this essential, engrossing subject in high school and college, Steven Strogatz's brilliantly creative, down-to-earth history shows that calculus is not about complexity; it's about simplicity. It harnesses an unreal number - infinity - to tackle real world problems, breaking them down into easier ones and then reassembling the answers into solutions that feel miraculous.

Infinite Powers recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves. Strogatz reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age: how to determine the area of a circle with only sand and a stick; how to explain why Mars goes "backwards" sometimes; how to turn the tide in the fight against AIDS.

As Strogatz proves, calculus is truly the language of the universe. By unveiling the principles of that language, Infinite Powers makes us marvel at the world anew.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

重讀20世紀中國小說

許子東
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讀100年的小說,看100年的中國。

巴爾扎克說:“小說被認為是一個民族的秘史。”這一次,我們用小說打開中國!

百年來,1902—1916,總被忽略的“晚清時期”;1917—1941,總被說起的“五四時期”;1942—1976,總被留白的“革命時期”;1977孕育新聲,總被爭論的“80年代至今”……

許子東的“20世紀小說課”,以編年體為順序,以文本閱讀為中心,“士農工商仕”中國社會各階層分析,重新梳理20世紀中國小說的關鍵線索,聚焦近代、現代、當代文學史上近百部(篇)中短長篇小說。從1902年梁啟超《新中國未來記》“神預言”開始,一直到2006年劉慈欣的科幻小說《三體》為止,奇遇中國100年。

特別收入“生態篇”,高度還原“作家的一天”——1926年郁達夫的“戀愛”日記,1936年魯迅晚年的“誤診”疑雲,1952年巴金“同志”在朝鮮戰場,1984年“尋根”韓少功在杭州會議,1994年“拜訪”王安憶的上海作家生活……

百年來,中國怎麼會走到今天?會走向怎樣的明天?《老殘遊記》有句話:“眼前路都是從過去的路生出來的,你走兩步回頭看看,一定不會錯了。”

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)