John Murray Publishers Ltd Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation

Absolute masterpiece. Very “now” … buy some for your friends too

The content is interesting but we used the book in a bookclub discussion group mainly composed of baby boomers and we discussed 3 chapters at a time. The unexpected result was that we didn't have too much to discuss. We all pretty much agreed that it is society's responsibility to set limits on AI and that businesses would never do it voluntarily. How this would happen is not covered too well. Perhaps it can't be.Some of the material (Chapter 8 for example on skills needed to future proof yourself) seemed to focus on things that were not measurable - some of the references were good though.All in all, it may be more interesting to a younger audience that struggles with the use of social media more than us old fogies who don't have a problem shutting off our phones.

I’ve read a few books on this topic but unfortunately this one is one of the weaker ones. The author clearly has a prefixed view that automation and technology is generally bad because it causes people to lose jobs. He confronts arguments such as previous waves of technology creating more jobs than were lost with arguments such as, yes, but it was hard for some people. My question back to him would be, should we have not had the Industrial Revolution because it was hard on some groups, and instead we could just be farmers like most of history? He doesn't weigh the huge benefits of technology with its costs ina rational way, instead focusing on temporary negatives, anecdotes and in his own words ‘gut feeling’. If you are already a techno pessimist and you want an unsophisticated shopping list of points that agree with you, this book is for you. If you want to learn something about this subject, look elsewhere. Rise of the Robots was a far better book, for instance.

I purchased the hardcover version.I think this is a book that will benefit most people in 2021. We need to stop and have a conscious look at the way we use our phone and apps, and the AI that govern them. We should consider our jobs which may be given to a robot in the not-so-far future. We must think about our human relationships and our distinctly human qualities.If you're on the fence of whether to purchase this book, download the Kindle sample and read the Introduction (the sample starts at Chapter 1 and only shows 2 pages so go backwards till you get to the Introduction).If you take off the book cover, this is a black hardcover book which has gold foil font along the binding. It looks quite sleek but I have a complaint: Lightly sweaty hands make black spots transfer onto the hands.I quite enjoyed the book. It was short but carried a sense of urgency that we should not ignore.

Very informative book about the effects of software on people and jobs. I learned a lot, but I was not very well informed prior to reading this book on this topic. Joe Jarrell