[This column first appeared in the Shift Age Newsletter ]

People often ask me about what books I read.  I sense that they expect some kind of unique or weird answer from a futurist.  In addition to this question I am often given books or names of books to read, usually books that have transformed the life of that person.  So I often seem to be in book conversations.

So here is a list of recent reads that I have greatly enjoyed.  In a future column I will list some older favorites that stand the test of time, even for …

[Note:  A version of this column recently appeared in the Shift Age Newsletter.  Please feel free to sign up for a free subscription.]

I have been writing and speaking that IP is the wealth of the Shift Age for the last six years.  And over the last six years, this reality has become ever more apparent.  Recent headlines make this crystal clear.

In the Agricultural Age, those who owned the land created wealth.  In the Industrial Age, those who created and controlled production created wealth.  In the Information Age, those who created technology and brought it to market created …

Regular readers know that I have often written about Intellectual Property in this space. IP is increasingly important in the valuation of all enterprises. I provided a historical context to this trend here, and later talked about Ocean Tomo, one of the companies that is helping to create the IP marketplace.

As mentioned in one of the earlier columns, the percentage of the aggregate value of the S&P 500 companies that is IP has gone from 17% in 1975 to 80% in 2005. The transactional process of IP, until very recently, has largely been the same …

Amazon’s introduction of the Kindle electronic book reader feels momentous. It is the first time that the long anticipated, much debated future of the ‘ebook’ feels ready to begin in a meaningful way.

During the past ten years there has been great debate about the ebook.  Generally speaking there have been three points of view on the subject.  The first one comes from the true believers that the ebook is inevitable and that it would ultimately gain a noticeable and then sizable market share of publishing.  The second viewpoint is that while there would be a market for the ebook it …