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What's Chip Reading?

The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

Technology has made shopping, keeping in touch, listening to music and reading books so easy! It is mind-blowing when you think about it. Is that a good thing?   I recently went inside a brick and mortar bookstore, craving the smell and feel of books in my hand. As I meandered around the store, thoroughly enjoying myself, I couldn’t help but notice how empty the store seemed. Why? It is much easier to sit at your desk or on your phone/tablet and buy the book with one click.  Or if you are really impatient, get if for your Kindle or on iBooks!  iBooks or audiobooks are now my go to way of consuming content. 

When I log into Facebook, I see what my best friend from fourth grade ate for dinner, political rants from the lunatic fringe and that friend who posts EVERYTHING…no matter how inane. At least once a week I think I need to stop logging into Facebook. Yet, I always come back. I bet you have felt the same at one point. Why do we keep coming back?

Scott Galloway’s takes a clever and insightful look into how these four giants of their industries have infiltrated our lives.  They are so ubiquitous that it is hard to imagine life without them. He describes the race for the first trillion dollar company, and how each company may get there.  Further, he posits how we give them a pass on some bad behavior.  Remember the most recent revelation?  Apple purposely slowed down older phones when new models were introduced to the market. Where was the outrage and the call for Congressional investigations?  

I truly enjoyed this book.  Reading about “The Four” was great. However, in one of the later chapters, Scott attempts to predict who might the fifth to crash the party.  I especially like the prognostication that it might be Walmart! Makes a lot of sense.  

This book needs to be on your list of must reads this year. Spoiler alert:  Next month’s book, The Inevitable, needs to be right there with it.  

Author:

Scott Galloway

Publisher:

Portfolio

Published:

2017

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