Remarkable Reading: #3 When to Rob a Bank - The Freakopedia by Steven D.Levitt and Stephen J.Dubner and Dream-Biz.com by Burke Hedges

The aim of this section Remarkable Reading is pay a tribute to the books that taught, share trends & insights into where our world in the 21st century is heading in a technology enabled world, and ask the right questions.

Bolded and italics quotes and references do not belong to myself  and belong directly to the author.  The focus is to share valuable insights and teachings from the book to win business for the authors.

Two topics and themes I wanted to touch on after reading Steven D.Levitt. & Stephen J.Dubner’s WHEN TO ROB A BANK - FREAKOPEDIA are food, and by that I mean the explosion of food on the internet in the last decade thanks to advances in smartphone devices and social media including the use of mobile applications like UBEREATS and Zomato, food porn and photography via Instagram and Pinterest as well as further food exploratory which ties in with my second trend and that is the next billionth to enter the internet from all over the world who will share their unique cuisines and dishes.

Chapter 4, Page 116 states “…that the spike in obesity mostly has to do with the widespread availability of very cheap, very tasty”.

What does this mean for us?  We have to learn to maintain our health better, understand our metabolism better, know what reacts in our body in what way, understand what our everyday dietary and body routine is used to before exploring so you know the impact on your digestive system accordingly.  And above all, to enjoy the exploration of food further fusion in a healthy manner.

Chapter 7, Page 171 states “But growing your own food has to be good for the environment, right”?

I believe the first few decades of the 21^st century we will concentrate on how we consume food with more scrutiny as we realize that it impacts on our way of living, health and lifestyle.  How many days a week do we want to cook at home? Where do we want to shop for food? Where do we want to explore with what different foods? We may even go as far as having our own, individual menu’s so we know what we want to eat & when 7 days a week (for example what exact, specific meal you’ll have for dinner on a set menu, 7 days a week).  We may also explore the same menu or dish, but in many and multiple ways (from a particular restaurant as well as try chef it ourselves best we can). 

This also means a more stable life, and may potentially lead to less stress.

Burke Hedge's DREAM-BIZ.COM was originally written 5 years after the internet was made mainstream, and it has been 18 years since it was originally published. Two very interesting facts about Internet History I learnt from DREAM-BIZ.COM as follows: 

1) Page 64 – "The internet got its start in 1969 when the Defense Department funded a project to link their computers with those of government research contractors, many of whom were working for universities. The experiment started small, connecting three computers in California with one in Utah. By 1990, the thousands of people in universities and governments offices were using the Internet to communicate and exchange data. The Defense Department wisely decided it was time to make Internet technology available to the rest of the world”

2) Page 65 - …”It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. It took TV 13 years to reach the 50 million mark. It took the internet four years to attract 50 million users. To give you some idea of how fast the Net is growing, there were more people online in 1999 than owned TV sets when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon in 1960”. 

DREAM-BIZ.COM is precise in its early predictions about the Internet, and makes some interesting and accurate observations about the future of the Internet and how it will affect retail & shopping. 23 years after the internet has become a full grown adult DREAM-BIZ.COM is a nice historical reflection on the early stages of the Internet."

Despite almost two decades since it was written, Burke's optimistic outlook towards the Internet as a tool for greater economic benefit and commerce, as well as his predictions towards the future of the Internet remain accurate.  The strength of DREAM-BIZ.COM is its aibility to hone in on the commercial e-commerce element of the Internet fluidly which makes it relevant today.

You can purchase a copy of WHEN TO ROB A BANK here, follow Freakonomics on Twitter here, read more about WHEN TO ROB A BANK on the Frakonomics Blog here and listen to Stephen J.Dubner's podcast here. 

Burke can be reached through his website burkehedges.com. 

We will be touching on Robotics and AI, food innovation (Finnovation), convergence of established media and social media, internet necessities and what the future of the 21st century workplace & economy will be like.  My core aim is to study in-depth these areas with a business friend and to write a book.

Thank you.