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The Industries of the Future
- Narrated by: Alec Ross
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Categories: Computers & Technology, History & Culture
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My perspective on the world turned upside down
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4 out of 5 stars
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Summary
Leading innovation expert Alec Ross explains what's next for the world, mapping out the advances and stumbling blocks that will emerge in the next 10 years - for businesses, governments, and the global community - and how we can navigate them.
While Alec Ross was working as Hillary Clinton's senior advisor on innovation, he traveled to 41 countries. He visited some of the toughest places in the world - from refugee camps of Congo to Syrian war zones. From phone-charger stands in Eastern Congo to R&D labs in South Korea, Ross has seen what the future holds.
Over the past two decades, the Internet has radically changed markets and businesses worldwide. In The Industries of the Future, Ross shows us what's next, highlighting the best opportunities for progress and explaining why countries thrive or sputter. He examines the specific fields that will most shape our economic future over the next 10 years, including cybercrime and cybersecurity; the commercialization of genomics; the next step for big data; and the coming impact of digital technology on money, payments, and markets. And in each of these realms, Ross addresses the toughest questions: How will we have to adapt to the changing nature of work? Is the prospect of cyberwar sparking the next arms race? How can the world's rising nations hope to match Silicon Valley in creating their own innovation hotspots?
Ross blends storytelling and economic analysis to give a vivid and informed perspective on how sweeping global trends are affecting the ways we live, incorporating the insights of leaders ranging from tech moguls to defense experts. The Industries of the Future takes the intimidating, complex topics that many of us know to be important and boils them down into clear, plain-spoken language. This is an essential work for understanding how the world works - now and tomorrow - and a must-listen for businesspeople in every sector, from every country.
What listeners say about The Industries of the Future
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard
- 17-03-17
Well written and well researched
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook, in fact it was difficult to take my earbuds out, it's full of facts and figures, about the world, is very thought-provoking. I cannot recommend this book any higher Alex Ross has an amazing analytical mind and has proved to be a great author too
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 06-11-20
More political commentary than education
Author is a moralizer who cares more about telling you how mao was actually alright than educating you about the very thing that is in the title of the book. It's more "political commentary on the present" than "industries of the future".
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 28-04-20
Politicised
The content is interesting until you hit the unnecessary politicised content. Entire pages on how Putin is an awful person, I don’t disagree with that but you could remove those pages with no impact on the overall content.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Girl
- 23-10-19
Cyber world we need to know about
Very thought provoking book full of information that affects us all and we need to think about and how we take data abuse for granted and should not
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AS
- 15-08-19
Extremely well documented
Good narration, well documented, clear storyline
A well worth read for anyone
First chapter only might seem a bit dull
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Juan David Lucio Sánchez
- 12-11-18
Enjoyable and enlightening!
This book opened my mind to a vast new world of opportunities for a threatening and uncertain near future. Thank you Alec Ross!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. A. J. Trimbee
- 28-09-18
Good solid on-site into the future...
I stared off on the paper version on holiday then shifted to audio while back at work. Book is a good insight into the future. The guy is in a good position to know. Writes well. Very interesting
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. N. F. Mclarty
- 10-11-17
Great.
A fascinating read (listen) for anyone who cares about the world ahead of us and the world our children will live in.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 31-10-17
Very informative, a must read/listen!
If you want to have an idea about where the world is headed, this book will help set you on the way.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 30-09-17
Inspiring
I am an Information Technology major and this book has provided a new wave of inspiration for me. In a nutshell, Ross discusses his predictions of the next trillion dollar industries citing the examples of many fortune 500 CEO's and entrepreneurs providing a thorough view of how these industries might get there and the potential benefits and disasters that come with them.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Sam
- 06-05-16
Ok review of what is now. Not much future.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would recommend a friend to read this book if they were not following current trends and events as a concise way to catch up to what is going on presently.
Have you listened to any of Alec Ross’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
No.
Any additional comments?
This book is not so much a look over the horizon for what the industries will be but more a drive around the existing landscape stopping in to see what the demographics are, what people are working on, and why they think it might be important. People that follow technology, business, economics and global trends will not find much of the future in this book. For others, it can serve as a pretty good overview, but not much of predictor of what to expect for the future.
88 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Nicolas
- 21-02-16
Disappointing
The book is a lot of things but surely not "the industries of the future". Alec Ross talks a lot about current technology trends and very little about the future of these technologies (with the exception maybe of Robotics), and definitely nothing about future technologies that may not be now known to the common public. He talks in details about Silicon Valley, and other attempts to establish similar technology concentration zones in the world (and why they fail). He talks a lot about the politics of Russia, China, India, and many other countries, as if the book was a Geo-political and technological analysis of the world.
The narration is the worst part of the book (even after all above negative feedback). Alec Ross should have given this to a professional narrator. This audio book should not be listen to while driving under any circumstance because you will fall asleep very quickly. Absolutely terrible. I would have given the book a zero star for this if possible.
You still get some benefit from the book but not for whatever the title hinted at.
112 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Brian & Kara
- 27-06-16
Some good points, boring mostly
Insights are pretty common sense if you are up-to-date on trends. Really needs a better voice-over than the monotoned authors voice.
13 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- asmae
- 25-01-17
excellent book
eye opening . enjoyed every bit if the book. I particularly loved the factual aspect of the book where there was a clear distinction between the facts and the sole interpretations of the writer. highly recommended
8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard
- 07-02-16
be prepared ready or not it's going to happen ok
I'm 75 years old, and I thought it was breathtaking in terms of the world my grandchildren will live in. I think at least portions of it should be read by everyone interested in the future
19 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Pimpernel Sandybanks
- 10-02-16
Adapt or perish
I think Alex is right about a lot of the book, but the idea that little Silicon Valleys are going to spring up where there is domain expertise seems unlikely. The knowledge to build those big data systems is moving too fast to distribute, there are dozens of Apache projects that need to play well together for this to happen. For those with domain expertise to build on it the rate of technology change would have to slow down...otherwise you need a critical mass of big data experts. That seems to be the domain of Silicon Valley and the author doesn't propose a way for it to change, or a hypothesis for big data technology to plateau for some time.
6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D. Sooley
- 09-10-17
Interesting, stimulating, questionable
In some respects, the real-world application of new technologies holds promise for the developing world. On the other hand, the starry-eyed promises of technology offer nothing, really, for the very real-world problems we face of hunger, poverty and perpetual war. The narration of the book is, at times, almost painful to listen to. The author should have brought in a narrator. Over half the book is monotone ending to sentences.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- GW6
- 24-05-16
Thought Provoking
I like books that challenge my thinking and this book did that. I think it contains good content and was enjoyable to listen to.
It doesn't really matter to me if Alec is correct in his prognostication. He provides enough information to support his predictions so that the reader can synthesize that information and extend it to other domains. The "why" behind his selection of industries is the most important aspect to apply to changing markets in support of The Innovator's Dilemma.
Read this if you want a glimpse into the future or read it if you want a thought catalyst in support of current markets.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jean
- 08-04-16
Enlightening
This was an interesting book that looks at what fields are heading for a breakthrough and which ones are on the way out or will require less people in the future. Ross was an advisor to the State Department under Secretary Clinton. Ross traveled too many countries to learn about industrial development. Ross describes how Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Mexico are positioning themselves in the global economy. He also describes how Africa is starting to emerge as governments become more stable and civil wars are ending. I was surprised to learn about the mobile telecom companies in Africa and how that is changing people’s lives. I found the information about Estonia fascinating; children learning to code starting in grade one.
Ross identifies certain industries that are key drivers of change. The author devotes chapters to robotics, cyber warfare and advanced life sciences such as genetics. Ross states that any country that does not empower women will fall behind.
At the end of the book Ross discusses how to prepare children to enter the vastly changing workplace coming up. For the science aware person most of this in not new information but for those who are not science aware this might be new and helpful information. Alex Ross did a good job narrating the book.
14 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Donita Carson
- 10-02-16
More than a glimpse - a look into the future
This book comes from a man with firsthand knowledge. I use the terms "he smells like the sheep while also flying at 35,000 feet." Being so up close allows him to speak of what is yet he has drawn from what he has seen to see what might be! On one hand the reading leaves one excited about the future. On the other hand one is challenged to prepare oneself for involvement in this new world. Incredibly insightful and useful for anyone involved in creating the future!
5 people found this helpful