Melbourne Business School's Summer Reading List for 2020
Our experts and faculty recommend their favourite books, podcasts and shows to stimulate fresh thinking for 2021.
Books
The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health - And How We Must Adapt
By Sinan Aral
Recommended by Ujwal Kayande, Professor of Marketing & Director of The Centre for Business Analytics
"An intellectual dissection of how social media influences our lives and what we can do to manage it."
Lying for Money: How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World
By Dan Davies
Recommended by Andrew John, Associate Professor of Economics
"An engaging and witty analysis of financial frauds with examples from the Old Testament, Icelandic sagas, and the fictional country of Poyais, as well as more familiar contributions from Charles Ponzi, Nick Leeson, and Bernard Madoff."
Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them
By Gary Hamel, Michele Zanini
Recommended by Ellen Sullivan, Senior Consultant Digital Learning
"A look at how to unlock innovation and the creative potential within organisations, arguing that bureaucracy is soul-crushing and is clearly limiting an organisation's potential collective intelligence."
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
By David J Epstein
Recommended by Don O’Sullivan, Professor of Marketing
"A timely encouragement to adopt a broad perspective rather than fixate on our functional specialisms."
The Adaptation Advantage: Let Go, Learn Fast and Thrive in the Future of Work
By Heather E. McGowan, Chris Shipley
Recommended by Alexandra Lazarus-Priestley, Strategic Relationship Manager
"An opportunity view on the future of work that looks at how we need to change the way we think about work and leadership to successfully learn and adapt."
Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them
By Joshua Greene
Recommended by Sven Feldmann, Associate Dean Business Administration
"A fun and practical look at the tension between Me and Us and the Tragedy of the Commons, Us and Them and the Tragedy of Common Sense Morality, and Us above Them."
Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built
By Duncan Clark
Recommended by Stephen Smith, Executive Director – Client and Career Development
"An engrossing, insider's account of how a teacher built one of the world's most valuable companies, which rivals Walmart and Amazon, and forever reshaped the global economy."
The End of Everything: Astrophysically Speaking
By Katie Mack
Recommended by François Bogacz, Senior Learning Consultant
"A rather comical, not so gloomy, look at the end of the universe that will expand your perspective on the year that's been and the future to come."
Podcasts and TV series
The Radical Candor Podcast
Recommended by David Frankel, Professor of Economics
"A podcast about the complexities of managing people and how to navigate the emotions and human side of work."
Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
Recommended by Aviva Berzon, Lead Learning Consultant
"Given the increased levels of burnout in 2020, we recommend this podcast's episode with doctors Emily and Amelia Nagoski, who discuss what causes burnout, what it does to our bodies, and how we can move through the emotional exhaustion."
Futurepod
Recommended by Cameron Brooks, Senior Learning Consultant
"A podcast with voices from the international field of Futures and Foresight and emerging leaders, who share their stories, tools and experiences."
The A16Z podcast
Recommended by Kwanghui Lim, Associate Professor of Strategic Management
"The go-to place for discussions on technology, innovation and change, covering everything from tech trends and culture to building organisations of any size."
Abstract - The Art of Design
Recommended by Tom Barker, Consultant Digital Learning
"A Netflix documentary that looks into computer and modern contemporary design with some of the world's most highly regarded designers, such as Neri Oxman."
To find out more about studying at Melbourne Business School, visit our Degree Programs and Short Courses pages or learn about how we design Custom Solutions with organisations.