Recommended Reading: Jeff Bezos' Everything Store, Twitter's tumultuous history and more
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books dealing with the subject of technology that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.
The Secrets of Bezos: How Amazon Became the Everything Store
by Brad Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek
Brad Stone's book on Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos is set to be published next week, but Bloomberg Businessweek has offered an extensive look at what's in store with this cover story/excerpt from the author, including one of his biggest revelations. Drawn from interviews with hundreds of those who know or have worked with Bezos, the piece offers the most in-depth look yet at Amazon and its evolution into what Stone describes as the "Everything Store," as well as what Bezos himself is like to work for.
All Is Fair in Love and Twitter This week's other big excerpt from a highly anticipated book offers a look behind the scenes at Twitter, from its founding to the tensions that grew as the company became the phenomenon it is today. Nick Bilton's book, Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal, will be published next month. | Apple Legend Bill Atkinson's New Mission: Save the Postcard Dan Farber profiles Bill Atkinson, who created MacPaint, HyperCard and the Macintosh's QuickDraw graphics system while at Apple, and is also an accomplished photographer -- something that's led to his latest effort, an iOS app that he hopes will help revive the art of the postcard. |
How Lavabit Melted Down By now, there's a good chance you've heard of Lavabit, the secure email service that garnered headlines when it was revealed that Edward Snowden used it, and yet more when Lavabit's founder decided to shut it down. In this piece for The New Yorker's Elements blog, Michael Phillips and Matt Buchanan explain just what happened that led to the latter. | What Will It Take To Find Life Elsewhere In The Universe? In this essay adapted from his new book, Five Billion Years of Solitude, Lee Billings examines the recent history of efforts to study the universe with the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, as well as what else will be needed to search for possible life beyond our solar system. |
Further reading:
"Pop, Pop, Pop." She Heard Her Brain in Action
by Richard Martin, NautilusThis is How a Helsingin Sanomat Journalist Tried to Save Nokia
by Lauri Malkavaara, Helsingin Sanomat
