Book: Ender’s Game

Fiction

First things first. About 80% of the books I read are non-fiction. I rarely pick up a “Story” unless recommended to me. I figured since I am trying to read 24 books this year it would be good to switch up my professional development reading with some fiction.

This was a suggestion from one of my industrial design colleague’s who is working on a new social validation platform. He had been reading this book and said it really inspired him on his current project, so I figured it was worth a look.

I ended up reading this over the course of a week often staying up until 2 am thinking “I’ll just read a couple more pages”. TEh story is about a futuristic Earth that had survived an invasion and are preparing a counter strike twenty years in the making. TEh hopes of humanity rely on Ender a gifted chid born into a family of  gifted children.

The book follows Ender through his years of training in the academy to become the most brilliant strategic mind the school has ever seen. Interestingly enough he is successful not only because of wit, but also his ability to empathize with people to see a situation for what it really is. The most interesting sections were the ones that took you through Ender’s thought process and to an ultimate decision.

One of the more amazing aspects of the book was the authors foresight into technology advancement. This book was written in 1994 but fluidly mentioned laptop like technology that operated on a global networked system (internet). Where people were judged by their interactions in social forums. It was so natural and true to the time that we actually live in, I didn’t think about the time disparity until about halfway through the book.

Overall it was a great read to get a fast start on my reading goal. Now onto some professional paradigm shifting.

Next Up: The Dip by  Seth Godin