Now that I’ve joined the iPad crowd, it’s easier than ever for me to peruse books and buy what looks interesting. Kindle recommended Automate This: How Algorithms Took Over Our Markets, Our Jobs, and the World (affiliate link) by Christopher Steiner , so I decided to read the sample.

Immediately, I was hooked. I bought the book and breezed through it in a little over a day.

Steiner has a gift for storytelling and he certainly did his research. I was familiar with many of the concepts and companies discussed in the book. I knew about IBM’s Watson, evidence-based medicine, and high-frequency trading, so not all of the material was new to me. At the same time, though, I learned a great deal.

At the heart of many algorithms is the desire to make money–and Wall Street in particular. I also didn’t know that the same aversion to new trading technologies today existed in the 1960s. The more things change …

I can see why this book has done so well. My only regret is that I finished it. I want to see more from Steiner.