Book Reviews

Knowledge and Global Power is a ground-breaking international study which examines how knowledge is produced, distributed and validated globally. The former imperial nations – the rich countries of Europe and North America – still have a hegemonic position in the global knowledge economy.

Shortly after the giant bronze statue of Cecil John Rhodes came down at the University of Cape Town, student protesters called for the decolonisation of universities. It was a word hardly heard in South Africa’s struggle lexicon and many asked: What exactly is decolonisation?

Nolitha Fakude grew up as a shopkeeper’s daughter in the Eastern Cape, studied at the University of Fort Hare and then entered the workplace in 1990 as a graduate trainee at Woolworths. Subsequently, she has worked in very senior positions at some major blue-chip companies, including Woolworths, Nedbank and Sasol. She was also managing director and then president of the Black Management Forum (BMF).

Permanent Record is the essential and courageous memoir of Edward Snowden - the man who risked everything to expose the shocking mass surveillance used by governments across the world to spy on their own citizens. Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.

Former CEO, successful businessman, part time playboy, father, brother and son, Lenerd Louw’s Jump! is an epic travel and soul adventure of his phenomenal five-year journey in search of himself, which takes him to 35 countries across the globe.

It is almost impossible to keep up with the pace and direction in which business and technology are moving today. Artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain, big data, Internet of Things, the fourth industrial revolution. Who actually knows what any of these concepts mean for their business, much less how to integrate them?

The South African economy has a secret weapon: stokvels. If harnessed correctly, investments in stokvels could significantly bolster the economy. The following statistics, provided by the National Stokvel Association of South Africa, are mind-blowing: at present there are 11.4 million South Africans who are members of stokvels; around R44 billion is pooled collectively by ordinary people in stokvels; and it is saved by 820,000 stokvels.

Leaving Word is a literary mystery in which the mysterious death of Buddy Rappaport, the CEO of a major publishing company, sets off a probing, occasionally comic, occasionally tragic and intellectually wide-ranging search for plot, meaning, reason and motive.

Why is it that some people work hard, yet remain poor? How is it that others seem to rise out of poverty and become affluent in a short span of time? If you want to know how to become rich relatively quickly and avoid spending years working back-breakingly hard without ever breaking even, then read on.

Over the course of four years Matt Brown has interviewed hundreds of local and international entrepreneurs and business experts for his podcast, The Matt Brown Show, and in the process has created a library of business, growth, start-up and funding tips that anyone can learn from and implement.