SHADOW OPERATIVES BOOK 3
‘Firefall’
A spy meets sci-fi thriller with a Michael Crichton twist
“Firefall grabs you from the first line, taking you on a breathless ride until the spine-tingling end.” – Cheryl Bradshaw, New York Times bestselling author
“A slick techno-thriller that unfolds at breakneck pace. Strap in for this one.” – thriller author R.A. McGee
“J.D. Lasica has become my Tom Clancy replacement with his Jack Ryan level storytelling.” — film composer Jim Schuyler
SHADOW OPERATIVES BOOK 2
‘Catch and Kill’
What happened to the girls?
“A great techno-thriller. … See it before it becomes a film.” – Forbes
“A perfect medley of high-tech thrills and old-school James Bond espionage.” — thriller author Nick Thacker
“I loved this book. It completely freaked me out.” — Kari Peterson
SHADOW OPERATIVES BOOK 1
‘Biohack’
The action thriller with a shocking twist
“The Dan Brown-meets-Lara Croft-meets-Michael Crichton thriller we’ve been waiting for.”
“A fresh voice, a rollicking good story, a diverse set of characters, and a chilling message — ‘Biohack’ delivers.”
“Fantastic! It’s like a summer-blockbuster action flick with a brain.” ★★★★★
Join author JD Lasica’s Readers Circle (?)
Book reviews by JD Lasica
Here are some of my book reviews — as well as Q&As with the authors. (Among the many hats I wore, I was books editor of the Sacramento Bee for a time.) And here are my Amazon book reviews.
Hell Divers III: Deliverance
By Nicholas Sansbury Smith
May 2018 review
If you’re familiar with Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller series “Hell Divers,” then you already know the lad can write and tell stories that will …
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The Friend
By Teresa Driscoll
March 2018 review
Thrillers come in all flavors: action thrillers, political thrillers, sci-fi thrillers, and on and on. A subgenre that relies more on intrigue and suspense than flash and bang, …
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Blackout
By Mark Dawson
March 2018 review
John Milton – the former MI6 operative with a harrowing backstory and flatlined EQ score – travels to the Philippines in “Blackout,” the 10th in author Mark Dawson’s thriller series.
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CyberStorm
By Matthew Maher
March 2018 review
As a tech-addicted gadget hound, I came to Matthew Maher’s “CyberStorm” with a certain degree of dread reading about a society plunged into unplugged chaos and conflict. …
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Overclocked
By Cory Doctorow
Feb. 2018 review
What we have in “Overclocked” is a passionate, smart collection of shorts and novellas that plies the territory of speculative sci-fi with an absurdist, cyberpunk edge. It reminds one of the Netflix series “Black Mirror,” …
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Brilliance
By Marcus Sakey
Jan. 2018 review
A thriller that’s long been on my reading list and that finally made its way onto my Kindle, “Brilliance” is a smart, fast-paced page-turner that opens the three-part Brilliance series by indie author Marcus Sakey. …
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Breakthrough
By Michael C. Grumley
Jan. 2018 review
I finally got to Michael C. Grumley’s first entry in his four-part “Breakthrough” series. The novel — a mix of the sci-fi, thriller, speculative fiction and action-adventure genres — opens with a nuclear sub forced to abort its mission deep beneath the waters of the Caribbean. …
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No Exit
By Taylor Adams
Jan. 2018 review
The story that stays with me a month after my recent trip is that of the protagonist in “No Exit.” The setup — the crucible of the story — is simple as can be. Darby, a college student with a mature if slightly jaded outlook …
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A Crack in Creation
By Jennifer A. Doudna & Samuel H. Sternberg
Jan. 2018 review
More often than not, it’s difficult to determine which new titles will have staying power 10, 20 or 50 years from now. But “A Crack in Creation” deserves to be on any short list of decidedly important nonfiction books of 2017. …
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Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups
By Jason Calacanis
July 2017
With Silicon Valley at the center of tech culture – and much of pop culture these days – you might be tempted to get in on the startup action. Not founding a startup but investing in one … or a dozen … or, as Jason Calacanis advises in his new book “Angel,” investing $1.5 million in 50 startups over a three-year span.
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The Fourth Transformation: How Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence Change Everything
By Robert Scoble & Shel Israel
Dec. 2016
At the Launch Scale conference in San Francisco on Nov. 14, 2016, technologist-futurist Robert Scoble held forth for 20 minutes wearing a mixed reality headset, allowing him to interact with the attendees (startup founders, angels …
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Dot Complicated
By Randi Zuckerberg
Nov. 2013
Cool your online jets, kids. You too, mom and pop. Step away from the habit of 24/7 smartphone gratification. Friend only real friends. Treat others with respect. And don’t try to carve out an Internet persona different from your real-world self.
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The Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy
By Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
Sept. 2013
Every few years someone comes along and pulls the camera back to reveal a wider view of the technological changes coursing through the business world and larger culture. Robert Scoble and Shel Israel have done just that with their new book, “The Age of Context” …
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Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success, and Happiness in the Digital Age
By Porter Gale
June 2013
“In the past,” Porter Gale says, “I think people thought of networking as a transaction or a game. It was all about collecting numbers and handing out business cards.”
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What’s the Future of Business?: Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences
By Brian Solis
March 2013
Brian Solis appeared at a Social Media Breakfast I co-hosted last year and wowed the attendees with a slide show and talk about the end of business as usual. Social is far more than a convenient channel for marketers to interact with customers, he said — to survive and thrive in today’s marketplace, companies need to become full-on social businesses.
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Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers Into a Powerful Marketing Voice
By Rob Fuggetta
July 2012
One of the most important changes in the relationship between businesses and customers in the past few years has been the move by forward-looking companies to harness the power of the crowd.
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The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge
By Doc Searls
July 2012
In “The Intention Economy” (Harvard Business Review Press), Doc Searls picks up where he left off as co-author of “The Cluetrain Manifesto,” the seminal 2000 book that coined the phrase “conversations are markets” and ushered in a new understanding of how the Internet has changed the power relationship between institutions and individuals.
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The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You
By Eli Pariser
May 2011
At the Personal Democracy Forum last year, Eli Pariser, former executive director of MoveOn.org and its current board president, gave one of the most memorable talks during the conference by raising a warning that almost no one else has done.
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Curation Nation: How to Win in a World Where Consumers Are Creators
By Steve Rosenbaum
March 2011
What’s this? Even in an age of democratized media, where the barbarians have not only stormed the gates but made a nice bouillabaisse out of the media guardians formerly known as The Gatekeepers, there’s a need for curators?
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Social Marketing to the Business Customer: Listen to Your B2B Market, Generate Major Account Leads, and Build Client Relationships
By Paul Gillin and Eric Schwartzman
March 2011
I still run into executives and top-tier managers who think of social networking as an employee productivity drain. For anyone who shares a similar point of view, run to your nearest bookstore and pick up a copy of “Social Marketing to the Business Customer.”
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The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry)
By Siva Vaidhyanatha
March 2011
What an interesting premise for a book!: the notion of Google writ large as a metaphor for how the public is being enticed into a new set of online realities and cultural norms that happen to dovetail perfectly with the search giant’s bottom line.
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Mediactive
By Dan Gillmor
Jan. 2011
“Mediactive” might well have been called “New Media Literacy 101,” but I like the term that Dan Gillmor has coined to describe the new responsibilities thrust on us as both creators and active users of news and information in our hyperconnected age.
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The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change
By Andy Smith and Jennifer Aaker
Nov. 2010
“The Dragonfly Effect,” a new book by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith, offers a roadmap for nonprofits and individuals interested in discovering “quick, effective and powerful ways to use social media to drive social change,” as the book’s subtitle promises.
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Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age
By Clay Shirky
June 2010
Clay Shirky is a master at bringing meaning to the startling cultural and technological changes whirling through our lives. In “Here Comes Everybody,” Shirky provided context the revolution that is turning passive office workers into take-charge designers of their businesses’ corporate destinies.
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Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead
By Charlene Li
May 2010
The first thing to understand about Charlene Li’s smart new book “Open Leadership” is that this is not a call to arms for top management to deploy a loosey-goosey, feel-good strategy of giving up complete control of your management structure.
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Engage! The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web
By Brian Solis
March 2010
Brian Solis’s new book, “Engage,” covers how social media significantly contributes to the success of brands and businesses smart enough to get in front of this burgeoning phenomenon.
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Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It’s Becoming, and Why It Matters
By Scott Rosenberg
Aug. 2009
Scott Rosenberg, co-founder and longtime managing editor of Salon — and a longtime friend — has a new book out, following “Dreaming in Code,” called “Say Everything.” It’s a well-written, well-researched, worthwhile read about blogging, its origins, …
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Nonfiction books by JD Lasica
Darknet: Hollywood’s War Against the Digital Generation
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Pages:
Release date: May 2, 2005
Synopsis: A look at emerging media, participatory culture and the clashes between major entertainment companies and the digital generation.
- Named “one of the best business books of 2005,” with accolades from Lawrence Lessig, James Fallows, Steven Levy, Kara Swisher, Glenn Reynolds, Dan Gillmor, Doc Searls and others.
- See the book on Amazon; order the Kindle edition
- See the book on Better World Books
- Excerpt from book
- Darknet has been published in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian.
Praise for ‘Darknet’
“Darknet is both fascinating and important. J.D. Lasica provides a detailed inside view of a culture many Americans are barely aware of, and vividly describes struggles that are already shaping the long-term balance of economic, creative, and ideological power around the world.”
— James Fallows, National Correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly“There are few who see the future clearly, and even fewer who can explain what they see. This brilliant, beautifully written book sees, and explains. We will never understand how different it will be till we live it. But this will get you close.”
— Lawrence Lessig, author of “Free Culture”“JD Lasica is the most talented technology writer working today. Nobody is better at explaining how things work and why things matter. Darknet is a great contribution to our understanding of the terrifying and wonderful opportunities that digitization, networking, and techno-cultural democracy offer us.”
— Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of “The Anarchist in the Library” and “The Googlization of Everything”“J.D. Lasica skillfully tells the story of the critical battle between free speech and copyright in the age of the Internet. If an intellectual property lockdown ever comes about, Darknet will remind us of the creative bounty we’re missing.”
— Steven Levy, author of “Crypto,” “In the Plex” and “Hackers”“Over the next several years, there will be no more important issue for the future of the Internet and, indeed, all media than the battle that will be fought between corporate giants and consumers over who will control the information future. J.D. Lasica’s new book, Darknet, is an indispensable primer and guide to the copyright wars for those who want to protect their digital rights from the dark forces of big media that seek to take them away. So, rip, mix, and burn, and most of all, read his book if you want information to be as free as it should be.”
— Kara Swisher, author of “There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere” and “AOL.com”“Lasica pulls no punches in this compelling report from the front, as he introduces us to the technology, politics, and people who are right now deciding the future of entertainment and ideas. A terrific read.”
— David Weinberger, author of “Small Pieces Loosely Joined” and co-author of “The Cluetrain Manifesto”“The people who most need to read JD Lasica’s thoughtful and provocative new book are, unfortunately, the least likely to do so. They are the members of Congress, entertainment executives and intellectual property zealots who want to control digital information rather than allow marvelous new technologies to democratize it. The rest of us — voters and average people — should read it for them, and then demand that our rights and needs get at least equal weight in this vital debate.”
— Dan Gillmor, author of “We the Media”
From the publisher (John Wiley & Sons)
The first general interest book by a blogger edited collaboratively by his readers, Darknet reveals how Hollywood’s fear of digital piracy is leading to escalating clashes between copyright holders and their customers, who love their TiVo digital video recorders, iPod music players, digital televisions, computers, and other cutting-edge devices. Drawing on unprecedented access to entertainment insiders, technology innovators, and digital provocateurs-including some who play on both sides of the war between digital pirates and entertainment conglomerates-the book shows how entertainment companies are threatening the fundamental freedoms of the digital age.
Reviews
“An absorbing book … highly recommended.”
— Library Journal, May 1, 2005
“Lasica provides a cogent analysis of the broad problems with America’s outdated legal framework for dealing with intellectual property rights and the need for the entertainment industry to adapt to new technologies.”
— Publishers Weekly, April 11, 2005
Aspen Institute thought-leadership books
The Mobile Generation: Global Transformations at the Cellular Level
Publisher: Aspen Institute
Pages: 72
Release date: February 2007
Synopsis: A panoply of big thinkers at the 15th annual Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology took part in a roundtable about the Mobile Generation, examining the profound changes ahead as a result of the convergence of wireless technologies and the Internet, with an emphasis on how youths use mobile technology.
Civic Engagement on the Move: How mobile media can serve the public good
Publisher: Aspen Institute
Pages: 110 pages
Release date: July 2008
Synopsis: The Aspen Institute Roundtable on Mobile Media and Civic Engagement convened 29 thought leaders from business, academia and the nonprofit world to tackle a number of questions: How does increased mobility impact our willingness to engage people with different backgrounds than our own? What is it about mobile that sets it apart from other media platforms? How are citizen journalists who use mobile devices reshaping the enterprise of journalism? How are mobile technologies being put to good use on the streets to advance social justice?
Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing: The next-generation Internet’s impact on business, governance and social interaction
Publisher: Aspen Institute
Pages: 110 pages
Release date: May 2009
Synopsis: As information, software and identity move to the cloud, the roundtable explores the transformative possibilities of this new computing paradigm for culture, commerce and personal communication. The report considers potential consequences for privacy, governance and security, and it includes policy recommendations and advice for the new presidential administration. JD Lasica synthesizes the output of 28 leaders and experts from the information technology, financial, government, academic and public policy sectors.
- Download free ebook (PDF)
- Available as paperback volume ($12)
‘We Media’
We Media: How Audiences Are Shaping the Future of News and Information
Publisher: The Media Center at the American Press Institute
Pages: 66
Authors: Shayne Bowman & Chris Willis
Editor: J.D. Lasica
Release date: July 2003
Synopsis: Groundbreaking look at the early days of participatory journalism and the rise of ‘‘We Media’’ with case studies, analysis, a look at the impact of blogging on the news ecosystem, and citations.
- Download free ebook (PDF)
Book chapters
J.D. contributed chapters to the following books:
- Internet Journalism and the Starr Investigation — Published in the anthology Thinking Clearly: Cases in Journalistic Decision-Making (Columbia University Press, 2003). Also see the teaching notes on the topic.
- Blogging as a form of journalism and Weblogs: A New Source of News are included in the anthology We’ve Got Blog: How Weblogs Are Changing Our Culture (Perseus Publishing, 2002).
- So you want to be an online journalist — Appeared in Writing.com: Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career, by Moira Anderson Allen (Allworth Press, August 1999).
- The Official SXSW 2014 Interactive Cookbook — My gazpacho recipe (March 2014).
