Showing results by author "Shane Larson" in All Categories

Rome lasted a thousand years. The Mongol Empire barely survived its founder's grandchildren. The British Empire won two world wars and lost everything. The Soviet Union imploded in two years. Different centuries. Different continents. The same five fatal flaws. The Empire Collapse Pattern examines history's mightiest political powers--from Rome to the Soviets--to uncover the recurring lifecycle that every empire follows to its own destruction: explosive growth, overextension, elite capture, loss of legitimacy, and collapse. You'll discover: Why no empire has ever lasted forever--and why the...

Your best side project idea is dying in a GitHub repo right now. You bought the domain. You starred the frameworks. You told yourself you'd start "this weekend." But weekends keep passing, and the repo stays empty. Ship It Saturday is the cure for planning paralysis. This book gives you a step-by-step, time-blocked framework to go from zero to a live, revenue-capable product in a single weekend — Friday night to Sunday evening. What You'll Learn Friday night: Validate your idea in 30 minutes and choose your tech stack without overthinking Saturday morning: Build your core feature with AI-...

Your company has a senior engineer who ships features before lunch using AI. They understand the systems, solve the problems, and build the products that generate revenue. Your company also has a VP who attends six meetings a day, forwards status updates, and presents other people's work on slides. They haven't touched a system in years. They "drive alignment" and "set strategy" — which mostly means adding process to work that was already getting done. AI is about to make one of these people dramatically more valuable and the other one redundant. It's not the one you've been told. The ...

They impaled prisoners on stakes. They flayed rebel leaders alive. They deported entire populations across hundreds of miles. And they did it all on purpose. The Assyrians didn't commit atrocities because they were uniquely cruel. They did it because terror worked. For three centuries, a city-state on the upper Tigris built and maintained the ancient world's first superpower through a calculated combination of overwhelming military force, systematic propaganda, and administrative genius that later empires — Persia, Rome, and beyond — would study and imitate. But the Assyrians were far ...

Tulip mania. The South Sea Bubble. The Panic of 1929. The savings and loan crisis. The dot-com bubble. The 2008 financial crisis. Crypto crashes. Different centuries. Different instruments. The exact same pattern. A new opportunity appears. Early investors get rich. Everyone piles in. Leverage builds. Skeptics are mocked. Then it all comes apart. Every single time. The Economic Collapse Pattern examines history's most devastating financial crises--from the tulip fields of 1637 to the crypto exchanges of 2022--to uncover the recurring cycle that appears whenever humans and money intersect. ...

Digital transformation was already hard. The average enterprise transformation takes 3-5 years and has a 70% failure rate. Now add AI and LLMs to the equation—the technology landscape is shifting faster than traditional transformation programs can adapt. You're changing the tires on a car going 100 MPH down the highway. Except when you're done, the car needs to be a rocket ship going 1,000 MPH. If you use traditional human-speed tools to manage this, you will never succeed. The insight that's changing everything: The same AI tools disrupting your transformation can accelerate it. You need...

Embark on a transformative journey with "The Stoic Journey: Transforming Challenges into Wisdom", a compelling exploration of how the enduring principles of Stoicism can be applied to navigate the complexities of modern life. This insightful book delves into the heart of Stoic philosophy, offering practical guidance for personal growth, emotional resilience, and ethical living in today's world. Experience the wisdom of ancient Stoic masters like Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, and discover how their teachings are more relevant today than ever. This guide illuminates the path to a ...

You're not broken. The system is. You've achieved what you were supposed to: senior title, strong compensation, respected company. But you're exhausted. You dread Monday mornings. You can't remember the last time you felt genuinely energized by your work. And the thought of doing this for another 20 years feels impossible. Sound familiar? Burnout in tech isn't a personal failure—it's a design problem. Most career advice tells you to "set better boundaries" or "find your passion." But boundaries don't work when you're financially trapped. And passion doesn't help when the work that once ...

Your company might not have an AI strategy. Your boss might not understand ChatGPT. IT might not have approved any AI tools. That doesn't mean you have to wait. While executives debate policies and committees evaluate vendors, the professionals who figure out AI on their own are pulling ahead. They're working faster, producing better output, and building skills that will matter for the rest of their careers. This book is your guide to using AI at work—right now, without waiting for permission, training, or official approval. What you'll learn: • Where AI actually helps — Cut through ...

850,000 Bitcoin. $450 million. Gone. Mt. Gox was the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, handling 70% of all Bitcoin transactions globally. Then, in February 2014, it disappeared — taking hundreds of thousands of Bitcoin with it and plunging the cryptocurrency world into its first existential crisis. The Mt. Gox Collapse tells the complete story: from the exchange's absurd origins as a Magic: The Gathering trading card website, through its chaotic rise to dominance, to the catastrophic collapse and the decade-long aftermath that is still unfolding today. Inside this book: How a trading card...

Embark on a riveting journey into the shadowy world of cyber espionage with "Operation Aurora: A Tale of Digital Espionage." This enthralling book unveils the gripping story of one of the most sophisticated cyber attacks in history, which marked a watershed moment in the realm of digital security and international relations. In 2009, the digital landscape was forever altered by Operation Aurora, a highly orchestrated cyberattack targeting some of the world's most formidable corporate giants. This meticulously planned operation not only breached the digital fortresses of these companies but ...

The Fall of Rome: Decline and Transformation — How the Ancient World Became the Medieval The greatest civilization the world had ever seen didn't fall in a day. It took three centuries of plague, civil war, economic collapse, and barbarian pressure — and the story is more complex, more human, and more relevant than you've been told. Rome ruled the Mediterranean for centuries. Sixty million people lived under its laws. Its roads, aqueducts, and cities represented a level of infrastructure that wouldn't be matched for a thousand years. And then it was gone — replaced by a patchwork of ...

You know AI is changing how work gets done. You just don't have time to figure it out. Between meetings, deadlines, and a full inbox, the last thing you need is another technology learning curve. But you've also noticed that some colleagues seem to get more done, write faster, and stay ahead—and AI is part of how they do it. AI for Busy Professionals is the practical guide you've been looking for. No coding. No jargon. No hype about robots taking your job. Just clear, actionable guidance on using AI tools to work smarter—starting today. What you'll learn: - What AI can actually do for ...

After six books examining why civilizations, companies, economies, empires, technologies, and institutions destroy themselves, one question remains: what makes the survivors different? Collapse is the default. Most civilizations fail. Most companies disappear within decades. Most empires crumble. Most technologies become obsolete. The systems that endure are the anomaly--and they share a specific set of structural characteristics that can be identified, studied, and applied. Collapse Proof is the other side of the coin. Drawing on survivors from every domain--civilizations that lasted ...

"Ancient Apocalypse: The Fall of the Bronze Age" unveils a transformative period in human history that reshaped the ancient world. This gripping account explores the enigmatic collapse of Bronze Age civilizations across the Mediterranean and Near East. The narrative meticulously unravels the complex factors behind this dramatic downfall. It examines how environmental changes, including climate shifts and natural disasters, crippled agricultural systems and economic stability. The book also delves into the disintegration of intricate trade networks that once united empires, triggering ...

A 75-cent accounting error. A year-long obsession. The first cyber spy hunt in history. In 1986, astronomer Cliff Stoll was asked to track down a minor billing discrepancy at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. What he discovered would change cybersecurity forever: a hacker systematically stealing American military secrets and selling them to the KGB. With no budget, no training, and no institutional support, Stoll built a one-man surveillance operation that would eventually unmask a ring of West German hackers working for Soviet intelligence. His investigation pioneered techniques still used ...

"Stuxnet: The Silent Weapon" is a riveting exploration into the world of digital warfare, offering a comprehensive look at the infamous Stuxnet attack, a moment that redefined modern warfare. This book delves deep into the intricacies of the Stuxnet worm, the first known digital weapon to cause physical damage to a nation's critical infrastructure, marking a watershed moment in military history. Spanning over detailed chapters, the book begins by setting the stage with the discovery of Stuxnet, a sophisticated piece of malware that targeted Iran's Natanz nuclear facility. It unfolds the ...

Cap'n Crunch: The Whistle That Started It All — John Draper and the Birth of Hacking A cereal company accidentally included a hacking tool in boxes of children's cereal. The man who figured it out changed the world — and paid for it. In the late 1960s, a toy whistle in boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal produced a tone at precisely 2600 hertz — the exact frequency needed to hijack AT&T's long-distance phone network. John Draper discovered this, built sophisticated devices to exploit it, and became the most famous phone phreak in America. Then he taught Steve Wozniak how to build one. And ...

Kodak invented digital photography. Then digital photography killed Kodak. Blockbuster turned down Netflix for $50 million. Enron was named "America's Most Innovative Company" six years in a row--while committing fraud. Nokia owned 40% of the mobile phone market and dismissed the iPhone as a toy. What do these catastrophes have in common? More than you'd expect. The Corporate Collapse Pattern examines history's most dramatic business failures--from Kodak's innovation trap to WeWork's delusions of grandeur--to uncover the recurring patterns that appear when great companies destroy themselves...

AI for Smart Beginners: What to Learn, What to Ignore, and How to Start Without Feeling Overwhelmed You know you should be using AI. You've tried—maybe once, maybe several times. But every time you look at the endless parade of tools, techniques, and breathless predictions, you feel more confused, not less. You're not behind. You're just getting started at the right time. This isn't another book promising to make you an AI expert in 30 days. It's a practical, no-hype guide for intelligent people who want to use AI effectively without chasing every trend or feeling perpetually inadequate. ...