Tools and Weapons
The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age
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Narrated by:
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Brad Smith
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Carol Ann Browne
About this listen
The instant New York Times best seller
From Microsoft's president and one of the tech industry's broadest thinkers, a frank and thoughtful reckoning with how to balance enormous promise and existential risk as the digitization of everything accelerates.
"A colorful and insightful insiders’ view of how technology is both empowering us and threatening us. From privacy to cyberattacks, this timely book is a useful guide for how to navigate the digital future." (Walter Isaacson)
Microsoft President Brad Smith operates by a simple core belief: When your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address the world you have helped create. This might seem uncontroversial, but it flies in the face of a tech sector long obsessed with rapid growth and sometimes on disruption as an end in itself. While sweeping digital transformation holds great promise, we have reached an inflection point. The world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon, and new approaches are needed to manage an era defined by even more powerful inventions like artificial intelligence. Companies that create technology must accept greater responsibility for the future, and governments will need to regulate technology by moving faster and catching up with the pace of innovation.
In Tools and Weapons, Brad Smith and Carol Ann Browne bring us a captivating narrative from the cockpit of one of the world's largest and most powerful tech companies as it finds itself in the middle of some of the thorniest emerging issues of our time. These are challenges that come with no pre-existing playbook, including privacy, cybercrime and cyberwar, social media, the moral conundrums of artificial intelligence, big tech's relationship to inequality, and the challenges for democracy, far and near. While in no way a self-glorifying "Microsoft memoir", the audiobook pulls back the curtain remarkably wide onto some of the company's most crucial recent decision points as it strives to protect the hopes technology offers against the very real threats it also presents. There are huge ramifications for communities and countries, and Brad Smith provides a thoughtful and urgent contribution to that effort.
©2019 Brad Smith, Carol Ann Browne, Bill Gates (P)2019 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"A clear, compelling guide to some of the most pressing debates in technology today." (Bill Gates, from the foreword)
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“Smith’s book is not the typical vanity project churned out by so many Fortune 500 leaders, the generic tomes on leadership and teamwork stocked at airport bookstores near the neck pillows. Tools and Weapons is a glimpse behind the curtain as Microsoft reckoned with the Snowden revelations, defended against the vicious cyberattacks, and took both the Obama and Trump administrations to court.” (Rolling Stone)
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- Unabridged
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The media often suggest that Russia poses the greatest threat to America's national security, but the real danger lies farther east. While those in power have been distracted and disorderly, China has waged a six-front war on America's economy, military, diplomacy, technology, education, and infrastructure - and they're winning. It's almost too late to undo the shocking, though nearly invisible, victories of the Chinese. In Stealth War, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding reveals China's motives and secret attacks on the West.
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A General with a backbone loaded with truth "woke"
- By Jason on 10-01-19
By: Robert Spalding
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The End of Power
- From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn't What It Used to Be
- By: Moises Naim
- Narrated by: Matt Kugler
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In The End of Power, award-winning columnist and former Foreign Policy editor Moisés Naím illuminates the struggle between once-dominant megaplayers and the new micropowers challenging them in every field of human endeavor. Drawing on provocative, original research and a lifetime of experience in global affairs, Naím explains how the end of power is reconfiguring our world.
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Another Power book
- By Anonymous User on 04-12-24
By: Moises Naim
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The World Is Flat
- Further Updated and Expanded
- By: Thomas L. Friedman
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development in the first few years of the twenty-first century? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations?
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If you like cliches...
- By Jonathan Shultz on 09-08-07
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Dawn of the Code War
- America's Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat
- By: John P. Carlin, Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The inside story of how America's enemies launched a cyberwar against us - and how we've learned to fight back. In this dramatic audiobook, former assistant attorney general John P. Carlin takes listeners to the front lines of a global but little-understood fight as the Justice Department and the FBI chases down hackers, online terrorist recruiters, and spies.
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Exhausting
- By Raz on 01-08-19
By: John P. Carlin, and others
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Who Controls the Internet
- Illusions of a Borderless World
- By: Jack Goldsmith, Tim Wu
- Narrated by: Bob Loza
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Is the Internet erasing national borders? Who's really in control of what's happening on the Net--Internet engineers, rogue programmers, the United Nations, or powerful countries?In this provocative new book, Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu tell the fascinating story of the Internet's challenge to governmental rule in the 1990s, and the ensuing battles with governments around the world.
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Mostly delves into questions of law
- By Amazon Customer on 05-07-11
By: Jack Goldsmith, and others
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Becoming Facebook
- The 10 Challenges That Defined the Company That's Disrupting the World
- By: Mike Hoefflinger
- Narrated by: Nicholas Techosky
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Facebook's founding is legend: In a Harvard dorm, wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg invented a new way to connect with friends...and the rest is history. But for the people who actually molded this great idea into a game-changing $300 billion company, the experience was far more tumultuous and uncertain than we might expect. Mike Hoefflinger was one of those Facebook insiders.
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mainly a tribute to the success of FB
- By Anonymous User on 10-07-18
By: Mike Hoefflinger
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Africa Rise and Shine
- By: Jim Ovia
- Narrated by: David Applefield
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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The road to success is rarely linear and never easy. But with courage, hard work, perseverance, and dedication to duty, Jim Ovia, founder and chairman of Zenith Bank, proves we can achieve the unthinkable. Jim has been called the Godfather of Banking by Forbes Africa. And this should be no surprise. In a time of tension between military and civilian regimes, periods of incredible economic instability, and a decaying infrastructure, Jim founded Zenith Bank in Nigeria.
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Very inspiring
- By Henry on 06-10-23
By: Jim Ovia
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Whiplash
- How to Survive Our Faster Future
- By: Joi Ito, Jeff Howe
- Narrated by: James Foster
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, not only is everything digital getting faster, cheaper, and smaller at an exponential rate, we also have the Internet. When these two revolutions - one in technology and the other in communications - joined, an explosive force was unleashed that changed the very nature of innovation. And with any change, we have seen many strategic blunders and extraordinary learning curves along the way.
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Just general advice on how to survive
- By A. Yoshida on 09-01-17
By: Joi Ito, and others
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Crypto
- How the Code Rebels Beat the Government - Saving Privacy in the Digital Age
- By: Steven Levy
- Narrated by: Rich Miller
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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If you've ever made a secure purchase with your credit card over the internet, then you have seen cryptography, or "crypto", in action. From Stephen Levy - the author who made "hackers" a household word - comes this account of a revolution that is already affecting every citizen in the 21st century. Crypto tells the inside story of how a group of "crypto rebels" - nerds and visionaries turned freedom fighters - teamed up with corporate interests to beat Big Brother and ensure our privacy on the internet.
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Wish it could be updated today
- By Chip L. on 05-22-21
By: Steven Levy
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What to Do When Machines Do Everything
- How to Get Ahead in a World of AI, Algorithms, Bots, and Big Data
- By: Malcolm Frank, Paul Roehrig, Ben Pring
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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What to Do When Machines Do Everything is a guidebook to succeeding in the next generation of the digital economy. When systems running on artificial intelligence can drive our cars, diagnose medical patients, and manage our finances more effectively than humans, it raises profound questions on the future of work and how companies compete.
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Assumes that machine learning will grow very slow
- By Nathan Burnham on 05-06-17
By: Malcolm Frank, and others
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Startup Rising
- The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East
- By: Christopher M. Schroeder
- Narrated by: Christopher M. Schroeder
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Despite the world's elation at the Arab Spring, shockingly little has changed politically in the Middle East; even frontliners Egypt and Tunisia continue to suffer repression, fixed elections, and bombings, while Syria descends into civil war. But in the midst of it all, a quieter revolution has begun to emerge, one that might ultimately do more to change the face of the region: Entrepreneurship.
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Inspiring stories
- By Raafat Zaini on 02-13-15
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Start-Up Nation
- The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle
- By: Dan Senor, Saul Singer
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel - a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources - produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK?
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Interesting and worth the time
- By Nili on 12-10-09
By: Dan Senor, and others
What listeners say about Tools and Weapons
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sterling
- 12-28-19
Informative and Relevant
For anyone that is in business, investment or technology, I recommend listening to this book. It is very informative and addresses current issues. Despite a small portion content that was based on opinion, I definitely gained some understanding by listening to this book.
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- Michael W Robertson
- 05-31-20
Learn more
A good read to learn about the future. It is worth your time to the idea brought forward.
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- MikeM
- 03-16-20
Excellent Book On The Cutting Edge
This is an important book for technology leaders and world leaders alike. It is the “Inconvenient Truth” of the AI era, and a sobering call to action for all who care about the future of humanity.
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- Luis Fritz
- 10-15-19
Reseña de la historia reciente de la tecnología
Brad plasma los momentos más trascendentes de la historia reciente de las empresas del ramo tecnológico, hace enfasis en las discusiones más trascendentes y reflexiona constantemente entre la dualidad herramienta a favor del desarrollo o arma en contra de la humanidad.
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- Guest
- 12-10-19
eye opening details about the tech world
this was a great behind the scenes view of the challenges within the digital age. I enjoyed reading about the ins and outside of washington and AI .
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- Gam Gamus
- 10-18-19
A glimpse from where we come to where we go
Past and future perspectives from a former legal Microsoft employee, nice reading good executed book!
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- Clint Watts
- 08-06-22
Excellent summary of all the dimensions of technology law and a changing world
What I appreciated most about this book was its breakdown of the many complex legal regulatory and global issues and how technology can be used for a good or bad depending on how democracies respond
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- Tim
- 11-11-21
Good book … but …
… boy did he cringe every time a Republican did something right. Constantly trying to phrase it as an excuse if something was not done with Democrats. Geez … this does not instill confidence that MS will treat everyone the same.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Cedars
- 10-29-19
Educational, though a MSFT puff piece
I respect the challenge in pulling something like this together given the thorny, politically charged topics that are raised. That said, references to Letters from a Birmingham Jail may be a step too far.
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A must read to know how data will rule the world.
Know and understand what data is and how it will continue to dominate the world of today and tomorrow.
Brad Smith does an excellent job narrating his book making it feel more personable.
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1 person found this helpful