Today we will talk about the interesting, but rather narrowly focused book by Chris Skinner “Digital Man. The fourth revolution is the history of humanity, which will affect everyone.” This is a wide format publication that reveals the author’s vision from several important aspects of the present and the future – the development of information technologies, fintech and banks. Details, as always, in the review below.
“Digital person. The fourth revolution is the history of humanity, which will affect everyone” / Digital Human. The Fourth Revolution of Humanity Includes Everyone
Author Chris Skinner
Publishing house Plot
Pages 272
Year 2020
Cover solid
Language Ukrainian
Format 60×100/16 (145×240 mm)
Site kniga.biz.ua
The book is conventionally divided into three parts. In the first, the author seeks to prove that a new industrial and technological revolution is unfolding before our eyes, and all of humanity is subject to great changes. Skinner is sure that the digital revolution gives everyone a chance, and its fourth era digitizes values.
According to the author, the smartphone has become more than just a means of communication and entertainment. Now it is a full-fledged tool for financial transactions. For the first time in history, people are able to transact and trade with each other in real time.
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The second part talks in detail about fintech and techfin: about old classic banks that try to attract technology, as well as about new format banks and platforms. The latest formations first create themselves in the conditions of technological development, therefore they interact much better with modern users and customers. The author mentions many fintech startups, including our Ukrainian PrivatBank.
The third part is a case study of Ant Group (Ant Financial). It is a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group. It owns the world’s largest digital payment platform Alipay. As of 2020, Ant Group serves over 1.3 billion users and 80 million sellers.
With the help of various data, graphs and comparative tables, the author shows that modern companies that work on the Internet and provide platforms (Facebook, Alipay, Apple, etc.) where people interact with each other are worth many times more than the largest and the oldest banks in the world. Skinner therefore concludes that banks will not survive unless they transform into open markets.
The book also analyzes the digitization of humanity, explores the developments that will affect people, commerce, trade, and therefore the future.
According to Chris, giving every inhabitant of the planet access to microcredit, microsavings and microinsurance through the mobile network will give a chance to improve social life. Mobile payments, loans and insurance are changing the world.
“Digital person. The fourth revolution in the history of mankind, which will affect everyone”, pays quite a lot of attention to fintech (a new hybrid market that combines finance and technology). Therefore, it cannot be recommended to everyone. But at the same time, the author simply and easily explains the features and details, the present and the future of banks and related technologies. Therefore, the book will be great not only for everyone who is interested in the topic, but also for fans of IT and fans of pop science.
The small size of the publication contributes to interesting and quick reading. It’s only 270 pages long, and the Ant Group case study starts at 192. It’s probably not going to be read by everyone, so you could say there’s up to 200 pages of main text here. In fact, there are even fewer letters here, because the book contains a lot of tables, photos, graphs and other materials useful for perception.
“Digital Man” was written by Chris Skinner, a world-renowned independent commentator on financial markets and the author of two bestsellers, Digital Bank and Valueweb. This book of his (published by “Fabula”) is slightly larger than the usual format edition (145×240 mm). The paper is thick and white, the font is medium and very easy to read. There is a convenient satin bookmark.
Pros:
interesting and clear exposition of selected topics, high-quality, beautiful edition in hardcover, pleasant medium-sized font, satin bookmark
Cons:
the book is not for a wide range of readers, the part with the Ant Group studies seems to have been simply added to bring the book to a more or less normal volume
Conclusion:
“Digital person. The fourth revolution in the history of mankind, which will affect everyone”, although it is not designed for a wide range of readers, but will still be interesting for most fans of technology and popular science literature.
The author explains the chosen topics in a simple and clear way, logically, with vivid examples and knowledge of the matter, gives his thoughts not only in a real way, but also looks into the future.
The last chapters with research, although in fact related to the topic of the publication, seem out of place and added to fit the pages for a full-fledged book
