The Best Book I Read in 2014

This year was an easy selection.  The winner is The Resilience Divide: Being Strong is a World Where Things Go Wrong by Judith Rodin.  My selection is just reinforced after 11 earthquakes in 24-hours in nearby Irving, Texas.  Ms. Rodin is the president of The Rockefeller Foundation.  The book is really the handbook or bible for engineers wanting and needing additional skills at resilience building.  Her case studies are clear and informative.  The five characteristic of resilience should be incorporated into all the resiliency strategic planning efforts.  My key takeaway was the notion of resiliency thinking needs engineers and managers to become much better at interdisciplinary thinking.  You will need multiple hats in a world governed by resiliency thinking - parts economic, political, land use/planning, engineering, construction, risk management, public policy development, sociology, psychology, systems thinking, etc. 

I would make it a point to learn more and more about resiliency thinking and its ultimate impact on the urban landscape and culture.  Many complex forces are currently in play that will require engineers to define, design, and direct the resilience framework.

From the book:

The Five Characteristics of Resilience
Aware	The entity has knowledge of its strengths and assets, liabilities and vulnerabilities, and the threats and risks it faces.  Being aware includes situational awareness: the ability and willingness to constantly assess, take in new information, and adjust understanding in real time.
Diverse	The entity had different sources of capacity so it can successfully operate even when elements of that capacity are challenged: there are redundant elements or assets.  The entity possesses or can draw upon a range of capabilities, ideas, information sources, technical elements, people or groups.
Integrated	The entity has coordination of functions and actions across systems, including the ability to bring together disparate ideas and elements, work collaboratively across elements, develop cohesive solutions, and coordinate actions.  Information is shared and communication is transparent.
Self-Regulating	The entity can regulate itself in ways that enable it to deal with anomalous situations and disruptions without extreme malfunction or catastrophic collapse.  Cascading disruptions do not result when the entity suffers a severe dysfunction; it can fail safely.
Adaptive	The entity has the capacity to adjust to changing circumstances by developing new plans, taking new actions, or modifying behaviors.  The entity is flexible: it has the ability to apply existing resources to new purposes or for one element to take on multiple roles.