When thinking about revolutionary technology improvements, the Internet of Things (IoT) is the perfect example of how the world changed conventional ways of living into a high-tech lifestyle.
IoT can be experienced everywhere around us as it is incrementally becoming an essential part of our lives. We are witnessing the transformation of almost every aspect of today's living: smart homes, transportation, appliances, farming, and hospital equipment... The same way IoT improved technology, it improved the facilitation of humankind with pollution control, energy-saving, security systems, and so many other inventions that many believe are just the beginning of the new era of IoT.
The idea of making human life easier is what initiated this avalanche of various IoT products, which are taking the world by storm. IoT inevitably has many aspects, so as a guided tour, we singled out these five books on IoT that are a must-read:
#1: Precision: Principles, Practices, and Solutions for the Internet of Things
by Timothy Chou
By far one of the most insightful books on an enterprise level with a general introduction to IoT. The book portrays the needs of the different industries, and it gives a complete perspective on the difficulties. It nicely ''dissects'' diverse components of IoT systems. Dr. Chou shares his knowledge regarding how these components should interact in an IoT framework and the major players in the industry. The book is divided into two parts. The first part - Principles and Practices - explains the framework and fundamental principles of enterprise IoT in deep expertise. The second part - Solution - implements the IoT framework, highlighting 14 real solutions for manufacturers who build precision machines and companies using them for better business results. The case studies discussed cover numerous industries such as energy, water, healthcare, transportation, oil and gas, construction, agriculture, gene sequencers, mining, and racing cars.
#2: Getting Started with the Internet of Things: Connecting Sensors and Microcontrollers to the Cloud
by Cuno Pfister
Another great read that doesn't require previous knowledge on IoT. The book contains exactly what the title suggests. If you have basic programming skills, this book shows various ways to create reliable systems. The author shows how to develop programs with simple outputs (actuators) and inputs (sensors). It is a great way to learn about the Internet of Things and the Web of Things, in addition to building client programs that push sensor readings from a device to a web service.
The book incorporates ways to design server programs that allow you to control a device over the Web and get the .NET classes and techniques needed to implement all of the book's examples. Among the above-mentioned perks, the author gives a perspective on potential problems and network challenges that a reader might encounter.
One of the great things about this book is that it covers everything about the family of devices without "talking down" to the reader. It is a perfect cookbook of techniques for .NET development.
#3: The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
Anyone who seeks to understand the way IoT is transforming society should start from this book. It brings the best explanation of the technology revolution overturning the world's economy. Its mission is relatively straightforward: convincing the reader through analyzing various economic data that technology is far more astonishing nowadays than most people realize.
Brynjolfsson and McAfee sharply conjured a revolution on Artificial Intelligence and machine learning of the modern world, adding the potential challenges it could bring in the future.
The book is exceptionally well-researched, well-written and admirably argued. The authors have taken the facts and the data as they stand, without bias or political coloring, and have delivered a legitimate and insightful analysis.
#4: Designing Connected Products: UX for the Consumer Internet of Things
by Claire Rowland, Elizabeth Goodman, Martin Charlier, Alfred Lui, Ann Light
If any book should be on the desk(top) of an IoT professional, it is this one. These five IoT experts do a fantastic job covering the end-to-end ecosystem of devices through backend services and addressing so many aspects of the UX journey. The significance of this book is that it does not simply offer design patterns but instead illustrates the structures and characteristics of these technologies in detail.
It incorporates everything from product appearance, how to configure, run the product, power consumption, how to supply power, and the process of designing, pitching, and presenting your product to the marketplace. UX design deals with the research phase and product strategy and briefs the reader on hardware design and networking pitfalls.
Even though the book focuses on UX, it covers all of the technical issues around connected devices, going through the entire ecosystem.
#5: The Silent Intelligence: The Internet of Things
by Daniel Kellmereit, Daniel Obodovski
It is essential to understand the foundation of IoT. In this book, the authors covered a brief history of advanced technology in the 20th century and took a practical approach through examples from industry. The book clearly defines the different areas and their relationship to each other. Chapters deal with the early years of interconnection with devices conceived by innovative visionaries and those who attempted and built emerging markets.
The Silent Intelligence is an excellent primer on the IoT's structure, technological limitations, and possibilities. The book is well-organized, and it includes examples as well as professional viewpoints. It shows the actual worth of the Internet of Things through real-life examples of how data collected by gadgets improve the quality of life.
All of the abovementioned books cover essential aspects of the IoT revolution and provide an excellent overview of some of the fantastic things happening in the near future. They represent a solid foundation that will help you understand the IoT industry.
It is going to be interesting to revisit this article in 10 years. IoT is going to influence many other technologies and vice versa. When we talked about the revolution of IoT, we also had the revolution of the entire tech ecosystem in mind. Both are running on the same track, and their progress is linked.
If you want to see how we designed and created a system for IoT refrigerators you can read the entire case study here. Our mission was to design and create the system, including the fridges software, mobile apps for the end-users, a service app as well as the underlying backend system.
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