Must Read VR/AR books in 2021
Here are our top 4 must read VR and AR books
The rise of VR and AR technology has blurred the real and the virtual worlds far beyond our imagination. Many businesses and institutions have started experimenting with technology for learning, training, and productivity. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand the fundamentals of immersive technology and its use cases. In this blog, we will recommend four VR/AR books you should read in 2021 and beyond, which can help you gain confidence in implementing XR in business and life.
Reality Check: How Immersive Technologies Can Transform Your Business
There are a few must read VR books that have sky-rocketed in popularity in the last few years. To begin with, we have Reality Check by Jeremy Dalton, who leads PWC’s XR team and has been helping clients with implementing XR technology across industries.
This book is for those who are new to XR and want to know more about the technology. How is it applicable across enterprises? Which organizations are using it? What challenges would one face before implementing it?
Jeremy provides a clear image of how XR can be used to train employees/workers in an organization. For example, he talks about ‘VR for Soft Skills Training’, where he distinguishes between Hard Skills and Soft Skills, and how VR can be used to train learners on Communication, Teamwork, Leadership, Empathy, Conflict Management, and other personality traits.
Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How it works, and What it can do?
This is one of the most entertaining reads on Virtual Reality. Authored by Jeremy Bailenson, who is a founding director of Human Interaction Lab and co-founder of immersive learning startup, Strivr, this book highlights what makes a good and a bad VR experience. Additionally, it talks about the use of VR in training workers/employees especially sports players.
If you want to learn more about how immersive tech works and its terminologies such as Tracking, Rendering, Display, and Presence, then this book is for you.
Dawn of the New Everything: A Journey Through Virtual Reality
If you ever type in the sentence on Google-Who coined the word Virtual Reality? You will find Jaron Lanier’s name in the featured snippet. A philosopher, computer scientist, and a Silicon Valley visionary who gave us virtual reality, a technology that has been redefining the contemporary medium for interaction and collaboration.
This book consists of a lot of anecdotes from Jaron’s own experiences which he recommends skipping if you want to only learn about VR.
If you are keen to know more about the history of Virtual Reality, then this book is for you. It will take you to the 1980s when VR mostly considered a hippie mystic thing. Although Jaron worked closely on Mixed Reality, he talks extensively about the importance of classical VR in daily lives.
The Augmented Workforce: How Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, and 5G Will Impact Every Dollar You Make
Cathy Hackl, a leading tech futurist and globally recognized business leader specializing in AR, VR & Spatial Computing, and John Buzell, an award-winning leader in the digital space, creating interactive experiences across AR and Video Games, recently launched their new book The Augmented Workforce.
This book is for entrepreneurs, decision-makers, and non-technical enthusiasts who are interested in learning about the convergence of 5G, IoT, AR, AI, and 5G in the global workplace. Additionally, the book covers a number of industries, such as entertainment, education, healthcare, defense, marketing, and much more.
As per Cathy Hackl, “In the age of the augmented workforce, leaders will not only need emotional intelligence to lead, they will also need future intelligence to succeed.”
Let us know which book you want to read and what book we missed, in the comments below or on social media!