In Business @ The Speed Of Thought, Microsoft chairman and CEO Bill Gates discusses how technology can help run business better in the near future. Success, he tells readers, will come to those who create a world-class digital nervous system so that information can easily flow through their companies for maximum and constant learning. He stresses the need for managers to view technology not as overhead but as a strategic asset, and offers detailed examples from Microsoft, GM, Dell, Merrill Lynch and many others to demonstrate his point. He shows technology can: Convert every paper process to a digital process, thereby freeing workers for more important tasks, Speed Communications around the world with fully integrated computer systems, Stimulate employees to develop and implement business strategies, Speed your companys reflexes through e-mail, Handle routine business analysis, focusing your employees on using information, and much more. Gates also includes a candid assessment of some of Microsofts miscalculations and how technology helped to turn failure into triumph. He covers how specific sectors of the economy are using technology to revolutionize themselves, and even gives readers a peek at some up-and-coming technologies. Also available as a Time Warner AudioBook featuring original material by Bill Gates interspersed throughout. One day laydown: March 25 1999.

• business