Reading List

Here are the set of books I've been reading with some annotation and related materials

Updated to November 2023

• Fisher, M. (2022). The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World . Little, Brown and Company. 

  • Provides extensive documentation via interviews and public sources that demonstrate how social media has undermined civil society from Pizzagate and Gamergate in the U.S. to genocide in Myanmar, riots in India, Sri Lanka and the Arab Spring.  The background to ongoing policy discussions and legal actions taking place around the world.
    (Podcast Interview with Rich Roll touches on key points, 2.5 hours) 

• Kahneman, Daniel (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow, various publishers

  • Kahneman got the Nobel Prize for demonstrating that humans are not rational thinkers, and most often resort to "fast" (emotional/gut) thinking rather than the more time consuming rationale process.  This results in both knee-jerk reactions which are often ill-advised, and more susceptible to propaganda and persuasion.  He outlines a number of steps that can be taken to avoid this, starting with taking a bit more time.

• Kissinger, H., Schmidt, E., Huttenlocher, D. P., & Schouten, S. (2021). The age of A.I.: and our human future. Little, Brown and Company. 

  • Documents the evolution of the technology (Schmidt is prev. Sun/Google/Apple) and the policy challenges (Kissinger) that will emerge in trying to manage AI. AI “will alter our experience as reasoning beings and  permanently change our  relationship with reality.” 

• Perlroth, Nichole; This is How They Tell Me the World Will End: The Cyber-Weapons Arms Race; 2021

  • Follows the development of the "Zero Day" computing flaws that allow cyber attacks from the turn of the century though to 2021 as the "value" of such information moved from $75 to millions of dollars.  She points out that post-Stuxnet (the penetration of the Iranian Nuclear enrichment program including "kinetic impact", the market exploded -- financially, in terms of nation state participation and with the potential for physical explosions as well. Individuals, corporations, nation states and dark-web players are placed into context. The result should leave us all feeling vulnerable and paranoid. 

• Christian, Brian; The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values; 2020

  • traces parallels in human development and AI/Machine learning research identifying spots where the two have informed each, and also how AIs have become better able to solve specific challenges as a result.  At the same time identifying risks and challenges in assuming that a specific AI might be "Ok" to release in the world.

  • Brian also wrote "The Most Human Human", which is a similar exploration with a focus on what it is to be human.

• Rosling, Hans; Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think (2019)

  • Ok... time for some GOOD NEWS for a change ... and Hans has nailed it in this book, as well as related presentations on TED -- while we still have challenges, in key areas things have improved significantly.  Also see his delightful TED videos (a few selected here)

  • How Not to be Ignorant about the World (2014) 19 min

  • Global Population Growth, Box by Box, (2010) 10 Min

  • The Magic Washing Machine, (2010) 10 Min

• Brockman, J; Possible Minds: 25 Ways of Looking at AI; 2019;

  • 25 expert contributors provide their view of the risks, opportunities, benefits and banality of AI. I've done somewhat of a critique inspired by this book, and added to my commentary pages.

• Singer and Brooking LikeWar: The Weaponization Of Social Media (2018)

  • and NPR Fresh Air interview with authors - key points and recent developments

  • This book documents, with excellent detail the evolution of social media as a weapon of war, both literally (as used by ISIS to capture Mosel, Israel and the Palestinians, Russia, China and the US - in parallel with ground activity, or in non-shooting disruption of target countries (including the 2016 US and Brexit elections. 

• Harari, Yuval Noah (2017). Homo Deus: A Brief History of the Future; 

  • Harari is an engaging author/historian with significant insight.  Homo Deus describes the "future of mankind" (following his book "Sapiens" on how we got here in the first place.) it includes a variety of the changes that are leading to the transformation of humanity, or at least the elite of humanity, and the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This book points out that humanity is now in control, and can choose to eliminate starvation/malnutrition, many diseases, war, and significantly impact death itself.

•  Harari, (2018). 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

  • This takes off from where Homo Deus ended, as Harari recognized that things had moved quickly even as Deus was at the printer.  He also tries to outline some of the changes he identifies that might provide some help as we are dragged into the future.

  •      TED Dialog Interview (Feb 2017, 1 hour); TED presentation on prior book (20 min)

• The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change , Al Gore (2013)

  • This is the Post Politician Al Gore -- so don't ignore the significant investment he and his research team have put into looking at the trends driving change.  It is painfully well researched and as such can be a more challenging read. Chapter one is on jobs of the future, and two is on climate change, ...

• Thank you for Being Late; Thomas Friedman, (2016)

  • Friedman has a style -- drawing on personal stories to illustrate his observations about where things are going.  The title expresses the value of stepping back and trying to look at the broader picture.  While he documents the reality of accelerating change occurring on many fronts (what he calls "the supernova")  he tries to focus on the positive opportunities or at least paths we might pursue going forward.

• Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence;  Max Tegmark (2016) 

  • Tegmark starts with a scenerio of a Silicon Valley company that takes over the world using specialized (not conscious) AI with beneficent intent.  He then goes on to document the progression of AI and what the experts in the field see as the challenges we face.   His Institute for the Future identifies AI as the most proximate existential risk to humanity, one that will potentially have more impact in the short term than Climate Change, bio-tech and nuclear war .. all of which are threats on the horizon.

• Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think, by Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler (2012)

  • TED talk (20min) : https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_diamandis_abundance_is_our_future

  • Diamandis is an optimist.  He points to emerging strengths of the human race in terms of both advancing technology and emerging populations. Included in this are the next billion humans to come on-line and enter into the ideas and innovations of the immediate future.  

• Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress Steven Pinker, (2017)

  • Pinker draws the arc of history from "The Enlightenment" that ended the middle ages to our world today where many  key concepts of that enlightenment can be realized on a global scale.

• Dr. Michal Kosinski -- once Cambridge researcher (now Stanford) who pioneered the "Facebook Analytics" psychographics

  • I include Kosinski here, he has not written any popular books, but his research and presentations of this on TED and other video streams provides a critical view into the leading edge research that is altering the way our world works.

  • “Psychological targeting as an effective approach to digital mass persuasion”; Proceedings of the National Academy , 11/2017

  • Expresses concern about the psycho profiling (as a founder of the field) (30 min video)

  • Discussion of digital footprints at Computer Museum May 2017 (1 hr 10 min)