100 books like American Genesis

Dava Sobel’s made-for-the-public story about a David-versus-Goliath contest to solve a centuries-old problem was the first scientific blockbuster when it came out in 1998. It was the model that future science historians like me strove to replicate–addressing important but arcane scientific controversies in a clear, accessible way.

Sobel made this story relatable to a broad audience by focusing on the travails of one underdog, a rural carpenter named John Harrison, who went up against the British astronomy establishment to discover how to plot longitude at sea by inventing a precise marine chronometer.

The 1761 voyage of HMS Deptford established the accuracy of Harrison’s “sea watch” and solved the problem of navigating across the vast oceans.   

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was The Way Things Work, not the more recent David Macaulay book—which is also good—but the earlier 1967 book by T. Lodewijk. With great diagrams, it showed how complicated machines work.

Randall Munroe's Thing Explainer, while less comprehensive, similarly captures this magic for me. It has great diagrams and simple clarifying text—self-consciously limited to the 1,000 words people use the most. I could stare at the diagrams for hours, learning about everything from cameras (“picture takers”) to submarines (“boats that go under the sea”).

Initially, The Gift might seem an odd choice for this category. Hyde argues that art must be part of a gift economy, not simply commercially bought and sold, but also given and received. I had a chance encounter with Hyde’s father, who was appropriately proud of his son’s book, but he said that he thought the same analysis could be made about how science operates.

This idea changed my perspective on science and technology. When I began to look at science and technology this way, it made sense to me. Scientists will frequently trade what they have learned with each other, for example at conferences—they give their information away in exchange for prestige and for return gifts of information from other scientists. It is part of being a member of the science club.

Another odd choice for this category and an unusual but nonetheless compelling book. Elkins talks about painting in terms of medieval alchemy. The point, however, is right down my street: it is about the materiality of painting.

Put aside the meaning of a finished artwork and think about the acts behind its making, from creating paint from various pigments and oils to brushing them on stretched canvas. This helped me understand the lives of people who work with materials, things, and stuff, including scientists and engineers. What they think is important, but so is what they do and their facility in doing it.

I had never thought much about what technology was and where it came from before reading this book. This book opened my eyes and made me understand the history of humanity and the history of technology are one and the same.

The book vividly describes the theory of technology’s origin and evolution. In doing so, the author reminds us that technology creates our world, which in turn creates our wealth, our economy, and our way of being.

I found the premise of The Candy House very intriguing – the novel is built around a new technology that allows you to download your consciousness.

The science is a little far-fetched (I certainly hope it is, anyway) and yet the reverberations of this fictional technology are easy to imagine in real life. The unique way in which the book is written, each chapter a window into a different life, shows how technology affects us all in small and large ways, whether we subscribe to it or not.

What I love most about this book, though, is the contrast between the intended altruistic uses for ‘Own Your Unconscious’ and the various uses which devolve from it. It all rings too true.

Future Politics takes the conversation to the societal level, looking at how technology will change the fabric of our communities. Susskind brings an expert eye to a sweeping body of knowledge and resists simple narratives. This book is dense, but worth the effort for those looking to understand the dynamics that will shape society as we know it, for better and for worse.

Susskind is a scholar of history and politics and brings that love of fundamental political questions to this work. I enjoy how he anchors modern questions about the implications of technology for freedom, for example, in much older debates about freedom and the State.

I think I’m on my third or fourth copy of this book, because I keep giving it away! This is an absolutely stunning, gorgeously illustrated book about the spacesuits worn by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong during the moon landing. The bid to design the suits was won by the Playtex Corporation—the lingerie company!—over a bunch of industrial materials suppliers, because Playtex knew how to design for the body in ways the other firms didn’t. The book is organized into twenty-one chapters, in homage to the twenty-one layers of the spacesuit, and it’s a thing of beauty. It weaves together the history of aeronautics, the politics of the Space Race, technology design, and mid-century fashion so seamlessly, and makes you think about each of these topics differently.

By exploring today’s rapidly changing world, Friedman helps you take a step back and consider how we might be able to live life at a reasonable pace. Thank You For Being Late serves as a guide for how to respond to the speed of change around us. By understanding how the world is changing through the possibilities and dangers of Moore’s Law (technology and the internet), the Market (globalization), and Mother Nature (climate change), Friedman encourages us to consider our own adaptability. Rather than complaining and being static as individuals, Friedman suggests we need to embrace change and look at what is in our control to adapt, learn, look forward and still achieve what we want to.

I loved this book because it provides a unique view of the ramifications of AI, including its impact on politics, international relations, and the military. While not a book one would use to learn the basics of the technology of artificial intelligence, it nevertheless provides a useful view of its important non-technical ramifications.