The most recommended artificial intelligence books

I love this novel. I read it well after my own came out, but the strong, badass, stoic female main character reminded me a lot of Delia from What Branches Grow (despite Brittle being a robot). The often dark and gritty scenes interspersed with moments of emotion and laugh-out-loud absurd humour turned a story that could have been depressing into one that was a helluva lot of fun. The raiders in this novel also fit the trope in the same homage to Mad Max/Fallout that mine do in What Branches Grow, albeit in a way I didn’t expect. The novel is also a quest through the wasteland with a ragtag group that culminates in a final battle, which is a similar trajectory to my novel (and a plotfline in this genre I very much enjoy).

When Kill Decision came out, I sent an email to all my Department of Defense colleagues saying: finally, a book that gets swarms, drones, computer vision, and lethal autonomous weapons right! The book shows behavioral robotics can duplicate insect intelligence to create simple, but relentlessly effective, drones. The inexpensive individual drones are limited in intelligence but a greater, more adaptive intelligence emerges from the swarm. It’s on par with a Michael Crichton technothriller with lots of action (plus romance), making it an easy read.  

AI algorithms are increasingly used to decide what you see, if you’re hired, and who you match with socially or romantically.

There is much cause for concern because many of these algorithms are biased and return responses that indicate some degree of sexism or racism.

The main value of this book is that all those issues are recognized, but so is the notion that when an algorithm is biased, it is much easier to discover that and correct it than with a person.

Consequently, reforming algorithms likely presents a better option to reduce bias when people or things are sorted or assessed.

Winchester brings a long life of research to this study of the ways we have striven over millennia to preserve and disseminate knowledge, from the earliest writing to books to the internet.  He sees knowledge as the force for good and recounts how evil can seek to suppress, subvert, or misuse it.

In my poems, I try to question our ideas of progress.  The good we achieve is fragile, always dependent on an endless dialogue of self-awareness.

This book filled in many of my understanding-gaps related to China’s seeming priorities and overt behaviors in global politics.

The author has credible authority on the subject, and he broke down the prime motivations for those in charge of the CCP concisely and comprehensively, and after finishing the book, some of the things the Chinese government does (and prioritizes) made a lot more sense.

Working in journalism, anything that bolsters my understanding of big-picture forces that exert gravity on global events is appreciated, and that was absolutely the case with The Avoidable War.

Turow takes the reader on a fascinating dive into the evolution of the voice intelligence industry. He reveals what these devices do now, what they may do in the future, and where they come from. I loved the historical perspective in this book—today’s home smart speakers can trace their lineage back to department stores and debt collectors. With inside access to industry leaders, Turow shows how we got to the point where tens of millions now willingly admit commercial listening devices into their most private physical spaces.

I was looking forward to this one and read it as soon as it came out, early on in these pandemic times. It’s not really a baseball novel, except it kinda, sorta is. Mostly, it’s a subversive look at a dystopian future that turns on the redemptive power of baseball. It made a lot of noise on publication, but the focus of most of the reviews leaned away from the baseball bits and into the dystopian bits. Gish Jen writes gloriously about the game – but also about life and love, longing and belonging, hope and hopelessness. 

She’s jarred awake from cryosleep. Get to the pods. The ship trembles. It’s crashing.

They were supposed to be in orbit, with plenty of time to wake, get reacclimated, and finish training before settling in the colony. No time now. Everything’s on fire. They’re all going to die. Anikka barely gets to the pods. And she’s the only survivor.

What happened to the Daybreak Colony? Why did the ship crash? And will she find a way to survive a planet bent on killing her?

I couldn’t turn away once the book started. Anikka proves a tenacious character, and the planet she crashes onto is richly imagined with a full biosphere and lots of surprises.

Read it if you want something like Hatchet in a science fiction setting. Worth it!

I love this book and try to reread it every couple of years.

This book doesn’t make any specific predictions about the future but instead identifies technological trends that are inevitable. 

Trends like accessing, tracking, and sharing, just to name a few. I like to think of the future as an ever-evolving entity that we get to shape. Kelly explains how technology changes in patterns that we can anticipate.  

If you feel like the increasing rate of technological change is getting too fast to keep up with, then I recommend reading—and rereading—The Inevitable.

A pathway to a Ph.D. can be brutal–more so when the goal is a doctorate in STEM domains, especially in what was once a “man’s world.” Despite these challenges, ground-breaking women weathered the taxing obstacle course to professional success in research, teaching, the corporate road, and academia. They cleared the way for today’s generations of scientists, professors, and innovators.

In Lessons Learned, Deborah Shlian collected and shared the fascinating personal stories of thirty-one of these diverse women who persevered in difficult and often unwelcoming environments and who serve as inspirations for all who seek careers or are currently engaged in STEM realms.  

Mentors and colleagues of all genders will find the stories of perseverance in often inequitable situations illuminating and can take in the wisdom shared by the contributors. As a female MD, having had similar experiences as one of a few female medical students in the early 1970s, I… show more.