The most recommended books about the Internet

Quinn’s description of their abuse by online trolls is one of the most harrowing I’ve ever heard. I think it’s an incredibly important account of how dangerous it can be to be a woman on the internet (Quinn is now nonbinary).

One thing that really stood out to me is that, despite everything, Quinn still thinks the internet is an amazing place. This had a big influence on my view that women shouldn’t stop using social networks even though they’re so toxic. Social networks are also places where women can empower ourselves (Quinn developed their career and overcame the challenges of dating as a queer teen online), and we need to be able to wield this power.   

André Brock gives no fucks and takes none. As an academic, so many of the books I read—even the good ones—are couched in cautious language and speak from an imaginary non-place of dispassionate objectivity. Brock throws all that out the window and writes an impassioned, embodied, joyful, agitated, confusing, brilliant, opinionated, insightful, and ultimately, empirically supportable book, in his own unmistakable voice, about how and why Black people use the internet.

Though the book has many valuable findings and has already changed the practice of internet studies since its publication, the thing I love most about it is Brock’s own playfulness and his celebration of the social and political value of playfulness.

His key point is that data aren’t objective or neutral and that computing machines aren’t cold and calculating (even if that’s their job). Data and computers, he argues, are made by people and used by people, and the… show more.

A brilliant thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining book, Jemima is a young lady who is in need of a number of life changes. 

She’s overweight, treated like a skivvy by her flatmates, and belittled by her colleagues.

She does embark on big changes in her life, and when she achieves the goals that she sets for herself, realises that it doesn’t matter how much you change the outside of your body, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

A definite life lesson and we should also just be kind, because we never know what is happening in someone’s life. 

In The Innovators, Walter Isaacson reminds us that “innovation occurs when ripe seeds fall on fertile ground.” Like the earth beneath our feet, we stand on stratum upon stratum of technological innovation, each with unique markers of its age.

Sometimes, the right idea, person, or group of people arrives at the right time to sow the seeds of something new. Isaacson explores how this phenomenon, teaching us how the collaboration of many individuals working across time and space helped usher in the first digital age in a highly readable survey of the main players and events.

As we stand on the brink of a second digital age, we would do well to search our history for lessons before stepping into the future.

My first 3 picks put much of the blame for widespread attention capture on greedy actors engaged in a “race to the bottom of the brainstem” (Tristan Harris, former Google employee, became popular opponent of exploitative big tech). 

Although Carr does not shy from that theme, he seems to put much of the responsibility on our own shoulders: it is we who must resist many temptations of convenience in order to preserve our own cognitive strengths, such as creativity. Otherwise, we become shallow thinkers and reliant on AI even for something as characteristically human as wisdom. 

Carr’s follow-up to this book, The Glass Cage, is also very intriguing, and it offers a little more hope for a humanity that is currently bound up in a web of frightening technological dependency.

In my mind, Carr nails the real threats of AI: a total dumming-down of humanity to a level where we… show more.

This book is an exploration of “geek culture” including Dungeons and Dragons but also other aspects of fandom like live-action-role-playing (LARPing), and Harry Potter fandom. 

This is not a theoretically weighty book, but the author did substantial field work trying to explore and understand these subcultures. The throughline of the book concerns the human fascination with imaginary realms and the cultural forms people will invent to connect with these realms and bring them to life. As a religious studies scholar, I see this longing for other worlds as a “religious” impulse.

This book tells the fascinating story of the visionary pioneers who created the internet. The wizards are the internet’s forefathers. They were determined visionaries and doers. In the 1960s, when computers where regarded as mere giant calculators, J.C.R. Licklider, the first director of the American Information Processing Techniques Office, saw them as the ultimate communications devices. The early internet was devised and implemented in American research units, universities, and telecommunication companies that had vision and interest in cutting-edge research. Licklider, Vint Cerf, Steve Crocker, Len Kleinrock, Larry Roberts, Robert Kahn, and David Clark articulated the vision of a "galactic" computer network—a globally interconnected set of processing nodes through which anyone anywhere can access data and programs.

This captivating book enables a better understanding of the internet. It captures the hard work, genius, fortunate experiences, and early successes of the visionary wizards and their daring, stunningly successful venture that has changed,… show more.

I had begun to worry about my social media consumption when I came across this book.

As a science journalist, I had interviewed Lanier in the past. So I knew his work, and I knew he always had something profound to say about technology. You can tell that this is a personal book for him. Many times he refers to his children, and he worries about how social media impacts them.

He enumerates several reasons why social media is destroying our minds, our attention spans, our self-esteem, and our decency. Lanier has consulted with most of the major firms that have foisted social media on us, so he knows the players and he knows how much better the technology can be, if only its creators did not capitulate to greed.

I recommend pairing this book with a viewing of the documentaries, The Social Dilemma and Fake Famous. After seeing those… show more.

This book analyzes the impact of new technology on society. Castells shows that the internet has become the backbone of modern economy and business, creating a global network society. Imagination is instigating and enabling tremendous changes in every aspect of life. But many of us do not fully grasp the potential of new technology. To make the most of this modern galaxy, we need to understand how it operates, its logic, its benefits, and constraints, and how to manage it effectively. Castells argues that modern communication enables control but it also enables freedom. It is the role of government and organisations to see that the internet is developed and used in ways that are consistent with a social order in which people are enabled to become responsible human beings. In this edifying and quite accessible book, Castells explains the galaxy of networks, how it began, how it shapes new and… show more.

Kevin Mitnick is often called the “world’s most famous hacker,” and he spent years in prison for his crimes. However, he’s since reformed, and now advises individuals and corporations on how to protect their data. In this book, he talks about strategies that we can all use to better protect our data from exploitation by corporations and governments. Although it’s never possible to be truly “invisible” (despite the title of his book) he presents some great strategies to lower your risk profile.