Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been hitting the headlines recently as the development of ever more complex algorithms ramps up around the world – with consequences that we can only guess at for now. But if nothing else, technology provides fertile creative ground for writers – as these five books confirm – from the psychological impact of social media on humans to Kazuo Ishiguro’s gentle novel about sentient machines and a biography of two of the richest and most influential men in the world – Elon Musk and Peter Thiel…
1. Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine by Harry Parker
Harry Parker’s life changed overnight when he lost his legs in Afghanistan. That took him into a surprising landscape of a very human kind of hacking, and he wondered, are all humans’ hybrids? Whether it’s putting on contact lenses or DIY biohackers tinkering
in garages, Parker introduces us to the breadth of human invention – and intervention. Grappling with his own new identity and disability, he discovers the latest robotics, tech and implants that might lead us to powerful, liberating possibilities for what a body can be.
Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine
2. The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher
Called a ‘stark warning’ by The Guardian and ‘an essential book of our times’ by Ezra Klein, The Chaos Machine is the story of how the world was driven mad by social media. With extraordinary access to the most powerful players in Silicon Valley, and with testimonies from around the world of the havoc being wreaked by our online
selves, Max Fisher shows us how we got to this uniquely perilous moment – and how we might get out of it.
The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World
3. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
The novel tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, carefully watches the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains
hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change for ever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans. From the Nobel Prize winning Kazuo Ishiguro, The Washington Post calls this novel ‘A delicate, haunting story, steeped in sorrow and hope.”
4. Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
Winner of the Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2022, Chip War reveals how we can’t make sense of politics, economics, or technology today without first understanding the central role played by computer chips in shaping the modern world. Chris Miller recounts the fascinating sequence of events that led to the United States perfecting chip design and looks to the ways the battle to control this industry will shape our future. Power in the modern world – military, economic, geopolitical – is built on a foundation of computer chips.
Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology
5. The Founders: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and the Company that Made the Modern Internet by Jimmy Soni
Out of PayPal’s ranks have come three billionaires and dozens of multi-millionaires, including household names like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. PayPal’s alumni have formed, funded, and advised almost all the billion-dollar-plus companies to emerge from Silicon Valley in the past two decades. This book tells the gripping story of how the so-called PayPal Mafia turned a scrappy start-up into one of the most successful businesses of all time, worth over $70 billion today.
The Founders: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and the Company that Made the Modern Internet
