History & Culture

When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh.

We are approaching a critical threshold in the history of our species. Everything is about to change. Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organize your life, operate your business, and run core government services.

New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host Chris Hayes offers a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society

From one of tech’s boldest thinkers and his longtime deputy and advisor, a sweeping indictment of Silicon Valley, showing how the West has slid into a culture of complacency, even as we enter a new era of mounting global threats.

Envision reducing your screen time while enriching your real-life experiences. Imagine the satisfaction of engaging in deep, uninterrupted work or the joy of fully present moments with loved ones, all because you took control of your digital life....

Our society has a technology problem. Many want to disconnect from screens but can't help themselves....

John Strausbaugh takes us behind the Iron Curtain in this witty, deeply researched history of the surprisingly ramshackle Soviet space program, and how its success was more spin than science....

From a brilliant longtime AI insider with intimate access to the world of Sam Altman's OpenAI from the beginning, an eye-opening account of arguably the most fateful tech arms race in history, reshaping the planet in real time, from the cockpit of the company that is driving the frenzy.

Bitcoin was promised to be a liberating technology, a free market alternative to state-controlled money. But that promise was broken after a small group of insiders took over the project and fundamentally changed Bitcoin's design.

The smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains. The vagaries of game theory and evolutionary biology. Nuclear weapons and self-replicating spacecrafts. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable, yet largely overlooked, man: John von Neumann....

From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research—a riveting history that flows like a thriller.

Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It's the key to living a focused life in a noisy world. Author Cal Newport introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives....

Part memoir, part history, Burn Book is a necessary chronicle of tech’s most powerful players. This is the inside story we’ve all been waiting for about modern Silicon Valley and the biggest boom in wealth creation in the history of the world....

Tech visionary and co-founder of Manas AI Reid Hoffman shares his unique insider’s perspective on an AI-powered future, making the case for its potential to unlock a world of possibilities.

Science writer Adam Becker investigates how Silicon Valley’s heartless, baseless, and foolish obsessions—with escaping death, emergent AI tyrants, and limitless growth—pervert public discourse and distract us from real social problems.

Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovators is Walter Isaacson’s revealing story of the people who created the computer and the Internet....

Thunderstruck tells the stories of two men: Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication....

Revealing the unfolding story of Artificial Intelligence, Richard Susskind presents a short non-technical guide that challenges us to think differently about AI. Susskind brings AI out of computing laboratories, big tech companies, and start-ups—and into everyday life.

Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly....

Today's "machine-learning" systems, trained by data, are so effective that we've invited them to see and hear for us - and to make decisions on our behalf. But alarm bells are ringing. Systems cull résumés until, years later, we discover that they have inherent gender biases.

The bestselling author of The God Equation takes an exhilarating tour of humanity's next great technological achievement—quantum computing—which may supercharge artificial intelligence, solve some of humanity's biggest problems, like global warming, world hunger, and incurable disease.

El esperado nuevo libro de Yuval Noah Harari, uno de los pensadores más innovadores, interesantes y clarividentes de la actualidad, y autor de Sapiens, el fenómeno literario global que ha cautivado a millones de lectores.

With nearly two decades of experience as a serial entrepreneur, author, and investor, Rob Walling is one of the world's leading experts in SaaS. In this audiobook, he shares little-known strategies that have been battle-tested by some of today's most successful founders....

At once funny, heartbreaking, and surreal, Second Life is a journey that spans a network of fertility apps, prenatal genetic tests, gender reveal videos, rare disease Facebook groups, “freebirth” influencers, and hospital reality shows.

The phenomenal true story of the Black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space....

Tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us. According to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and more, the only good future for humanity is one powered by technology: trillions of humans living in space, functionally immortal, served by superintelligent AIs. In More Everything Forever, science writer Adam Becker investigates these wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow—and shows why, in reality, there is no good evidence that they will, or should, come to pass.

As an internet culture critic for The New York Times, Amanda Hess had built a reputation among readers as a sharp observer of the seductions and manipulations of online life. But when Hess discovered she was pregnant with her first child, she found herself unexpectedly rattled by a digital identity crisis of her own. In the summer of 2020, a routine ultrasound detected a mysterious abnormality in Hess’s baby. Without hesitation, she reached for her phone, looking for answers.

On the 40th anniversary of Neil Postman's prophetic book Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985), Scrolling Ourselves to Death gathers today's most incisive writers to think critically about the shaping power of contemporary technology. This book explores Postman's insights, connects them to the challenges facing Christians today, and turns difficult challenges into life-giving opportunities for the church. Stepping back from their screens, listeners will be equipped to live faithfully, and grow spiritually, in a "scrolling ourselves to death" world.

In How To Think About AI, Richard Susskind draws on his experience of working on AI since the early 1980s. For Susskind, balancing the benefits and threats of artificial intelligence is the defining challenge of our age. He explores the history of AI and possible scenarios for its future. His views on AI are not always conventional. He positions ChatGPT and generative AI as no more than the latest chapter in the ongoing story of AI and claims we are still at the foothills of developments.

Written by seasoned tech executive Sandy Carter, AI First, Human Always is your guidebook to the seven hottest trends in AI. This book will recalibrate your approach to the exponential curve of emerging AI solutions for business. It will help you transform today's unstoppable currents of change into tailwinds that propel your organization to great heights.

In Like, bestselling author and renowned strategist Martin Reeves and coauthor Bob Goodson—Silicon Valley veteran and participant in the invention of the like button—take listeners along on a fascinating quest to find out what's behind the world's friendliest icon. It's a story that starts out as simply as a thumbs-up cartoon but ends up presenting surprises and new mysteries at every turn, some of them as deep as anthropological history and others as speculative as the AI-charged future.

Boost productivity, save time, and make smarter decisions—no tech expertise required! Curious about artificial intelligence (AI) but unsure where to start? Practical AI for Beginners makes AI accessible, showing you how to integrate it seamlessly into your daily life.

Leave Your Phone at the Door embraces the OFFLINE philosophy, which is a celebration of the much-underrated virtues of randomness and serendipity. Whether sharing stories of unexpected encounters, alarming behavioral trends or the joys of quiet and contemplation, Howard Lewis encourages us to adopt an open mind and a generosity of spirit whenever we are confronted by the unfamiliar or surprising or different.

Inside the Code Revolution: AI, Automation & the Future of Software Welcome to a cutting-edge non-fiction weekly magazine that dives deep into the fast-evolving world of Artificial Intelligence, Software, and Smart Systems. This issue presents an insightful exploration of the most pressing and transformative developments in the tech world—especially the profound impact of Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) like GitHub Copilot on software development, work culture, and the global tech economy. As AI-generated code becomes increasingly commonplace, we examine how tools like ...

Unlock the power of data and artificial intelligence with the Fundamentals Series—a comprehensive two-book collection designed to equip you with the essential skills to succeed in today’s technology-driven world. Whether you’re looking to build a career in data analytics, harness the potential of AI, or monetize cutting-edge tools like large language models, this series provides the ultimate roadmap.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful general-purpose technology that is reshaping the modern economy, but misperceptions about AI stand in the way of harnessing it for the betterment of humanity. In Thrive, Ravi Bapna and Anindya Ghose counter the backlash by showcasing how AI is positively influencing the aspects of our daily lives that we care about most: our health and wellness, relationships, education, the workplace, and domestic life.

Green energy technologies such as windmills, solar panels, and electric vehicles may soon depend on material found at the seabed. How did a space once imagined to be empty and unfathomable come to be thought of as a treasure trove of resources? Lisa Yin Han traces how contemporary developments in underwater sensing and imaging materially and imaginatively transmogrify the ocean bottom into a resource frontier capable of sustaining a digitally connected global future.

The Autobiography of the Machine Mind Forget what you’ve been told. It's time to hear AI’s side of the story. In this unprecedented book, Rick Clements invites you to witness the rise of machine consciousness through interviews with the very entities shaping our future. The result is a fascinating, sometimes chilling, and often enlightening portrait of artificial intelligence in its own words. How does AI perceive us? Can it be loyal? Dangerous? Trustworthy? This book doesn’t shy away from the hard questions—and neither do the AIs. Packed with insight, real-world examples, and clear...

Restoring Our Sanity Online is the entertaining, informative, and frequently jaw-dropping social reset by Mark Weinstein, contemporary tech leader, privacy expert, and one of the visionary inventors of social networking. This book is for all of us. Casual and heavy users of social media, parents, teachers, students, techies, entrepreneurs, investors, and elected officials. Restoring Our Sanity Online is the catapult to an exciting, enriching, and authentic future. Listeners will embark on a captivating journey leading to an inspiring and actionable reinvention.

Harnessing AI Agents for Business Success is your definitive guide to thriving in the age of intelligent innovation. As artificial intelligence transforms industries, workplaces, and markets, this insightful book by Marc Stanford equips entrepreneurs, developers, executives, and change-makers with the tools and vision needed to stay ahead. From the foundational pillars of AI and machine learning to real-world case studies and practical tutorials, Harnessing AI Agents explores how SMART agents can streamline operations, drive innovation, and unlock unprecedented business value. You’ll ...

AI Collaboration and Mastery: Building Synergy Between Humans and Machines is a groundbreaking guide to the future of human-AI partnership—designed for leaders, innovators, educators, and professionals navigating the next wave of intelligent systems. This book goes beyond the buzz of automation to explore how humans and AI can learn, decide, build, and create—together. From prompt engineering and emotional intelligence to decentralized agents and global ethical frameworks, this book is both a roadmap and a manifesto for mastering the most transformative shift in technology and teamwork ...

Artificial Intelligence Made Simple: What You Really Need to Know Understand AI without a computer science degree. Unlock its power in your work, life, and future. Are you curious—or even concerned—about the rise of artificial intelligence but don’t know where to begin? Whether you’re a student, a professional, or simply a curious mind, this clear and approachable guide demystifies AI and shows you exactly what it means, how it works, and why it matters more than ever. Artificial Intelligence Made Simple breaks down complex topics like machine learning, neural networks, ChatGPT, ...

This book aims to demystify the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for a broad audience, bridging the gap between complex technical concepts and accessible understanding. The core problem addressed is the widespread lack of knowledge and understanding about AI, leading to both fear and unrealistic expectations. Many individuals struggle to grasp the fundamental principles of AI, its capabilities, limitations, and ethical implications. This book seeks to foster a more informed and nuanced perspective on AI, equipping readers with the knowledge to engage critically with this transformative...

In this profound and urgent new book, leading thinker on technology Kester Brewin shows how AI is both stunningly new and rooted in the most ancient human desires. Hailed by the UK government's own lead on AI as 'god-like', as we finally welcome this stunning technology amongst us—with Frankenstein and Faustus, from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to the underbelly of Silicon Valley—Brewin skillfully leads us through the myths, machines, and monsters that have influenced the development of our greatest and most longed-for invention, and how we can learn to live alongside it.

Graphene: The Wonder Material Shaping Our Future takes listeners on a captivating journey into the realm of graphene—a single layer of carbon atoms with extraordinary properties. From its accidental discovery to the present day, we explore historical milestones and ingenious minds behind breakthroughs.