100 Best Artificial Intelligence Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Max Tegmark

5.0

How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology--and there's nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.

How can we grow our prosperity th

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and 2 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018 list. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Anyone who wants to discuss how artificial intelligence is shaping the world should read this book. [source]

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

A compelling guide to the challenges and choices in our quest for a great future of life, intelligence and consciousness—on Earth and beyond. [source]

2

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

Nick Bostrom

5.0

Preview Summary

Superintelligence asks the questions: what happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life.

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant posi

Recommended by Elon Musk, Maria Ramos, and Will MacAskill.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Worth reading Superintelligence by Bostrom. We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes. [source]

Maria Ramos

CEO/Barclays Africa

Ramos will take the summer to examine some of the questions weighing more heavily on humankind as we contemplate our collective future: what happens when we can write our own genetic codes, and what happens when we create technology that is meaningfully more intelligent than us. The Gene: An Intimate History—Siddhartha Mukherjee Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies—Nick Bostrom The Ministry of Utmost Happiness—Arundhati Roy [source]

Will MacAskill

I picked this book because the possibility of us developing human-level artificial intelligence, and from there superintelligence—an artificial agent that is considerably more intelligent than we are—is at least a contender for the most important issue in the next two centuries. Bostrom’s book has been very influential in effective altruism, lots of people work on artificial intelligence in order to ensure that it is developed safely. I don’t agree with the entire contents of the book, but there are many compelling arguments in it. It would be extremely overconfident to dismiss this book as too speculative. In fact, I think there should be a lot more work that tries to understand the biggest challenges for the next two hundred years, and what we could do to try to overcome them. [source]

3

The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

Ray Kurzweil

4.7

Preview Summary

The great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is one of the best-known and controversial advocates for the role of machines in the future of humanity. In his latest, thrilling foray into the future, he envisions an event--thesingularity--in which technological change becomes so rapid and so profound that our bodies and brains will merge with our machines.

The Singularity Is Near portrays what life w

Recommended by Tony Robbins, Anthony Robbins, Brian Armstrong, and 4 others.

Antonio Eram

This book was recommended by Antonio when asked for titles he would recommend to young people interested in his career path. [source]

Mark O'Connell

I wouldn’t be the first to look at him this way but I read Kurzweil’s work as essentially a work of religious mysticism. I think there’s no other way to read it, really. [source]

Steve Aoki

It opened me up to the idea of science fiction becoming science fact. [source]

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4

Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig

4.6

For one or two-semester, undergraduate or graduate-level courses in Artificial Intelligence. The long-anticipated revision of this best-selling text offers the most comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the theory and practice of artificial intelligence. *NEW-Nontechnical learning material-Accompanies each part of the book. *NEW-The Internet as a sample application for intelligent systems-Adde

5

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari

4.6

Preview Summary

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to acce

Recommended by Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Naval Ravikant, and 15 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Harari’s new book is as challenging and readable as Sapiens. Rather than looking back, as Sapiens does, it looks to the future. I don’t agree with everything the author has to say, but he has written a thoughtful look at what may be in store for humanity. [source]

Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a big reader of paleontology or anthropology – not good words for us dyslexics! – but I enjoy learning about how society has unfolded and history has developed in an exciting, easy to read way. The sequel, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, is a fascinating look into the future too. While these aren’t traditional business or leadership books, they are all about people – and learning how to work with, live with, interact with people and get the best out of them is what leadership is all about. [source]

Vinod Khosla

Co-Founder/Sun Microsystem

Not that I agree with all of it, but it is still mind-bending speculation about our future as a follow-up to a previous favorite, Sapiens. It’s directionally right. [source]

6

AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order

Kai-Fu Lee

4.5

Dr. Kai-Fu Lee—one of the world’s most respected experts on AI and China—reveals that China has suddenly caught up to the US at an astonishingly rapid and unexpected pace. In AI Superpowers, Kai-fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the US-Sino AI competition begins to hea

Recommended by Arianna Huffington, Satya Nadella, Yuval Noah Harari, and 13 others.

Arianna Huffington

Founder/The Huffington Post

Kai-Fu Lee's experience as an AI pioneer, top investor, and cancer survivor has led to this brilliant book about global technology. AI Superpowers gives us a guide to a future that celebrates all the benefits that AI will bring, while cultivating what is unique about our humanity. It’s one of those books you read and think, ‘Why are people reading any other book right now when this is so clearly the one they need to be reading? [source]

Satya Nadella

CEO/Microsoft

Kai-Fu Lee's smart analysis on human-AI coexistence is clear-eyed and a must-read. We must look deep within ourselves for the values and wisdom to guide AI's development. [source]

Yuval Noah Harari

Historian

A superb and very timely survey of the impact of AI on the geopolitical system, the job market and human society. [source]

7

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas R. Hofstadter

4.5

Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers at

Recommended by Steve Jurvetson, Seth Godin, Cory Zue, and 2 others.

Steve Jurvetson

Steve Jurvetson recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show". [source]

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

In the last week, I discovered that at least two of my smart friends hadn't read Godel, Escher, Bach. They have now. You should too. [source]

Cory Zue

More recently books like Godel, Escher, Bach and Sapiens have influenced my thinking a lot. [source]

8

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

Cathy O'Neil

4.4

Preview Summary

Longlisted for the National Book Award
New York Times Bestseller

A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life -- and threaten to rip apart our social fabric

We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives--where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance--are being made not

Recommended by Paula Boddington and Ramesh Srinivasan.

Paula Boddington

How the use of algorithms has affected people’s lives and occasionally ruined them. [source]

Ramesh Srinivasan

This book is a really fantastic analysis of how quantification, the collection of data, the modelling around data, the predictions made by using data, the algorithmic and quantifiable ways of predicting behaviour based on data, are all built by elites for elites and end up, quite frankly, screwing over everybody else. [source]

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9

Deep Learning

Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, et al.

4.4

An introduction to a broad range of topics in deep learning, covering mathematical and conceptual background, deep learning techniques used in industry, and research perspectives.

Deep learning is a form of machine learning that enables computers to learn from experience and understand the world in terms of a hierarchy of concepts. Because the computer gathers knowledge from experience, there is no

Recommended by Elon Musk, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Satya Nadella, and 2 others.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Written by three experts in the field, Deep Learning is the only comprehensive book on the subject. [source]

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Author

Very clear exposition, does the math without getting lost in the details. Although many of the concepts of the introductory first 100 pages can be found elsewhere, they are presented with remarkable cut-to-the-chase clarity. [source]

Satya Nadella

CEO/Microsoft

Elon Musk and Facebook AI chief Yann LeCun have praised this textbook on one of software’s most promising frontiers. After its publication, Microsoft signed up coauthor Bengio, a pioneer in machine learning, as an adviser [source]

10

Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control

Stuart Russell

4.4

A leading artificial intelligence researcher lays out a new approach to AI that will enable us to coexist successfully with increasingly intelligent machines

In the popular imagination, superhuman artificial intelligence is an approaching tidal wave that threatens not just jobs and human relationships, but civilization itself. Conflict between humans and machines is seen as inevitable and its out

Recommended by Elon Musk, Diane Coyle, and Marcus Borba.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Worth reading. [source]

Diane Coyle

there’s a whole clutch of AI books…People want to understand what’s going on. Human Compatible is a really clearly written one. It explains enough about how AI works, but also what some of the challenges are. [source]

Marcus Borba

Book Review, ‘Human Compatible’: A Book About Artificial Intelligence (#AI) That Asks Some Interesting Questions https://t.co/BCe5JnHPuE @Forbes #ArtificialIntelligence #DataScience #BigData #DeepLearning #Robotics #MachineLearning https://t.co/gKo0mpBeva [source]

11

On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain Will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines

Jeff Hawkins, Sandra Blakeslee

4.4

From the inventor of the PalmPilot comes a new and compelling theory of intelligence, brain function, and the future of intelligent machines

Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intellige

Recommended by Ev Williams and Joan Boixados.

Joan Boixados

I’m reading “On intelligence” by Jeff Hawkins. I am really enjoying it. It’s a very specific theory of how our brain learns and makes predictions (the root of our intelligence) explained for average people unfamiliar with the field. It’s also very related to computer science and artificial intelligence since it tried to prove the current approaches to those are flawed. I’m getting a better understanding of how our brain works and how does our behaviour affects our thinking as much as our thinking affects our behaviour. Thus, it’s interesting to connect it with the idea of habits and how we can really benefit from them. [source]

12

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

Brian Christian and Griffiths

4.4

Preview Summary

A fascinating exploration of how insights from computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind

All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we

Recommended by Doug McMillon, Chris Oliver, Emi Gal, and 2 others.

Doug McMillon

CEO/Walmart

Here are some of my favorite reads from 2017. Lots of friends and colleagues send me book suggestions and it's impossible to squeeze them all in. I continue to be super curious about how digital and tech are enabling people to transform our lives but I try to read a good mix of books that apply to a variety of areas and stretch my thinking more broadly. [source]

Chris Oliver

This is a great book talking about how you can use computer science to help you make decisions in life. How do you know when to make a decision on the perfect house? Car? etc? It helps you apply algorithms to making those decisions optimally without getting lost. [source]

Emi Gal

When asked what books he would recommend to young people interested in his career path, mentioned Algorithms to Live By. [source]

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13

How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed

Ray Kurzweil

4.4

The bold futurist and bestselling author explores the limitless potential of reverse-engineering the human brain

Ray Kurzweil is arguably today’s most influential—and often controversial—futurist. In How to Create a Mind, Kurzweil presents a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilization—reverse engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and usin

Recommended by Naveen Jain and Sonja Mel.

Naveen Jain

Then the great book that Ray Kurzweil wrote, "How to Create a Mind" really tells you about how human brain works. [source]

Sonja Mel

This book in the photo is How to Create a Mind - Ray Kurzweil.. I just finished it a few days ago 🤯, if you’re interested in consciousness, how we process our world, AI it’s a must read. Your first gift on audible is free, here!!! - https://t.co/58MrEa8pP9 [source]

14

The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World

Pedro Domingos

4.4

A thought-provoking and wide-ranging exploration of machine learning and the race to build computer intelligences as flexible as our own
In the world's top research labs and universities, the race is on to invent the ultimate learning algorithm: one capable of discovering any knowledge from data, and doing anything we want, before we even ask. In The Master Algorithm, Pedro Domingos lifts the veil

Recommended by Vinod Khosla.

Vinod Khosla

Co-Founder/Sun Microsystem

If you want speculation about what the master AI might need (one view). For a slightly more technical read, I’d suggest Ian Goodfellows Deep Learning. [source]

15

Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era

James Barrat

4.4

In as little as a decade, artificial intelligence could match, then surpass human intelligence. Corporations & government agencies around the world are pouring billions into achieving AI’s Holy Grail—human-level intelligence. Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful & more alien t

Recommended by Elon Musk.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

While on the subject of AI risk, Our Final Invention by @jrbarrat is also worth reading [source]

16

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Martha Wells

4.3

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-

17

Neuromancer

William Gibson, Neil Gaiman

4.3

A deluxe hardcover edition of the pioneering cyberpunk novel that predicted our obsession with the Internet—part of Penguin Galaxy, a collectible series of six sci-fi/fantasy classics, featuring a series introduction by Neil Gaiman.

Before the Internet was commonplace, William Gibson showed us the Matrix—a world within the world, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace. Henry Dorsett

Recommended by Adam Savage, Aleks Krotoski, Burly Vinson, and 3 others.

Adam Savage

This series changed my life. [source]

Aleks Krotoski

This is the seminal cyberpunk book: it’s the thing that the web is based on. [source]

Burly Vinson

As I said, I’m a SciFi nerd, so right now I’m reading Neuromancer by William Gibson. As for what I expect to get from it? Probably not a lot from an entrepreneur point of view, but that’s fine by me. [source]

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18

Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1)

Ann Leckie

4.3

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy. Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a bu

Recommended by Kurt Braunohler and Nicholas Whyte.

Kurt Braunohler

@randbot @jackiekashian @nkjemisin that book is GREAT. [source]

Nicholas Whyte

It’s about a future war and the dialogue between people and artificial intelligences. There’s also a very interesting gender aspect to it as well, in that her protagonist doesn’t distinguish people by gender. What is at first presented as a slight deficiency in the way that the computer intelligence sees the world, makes us realise it’s a deficiency in the way we’re seeing the world. [source]

19

The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies

Erik Brynjolfsson

4.3

A revolution is under way. In recent years, Google's autonomous cars have logged thousands of miles on American highways and IBM's Watson trounced the best human Jeopardy! players. Digital technologies with hardware, software, and networks at their core will in the near future diagnose diseases more accurately than doctors can, apply enormous data sets to transform retailing, and accomplish many t

Recommended by Michael Dell, Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, and 1 others.

Michael Dell

CEO/Dell Computers

The authors make a case for a future world that is better, not worse, than the one we inherited. That may seem far-fetched given the problems we see flashing across our screens every day. But there is reason for optimism, and it starts and ends with one of my favorite things, technology. [source]

Dominic Steil

One of the books that had the biggest impact on . [source]

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20

Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn and TensorFlow: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques to Build Intelligent Systems

Geron

4.3

Through a series of recent breakthroughs, deep learning has boosted the entire field of machine learning. Now, even programmers who know close to nothing about this technology can use simple, efficient tools to implement programs capable of learning from data. This practical book shows you how.

By using concrete examples, minimal theory, and two production-ready Python frameworks-scikit-learn and

Recommended by Mark Tabladillo.

Mark Tabladillo

Book to Start You on Machine Learning - KDnuggets https://t.co/19fdX59b0d This book is “Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn & TensorFlow”. each new revision has become an even better version of one of the best in-depth resources to learn Machine Learning by doing. https://t.co/ujyUH3xU3e [source]

21

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Yuval Noah Harari

4.3

Preview Summary

In Sapiens, he explored our past. In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today's most pressing issues.

How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari's

Recommended by Bill Gates, Brajesh Kumar Singh, Eh Bee Family, and 2 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Harari is such a stimulating writer that even when I disagreed, I wanted to keep reading and thinking. All three of his books wrestle with some version of the same question: What will give our lives meaning in the decades and centuries ahead? So far, human history has been driven by a desire to live longer, healthier, happier lives. If science is eventually able to give that dream to most people, and large numbers of people no longer need to work in order to feed and clothe everyone, what reason will we have to get up in the morning? It’s no criticism to say that Harari hasn’t produced a satisfying answer yet. Neither has anyone else. So I hope he turns more fully to this question in the future. In the meantime, he has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century. [source]

Brajesh Kumar Singh

Harari, currently, the world's best historian and future analyst, is a gay! He is a Jew and writes his books in Hebrew! Got universal acclaim for his first book Sapiens, followed by Homo Deus and now the latest, 21 lessons for the 21st century! Salute to this genius, keep it up! https://t.co/s7R6oEbwiN [source]

Eh Bee Family

@harari_yuval This book is amazing. After every chapter...I pause...then freak out...then gather myself and keep reading. [source]

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22

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3)

Martha Wells

4.3

SciFi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah’s SecUnit is.

And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.

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23

Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

Martha Wells

4.3

It has a dark past – one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers w

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24

Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)

Martha Wells

4.3

Murderbot wasn’t programmed to care. So, its decision to help the only human who ever showed it respect must be a system glitch, right?

Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah—its former owner (protector? friend?)—submit evidence that could prevent GrayC

25

Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning

Christopher M. Bishop

4.3

Pattern recognition has its origins in engineering, whereas machine learning grew out of computer science. However, these activities can be viewed as two facets of the same field, and together they have undergone substantial development over the past ten years. In particular, Bayesian methods have grown from a specialist niche to become mainstream, while graphical models have emerged as a general

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26

The Society of Mind

Marvin Minsky

4.3

Marvin Minsky -- one of the fathers of computer science and cofounder of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT -- gives a revolutionary answer to the age-old question: "How does the mind work?"
Minsky brilliantly portrays the mind as a "society" of tiny components that are themselves mindless. Mirroring his theory, Minsky boldly casts The Society of Mind as an intellectual puzzle whose pi

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27

Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

Martin Ford

4.3

What are the jobs of the future? How many will there be? And who will have them? We might imagine—and hope—that today's industrial revolution will unfold like the last: even as some jobs are eliminated, more will be created to deal with the new innovations of a new era. In Rise of the Robots, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Ford argues that this is absolutely not the case. As technology continu

Recommended by Matthew Barby.

Matthew Barby

On the other side of things, which is a bit more like inspirational and a bit more tactical, it would probably be Rise of the Robots. Focuses all on the rise of artificial intelligence. Has some really interesting pieces on how people are disrupting in a bunch of different verticals for like ED Tech, health, 3D printing, and a bunch of other areas, and the impact that that has on jobs in the future. I love those two books at the moment. [source]

28

The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect

Judea Pearl

4.3

A Turing Award-winning computer scientist and statistician shows how understanding causality has revolutionized science and will revolutionize artificial intelligence
"Correlation is not causation." This mantra, chanted by scientists for more than a century, has led to a virtual prohibition on causal talk. Today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, instigated by Judea Pearl and his colleag

Recommended by D.a. Wallach and Kirk Borne.

D.a. Wallach

@EricTopol @yudapearl @bschoelkopf @MPI_IS I love @yudapearl 's book so much! Profound, heterodox. [source]

Kirk Borne

.@yudapearl wrote the awesome "Book of Why", but he recommends this fun and less #mathematics-heavy read >> his #AI lecture given in 1999: https://t.co/kNYIoJ8qcY #DataScience #MachineLearning #Statistics #BookofWhy #Causalinference #Bayes https://t.co/CNQlKP8cU3 [source]

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29

A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2)

Becky Chambers

4.3

Lovelace was once merely a ship's artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. As Lovelace learns to negotiate the universe and discover who she is, she makes friends with Pepper, an excitable engineer, who's determined to help her learn and grow.

Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matt

30

The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics (Oxford Landmark Science)

Roger Penrose

4.2

For many decades, the proponents of `artificial intelligence' have maintained that computers will soon be able to do everything that a human can do. In his bestselling work of popular science, Sir Roger Penrose takes us on a fascinating tour through the basic principles of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and philosophy to show that human thinking can never be emulated by a machine.

Oxford Landmark

Recommended by Jim Al-Khalili.

Jim Al-Khalili

If things are left to their own devices they decay and unwind and disorder increases. If you take a pack of cards in the right order and shuffle it they will get mixed up. [source]

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31

Deep Learning with Python

François Chollet

4.2

Deep learning is applicable to a widening range of artificial intelligence problems, such as image classification, speech recognition, text classification, question answering, text-to-speech, and optical character recognition. It is the technology behind photo tagging systems at Facebook and Google, self-driving cars, speech recognition systems on your smartphone, and much more.

In particular, Deep

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32

Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence

Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb

4.2

"What does AI mean for your business? Read this book to find out." -- Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google

Artificial intelligence does the seemingly impossible, magically bringing machines to life--driving cars, trading stocks, and teaching children. But facing the sea change that AI will bring can be paralyzing. How should companies set strategies, governments design policies, and people plan thei

Recommended by Lawrence Summers, Dominic Barton, Kevin Kelly, and 1 others.

Lawrence Summers

Chief Economist/World Bank

AI may transform your life. And Prediction Machines will transform your understanding of AI. This is the best book yet on what may be the best technology that has come along. [source]

Dominic Barton

CEO/McKinsey

Prediction Machines achieves a feat as welcome as it is unique: a crisp, readable survey of where artificial intelligence is taking us separates hype from reality, while delivering a steady stream of fresh insights. It speaks in a language that top executives and policy makers will understand. Every leader needs to read this book. [source]

Kevin Kelly

This book makes artificial intelligence easier to understand by recasting it as a new, cheap commodity--predictions. It's a brilliant move. I found the book incredibly useful. [source]

33

I, Robot

Isaac Asimov

4.2

The three laws of Robotics:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

With these three, simple directives, Isaac A

Recommended by Laurie Voss.

Laurie Voss

@ThePenguinLemma @MusingsOfDeimos The I, Robot book (actually a short story collection) is amazing if you've not read it. Enough ideas to make a dozen movies. [source]

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34

An Introduction to Statistical Learning: With Applications in R

Gareth James, Daniela Witten, Trevor Hastie, Robert Tibshirani

4.2

An Introduction to Statistical Learning provides an accessible overview of the field of statistical learning, an essential toolset for making sense of the vast and complex data sets that have emerged in fields ranging from biology to finance to marketing to astrophysics in the past twenty years. This book presents some of the most important modeling and prediction techniques, along with relevant a

Recommended by Roger D. Peng.

Roger D. Peng

This book is written by a powerhouse of authors in the machine learning community, true authorities in the field. But beyond that, they’re also great writers. [source]

35

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Philip K. Dick

4.2

It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill.
Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there, lurked several rogue androids. Deckard's assignment--find them and then..."retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn't want to be found!

36

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)

Becky Chambers

4.2

Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explor

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37

Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common LISP

Peter Norvig

4.2

Paradigms of AI Programming is the first text to teach advanced Common Lisp techniques in the context of building major AI systems. By reconstructing authentic, complex AI programs using state-of-the-art Common Lisp, the book teaches students and professionals how to build and debug robust practical programs, while demonstrating superior programming style and important AI concepts. The author stro

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38

2001: A Space Odyssey

Arthur C. Clarke, Neil Gaiman

4.2

A deluxe hardcover edition of the wondrous space adventure that is the basis for Stanley Kubrick's Oscar-winning film--now celebrating its 50th anniversary

Part of Penguin Galaxy, a collectible series of six sci-fi/fantasy classics, featuring a series introduction by Neil Gaiman

Winner of the AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books - 50 Covers competition

Written when landing on the moon was still a dream,

Recommended by Bertalan Meskó and Laurie Voss.

Bertalan Meskó

Preparing for my opening keynote, Science Fiction in Healthcare, at #futurelink18 this morning. Please get your tweets ready and challenge me about what the best sci-fi movie or book is. Ever. My vote is for 2001: A Space Odyssey. #digitalhealth [source]

Laurie Voss

2001 the *book* has a great plot and if you've read the book it's clear what's happening but if you haven't read the book the movie is impenetrable, and the movie should not get a pass just because an Explainer Guide was published at the same time. [source]

39

Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction

Richard S. Sutton and Andrew G. Barto

4.2

The significantly expanded and updated new edition of a widely used text on reinforcement learning, one of the most active research areas in artificial intelligence.

Reinforcement learning, one of the most active research areas in artificial intelligence, is a computational approach to learning whereby an agent tries to maximize the total amount of reward it receives while interacting with a comple

Recommended by Zachary Lipton.

Zachary Lipton

@innerproduct 1. Tor Lattimore Great book work on bandits (https://t.co/gttspSm40W) and work on causality + bandits (https://t.co/lkwvtEiKvE) 2. Caroline Uhler — Interesting work on causal inference + discovery, causal inference under measurement error etc (https://t.co/I3IRpwmdMd) [source]

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40

The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book

Andriy Burkov

4.2

WARNING! To avoid buying counterfeit on Amazon, click on "See All Buying Options" and choose "Amazon.com" and not a third-party seller.

Concise and to the point — the book can be read during a week. During that week, you will learn almost everything modern machine learning has to offer. The author and other practitioners have spent years learning these concepts.

Companion wiki — the book has a conti

Recommended by Kirk Borne.

Kirk Borne

Recent top-selling books in #AI & #MachineLearning: https://t.co/Ij9I7SzR4d ————— #BigData #DataScience #DataMining #Algorithms #PredictiveAnalytics #Python ————— ...in the TOP 10: 1)The Hundred-Page ML Book: https://t.co/dQ7nP6gwP0 2)Hands-on ML with...: https://t.co/Y0Iz3GbtGP https://t.co/72rAFN1FwW [source]

41

Architects of Intelligence: The truth about AI from the people building it

Martin Ford

4.2

42

Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms

Hannah Fry

4.2

A look inside the algorithms that are shaping our lives and the dilemmas they bring with them.

If you were accused of a crime, who would you rather decide your sentence—a mathematically consistent algorithm incapable of empathy or a compassionate human judge prone to bias and error? What if you want to buy a driverless car and must choose between one programmed to save as many lives as possible and

Recommended by David Smith and Jim Al-Khalili.

David Smith

Darroch: “The best book I’ve read recently is called Hello World... It’s about the impact of algorithms across different areas... For me this was the best piece of learning I’ve done in recent months.” [source]

Jim Al-Khalili

The fact is, the age of AI is coming fast, and we need to be ready for it. This book will help you decide how worried you should be. [source]

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43

Daemon (Daemon, #1)

Daniel Suarez

4.2

A high-tech thriller for the wireless age that explores the unthinkable consequences of a computer program running without human control—a daemon—designed to dismantle society and bring about a new world order

Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire w

Recommended by Elon Musk and Eric Weinstein.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

A great read. [source]

Eric Weinstein

Managing Director/Thiel Capital

Eric Weinstein recommended this book on Twitter. [source]

44

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

Shoshana Zuboff

4.2

Preview Summary

The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior.

In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The sta

Recommended by Clive Lewis Mp, Dilip Cherian, John Tasioulas, and 3 others.

Clive Lewis Mp

Cant make the brilliant event below? Havent had a chance to read @shoshanazuboff groundbreaking book, ‘Surveillance Capitalism’? Then listen to this brilliant interview with the author as she explains the terrifying scale&ambition of Facebook/Google et al https://t.co/DCtNlFbmE0 https://t.co/ZX0YpW5pOo [source]

Dilip Cherian

Brave New World? Thanks @shoshanazuboff for that amazing book. It's compulsory reading for those trying to make sense of our world now. https://t.co/5nBJWoLS9p [source]

John Tasioulas

2019... Best book: Shoshana Zuboff, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power” Best political commentary: @HelenHet20 Best film @jokermovie Best restaurant: @farangLDN & @Trullo_LDN (London); Shinoki (Melbourne) [source]

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45

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Robert A. Heinlein

4.2

In 2075, the Moon is no longer a penal colony. But it is still a prison...

Life isn't easy for the political dissidents and convicts who live in the scattered colonies that make up lunar civilisation. Everything is regulated strictly, efficiently and cheaply by a central supercomputer, HOLMES IV.

When humble technician Mannie O'Kelly-Davis discovers that HOLMES IV has quietly achieved consciousness

Recommended by Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Orson Scott Card, and 2 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Probably the science fiction book I read the most when I was younger. [source]

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Elon Musk recommended this book as one of his favorite books about space. [source]

Orson Scott Card

Author

Robert A Heinlein is, quite seriously, the creator of modern science fiction, in the way that Jane Austen is the creator of the modern novel. [source]

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46

Ancillary Mercy (Imperial Radch, #3)

Ann Leckie

4.2

For just a moment, things seem to be under control for the soldier known as Breq. Then a search of Athoek Station's slums turns up someone who shouldn't exist—someone who might be a refugee from a ship that's been hiding beyond the empire's reach for three thousand years. In the meantime a messenger from the alien and mysterious Presger empire arrives, as does Breq's enemy, the divided and quite p

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47

The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind

Marvin Minsky

4.2

Our minds are working all the time, but we rarely stop to think about how they work. The human mind has many different ways to think, says Marvin Minsky, the leading figure in artificial intelligence and computer science. We use these different ways of thinking in different circumstances, and some of them we don't even associate with thinking. For example, emotions, intuitions, and feelings are ju

Recommended by Sebastian Seung.

Sebastian Seung

Marvin Minsky is famous as one of the fathers of artificial intelligence. The Emotion Machine is a summation of his lifetime of thinking about how the brain works. It is written somewhat as a computer scientist but also as a philosopher and psychologist. He’s a brilliant thinker and a brilliant writer. Most people will not know that he actually started out as a neuroscientist. But he gave up on neuroscience, deciding that if he wanted to understand intelligence in his lifetime he had better not study the brain but try to construct it in computer models. [source]

48

Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust

Gary Marcus, Ernest Davis

4.2

Preview Summary

Two leaders in the field offer a compelling analysis of the current state of the art and reveal the steps we must take to achieve a truly robust AI.

Despite the hype surrounding AI, creating an intelligence that rivals or exceeds human levels is far more complicated than we are led to believe. Professors Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis have spent their careers at the forefront of AI research and hav

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49

Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans

Melanie Mitchell

4.2

A sweeping examination of the current state of artificial intelligence and how it is remaking our world

No recent scientific enterprise has proved as alluring, terrifying, and filled with extravagant promise and frustrating setbacks as artificial intelligence. The award-winning author Melanie Mitchell, a leading computer scientist, now reveals AI’s turbulent history and the recent spate of apparent

Recommended by David Shaywitz.

David Shaywitz

Really enjoying, and have nearly completed (via @audible_com) @MelMitchell1 fascinating new book on AI. https://t.co/feb6t8qwMJ highly recommended! And h/t to @kevinhorgan for yet another splendid suggestion. [source]

50

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)

Dennis E. Taylor

4.1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.

Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hard

Recommended by Fabrice Grinda.

Fabrice Grinda

I have lots of books to recommend, but they are not related to my career path. The only one that is remotely related is Peter Thiel’s Zero to One. That said here are books I would recommend. [source]

51

Machine Learning: A Probabilistic Perspective

Kevin P. Murphy

4.1

A comprehensive introduction to machine learning that uses probabilistic models and inference as a unifying approach.

Today's Web-enabled deluge of electronic data calls for automated methods of data analysis. Machine learning provides these, developing methods that can automatically detect patterns in data and then use the uncovered patterns to predict future data. This textbook offers a comprehen

Recommended by Kirk Borne.

Kirk Borne

#MachineLearning — a Probabilistic Perspective: https://t.co/wAZwLoUFGF ———— #BigData #Statistics #DataScience #DeepLearning #AI #Algorithms #StatisticalLiteracy #Mathematics #abdsc ——— ⬇Get this brilliant 1100-page 28-chapter highly-rated book: https://t.co/Tm2zchpHSu https://t.co/jprUDdzkj8 [source]

52

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think

Peter H. Diamandis

4.1

Providing abundance is humanity’s grandest challenge—this is a book about how we rise to meet it.

We will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp. This bold, contrarian view, backed up by exhaustive research, introduces our near-term future, where exponentially growing technologies and three other powerful f

Recommended by Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Michael Dell, and 7 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012. [source]

Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]

Michael Dell

CEO/Dell Computers

The authors of Abundance go so far as to claim that "technology has the potential to significantly raise the basic standards of living for every man, woman, and child on the planet." Before you disagree, read the book. They make a fascinating argument, and make me happier than ever that I ditched my dream of being a doctor to enter the unpredictable world of IT. We live in exciting times. [source]

53

The Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction

Trevor Hastie, Robert Tibshirani, Jerome Friedman

4.1

During the past decade there has been an explosion in computation and information technology. With it have come vast amounts of data in a variety of fields such as medicine, biology, finance, and marketing. The challenge of understanding these data has led to the development of new tools in the field of statistics, and spawned new areas such as data mining, machine learning, and bioinformatics. Ma

Recommended by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Author

Very comprehensive, sufficiently technical to get most of the plumbing behind machine learning. Very useful as a reference book (actually, there is no other complete reference book). The authors are the real thing (Tibshirani is the one behind the LASSO regularization technique). Uses some mathematical statistics without the burdens of measure theory and avoids the obvious but complicated proofs. I own two copies of this edition, one for the office, one for my house, and the authors generously provide the PDF for travelers like me. [source]

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54

Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch #2)

Ann Leckie

4.1

Breq is a soldier who used to be a warship. Once a weapon of conquest controlling thousands of minds, now she has only a single body and serves the emperor.

With a new ship and a troublesome crew, Breq is ordered to go to the only place in the galaxy she would agree to go: to Athoek Station to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew - a lieutenant she murdered in cold blood.

Ann Leckie's Im

55

Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #1)

Dan Simmons

4.1

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at

Recommended by Primoz Cigler and Yuriy Zaremba.

Primoz Cigler

Here's the non-business one that I'm reading as well. It's a science fiction book by Dan Simmons - Hyperion. It's a pleasure reading, so no expected gains from this one :) [source]

Yuriy Zaremba

Amazing, complex stories, which trigger a lot of thoughts and new ideas. I think what people miss sometimes is how many similar values and ideas these book series communicate. [source]

56

Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins

Garry Kasparov

4.1

Garry Kasparov's 1997 chess match against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue was a watershed moment in the history of technology. It was the dawn of a new era in artificial intelligence: a machine capable of beating the reigning human champion at this most cerebral game.
That moment was more than a century in the making, and in this breakthrough book, Kasparov reveals his astonishing side of the sto

Recommended by Walter Isaacson, Charles Duhigg, Max Levchin, and 1 others.

Walter Isaacson

Author

The great Garry Kasparov takes on the key economic issue of our time: how we can thrive as humans in a world of thinking machines. This important and optimistic book explains what we as humans are uniquely qualified to do. Instead or wringing our hands about robots, we should all read this book and embrace the future. [source]

Charles Duhigg

Author

Garry Kasparov's perspectives on artificial intelligence are borne of personal experience - and despite that, are optimistic, wise and compelling. It's one thing for the giants of Silicon Valley to tell us our future is bright; it is another thing to hear it from the man who squared off with the world's most powerful computer, with the whole world watching, and his very identity at stake. [source]

Max Levchin

Co-founder/PayPal, CEO/Affirm, Investor

A highly human exploration of artificial intelligence, its exciting possibilities and inherent limits. [source]

57

Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

4.1

Preview Summary

Foreword by Steven Pinker

Blending the informed analysis of The Signal and the Noise with the instructive iconoclasm of Think Like a Freak, a fascinating, illuminating, and witty look at what the vast amounts of information now instantly available to us reveals about ourselves and our world—provided we ask the right questions.

By the end of an average day in the early twenty-first century, human bei

Recommended by Jj. Omojuwa and Ron Fournier.

Jj. Omojuwa

@SympLySimi Lol. Read this book. You’d love it. https://t.co/d2cLOyoiZ9 [source]

Ron Fournier

Just finished, “Everybody Lies” by @SethS_D, which in addition to being a tremendous education on Big Data, includes the best conclusion to a non-fiction book I’ve ever read. Read it. -30- [source]

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58

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1)

Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

4.1

Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she'd ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.
But the warship could be the least of their problems. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying re

59

The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

Kevin Kelly

4.1

From one of our leading technology thinkers and writers, a guide through the twelve technological imperatives that will shape the next thirty years and transform our lives

Much of what will happen in the next thirty years is inevitable, driven by technological trends that are already in motion. In this fascinating, provocative new book, Kevin Kelly provides an optimistic road map for the future, sh

Recommended by David Allen, Marc Andreessen, Chris Anderson, and 7 others.

David Allen

Author

Kevin said: We’re at a time right now, an apex in our culture, that is more significant than the Industrial Revolution, in terms of how much it’s going to change the world. I love his first chapter. He said, ‘You’re never going to get really good at anything, because everything keeps being updated. [source]

Marc Andreessen

Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Automatic must read. [source]

Chris Anderson

This boook offers profound insight into what happens (soon!) when intelligence flows as easily into objects as electricity. [source]

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60

Possible Minds: 25 Ways of Looking at AI

John Brockman

4.1

Science world luminary John Brockman assembles twenty-five of the most important scientific minds, people who have been thinking about the field artificial intelligence for most of their careers, for an unparalleled round-table examination about mind, thinking, intelligence and what it means to be human.

"Artificial intelligence is today's story--the story behind all other stories. It is the Second

Recommended by Gerd Leonhard.

Gerd Leonhard

More a set of reports and reflections, in his new book John Brockman assembles twenty-five of the most important scientific minds, for an unparalleled round-table examination about mind, thinking, intelligence and what it means to be human. A must read! [source]

61

Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again

Eric Topol

4.1

A Science Friday pick for book of the year, 2019
One of America's top doctors reveals how AI will empower physicians and revolutionize patient care
Medicine has become inhuman, to disastrous effect. The doctor-patient relationship--the heart of medicine--is broken: doctors are too distracted and overwhelmed to truly connect with their patients, and medical errors and misdiagnoses abound. In Deep

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62

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence

Ray Kurzweil

4.1

Ray Kurzweil is the inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era, an international authority on artificial intelligence, and one of our greatest living visionaries. Now he offers a framework for envisioning the twenty-first century--an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. Kurzweil's pro

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63

Together: AI and Human. On The Same Side.

Zoltan Andrejkovic

4.1

Artificial Intelligence is our society's biggest opportunity. It will be the most influential technology of our century, but we still don’t know how to put this into the right path. This book is focusing on the philosophical side of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics while remaining rational and pragmatic.

We (not AI professionals) all have important questions:

How will it work?
Who will benefit

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64

Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI

Paul R. Daugherty

4.1

Recommended by Doug McMillon, Debjani Ghosh, and Vala Afshar.

Doug McMillon

CEO/Walmart

Read some wonderful and enlightening books this year. [source]

Debjani Ghosh

Another great book on #AI is #HumansAndMachines - Reimagining work in the age of AI by @pauldaugh ..... https://t.co/wuwM67rRdv [source]

Vala Afshar

“Human + Machine” provides he missing and much needed management playbook got success in our new age of AI. I highly recommend this brilliant book, by @pauldaugh and @hjameswilson, to all business transformation trailblazers. Your understanding of #AI is key to your success. https://t.co/WTlVKp5mLf [source]

65

Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)

Iain M. Banks

4.1

The first book in Iain M. Banks's seminal science fiction series, The Culture. Consider Phlebas introduces readers to the utopian conglomeration of human and alien races that explores the nature of war, morality, and the limitless bounds of mankind's imagination.

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destructi

Recommended by Elon Musk, Demis Hassabis, and John Quiggin.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

SpaceX, the rocketry firm he founded in 2002, owns two ocean-going barges that serve as mobile landing pads for its rockets. One is called Just Read the Instructions, the other Of Course I Still Love You. Both are named after sentient spaceships in the “Culture” books, all of which have similarly playful names (one warship, which spends most of its time waiting idly to be called up for action, is called the Killing Time.) [source]

Demis Hassabis

excited for this, Banks' Culture series is brilliant. Consider Phlebas is one of my favourite books, I read it back in the day when I was programming Theme Park, the cheat code for the game is 'Horza', the main character from the book... https://t.co/rUPwVpZU1f [source]

John Quiggin

Iain Banks is the writer you probably think of as being furthest from utopia in all sorts of ways. But the underlying conceit is that this is a post-scarcity society where people are free from any kind of material concerns. If they want to tear down their existing planet and build a whole new one, they can just go ahead and do it. It’s quite a successful imagining of what things might be like, and how people might react to an end to scarcity. [source]

66

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

Charles Petzold

4.1

What do flashlights, the British invasion, black cats, and seesaws have to do with computers? In CODE, they show us the ingenious ways we manipulate language and invent new means of communicating with each other. And through CODE, we see how this ingenuity and our very human compulsion to communicate have driven the technological innovations of the past two centuries.

Using everyday objects and fam

Recommended by Ana Bell.

Ana Bell

It gets you to use your imagination to virtually build a computer. It’s easy to read, you can lie down on the couch and enjoy it—it’s not so much of a textbook. It demystifies the magic of a computer and what it is. [source]

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67

The Sciences of the Artificial

Herbert A Simon

4.1

Continuing his exploration of the organization of complexity and the science of design, this new edition of Herbert Simon's classic work on artificial intelligence adds a chapter that sorts out the current themes and tools -- chaos, adaptive systems, genetic algorithms -- for analyzing complexity and complex systems. There are updates throughout the book as well. These take into account important

Recommended by Alan Kay.

Alan Kay

A much stronger way to think about computing — and what 'Computer Science' might mean. [source]

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68

Humans Need Not Apply: A Guide to Wealth and Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Jerry Kaplan

4.1

An insightful, engaging tour by a noted Silicon Valley insider of how accelerating developments in Artificial Intelligence will transform the way we live and work

Selected as one of the 10 best science and technology books of 2015 by The Economist

After billions of dollars and fifty years of effort, researchers are finally cracking the code on artificial intelligence. As society stands on the cusp

Recommended by Brian Armstrong.

69

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place

Janelle Shane

4.1

AS HEARD ON NPR'S "SCIENCE FRIDAY"
Discover the book that Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink, and Adam Grant want you to read this year, an "accessible, informative, and hilarious" introduction to the weird and wonderful world of artificial intelligence (Ryan North).
"You look like a thing and I love you" is one of the best pickup lines ever... according to an artificial intelligence traine

Recommended by Robert Went.

Robert Went

Reading ‘You look like a thing and I love you: How AI works and why it is making the world a weirder place’, a wonderful book by @JanelleCShane — very funny, and I learn a lot https://t.co/SaZPjRTdVw [source]

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70

The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity

Amy Webb

4.1

A call-to-arms about the broken nature of artificial intelligence, and the powerful corporations that are turning the human-machine relationship on its head.

We like to think that we are in control of the future of "artificial" intelligence. The reality, though, is that we--the everyday people whose data powers AI--aren't actually in control of anything. When, for example, we speak with Alexa, we

Recommended by Caroline Mccarthy.

Caroline Mccarthy

If your 2020 resolutions involve more reading, the book I recommended to the most people in 2019 -- and continue to do so -- is @amywebb's THE BIG NINE. An essential primer on AI and the US-China tech rivalry. (It is a must for the entire #YangGang btw.) https://t.co/JuBvvMzN52 [source]

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71

The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity

Byron Reese

4.1

“The Fourth Age not only discusses what the rise of A.I. will mean for us, it also forces readers to challenge their preconceptions. And it manages to do all this in a way that is both entertaining and engaging.” —The New York Times

As we approach a great turning point in history when technology is poised to redefine what it means to be human, The Fourth Age offers fascinating insight into AI, robo

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72

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

Neal Stephenson

4.1

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. It is to some extent a science fiction coming-of-age story, focused on a young girl named Nell, and set in a future world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. The novel deals with themes of education, social class, ethnicity, and the nature of artificial intelligence.

Recommended by Andrew Chen, Ev Williams, Peter Thiel, and 3 others.

Marvin Liao

Partner/500 Startups

My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian). [source]

Hope King

@JerryCremin @amazon @JeffBezos It’s the best book [source]

Kelly Starrett

Kelly is a legitimate fantasy and sci-fi nerd. He knows Dune by Frank Herbert and The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson inside and out. Kelly has daughters and texted me about the latter book, which follows a young female protagonist: "How do you raise girls that are of the system but crush the system while rebuilding a better one?" [source]

73

Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and Tensorflow: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques to Build Intelligent Systems

Aurélien Géron

4.1

74

Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World

Kevin Kelly

4.1

Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things.

Recommended by Ev Williams, Steve Jurvetson, Cynthia Johnson, and 1 others.

Steve Jurvetson

The single book that’s had the most influence on me my entire life. … It started my life long fascination of the biological metaphors in technology. [source]

Cynthia Johnson

This book was the basis of The Matrix. It goes down this rabbit hole of where machines begin and end, and where we fit into that. The entire idea is that as we move into this revolutionary, technology-driven world, we then also become parts of that. [source]

Geoffrey Miller

@kevin2kelly Love that book. Read it in grad school. Inspired my evolutionary robotics and artificial life research. [source]

75

All These Worlds (Bobiverse, #3)

Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter, et al

4.1

Being a sentient spaceship really should be more fun. But after spreading out through space for almost a century, Bob and his clones just can't stay out of trouble.

They've created enough colonies so humanity shouldn't go extinct. But political squabbles have a bad habit of dying hard, and the Brazilian probes are still trying to take out the competition. And the Bobs have picked a fight with an o

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76

For We Are Many (Bobiverse, #2)

Dennis E. Taylor

4.1

Bob Johansson didn’t believe in an afterlife, so waking up after being killed in a car accident was a shock. To add to the surprise, he is now a sentient computer and the controlling intelligence for a Von Neumann probe.

Bob and his copies have been spreading out from Earth for forty years now, looking for habitable planets. But that’s the only part of the plan that’s still in one piece. A system-w

77

Skyward (Skyward, #1)

Brandon Sanderson, Suzy Jackson, et al

4.1

Defeated, crushed, and driven almost to extinction, the remnants of the human race are trapped on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and (perhaps mos

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78

The Mind’s I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul

Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel C. Dennett

4.1

Brilliant, shattering, mind-jolting, The Mind's I is a searching, probing cosmic journey of the mind that goes deeply into the problem of self and self-consciousness as anything written in our time. From verbalizing chimpanzees to scientific speculations involving machines with souls, from the mesmerizing, maze-like fiction of Borges to the tantalizing, dreamlike fiction of Lem and Princess Ineffa

Recommended by Susan Blackmore.

Susan Blackmore

I have no hesitation at all about this book because it’s got so many absolutely classic papers in it. [source]

79

Python Machine Learning: Machine Learning and Deep Learning with Python, scikit-learn, and TensorFlow 2, 3rd Edition

Sebastian Raschka

4.1

Link to the GitHub Repository containing the code examples and additional material: https://github.com/rasbt/python-machi...

Many of the most innovative breakthroughs and exciting new technologies can be attributed to applications of machine learning. We are living in an age where data comes in abundance, and thanks to the self-learning algorithms from the field of machine learning, we can turn thi

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80

Exhalation: Stories

Ted Chiang

4.1

An alternate cover edition for this book can be found here.

From an award-winning science fiction writer (whose short story "The Story of Your Life" was the basis for the Academy Award-nominated movie Arrival), the long-awaited new collection of stunningly original, humane, and already celebrated short stories

This much-anticipated second collection of stories is signature Ted Chiang, full of revela

81

Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe, #2)

Neal Shusterman

4.1

Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.

Citra, now a junior scythe under S

82

The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive

Brian Christian

4.1

The Most Human Human is a provocative, exuberant, and profound exploration of the ways in which computers are reshaping our ideas of what it means to be human. Its starting point is the annual Turing Test, which pits artificial intelligence programs against people to determine if computers can “think.”

Named for computer pioneer Alan Turing, the Turing Test convenes a panel of judges who pose quest

Recommended by Vinod Khosla and Vinod Khosla.

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83

Neural Networks and Deep Learning

Charu C. Aggarwa

4.1

Neural Networks and Deep Learning is a free online book. The book will teach you about:
* Neural networks, a beautiful biologically-inspired programming paradigm which enables a computer to learn from observational data
* Deep learning, a powerful set of techniques for learning in neural networks

Neural networks and deep learning currently provide the best solutions to many problems in image recognit

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84

Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future

Andrew McAfee, Erik Brynjolfsson

4.0

In The Second Machine Age, Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson predicted some of the far-reaching effects of digital technologies on our lives and businesses. Now they’ve written a guide to help readers make the most of our collective future. Machine | Platform | Crowd outlines the opportunities and challenges inherent in the science fiction technologies that have come to life in recent years, lik

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85

Obsidio (The Illuminae Files, #3)

Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

4.0

From bestselling author duo Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff comes the exciting finale in the trilogy that broke the mold and has been called "stylistically mesmerizing" and "out-of-this-world-awesome."

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station d

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86

Rationality: From AI to Zombies

Eliezer Yudkowsk

4.0

What does it actually mean to be rational? Not Hollywood-style "rational," where you forsake all human feeling to embrace Cold Hard Logic. Real rationality, of the sort studied by psychologists, social scientists, and mathematicians. The kind of rationality where you make good decisions, even when it's hard; where you reason well, even in the face of massive uncertainty; where you recognize and ma

87

Make Your Own Neural Network

Tariq Rashid

4.0

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88

Excession (Culture #5)

Iain M. Banks

4.0

Two and a half millennia ago, the artifact appeared in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion-year-old dying sun from a different universe. It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared.

Now it is back.

Recommended by Elon Musk.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Compelling picture of a grand, semi-utopian galactic future. Hopefully not too optimistic about AI. [source]

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89

The Sentient Machine: The Coming Age of Artificial Intelligence

Amir Husain

4.0

The future is now. Acclaimed technologist and inventor Amir Husain explains how we can live amidst the coming age of sentient machines and artificial intelligence—and not only survive, but thrive.

Artificial “machine” intelligence is playing an ever-greater role in our society. We are already using cruise control in our cars, automatic checkout at the drugstore, and are unable to live without our s

Recommended by John Chambers.

John Chambers

CEO/Cisco

Whether you are a business leader, policy maker, or entrepreneur, you need to understand Artificial Intelligence and its power to shape our future. In his brilliantly written book, Amir Husain, one of the world's leading AI experts, will help you gain that understanding. [source]

90

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe, #1)

Neal Shusterman

4.0

Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of tak

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91

The Player of Games

Iain Banks

4.0

The Culture--a humanoid/machine symbiotic society--has thrown up many great Game Players. One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel & incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game, a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed,

Recommended by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Compelling picture of a grand, semi-utopian galactic future. Hopefully not too optimistic about AI. [source]

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder/Facebook

This is a change of pace from all the recent social science books. Instead, it's a science fiction book about an advanced civilization with AI and a vibrant culture. [source]

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92

Gemina (The Illuminae Files, #2)

Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

4.0

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the

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93

Machine Learning

Tom M. Mitchell

4.0

Mitchell covers the field of machine learning, the study of algorithms that allow computer programs to automatically improve through experience and that automatically infer general laws from specific data.

Recommended by Daniel H Wilson.

Daniel H Wilson

Yes, Machine Learning is a textbook and I would call it the textbook for machine learning and artificial intelligence. Machine learning is just the math of teaching a machine how to solve a problem on its own, because you’re not going to be able to be there to solve it for the machine. It can be any kind of problem: it could be a robot that needs to figure out how to get from point A to point B or it could be a supply inventory algorithm for trying to figure out how many products it should order for Walmart. [source]

94

The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #2)

Dan Simmons

4.0

In the stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion, Simmons returns us to a far future resplendent with drama and invention. On the world of Hyperion, the mysterious Time Tombs are opening. And the secrets they contain mean that nothing--nothing anywhere in the universe--will ever be the same.

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95

The Industries of the Future

Alec Ross

4.0

This book answers the question: 'What's next?' The Internet had a world-changing impact on businesses and the global community over the twenty years from 1994 to 2014. In the next ten years, change will happen even faster.

As Hillary Clinton's Senior Advisor for Innovation, Alec Ross travelled nearly a million miles to forty-one countries, the equivalent of two round-trips to the moon. From refuge

Recommended by Reid Hoffman, Marvin Liao, and Ivan Kv.

Marvin Liao

Partner/500 Startups

My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian). [source]

Ivan Kv

I have finally finished reading your book (Industries of the Future), @AlecJRoss... My favorite read this year. #VR #AI #Genomics #cybersecurity #BigData #future https://t.co/qHsIYABkWS [source]

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96

Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications

Toby Segaran

4.0

Want to tap the power behind search rankings, product recommendations, social bookmarking, and online matchmaking? This fascinating book demonstrates how you can build Web 2.0 applications to mine the enormous amount of data created by people on the Internet. With the sophisticated algorithms in this book, you can write smart programs to access interesting datasets from other web sites, collect da

97

Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War

Paul Scharre

4.0

The era of autonomous weapons has arrived. Today around the globe, at least thirty nations have weapons that can search for and destroy enemy targets all on their own. Paul Scharre, a leading expert in next-generation warfare, describes these and other high tech weapons systems—from Israel’s Harpy drone to the American submarine-hunting robot ship Sea Hunter—and examines the legal and ethical issu

Recommended by Bill Gates.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Autonomous weapons aren’t exactly top of mind for most around the holidays, but this thought-provoking look at A.I. in warfare is hard to put down. It’s an immensely complicated topic, but Scharre offers clear explanations and presents both the pros and cons of machine-driven warfare. His fluency with the subject should come as no surprise: he’s a veteran who helped draft the U.S. government’s policy on autonomous weapons. [source]

98

A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence

Jeff Hawkins

4.0

Preview Summary

99

Scary Smart: Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World

Mo Gawdat

4.0

Preview Summary

100

The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind

Michio Kaku

4.0

The New York Times best-selling author of Physics of the Impossible, Physics of the Future and Hyperspace tackles the most fascinating and complex object in the known universe: the human brain.

For the first time in history, the secrets of the living brain are being revealed by a battery of high tech brain scans devised by physicists. Now what was once solely the province of science fiction has bec

Recommended by Dominic Steil.

Dominic Steil

One of the books that had the biggest impact on . [source]