History & Culture

This is the astonishingly intimate story of Elon Musk, the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence....

Yanis Varoufakis explains how Big Tech has effected an invisible but fundamental transformation in all our lives....

Scary Smart is an insider look at the future not only of technology and AI, but of our species, together with an accessible blueprint for what we can do to safeguard ourselves, those we love and the planet itself....

Build is full of personal stories, practical advice and fascinating insights into some of the most impactful products and people of the 20th century....

Artificial intelligence is transforming human society fundamentally and profoundly. Not since the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason have we changed how we approach knowledge, politics, economics, even warfare....

Interweaving stories about the science and the people behind it, Artificial Intelligence brims with clear-sighted, captivating, and approachable accounts of the most interesting and provocative modern work in AI, flavored with Mitchell’s humor and personal observations....

We stand at the beginning of a new era. What was once science fiction is fast becoming reality, as AI transforms war, crime, justice, jobs and society....

In this groundbreaking blend of imaginative storytelling and scientific forecasting, a pioneering AI expert and a leading writer of speculative fiction join forces to answer an imperative question: How will artificial intelligence change our world within 20 years....

The authors of the best-selling Bold and The Rise of Superman explore altered states of consciousness and how they can ignite passion, fuel creativity, and accelerate problem solving....

Broadcaster Tracey Spicer had an epiphany when her young son uttered these six words. Suddenly, her life’s work fighting inequality seemed futile....

Our lives are being choreographed by forces that want something from us. Everything from ingrained family values to mind-altering algorithms create our foundations, warp how we see the world, manipulate our decisions, and dictate our beliefs....

From the New York Times-bestselling author comes a new volume on the history of human ingenuity—and its attendant breakthroughs and busts....

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....

In this explosive yet practical book, Kevin Mitnick illustrates what is happening without your knowledge - and he teaches you "the art of invisibility"....

An ambitious but accessible book exploring how seven simple engineering inventions from the pump to the spring have shaped our world, by the engineer who designed the Shard....

Riveting, character-driven, and filled with jaw-dropping revelations, Extremely Hardcore is the definitive, fly-on-the-wall story of how Elon Musk lit $44 billion on fire and burned down Twitter....

The "rich and gripping" true story of the first time machines came for human jobs—and how the Luddite uprising explains the power, threat, and toll of big tech and AI today (Naomi Klein)....

Multi-award-winning scientific futurist Dr. Catherine Ball presents insights into how technology and science are providing answers to many of the challenges the world is facing today....

From government to media, trust in institutions is at an all-time low, but millions exchange cryptocurrency online, or get in the cars of unknown Uber drivers. This is the age of distributed trust....

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is neither a hand-wringing narrative of danger and decline nor a digital fairy tale. It offers a reasoned and evocative examination of the contests over the next chapter of capitalism that will decide the meaning of information civilization....

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....

Join Kotler in this fascinating exploration of our incredible next: a deep dive into those future technologies happening now - and what it means to be a part of this brave new world....

Footprints in the Dust offers a thorough, engrossing, and multifaceted account of the Apollo missions....

Pixar cofounder Alvy Ray Smith argues that the pixel is the organizing principle of most modern media, and he presents a few simple but profound ideas that unify the dazzling varieties of digital image making....

In the coming decades, the technology that enables virtual and augmented reality will improve beyond recognition. Within a century, world-renowned philosopher David J. Chalmers predicts, we will have virtual worlds that are impossible to distinguish from non-virtual worlds....

Next tells the story of 13 inspiring innovators around the world who are already tackling these challenges and transforming our species. Call it Humanity 2.0. Every individual and venture featured in Next is having an outsized impact on human history. Their stories show what the future might look like. But most of all, they will give listeners hope.

Digital transformation of the business landscape is well underway, and businesses are being reshaped faster than ever before. Agility and adaptability are now critical components of these businesses' survival. But building these traits requires a holistic approach with an unrelenting focus on automation. How does one go about developing that focus? Vijay Tella, Scott Brinker, and Massimo Pezzini deliver a guide to implementing automation in the real world, avoiding jargon and vague bromides in favor of concrete examples.

Are you curious about the future of computing but confused about where to start? Are you fascinated by the quantum buzz but intimidated by dense academic jargon? I'm here to guide you through the fascinating universe of quantum tech, in the simplest way possible. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, software developer, eager student, or an innovator at heart, this book is tailored for minds like yours. I've translated qubits, quantum gates, and superposition in a refreshingly easy way, so you don't need a PhD to come along for the ride.

Step into the captivating world of healthcare innovation and scientific breakthroughs with Medical Marvels: Amazing Discoveries in Health. This meticulously crafted journey takes you on a 30-day exploration of the most remarkable milestones in the field of medicine and healthcare. Each day unveils a new chapter in the story of humanity's quest for better health, offering a glimpse into the groundbreaking discoveries, cutting-edge technologies, and revolutionary advancements that have shaped the way we understand and approach healthcare.

Facebook knew it had a problem. The company had been humiliated by headlines, painted as complicit in the manipulation of democratic voting and an assault on the global social fabric. Their stated mission was to connect people, but they couldn't afford to destroy society in the process. And so they hired a small team to make sure they didn't repeat the same mistakes. From the Wall Street Journal reporter whose explosive stories have rocked Facebook and its leadership, this is the story of the Civic Integrity Team.

Starting with hands, abacus, and slide rule, humans have always reached for tools to simplify math. Pocket-sized calculators ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb, took us to the bottom of the ocean, and accompanied us to the moon. The pocket calculator changed our world, until it was supplanted by more modern devices that, in a cruel twist of irony, it helped to create. Keith Houston transports listeners from the nascent economies of the ancient world to World War II, and into the technological arms race that led to the first affordable electronic pocket calculators.

Embark on a transformative voyage through the intricate realm of intelligence. Radical Minds takes listeners from age-old definitions to futuristic speculations, exploring intelligence through varied, captivating lenses. Whether you're delving into the mysteries of the brain, the potential of AI, or the cultural tapestries that define cognition, this book is your compass.

Ethereum: The King of Decentralised Finance, by Kapil Sharma, is a comprehensive guide to understanding the world of Ethereum. The book provides an overview of Ethereum, its advantages and challenges, the Ethereum platform and its components, consensus mechanisms, development tools, and writing smart contracts. In Chapter 1, the author introduces Ethereum, its brief history, and why it matters. Chapter 2 discusses the advantages of Ethereum, such as decentralization, smart contract technology, flexibility, customizability, and the technical and business benefits of the network effects.

Thomas Watson Jr. drove IBM to undertake the biggest gamble in business history with a revolution no other company of the age could dare—the creation in the 1960s of the IBM System/360, the world's first fully integrated and compatible mainframe computer that laid the foundation for the information technology future.  Its success made IBM the most valuable company in America. Fortune magazine touted him as “the greatest capitalist who ever lived.” Time named him one of the “One Hundred People of the Century.”

Since the internet's earliest days, people have died and mourned online. In quiet corners of past iterations of the web, the dead linger. But attempts at preserving the data of the dead are often ill-fated, for websites and devices decay and die, just as people do. Death disrupts technologists' plans for platforms. It reveals how digital production is always collaborative, undermining the entrepreneurial platform economy and highlighting the flaws of techno-solutionism.

In this book, you will learn how to use ChatGPT to create lucrative money-making opportunities. With this book, you will gain the skills and insights you need to excel in the dynamic world of conversational AI. Explore how to create captivating scripts, drive business growth, and collaborate with thought leaders. Discover the power of AI to revolutionize your life and make your content creation dreams a reality.

The January 6th attack is an unprecedented crime in American history. Sprawling and openly political, it can't be handled by the traditional rules and norms of law enforcement—threatening the very idea of justice and its role in society. A mass of online tipsters—"sedition hunters"—have mobilized, simultaneously providing the FBI with valuable intelligence. In this work of extraordinary reportage, Ryan Reilly gets to know would-be revolutionaries, obsessive online sleuths, and FBI agents, and shines a light on a justice system that's straining to maintain order in our polarized country.

The cassette tape was revolutionary. Cheap, portable, and reusable, this small plastic rectangle changed music history. Make your own tapes! Trade them with friends! Tape over the ones you don't like! The cassette tape upended pop culture, creating movements and uniting communities. This entertaining book charts the journey of the cassette from its invention in the early 1960s to its Walkman-led domination in the 1980s to decline at the birth of compact discs to resurgence among independent music makers.

If you read (or listen to) nothing else on artificial intelligence and machine learning, listen to these ten articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you understand the future direction of AI, bring your AI initiatives to scale, and use AI to transform your organization. 

When Churchill's top secret Special Operations Executive needed to destroy the Gestapo HQ in the centre of downtown Copenhagen to prevent a devastating Nazi last stand that might prolong the war for many months, there was only one machine for the job - the Mosquito. This is the story of that legendary aircraft told through that one impossible mission.