Showing titles in History & Culture

The #1 New York Times bestseller from David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize—the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly—Wilbur and Orville Wright. On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two...

Are you using AI or is AI using you? In a world where algorithms shape thought and automation floods the creative field, Human Again is a field-tested playbook for staying awake, original, and alive in the age of machines. Part reflection, part practical guide, it invites readers to explore identity and inspiration in real time, learning to think with AI rather than be replaced by it. Blending cultural insight, personal experience, and practical tools, Macpherson explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity, work, and identity, and how to harness it without losing yourself. ...

2015 Audie Award Finalist for Nonfiction Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson’s New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed The Innovators is a “riveting, propulsive, and at times deeply moving” (The Atlantic) story of the people who created the...

In Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Of Minds and Machines, philosopher Patrick Grim traces the story of AI from ancient legends to the neural networks behind today’s breakthroughs. You see how modern systems became so powerful so quickly. You also explore the very meaning of “intelligence,” discovering how modern AI succeeds by drawing on three resources: vast datasets that let systems learn from examples; deep-learning architectures loosely modeled on the brain’s layers; and feedback loops that help models refine their behavior.

Brought to you by Penguin. A revelatory portrait of the visionary behind Google DeepMind, the race to control the future – and what it means to win Even in a tech world crowded with visionary leaders, Demis Hassabis is recognized as a special case. Born to working class, immigrant parents in...

In Dear Future: You Can Keep The Change, Ronee Hulk offers a haunting and deeply human exploration of artificial intelligence and its quiet unravelling of the systems that once defined who we are. With automation racing ahead of imagination; algorithms deciding what we make, trade, and even how we are valued; Could the global economy fall apart; not through disorder but through the precision of its own design?

From a renowned computer scientist, this book seeks the distinctive human quality that will prevail against artificial intelligence. If artificial intelligence takes over decision-making what, then, is unique and irreplaceable about human intelligence? The Atomic Human is a journey of discovery...

Transform Your Understanding of AI from Confusion to Confidence While millions panic about being left behind by AI, the revolution has barely begun. We're at the 1995 - equivalent of the internet age - and understanding AI now puts you ahead of 90% of the workforce. This practical guide cuts through the ChatGPT hype to reveal what's really happening with artificial intelligence. You'll discover the crucial difference between generative AI (tools that create content) and agentic AI (systems that make autonomous decisions) - a distinction that changes everything about how you evaluate, adopt,...

How AI Really Thinks takes you behind the screen and uncovers the ten core secrets that make modern artificial intelligence work. You’ll discover why data acts as AI’s fuel, how algorithms function as its rulebook, and how machines learn from examples the same way people learn from experience. You’ll explore the training methods that help AI recognise pictures and understand speech, and you’ll see how neural networks—loosely inspired by the human brain—allow AI to detect patterns far too complex for us to notice.

Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.

Confused about AI and worried about what it means for your future and the future of the world? You're not alone. AI is everywhere—and few things are surrounded by so much hype, misinformation, and misunderstanding. In AI Snake Oil, computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor cut through the confusion to give you an essential understanding of how AI works, why it often doesn't, where it might be useful or harmful, and when you should suspect that companies are using AI hype to sell AI snake oil—products that don't work, and probably never will.

Somewhere right now, someone with your exact experience is working at twice your speed and producing better quality work. You've probably tried AI tools. Maybe the results were underwhelming. Maybe they were impressive but you weren't sure why, or whether you could trust them. Maybe you're using AI every day but you have a suspicion you're only scratching the surface. You are. Most people are stuck between two useless narratives: hype that promises the world and fear that predicts the worst. This book is neither. It's what actually makes you good at this: the understanding that turns AI ...

PRISM is a simple and powerful way to think clearly with AI. This beginner’s guide shows you how to enter the kind of conversations where clarity becomes natural, insight comes easily, and your own mind begins to steady itself. You’ll learn what PRISM really is, how to start a session on your own, how the corridor forms between you and the AI, and the small signs you’re doing it right. No jargon. No mysticism. Just clear explanations, practical examples, and short field notes from real PRISM sessions. If you’re new to working with AI—or you want a clearer, more grounded way to ...

"Schiffer offers a detailed look under the smoke-filled hood... deploying a crisp, matter-of-fact style to excellent effect." — The New York Times "A sharp and deeply sourced fly-on-the-wall account... packed with original reporting." — Financial Times Before he conceived of the Department...

Will machines someday replace attorneys, physicians, computer programmers, and world leaders? What about composers, painters, and novelists? Will tomorrow’s supercomputers duplicate and exceed humans? Are we just wetware, natural computers doomed to obsolescence by tomorrow’s ultra-powerful artificial intelligence? In Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will, Robert J. Marks II answers these and other fascinating questions with his trademark blend of whimsy and expertise.

En Nexus, Harari contempla a la humanidad desde la amplia perspectiva de la historia para analizar cómo las redes de información han hecho y deshecho nuestro mundo. Durante los últimos 100.000 años, los sapiens hemos acumulado un enorme poder. Pero, a pesar de todos los descubrimientos, inventos y conquistas, ahora nos enfrentamos a una crisis existencial: el mundo está al borde del colapso ecológico, abunda la desinformación y nos precipitamos hacia la era de la I.A. Con todo el camino andando, ¿por qué somos una especie autodestructiva?

Terrence Sejnowski offers a nuanced exploration of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and what their future holds. How should we go about understanding LLMs? Do these language models truly understand what they are saying? Or is it possible that what appears to be intelligence in LLMs may be a mirror that merely reflects the intelligence of the interviewer? In this book, Sejnowski, a pioneer in computational approaches to understanding brain function, answers all our urgent questions about this astonishing new technology.

The story of human civilization can be read most deeply in the materials we have found or created, used or abused. They have dictated how we build, eat, communicate, wage war, create art, travel, and worship. Some, such as stone, iron, and bronze, lend their names to the ages. Others, such as gold, silver, and diamond, contributed to the rise and fall of great empires.

What if the greatest risks of artificial intelligence are not new, but echoes of the past? In Echoes in the Code, Harvey Castro, MD, MBA delivers a powerful, thought-provoking exploration of AI through the lens of history’s most consequential failures. From the Titanic to financial market collapses, from witch trials to modern algorithmic bias, this book reveals a striking truth: we are not facing entirely new problems—we are repeating old ones at unprecedented speed and scale. Each chapter pairs a historical disaster with a modern AI parallel, uncovering the hidden patterns that ...

You wake up and reach for your phone. Before your day even begins, your focus is already gone. In a world of endless notifications, social media, and constant digital noise, The Art of the Digital Detox offers a practical, realistic guide to reclaiming your attention without quitting technology altogether. This book explains why screens are so addictive, how multitasking destroys focus, and how to redesign your habits, environment, and boundaries to regain mental clarity.