Holiday reading roundup: Five books to inform, educate and entertain
These 2019 titles explore smart homes, Big Tech, gender bias, extraterrestrial languages and science fiction.
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Ghost Work and Behind the Screen, book reviews: Lifting the veil on the internet's secret employment sector
Many companies’ services are underpinned by ‘ghost’ workers with few employment rights. Two recent books explore their world.
Fire, Ice and Physics, book review: The facts behind the fantasy
Putting the science into science fiction and fantasy gets you an interesting, if somewhat worthy, book that leaves you with as many questions as answers.
You Look Like a Thing and I Love You, book review: The weird side of AI
In this approachable and insightful book, Janelle Shane examines how AIs work and learn -- and how they can be fooled. The most important question: how do we know when to trust an AI?
Permanent Record, book review: The whistleblower's tale
Edward Snowden's compelling memoir details how he exposed secret US government surveillance programmes, and the personal cost involved.
The Big Nine, book review: Visions of an AI-dominated future
Futurist Amy Webb speculates on the development and implementation of artificial intelligence in the coming decades. Will the outcome be benign, chaotic or disastrous?
Tools and Weapons, book review: Tech companies, governments and smart regulation
Technology is increasingly behind both global crises and breakthroughs, obliging the companies that create it to take responsibility for security, privacy and the impact of social networks and AI. That needs to go hand-in-hand with intelligent regulation says Microsoft.
The Smart-Enough City, book review: Putting people first
Ben Green offers a welcome antidote to most accounts of smart cities, arguing that citizens' values, rather than technology itself, should be the starting point.
The Twenty-Six Words that Created the Internet, book review: The biography of a law
Section 30 of the 1996 US Communications Decency Act allowed the internet to become the success it has, argues Jeff Kosseff, who details its genesis and passage, and tours the legal judgements that have upheld it.
London exhibitions reviewed: Secrets, autonomous vehicles and AI
If you're in London over the summer, check out the Science Museum and the Barbican for this trio of IT-related exhibitions.
The Science of Breaking Bad, book review: Walter White's chemistry explained
This is an entertaining way to learn more about science, and an excuse to rewatch a classic show.
Robotics Through Science Fiction, book review: New insights from old stories
This edited short story compilation illustrates why AI is harder than the hype would have you believe. Highly recommended.
YouTubers, book review: In search of authenticity
You could be forgiven for noticing YouTube only when a scandal breaks, but, as Chris Stokel-Walker writes, it's an increasingly important part of the entertainment business.
Custodians of the Internet, book review: Content moderation under the microscope
How do you moderate content on platforms of the scale of YouTube or Facebook? Tarleton Gillespie lays out the options and highlights the impact of 'Web 2.0' on society.
The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust, book review: Driving networks to consensus
Blockchain: what is it good for? Plenty, argues Kevin Werbach, but it may be decades before its transformative influence is fully realised.
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![Fire, Ice and Physics, book review: The facts behind the fantasy]()
After Hours
Fire, Ice and Physics, book review: The facts behind the fantasy
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![Permanent Record, book review: The whistleblower's tale]()
Security
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![The Big Nine, book review: Visions of an AI-dominated future]()
Artificial Intelligence
The Big Nine, book review: Visions of an AI-dominated future
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Tech Industry
Holiday reading roundup: Five books to inform, educate and entertain
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![The Twenty-Six Words that Created the Internet, book review: The biography of a law]()
Tech Industry
The Twenty-Six Words that Created the Internet, book review: The biography of a law
