Books like Weapons of Math Destruction

01

The Master Algorithm

Pedro Domingos · Science

The Master Algorithm is Pedro Domingos's survey of machine learning — the field of computer science that creates algorithms capable of learning from data — organized around a central speculative thesis: that there exists, or may be found, a single master algorithm from which all learning can be derived.

Shares algorithms and data science with Weapons of Math Destruction.

02

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

Charles Petzold · Science

Code is Charles Petzold's explanation of how computers work, built from first principles.

Both dig into technology.

03

Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control

Stuart Russell · Science

Human Compatible is Stuart Russell's argument, from inside mainstream AI research, that the standard model of AI — build a system that optimizes for a fixed objective — is the wrong approach, and that the transition to much more capable AI systems requires a fundamental change in how AI is designed.

A kindred science read.

04

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

Nicholas Carr · Science

The Shallows is Nicholas Carr's argument that the internet — and the way we habitually use it, skimming hyperlinked text, watching short videos, checking feeds — is reshaping the neural circuits responsible for deep reading and sustained concentration.

Both dig into technology.

05

The Second Machine Age

Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee · Economics

The Second Machine Age is Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee's argument that digital technology has entered a qualitatively new phase — one in which machines can perform cognitive tasks previously reserved for humans, creating economic disruption and opportunity simultaneously.

Shares inequality and technology with Weapons of Math Destruction.

06

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Jared Diamond · Science

Guns, Germs, and Steel is Jared Diamond's attempt to answer a question posed to him by a Papua New Guinean politician named Yali: why did Europeans end up with so much cargo — wealth, technology, power — while other peoples had comparatively little?

Both dig into inequality.

07

Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain

David Eagleman · Science

David Eagleman's argument is that "hardwired" is the wrong metaphor for the brain.

Both dig into technology.

08

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Mary Roach · Science

Stiff follows the human body after death — through anatomy labs, crash-test facilities, forensic research farms, military ballistics testing, and the history of surgical education.

Both dig into ethics.

09

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

Simon Singh · Science

Simon Singh's The Code Book traces the history of cryptography from Caesar's cipher through the breaking of Enigma to the mathematics of public-key encryption and the looming possibility of quantum cryptography.

Both dig into technology.

10

The Distracted Mind

Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen · Science

The Distracted Mind brings together two distinct research traditions — cognitive neuroscience and psychology of technology — to explain why modern humans find sustained attention so difficult and what can be done about it.

Both dig into technology.

11

The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World

Amanda Little · Science

The Fate of Food is Amanda Little's reporting on how food production is being reshaped by climate change and by the technologies that farmers, scientists, and food companies are deploying to respond.

Both dig into technology.

12

The Weather Machine: A Journey Inside the Forecast

Andrew Blum · Science

The Weather Machine is Andrew Blum's account of how modern weather forecasting actually works — not the phone app that tells you tomorrow will be partly cloudy, but the vast physical and computational infrastructure behind that prediction.

Both dig into technology.