In a world where data is constantly mined, processed, and used for profit and power, how can we become active citizens rather than passive inhabitants of the digital landscape?Jer Thorp's analysis of the word "data" in 10,325 New York Times stories written between 1984 and 2018 reveals a striking trend: alongside classic companions like "information" and "digital," we now find "scandal," "misinformation," "ethics," "friends," and "play." In Living in Data,...

In the fall of 2009, the data artist Jer Thorp wrote a pair of algorithms to inscribe names on the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan. The project involved designing a layout that allowed for “meaningful adjacencies”?family members, business partners, coworkers?to be etched into the bronze in close proximity. Thorp presented his results in competition against another team, a group of financial analysts who had also been working on the problem. The analysts were confident they’d found the most high...

“A clear and crisply written account of machine intelligence, big data and the sharing economy. But McAfee and Brynjolfsson also wisely acknowledge the limitations of their futurology and avoid over-simplification.” —Financial TimesIn 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...

A revelatory and timely look at how technology boosts our cognitive abilities—making us smarter, more productive, and more creative than everIt’s undeniable—technology is changing the way we think. But is it for the better? Amid a chorus of doomsayers, Clive Thompson delivers a resounding “yes.” In Smarter Than You Think, Thompson shows that every technological innovation—from the written word to the printing press to the telegraph—has provoked the very sa...

"A devastating portrait of the cultures and logics underlying big tech. Rushkoff is going to make you mad enough to fight back. A vital, lucid, and enraging read." —Naomi KleinFive mysterious billionaires summoned Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The subject? How to survive the "Event": the societal collapse they know is coming. Rushkoff argues that these men were under the influence of The Mindset, a Silicon Valley–style certainty that they ...

An unflinching look at the aspiring city-builders of our smart, mobile, connected future.We live in a world defined by urbanization and digital ubiquity, where mobile broadband connections outnumber fixed ones, machines dominate a new "internet of things," and more people live in cities than in the countryside.In Smart Cities, urbanist and technology expert Anthony Townsend takes a broad historical look at the forces that have shaped the planning and design of citi...

A software developer’s misadventures in computer programming, machine learning, and artificial intelligence reveal why we should never assume technology always gets it right.In Artificial Unintelligence, Meredith Broussard argues that our collective enthusiasm for applying computer technology to every aspect of life has resulted in a tremendous amount of poorly designed systems. We are so eager to do everything digitally—hiring, driving, paying bills, even...

Shortlisted for the 2021 Porchlight Business Book Awards, Current Events & Public AffairsThe Wall Street Journal technology columnist reveals the fascinating story behind the misleadingly simple phrase shoppers take for granted—“Arriving Today”—in this eye-opening investigation into the new rules of online commerce, transportation, and supply chain management.We are at a tipping point in retail history. While consumers are profitin...

**“A fascinating survey of the digital age . . . An eye-opening paean to possibility.” —The Boston Globe“Mr. Shirky writes cleanly and convincingly about the intersection of technological innovation and social change.” —New York ObserverAn extraordinary exploration of how technology can empower social and political organizers**For the first time in history, the tools for cooperating on a global scale are not solely in the hands of governments or in...

“New Dark Age is among the most unsettling and illuminating books I’ve read about the Internet, which is to say that it is among the most unsettling and illuminating books I’ve read about contemporary life.” – New YorkerAs the world around us increases in technological complexity, our understanding of it diminishes. Underlying this trend is a single idea: the belief that our existence is understandable through computation, and more data is enough ...

Technology is rapidly moving into our bodies,” writes cyber expert Keenan, and this book gives a chilling look ahead into where that road may lead us on a one way trip to the total surrender of privacy and the commoditization of intimacy.” Here is the definitive dissection of privacy-eroding and life-invading technologies, coming at you from governments, corporations, and the person next door.Take, for example, Girls Around Me”: a Russian-made iPhone App that allowed anyone to...

Can we master the technologies we create before they master us? A "punchy and provocative" assessment by one of Silicon Valley's sharpest observers ( Financial Times).WTF? can be an expression of amazement or of dismay—and today's technology elicits both reactions. In this book, Tim O'Reilly, dubbed "the Oracle of Silicon Valley" by Inc. magazine, explores the upsides—and potential downsides—of today's WTF? technologies.What is the future wh...