Lake Bluff Library Adult Reading Lists

A revelatory history of the people who created the computer and the internet discusses the process through which innovation happens in the modern world, citing the pivotal contributions of such figures as programming pioneer Ada Lovelace. (Description from NoveList)

The YACHT lead singer and VICE reporter celebrates the lesser-known contributions of women to the history of technology, sharing brief profiles of such boundary-breaking innovators as Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler and Stacy Horn. (Description from NoveList)

This taut, true thriller takes a deep dive into a dark world that touches us all, as seen through the brilliant, breakneck career of an extraordinary hacker - a woman known only as Alien. (Description from catalog)

Within the next five years, Kahn predicts, AI will disrupt almost every industry and enterprise. It will restructure the workforce, revamp education, revolutionize health care, and compel us to reimagine how we make art. But while this new technology has a bright future, it also casts a dark and fearful shadow. Kahn argues. that if not carefully designed and vigilantly regulated, AI will deepen income inequality, undermine democracy, and rewire our brains—unless we all take decisive action to prevent this from happening.
(Description from NoveList)

From two of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, what you need to know about AI—and how to defend yourself against bogus AI claims and products.
(Description from Amazon)

Language is humanity's most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. (Description from catalog)

In this fully updated paperback edition of Antisocial Media, Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life just a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging. (Description from Amazon)

From the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, Stalinism, Nazism and the resurgence of populism today, an historian and philosopher explores human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world, addressing the urgent choices we face as nonhuman intelligence threatens our very existence.
(Description from NoveList)

An inside account of the surveillance-industrial revolution and its discontents, fighting back against state and corporate intrusions into our most private spheres. (Description from NoveList)

The full inside story of Theranos and founder/CEO Elizabeth Holmes, a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood testing significantly faster and easier. Back by investors, Theranos sold shares that valued the company at $9 billion and put Holmes' net worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem...the technology didn't work.
(Description from catalog)

Informed by the game-designer author's highly publicized experience with online harassment, an exploration of the problems of Internet abuse offers solutions for lawmakers, police, parents, corporations and individuals. (Description from NoveList)

An award-winning journalist takes us deep into the Appalachian Mountains where the last truly quiet town of America exists and where its residents live a life free from constant digital connectivity, challenging us to rethink the role of tech in our lives. (Description from catalog)