Here are 100 books that Wayward fans have personally recommended if you like
Wayward.
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I’m a novelist and game designer from Bangalore. I’ve been a lifelong reader of science fiction and fantasy. Growing up, I almost never encountered futures that included people like me—brown women, from a country that isn’t the UK/ US, and yet, who are in sync with the rapidly changing global village we belong to. Over the last decade, though, I've found increasing joy in more recent science fiction, in which the future belongs to everyone.The Ten Percent Thiefis an expression of my experiences living in dynamic urban India, and represents one of our many possible futures.
The year is 2095, and human beings must take performance enhancement pills to compete with automated systems. The future in Machinehood could be ours tomorrow.
Welga and Nithya, the novel’s protagonists, are constantly on the verge of burnout while pushing themselves to perform. A mysterious terrorist organization called the Machinehood turns up to demand equal rights for AI, and that humans put an end to pill manufacturing, triggering events around the world. Parts of the novel are set in Chennai, India, and despite all its futuristic advances, the city retains its present day identity. Machinehood also portrays women in technologically-driven spaces, which is something I'm always rooting for.
From the Hugo Award nominee S.B. Divya, Zero Dark Thirty meets The Social Network in this science fiction thriller about artificial intelligence, sentience, and labor rights in a near future dominated by the gig economy.
Welga Ramirez, executive bodyguard and ex-special forces, is about to retire early when her client is killed in front of her. It's 2095 and people don't usually die from violence. Humanity is entirely dependent on pills that not only help them stay alive, but allow them to compete with artificial intelligence in an increasingly competitive gig economy. Daily doses protect against designer diseases, flow enhances…
An interdimensional mixer with angels and other beings brings unexpected trouble for Malachi and his friends in this smart and uniquely funny second book about the squad of teens from hell.
When an angel comes to his home to deliver a message, Malachi immediately knows what’s going on. The seraph…
As an octogenarian with one foot rooted in each superpower in today’s world, I have witnessed the traumas and breakthroughs of humanity since World War II. Believing that true international education happens through immersion within “other” peoples’ territory, I dedicated my career to this endeavor in both directions. In the last decade, I have redirected my publications from academics to the general public and readers young at heart.
Geopolitical forces and technological revolutions have brought humanity to a utopian-dystopian precipice, where we face dire perils and opportunities. My five recommended books explain how we got here and offer wisdom on how to survive and flourish going forward.
This book surpasses others in its genre in portraying technological advancements' unintended consequences: disruption of social order and diminished human value.
A major focus is how humans will co-exist with AI in this brave new world. This theme continues in Lee's co-authored book AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future (2021). This book presents short stories of life in different corners of the world in the age of AI, each followed by a scientific analysis.
Mustafa Suleyman and Kai-fu Lee are leaders in the global pack of scientists behind the technological tsunami. They have roots in rivaling camps and operate in different camps. They are the best testimony to the reality that "nations may be building walls, but the people creating mankind’s next chapter are already operating without walls."
THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
"Kai-Fu Lee believes China will be the next tech-innovation superpower and in AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, he explains why. Taiwan-born Lee is perfectly positioned for the task."-New York Magazine
In this thought-provoking book, Lee argues powerfully that because of the unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the US-Sino AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the US and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come…
I’m a philosopher, writer, and illustrator from Wales, UK. I grew up on ’70s sci-fi—Star Wars (the original trilogy!), Battlestar Galactica (the original series!), The Black Hole (Remember that?! No? Oh well…). Space travel, flying cars, sassy computers you could banter with, cute robots who would be your best friend—it was a time when the future seemed just around the corner. But now, as these things finally start to arrive, I feel I’ve been mis-sold. Data theft? Mass surveillance? Killer drones? Election manipulation? Social media bot farms? This isn’t the future I signed up for! Or maybe I should have read the terms and conditions…
Technology is always moving on. And so it should be forgiven the author that many of the concrete examples in this book are now somewhat dated. They provide some interesting insight into the history of computing and media technology, but the real value of Roszak’s argument lies in his analysis of how—thanks to computer technology—society has become obsessed with “information”. It’s almost a cult. But information is not knowledge, data does not in itself provide understanding. In fact, in a peculiarly paradoxical way, the more information we have, the less we actually know. Thirty years later, as we swim daily in the disinformationof the murky waters of social media and disappear down Youtube rabbit holes, Roszak’s point seems more pertinent than ever.
As we devote ever-increasing resources to providing, or prohibiting, access to information via computer, Theodore Roszak reminds us that voluminous information does not necessarily lead to sound thinking. "Data glut" obscures basic questions of justice and purpose and may even hinder rather than enhance our productivity. In this revised and updated edition of "The Cult of Information", Roszak reviews the disruptive role the computer has come to play in international finance and the way in which "edutainment" software and computer games degrade the literacy of children. At the same time, he finds hopeful new ways in which the library and…
The Gatepost is a new speculative novel that will appeal to readers of Susanna Clarke, Emily St. John Mandel, David Mitchell, Richard Powers, and R.F. Kuang.
Featuring a hidden cave, psilocybin mushrooms, and a mysterious ancient artifact that may act as a portal to the Mesoamerican underworld, The Gatepost blends…
As a child of the microcomputer revolution in the late 1970s, I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of a general-purpose machine that I could control. The deep learning revolution of 2010 or so, followed most recently by the advent of large language models like ChatGPT, has completely altered the landscape. It is now difficult to interpret the behavior of these systems in a way that doesn’t argue for intelligence of some kind. I’m passionate about AI because, decades after the initial heady claims made in the 1950s, AI has reached a point where the lofty promise is genuinely beginning to be kept. And we’re just getting started.
Artificial intelligence is, of necessity, an academic pursuit, at least initially. McCorduck’s book is her account of the history and development of AI. She was not a historian coming to events after the fact but a living witness. Her circle of friends included all the key figures, the people those of us who fell into AI later didn’t have the opportunity to know.
This book, personal and human, not technical and heavy, reveals the humanness of the process. Yes, artificial intelligence was the goal, but human intelligence (and frailty) were central to its emergence.
In the autumn of 1960, twenty-year-old humanities student Pamela McCorduck encountered both the fringe science of early artificial intelligence, and C. P. Snow's Two Cultures lecture on the chasm between the sciences and the humanities. Each encounter shaped her life. Decades later her lifelong intuition was realized: AI and the humanities are profoundly connected. During that time, she wrote the first modern history of artificial intelligence, Machines Who Think, and spent much time pulling on the sleeves of public intellectuals, trying in futility to suggest that artificial intelligence could be important. Memoir, social history, group biography of the founding fathers…
As a Chief AI Officer and Strategic AI Expert, I've earned the nickname "AI Whisperer" for my intuitive ability to bridge the gap between artificial intelligence and real-world business applications. My fascination with cycles and patterns, which I explored deeply in my master's thesis on Kondratieff waves, led me to recognize AI's transformative potential long before it became mainstream. With over 25 years of experience blending business strategy, sales leadership, and technological innovation, I've helped countless organizations harness AI's power to revolutionize their operations. What truly sets my heart racing is seeing how AI innovations can unlock human potential.
I actually hugged this book after finishing it! Finally, finally, someone explained GenAI in a way that made my heart race with possibility!
I've been working in tech for years, but this book had me scribbling notes like a possessed person. Every chapter felt like unwrapping a present—I kept running to my partner, saying, "Listen to this!"
An indispensable look at the next frontier of technological advancement and its impact on our world
Generative AI is rewriting the rulebook with its seemingly endless capabilities, from crafting intricate industrial designs, writing computer code, and producing mesmerizing synthetic voices to composing enchanting music and innovating genetic breakthroughs. In Generative AI in Practice, renowned futurist Bernard Marr offers readers a deep dive into the captivating universe of GenAI. This comprehensive guide introduces you to the basics of this groundbreaking technology and outlines the profound impact that GenAI will have on business and society. Professionals, technophiles, and anyone with an interest…
I was stimulated by Norbert Wiener’s “Cybernetics” to study circuits in the brain that control behavior. For my graduate studies, I chose the olfactory bulb for its experimental advantages, which led to constructing the first computer models of brain neurons and microcircuits. Then I got interested in how the smell patterns are activated when we eat food, which led to a new field called Neurogastronomy, which is the neuroscience of the circuits that create the perception of food flavor. Finally, because all animals use their brains to find and eat food, the olfactory system has provided new insights into the evolution of the mammalian brain and the basic organization of the cerebral cortex.
The other books in this series are mostly about the real brain. But artificial intelligence promises us a new enhanced brain. What does the future hold? Terrence Sejnowski is a neuroscientist who was one of the first to realize the potential of AI. Since he has been there from the start, in this book he gives the reader an exciting inside story on the people and the advances that are reshaping our lives.
Early attempts at AI were limited, but once computational power took off big computers running multilayer neural nets began proving that they could defeat humans at the most demanding games, enhance human capabilities such as pattern recognition, text recognition, language translation, and driverless vehicles, and work to obtain rewards, just like a human. While these advances are dramatic, it is well to remember that the networks are built not from representations of real neurons, but rather from…
How deep learning—from Google Translate to driverless cars to personal cognitive assistants—is changing our lives and transforming every sector of the economy.
The deep learning revolution has brought us driverless cars, the greatly improved Google Translate, fluent conversations with Siri and Alexa, and enormous profits from automated trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Deep learning networks can play poker better than professional poker players and defeat a world champion at Go. In this book, Terry Sejnowski explains how deep learning went from being an arcane academic field to a disruptive technology in the information economy.
In 1939, on a remote Pacific island, botanical researcher Irene Greer plunged off a waterfall to her death, leaving behind a legacy shrouded in secrets. Her great-niece Julia, a struggling journalist recovering from a divorce, seeks answers decades later.
Tasked with retrieving Dr. Greer’s discovery–a flower that could have world-changing…
In my teenage years, it was sci-fi (and later fantasy) comedies that made me fall in love with reading. There was just something about exploring worlds where anything could happen mixed with the joy of laughter that kept drawing me back in. Naturally, in the many...many...years that followed, I've read countless novels from a wide variety of genres, but sci-fi comedy will always hold a special place in my heart.
Is it even a list of sci-fi books if you don’t include a story with a rogue artificial intelligence? Sure, it’s not necessarily the funniestpremise, but when you throw in the fact that the A.I. in question has the mind of a six-year-old, the heroes trying to catch him are essentially his daycare providers, and the author is Scott Meyer, creator of the webcomic Basic Instructions and the Magic 2.0 series, and you’re sure to have a good time.
From the author of the popular Magic 2.0 series comes the witty tale of a mischievous A.I. gone rogue.
Al, a well-meaning but impish artificial intelligence, has the mind of a six-year-old and a penchant for tantrums. And the first one to discover just how much trouble Al could cause is Hope Takeda, the lab assistant in charge of educating and socializing him. Day care is a lot more difficult when your kid is an evolving and easily frightened A.I.
When Al manages to access the Internet and escape the lab days before his official unveiling, Hope and her team…
I was raised in a large family, and we were taught to be respectful, honest, and polite to everyone. I've never been able to understand the mind of a 'nasty' person or how a person can hurt another. When these people are brought to justice, how can we know they are telling the truth?
Expanding on this, I started thinking about Artificial Intelligence—could this be the creation that gives us the way to see into a person's mind; to find out what crime they have committed? But then I thought, what if the actual creator was a criminal? How would anyone even know? That was the route of my research which led to i4Ni being written.
If you are a mature person with English as their second language and would like to read this type of fiction in an easier to read format, then this is a fantastic book for you.
As a former teacher/trainer in ESOL and beginner maths, I am impressed that this author has used current creative thoughts on AI and modern technological ideas, rather than the older books, which will possibly contain outdated themes in the future.
It starts with Josie attending a building where she doesn't see any people.
She requested an interview, but doesn't see one living person. A robotic voice informs her she has been successful and gets the job, but she hadn't even had an interview? Josie is told that her success was based on her personal information that was collected from all over, AI had gleaned all of her computing personal information taken from everywhere possible.
In the first hour of her new job in Melbourne, Josie is chased, shot at, and almost blown up, and all before breakfast.Why are people trying to kill her?What is so important about the package?And who are the rival organisations stopping at nothing to get what they want?Drawn into the invisible world of agents against startups and A.I.s, Josie soon discovers that things are not always what they seem. Not only is Melbourne in trouble, but the entire planet might be in danger.And she has no idea how she is going to save it.---The ESL Fiction series has been developed…
I’m a former journalist and intelligence officer turned writer, so I seek out authenticity in my reading, especially when it comes to war stories. I look for fiction from people who have been there or know how to listen to those who have, and be their voice. When I write, I always put together a team of veterans and specialists in their fields to challenge my work and make sure I get it right, too!
I needed a gripping story for a drive across Australia, 800 miles from Sydney to Adelaide. I wanted one that would grab me and keep me awake and alert. This one really got my brain fizzing because it lifts you out of today and transports you into a future that could easily come true (let's hope it doesn't!).
It's the sort of audiobook that has you still sitting in your car, listening to the end of the chapter in your driveway because you can't turn it off!
It was called Jade Dragon…and it threatened to destroy the West.
Was an attack on the US imminent?
In a lab deep in the heart of China, a brilliant engineer had a breakthrough. It was the most powerful AI ever created. Ma Young believed the Jade Dragon could combat the world’s most dire challenges. There was just one problem...the president of China had other ideas. Was this their chance to conquer?
The war began at the speed of light. The entire NATO alliance stood on the brink of destruction. Cyber attacks, deepfakes, and a wave of social media disinformation wrought…
This is the part of the Bible they don't want you to read. Lucifer is God’s attempt at perfection. But Lucifer betrays God to live among the mortals on Earth, making enemies of God and God’s many followers.
Lucifer is just like you and me, looking for love in all…
As a child of the microcomputer revolution in the late 1970s, I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of a general-purpose machine that I could control. The deep learning revolution of 2010 or so, followed most recently by the advent of large language models like ChatGPT, has completely altered the landscape. It is now difficult to interpret the behavior of these systems in a way that doesn’t argue for intelligence of some kind. I’m passionate about AI because, decades after the initial heady claims made in the 1950s, AI has reached a point where the lofty promise is genuinely beginning to be kept. And we’re just getting started.
Woolridge presents the history of artificial intelligence from the point of view of an insider. This book is one of the few accounts of AI history presenting a measured perspective, one that has weathered more than one boom and bust cycle.
The book is nicely complemented by his recent series of lectures, which can be easily found on YouTube. I read Woolridge as saying, “Yes, something new has happened with the advent of large language models, but much work remains.”
From Oxford's leading AI researcher comes a fun and accessible tour through the history and future of one of the most cutting edge and misunderstood field in science: Artificial Intelligence
The somewhat ill-defined long-term aim of AI is to build machines that are conscious, self-aware, and sentient; machines capable of the kind of intelligent autonomous action that currently only people are capable of. As an AI researcher with 25 years of experience, professor Mike Wooldridge has learned to be obsessively cautious about such claims, while still promoting an intense optimism about the future of the field. There have been genuine…
