Book recommendations I
BOOKS
A few of our favourite books, and why you should read them.
By Matt Warren & James Warren
18th March 2018
1. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
​
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.
​
Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century – from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? Written in a casual style that can be appreciated by science amateurs and experts alike, Homo Deus is the book that everyone should be reading this year.​
"Spellbinding… a quirky and cool book, with a sliver of ice at its heart" - The Guardian
"An exhilarating book that takes the reader deep into questions of identity, consciousness and intelligence" - The Observer
"A brilliantly original, thought-provoking and important study of where mankind is heading."
- The Evening Standard
2. The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease, and Inheritance ​by Nessa Carey
​
The new scientific field, epigenetics, is revolutionizing our understanding of the structure and behavior of biological life on Earth. Epigenetic ideas help explain why mapping an organism's genetic code is simply not enough to determine how it develops or acts, and shows how nurture combines with nature to engineer biological diversity.
​
Surveying some of the key scientific investigations and breakthroughs in this field over the past twenty years, Nessa Carey paints a broad intellectual canvas that readers of science and medicine will find both fascinating and promising. Her book helps us discover how we are much more than the sum of our genetic codes.
"A book that would have had Darwin swooning - anyone seriously interested in who we are and how we function should read this book." - The Guardian
​
"Carey's experience of the biotechnology industry shows in her concluding remarks on the pros and cons of our growing understanding of epigenetics for drug discovery, and on understanding the impact of diet and environment on disease." - Nature Publishing
3. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry ​by Neil deGrasse Tyson
​
There's no better guide through mind-expanding questions such as what the nature of space and time is, how we fit within the universe, and how the universe fits within us than Neil deGrasse Tyson.
But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in digestible chapters consumable any time and anywhere in the busy day. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry reveals just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.
"By the fourth page we are only a trillionth of a second into the history of the universe, but our guide is rattling along at full speed...Tyson is [...] the world's best science communicator."
- Times Literary Supplement
​
"Its success reflects a broader appetite around the world for science told with passion and conviction, outside of high school textbooks." - The Guardian
4. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies ​by Nick Bostrom
​
In this New York Times bestseller, Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life, asks questions such as: What happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? And will artificial agents save or destroy us?
​
Bostrom argues that when machines exist which dwarf human intelligence they will threaten human existence unless steps are taken now to reduce the risk. The conversation covers the likelihood of the worst scenarios, strategies that might be used to reduce the risk and the implications for labor markets, and human flourishing in a world of superintelligent machines.
There has never been a more important time to learn more about artificial intelligence, but be warned: this book can be seen as a short textbook on the topic and may therefore be hard to digest in more ways than one.
"I highly recommend this book" - Bill Gates
"Valuable. The implications of introducing a second intelligent species onto Earth are far-reaching enough to deserve hard thinking" - The Economist
​
"Those disposed to dismiss an 'AI takeover' as science fiction may think again after reading this original and well-argued book" - Martin Rees
