The Coming Wave

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An urgent warning of the unprecedented risks that AI and other fast-developing technologies pose to global order, and how we might contain them while we have the chance—from a co-founder of the pioneering artificial intelligence company DeepMind “A fascinating, well-written, and important book.”—Yuval Noah Harari “Essential reading.”—Daniel Kahneman “An excellent guide for navigating unprecedented times.”—Bill Gates A Best Book of the Year: CNN, Economist, Bloomberg, Politico Playbook, Financial Times, The Guardian, CEO Magazine, Semafor • Winner of the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award • Finalist for the Porchlight Business Book Award and the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award We are approaching a critical threshold in the history of our species. Everything is about to change.    Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organise your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.    None of us are prepared.   As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind, part of Google, Mustafa Suleyman has been at the centre of this revolution. The coming decade, he argues, will be defined by this wave of powerful, fast-proliferating new technologies.    In The Coming Wave , Suleyman shows how these forces will create immense prosperity but also threaten the nation-state, the foundation of global order. As our fragile governments sleepwalk into disaster, we face an existential dilemma: unprecedented harms on one side, the threat of overbearing surveillance on the other.    Can we forge a narrow path between catastrophe and dystopia?   This groundbreaking book from the ultimate AI insider establishes “the containment problem”—the task of maintaining control over powerful technologies—as the essential challenge of our age.

September 5, 2023
Mustafa Suleyman & Michael Bhaskar
Engineering
Crown
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From Playgrounds to Playstation

This “engaging social history of play” explores how technology and culture have shaped toys, games, and leisure—and vice versa ( Choice ). In this romp through the changing landscape of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American toys, games, hobbies, and amusements, technology historian Carroll Pursell poses a simple but interesting question: What can we learn by studying the relationship between technology and play? From Playgrounds to PlayStation  explores how play reflects and drives the evolution of American culture. Pursell engagingly examines the ways in which technology affects play and play shapes people. The objects that children (and adults) play with and play on, along with their games and the hobbies they pursue, can reinforce but also challenge gender roles and cultural norms. Inventors—who often talk about “playing” at their work, as if motivated by the pure fun of invention—have used new materials and technologies to reshape sports and gameplay, sometimes even crafting new, extreme forms of recreation, but always responding to popular demand. Drawing from a range of sources, including scholarly monographs, patent records, newspapers, and popular and technical journals, the book covers numerous modes and sites of play. Pursell touches on the safety-conscious playground reform movement, the dazzling mechanical innovations that gave rise to commercial amusement parks, and the media’s colorful promotion of toys, pastimes, and sporting events. Along the way, he shows readers how technology enables the forms, equipment, and devices of play to evolve constantly, both reflecting consumer choices and driving innovators and manufacturers to promote toys that involve entirely new kinds of play—from LEGOs and skateboards to beading kits and videogames.

April 23, 2015
Carroll Pursell
Engineering
Johns Hopkins University Press
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How to Do Nothing

** A New York Times Bestseller ** NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: Time • The New Yorker • NPR • GQ • Elle • Vulture • Fortune • Boing Boing • The Irish Times • The New York Public Library • The Brooklyn Public Library "A complex, smart and ambitious book that at first reads like a self-help manual, then blossoms into a wide-ranging political manifesto."—Jonah Engel Bromwich, The New York Times Book Review One of President Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of 2019" Porchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can still win back our lives.   Odell sees our attention as the most precious—and overdrawn—resource we have. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. We might not spend it on things that capitalism has deemed important … but once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind’s role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress. Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world.

April 9, 2019
Jenny Odell
Engineering
Melville House
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Crisis Without End

Expert essays provide the first comprehensive analysis of the long-term health and environmental consequences of the Fukushima nuclear accident.   On the second anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, an international panel of leading medical and biological scientists, nuclear engineers, and policy experts were brought together at the prestigious New York Academy of Medicine by Helen Caldicott, the world’s leading spokesperson for the antinuclear movement. This was the first comprehensive attempt to address the health and environmental damage done by one of the worst nuclear accidents of our times.   A compilation of these important presentations, Crisis Without End represents an unprecedented look into the profound aftereffects of Fukushima. In accessible terms, leading experts from Japan, the United States, Russia, and other nations weigh in on the current state of knowledge of radiation-related health risks in Japan, impacts on the world’s oceans, the question of low-dosage radiation risks, crucial comparisons with Chernobyl, health and environmental impacts on the United States (including on food and newborns), and the unavoidable implications for the US nuclear energy industry.   Crisis Without End is both essential reading and a major corrective to the public record on Fukushima.

April 1, 2009
Helen Caldicott
Power Resources
The New Press
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Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World

An ode to systems engineers—whose invisible work undergirds our life—and an exploration of the wicked problems they tackle. Our world is filled with pernicious problems. How, for example, did novice pilots learn to fly without taking to the air and risking their lives? How should cities process mountains of waste without polluting the environment? Challenges that tangle personal, public, and planetary aspects—often occurring in health care, infrastructure, business, and policy—are known as wicked problems, and they are not going away anytime soon. In linked chapters focusing on key facets of systems engineering—efficiency, vagueness, vulnerability, safety, maintenance, and resilience—engineer Guru Madhavan illuminates how wicked problems have emerged throughout history and how best to address them in the future. He examines best-known tragedies and lesser-known tales, from the efficient design of battleships to a volcano eruption that curtailed global commerce, and how maintenance of our sanitation systems constitutes tikkun olam, or repair of our world. Braided throughout is the uplifting tale of Edwin Link, an unsung hero who revolutionized aviation with his flight trainer. In Link’s story, Madhavan uncovers a model mindset to engage with wickedness. An homage to society’s innovators and maintainers, Wicked Problems offers a refreshing vision for readers of all backgrounds to build a better future and demonstrates how engineering is a cultural choice—one that requires us to restlessly find ways to transform society, but perhaps more critically, to care for the creations that already exist.

March 26, 2024
Guru Madhavan
Engineering
W. W. Norton & Company
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The Challenger Launch Decision

“An in-depth account of the events and personal actions which led to a great tragedy in the history of America’s space program.” —James D. Smith, former Solid Rocket Booster Chief, NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, millions of Americans became bound together in a single, historic moment. Many still vividly remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the tragedy. Diane Vaughan recreates the steps leading up to that fateful decision, contradicting conventional interpretations to prove that what occurred at NASA was not skullduggery or misconduct but a disastrous mistake. Why did NASA managers, who not only had all the information prior to the launch but also were warned against it, decide to proceed? In retelling how the decision unfolded through the eyes of the managers and the engineers, Vaughan uncovers an incremental descent into poor judgment, supported by a culture of high-risk technology. She reveals how and why NASA insiders, when repeatedly faced with evidence that something was wrong, normalized the deviance so that it became acceptable to them. In a new preface, Vaughan reveals the ramifications for this book and for her when a similar decision-making process brought down NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003. “Vaughn finds the traditional explanation of the [ Challenger ] accident to be profoundly unsatisfactory . . . One by one, she unravels the conclusions of the Rogers Commission.” — The New York Times “A landmark study.” — Atlantic “Vaughn gives us a rare view into the working level realities of NASA . . . The cumulative force of her argument and evidence is compelling.” — Scientific American

January 4, 2016
Diane Vaughan
Engineering
The University of Chicago Press
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The Lineman's and Cableman's Handbook, Fourteenth Edition

The definitive guide to distribution and transmission line technology―fully revised for the latest standards Thoroughly updated to reflect the 2023 National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC®), this classic resource explains the principles and practices of electric transmission and distribution line construction, operation, and maintenance. You will get comprehensive coverage of the newest equipment, techniques, and procedures along with current OSHA, ANSI, and ASTM regulations. Detailed illustrations and photos make it easy to understand the material, and self-test questions and exercises reinforce key concepts. An industry standard since 1928, this guide also serves as a valuable on-the-job reference for electric transmission and distribution grid system professionals. The Lineman’s and Cableman’s Handbook, Fourteenth Edition covers: Electrical principles * Electric systems * Substations * Construction specifications * Wood-pole, aluminum, concrete, fiberglass, and steel structures * Distribution automation * Emergency system restoration * Unloading, hauling, erecting, setting, and guying poles * Insulators, crossarms, and conductor supports * Line conductors * Distribution transformers * Lightning and surge protection * Fuses and substation relays * Switches, sectionalizers, and reclosers * Voltage regulators * Transmission tower erection * Stringing, sagging, and joining line conductors * Live-line maintenance * Grounding * Street lighting * Underground distribution * Vegetation management * Distribution transformer installation * Electrical drawing symbols * Single-line and schematic diagrams * Voltage regulation * Units of measurement, electrical definitions, electrical formulas, and calculations * Maintenance of transmission and distribution lines * Rope, knots, splices, and gear * Climbing and wood poles * Protective equipment * OSHA 1910.269 * Resuscitation * Pole-top and bucket rescue

January 6, 2023
Thomas M. Shoemaker & James E. Mack
Engineering
McGraw Hill LLC
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What Technology Wants

From the author of the New York Times bestseller  The Inevitable —  a sweeping vision of technology  as a living force that can expand our individual  potential  This provocative book introduces a brand-new view of technology. It suggests that technology as a whole is not a jumble of wires and metal but a living, evolving organism that has its own unconscious needs and tendencies. Kevin Kelly looks out through the eyes of this global technological system to discover "what it wants." He uses vivid examples from the past to trace technology's long course and then follows a dozen trajectories of technology into the near future to project where technology is headed. This new theory of technology offers three practical lessons: By listening to what technology wants we can better prepare ourselves and our children for the inevitable technologies to come. By adopting the principles of pro-action and engagement, we can steer technologies into their best roles. And by aligning ourselves with the long-term imperatives of this near-living system, we can capture its full gifts. Written in intelligent and accessible language, this is a fascinating, innovative, and optimistic look at how humanity and technology join to produce increasing opportunities in the world and how technology can give our lives greater meaning.

October 14, 2010
Kevin Kelly
Engineering
Penguin Publishing Group
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A Deadly Wandering

"Deserves a spot next to Fast Food Nation and To Kill a Mockingbird in America’s high school curriculums. To say it may save lives is self-evident.” —New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle, Chrisitian Science Monitor, Kirkus, Winnipeg Free Press One of the decade's most original and masterfully reported books, A Deadly Wandering by Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist Matt Richtel interweaves the cutting-edge science of attention with the tensely plotted story of a mysterious car accident and its aftermath to answer some of the defining questions of our time: What is technology doing to us? Can our minds keep up with the pace of change? How can we find balance? On the last day of summer, an ordinary Utah college student named Reggie Shaw fatally struck two rocket scientists while texting and driving along a majestic stretch of highway bordering the Rocky Mountains. A Deadly Wandering follows Reggie from the moment of the tragedy, through the police investigation, the state's groundbreaking prosecution, and ultimately, Reggie's wrenching admission of responsibility. Richtel parallels Reggie's journey with leading-edge scientific findings on the impact technology has on our brains, showing how these devices play to our deepest social instincts. A propulsive read filled with surprising scientific detail, riveting narrative tension, and rare emotional depth, A Deadly Wandering is a book that can change—and save—lives.

September 23, 2014
Matt Richtel
Engineering
Mariner Books
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The Rickover Effect

More than anyone else, Admiral H. G. Rickover made nuclear power a reality. He created the nuclear Navy almost overnight, he also built the world's first commercial atomic power station and laid the groundwork for the world-wide nuclear power industry. Yet it took Congress to force the Navy to reverse his forced retirement.

September 26, 2002
Theodore Rockwell
Engineering
IUniverse, Inc.
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Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Volume 1 of 4 - Fundamentals

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Volume 1 of 4 - Fundamentals This course is the first volume of four volumes devoted to instruction in refrigeration and air conditioning. This course explains the fundamentals of electricity and their application in the refrigeration process. There is information on circuits, motors, and troubleshooting. This is followed by instruction of fundamentals and the maintenance of the gasoline engine. The theory of refrigeration is also explained based on the characteristics of refrigerants. This course is part of our Refrigeration ad Air Conditioning HVAC series. Full illustrations and diagrams included. Lessons: - Principles of Electricity - Fundamentals of Gasoline Engines - Physics of Refrigeration - Refrigerants There is also a collection of all four Refrigeration and Air Conditioning volumes available in one book.

January 12, 2015
TSD Training
Engineering
TSD Training
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Ham Radio Exam Prep: A License Manual and Study Guide for the Amateur Radio General Class and Radio Technician Tests with 100 Test Questions

Are you looking for enough practice and theory to pass the test with a great score? Have you tried shorter books and found them lacking? Look no further - this guide was designed to help students pass their exams the first time. How is this guide different from others? This is a complete guide. It describes every topic in detail and also includes 100 test questions and answers.

September 16, 2020
Ham Radio Team
Engineering
Newstone Publishing
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