Genius Makers by Cade Metz

I so appreciate the advanced reader copies which are made available through Net Galley. For example, I was able to alert a Junior Theme student to the recent publication of THE GENIUS MAKERS by Cade Metz.  That new text deals with artificial intelligence and neural networks.  This text was the perfect fit for a student who had been exploring the use of AI in medicine and just wanted to step back and take a broader view on the history of artificial intelligence and changes that may be forthcoming.  Formerly with Wired magazine, Metz is now a technology correspondent with The New York Times and writes about “The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World.”  Focusing on the innovators and creators as well as events like AlphaGo’s win, Metz divides the book into sections, labeled A New Kind of Machine, Who Owns Intelligence?, Turmoil, and Humans are Underrated. Throughout, he engagingly introduces numerous characters and raises many questions while touching on ethics (e.g., learned biases, facial recognition), international relations, and the role of start-ups. Supplemental sections include a timeline, description of the players, notes and a helpful index. THE GENIUS MAKERS received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Library Journal.

Other non-fiction titles available through Net Galley often include recent publications from Harvard Business Review Press; for some reason, these get pulled back quickly and I often miss a chance to preview them. Two that I saw recently would also be of interest to students: MY ROBOT GETS ME by Carla Diana and GLASS HALF-BROKEN by Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg.

Carla Diana’s book is subtitled “How Social Design Can Make New Products More Human.” From both a design and an investment perspective, MY ROBOT GETS ME offers a fascinating look at the development and funding of "smart" products.  As the publisher points put, “The ‘smart home’ market will reach well over $100 billion in the next five years on the promise of products that are truly integrated with our cooking, cleaning, entertainment, security, and hygiene habits.”  

Ammerman (Director of the Harvard Business School Gender Initiative) and Groysberg (the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School) subtitled their work (forthcoming in mid-April) “Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work.” GLASS HALF-BROKEN sounds like a promising source for student researchers who are exploring the gender inequities which continue to exist in terms of leadership opportunities, mentorships, hiring biases, and compensation differences. I look forward to seeing hard copies of both titles.