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Archives: Books
What Artificial
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 Confused about AI and worried about what it means for your future and the future of the world? You’re not alone. AI is everywhere—and few things are surrounded by so much hype, misinformation, and misunderstanding. In AI Snake Oil, computer scientists Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor cut through the confusion to give you an essential understanding of how AI works and why it often doesn’t, where it might be useful or harmful, and when you should suspect that companies are using AI hype to sell AI snake oil—products that don’t work, and probably never will. While acknowledging the potential of some AI, such as ChatGPT, AI Snake Oil uncovers rampant misleading claims about the capabilities of AI and describes the serious harms AI is already causing in how it’s being built, marketed, and used in areas such as education, medicine, hiring, banking, insurance, and criminal justice. The book explains the crucial differences between types of AI, why organizations are falling for AI snake oil, why AI can’t fix social media, why AI isn’t an existential risk, and why we should be far more worried about what people will do with AI than about anything AI will do on its own. The book also warns of the dangers of a world where AI continues to be controlled by largely unaccountable big tech companies. By revealing AI’s limits and real risks, AI Snake Oil will help you make better decisions about whether and how to use AI at work and home.s
No Longer Human: A New Translation
A completely new translation of Osamu Dazai’s great masterpiece by award-winning translator Juliet Winters Carpenter.
A journey to hell with Osamu Dazai, Japan’s ultimate bad boy novelist” —Damian Flanagan, The Japan Times
No Longer Human is the story of Yozo Oba, who, from early childhood, finds it impossible to form meaningful relationships with family or friends. As a child he copes by acting the fool—mocking himself while entertaining others. As an adult he turns to alcohol, sex and drugs, which lead to his eventual self-destruction.
Originally written in 1948 and based closely on Dazai’s own life, the timeless and universal themes of social alienation, failure and one man’s inner torture at his inability to feel like a normal human still resonate with young people everywhere, making this an enduring international classic.
This contemporary translation will be welcomed by all fans of modern Japanese literature as well as by readers familiar with Osamu Dazai. After Soseki Natsume, Osamu Dazai is Japan’s most popular writer. Dazai is enjoying a surge in interest among young people today thanks to the success of the manga, anime and film series Bungo Stray Dogs, whose protagonist, a detective named Osamu Dazai, is based on the real-life author.
“Dazai’s brand of egoistic pessimism dovetails organically with the emo chic of this cultural moment and with the inner lives of teenagers of all eras.” —Andrew Martin, The New York Times
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Tightrope to the Moon
All incredible entrepreneurs have some fundamental traits in common!
Founders: A unique species of humans engaged in the most productive action that ego can drive. Who put in every ounce of energy to survive and succeed big. Whose journey is so transformative that many lifetimes worth of evolution can get packed into it. Tightrope to the Moon takes readers into the mind of the ‘mega founder’ and decodes how they think, operate and successfully navigate the ultra-competitive startup racetrack. The book unpeels how the founder’s need to prove is first born in a tangible form, grows bigger, survives blow after blow, and yet comes out in front to lead the pack. Based on the author’s over two decades of experience as a venture capitalist, the book uses incisive insights and compelling case studies to unravel the secrets of successful founders. A must-read for founders, their families and their co-workers, this seminal work is a much-needed account of how founders walk the long, treacherous road to success.
Birds on the Brain
Reeni has to save her city’s birds!
Reeni is wild about birds! So when she and her best friend, Yasmin, have to do a survey for a school project, asking their neighbours what they know about birds is an obvious choice. They are shocked to learn that no one—not one single person!—has heard about Bird Count India, when thousands of birdwatchers will be out counting birds as part of a global movement.
Why do people not seem to care about the threats to city birds? And is the mayor really trying to stop their city’s bird count event?
Reeni and Yasmin enlist help from their families and diverse friends—Anil, Book Uncle, the istri lady and even their school bus driver. They must get people interested in the bird count! After all, what’s good for the birds is good for all of us!
10 Indian Scientists Whose Extraordinary Work You May Not Know
This book explores the lives and achievements of ten Indian scientists who made remarkable contributions in various fields of science—from measuring the brightness of stars and discovering a treatment for cholera to inventing fibre optics and increasing food sustainability. Though their names and work may not be widely known, they have transformed the quality of our lives. They are . . .
Ruchi Ram Sahni
Meghnad Saha
Yellapragada Subbarow
Sambhu Nath De
Narinder Singh Kapany
Obaid Siddiqi
Modadugu Vijay Gupta
Chandrima Shaha
Jagannathan Vijaya
V.R. Lalithambika
Vaishali Shroff traces the journey of these scientists, detailing the challenges they faced—financial scarcity, gender bias, inadequate facilities and infrastructure—as she takes us through the evolution of science in India over three centuries.
Intermezzo
From the author of the multimillion-copy bestseller Normal People, an exquisitely moving story about grief, love and family.
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.
Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties – successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women – his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.
Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.
For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude – a period of desire, despair and possibility – a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.