My Favorite Books of 2019

At the beginning of the year, I set out to read 30 books, as part of the Goodreads reading challenge. I didn't achieve the full 30, but came really close - just 2 off. Even 28 books is a record for me.

Many of the books are in the non-fiction Artificial Intelligence category due to my 100 Days of AI challenge (which became a little obsession). Even the fiction books border on AI and futurism sci-fi hard science. There are a couple of exceptions, like Girl With All the Gifts, which was an amazing read in a genre that I've never read before.

Non-Fiction

• Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark
  Superintelligence and AGI will be a thing. Maybe sooner than later. Humans need to be very diligent and careful about how it all manifests. Autonomous weapons should be banned. Despite the gloom, there is hope.
• The Big Nine by Amy Webb
  Loved this book. Totally different AI perspective. Bias is a huge problem with AI. AI is in the hands of few companies with varying values and objectives, possibly misaligned with the requirements of humanity.
• Human Compatible by Stuart Russell
  Exploration of all opportunities with AI. Less about gloomy implications of superintelligence and more about human-AI convergence. Great book providing a broad overview of all that is AI. Includes a deep historical review. (I had picked this one up because Elon Musk and Max Tegmark both recommended it on the same day on Twitter).
• Hacking Darwin by Jamie Metzl
  Mind expanding view on the possibilities of genetic engineering. Hot take - baby making will be a harrowing experience in the future. This book is highly recommended (IMO).
• The Fourth Age by Byron Reese
  Wow. A fair bit of AI in here as well, but like Russell's book, takes a more optimistic view of its benefits. Reese likens the advent of AI to other major civilization changing events like the advent of fire and writing. Very well written. I'd personally recommend this over Human Compatible, if I were to choose.
• SuperIntelligence by Nick Bostrom
  More of the same as Life 3.0, but an even bleaker picture painted about the human implications of the creation of superintelligence. It really, truly being the last invention that humans create.

Fiction

• Diaspora by Greg Egan
  Hard science and hard to read. This one takes some severe concentration. It's long and complicated, but mind blowing as well. I spent weeks afterwards considering just how big this book is. Egan's far future universe is populated with post-human beings trying to survive cosmic events through inter-dimensional travel.
• Manna by Marshall Brain
  This was a short sci-fi but the optimistic view of a possible abundant future with grand ideas makes it worthwhile reading. It begins bleak but ends with a super appealing near utopian society. (spoiler alert, I suppose)
• Nexus Trilogy by Ramez Naam
  Amazing. Amazing. I loved this series. Naam gives a very compelling and partially plausible take on the implications of brain-computer interface. His science background shows and he takes time in the epilogues to explain how his sci-fi ideas are possible. Not only does he do hard science fiction well, he throws in a load of action making this series a real page-turner full of thrills.
• The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
  I had no idea what this book would be about when I began it and I won't provide any spoilers. It's not a genre that I am used to nor expected. But when I realized what was happening, it was pure joy and I couldn't put the book down.
• Human++ by Dima Zales
  Another book about BCI and its implications. Not nearly as good as Nexus, but action packed and a fairly easy read. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
• vN by Madeline Ashby
  This book starts out with an android girl eating her long lost android grandmother to save her android mother, on stage at a kids school concert, while a bunch of humans watch. Enough said.

The above list is just some of my fav's from the year. Other notable books included Dan Carlin's The End if Always Near, Kai-Fu Lee's AI SuperPowers, Nicole Forgesen Accelerate and The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos.

2020 will be another year where I attempt to hit 30 books. Again, I will focus mostly on futuristic takes, with the odd alternative here and there. I found myself highly inspired in 2019 with all of these books. My head was often swimming with ideas. I gave some talks about what I learned with AI and the BCI novels lead me down some rather large rabbit holes that I had no idea even existed.

What books have you read that you would recommend? Let me know in the comments!