Technology

Chip War 《芯片战争》 Chris Miller Miller braids the history of the semiconductor industry with geopolitics: from the invention of the transistor, through Japan's rise and Taiwan's… Technology & Science Classic Index 93

Understanding Media 《理解媒介》 Marshall McLuhan McLuhan advances a counterintuitive claim: the real effect of a medium lies not in the content it carries but in how it reshapes the ratios of human… Technology & Science Classic Index 90

The Design of Everyday Things 《设计心理学》 Don Norman Norman explains why everyday objects confuse us, arguing that the blame usually belongs to design rather than to users, and introduces concepts such… Business Classic Index 90

Amusing Ourselves to Death 《娱乐至死》 Neil Postman Postman contrasts the warnings of Orwell and Huxley and argues that Huxley came closer: culture is not crushed by force but voluntarily surrenders… Society & Civilization Classic Index 90

The Information 《信息简史》 James Gleick Gleick tells the story of information along three threads: the history from African talking drums to the telegraph, how Shannon's theory turned… Technology & Science Classic Index 89

Only the Paranoid Survive 《只有偏执狂才能生存》 Andy Grove Grove describes strategic inflection points — moments when a fundamental change in the environment can destroy or transform a business — and how… Business Classic Index 89

Life 3.0 《生命 3.0》 Max Tegmark Tegmark organizes a very broad question — from near-term automation and unemployment to a cosmos-scale intelligence — with a simple frame: life 1.0… Artificial Intelligence Classic Index 88

The Innovators 《创新者》 Walter Isaacson Isaacson rejects the lone-genius narrative and argues that the digital revolution was above all collaborative: a relay among mathematicians and… Technology & Science Classic Index 87

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! 《别闹了，费曼先生》 Richard Feynman This oral autobiography follows Feynman picking locks, playing bongos, teaching physics, and investigating a shuttle disaster, but its real subject… Technology & Science Classic Index 85

The Age of AI 《人工智能时代与人类未来》 Henry Kissinger Kissinger, Schmidt, and Huttenlocher argue that AI is not merely an efficiency tool but a new epistemology: its answers often cannot be fully… Artificial Intelligence Classic Index 84

The Second Machine Age 《第二次机器革命》 Erik Brynjolfsson Brynjolfsson and McAfee argue that digital technology now lets machines substitute for cognitive as well as physical labor, opening a “second… Technology & Science Classic Index 84

AI 2041 《AI 2041》 Kai-Fu Lee Lee and science-fiction writer Chen Qiufan pair ten short stories with ten technical commentaries, each explaining why the technology in the story… Artificial Intelligence Classic Index 82

Structures 《结构》 J. E. Gordon Gordon uses bridges, cathedrals, bones, and eggshells to explain structural mechanics: why materials break, why shape matters more than material… Technology & Science Classic Index 82

Genius Makers 《天才制造者》 Cade Metz Metz reports on how deep learning moved from academic margin to industrial center around 2012: a competition, a handful of companies, a few… Artificial Intelligence Classic Index 80

Society & Civilization 2018 21 Lessons for the 21st Century Yuval Noah Harari 21 Lessons for the 21st Century 《今日简史》 Yuval Noah Harari The collapse of the liberal story and the challenges of the 21st century. Society & Civilization AZM's list

Nexus 《智人之上》 Yuval Noah Harari How information networks evolved, and how they enable digital surveillance. Society & Civilization AZM's list

Technology & Science 2019 Alessandro Vespignani 算法与预言 《算法与预言》 Alessandro Vespignani Big data, prediction, algorithms, and how society changes. Technology & Science AZM's list

Technology & Science 2017 Visions of Technological Transcendence James A. Herrick Visions of Technological Transcendence 《人类未来进化史》 James A. Herrick Technological immortality, rhetoric, and the future of human evolution. Technology & Science AZM's list

Economics 2017 The Fuzzy and the Techie Scott Hartley The Fuzzy and the Techie 《文艺呆与科技宅》 Scott Hartley Against Silicon Valley's disdain for the humanities. Economics AZM's list

Psychology & Cognitive Science 2018 Dirty Genes Ben Lynch Dirty Genes 《脏基因》 Ben Lynch Epigenetics: tuning gene expression through diet and lifestyle. Psychology & Cognitive Science XMS's list

Technology & Science Stephen Webb 费米悖论的75种解释 《费米悖论的75种解释》 Stephen Webb A systematic survey of the Zoo, Great Filter, Rare Earth and other hypotheses. Technology & Science XMS's list

Crystal Fire 《晶体之火》 Michael Riordan & Lillian Hoddeson How a slab of germanium became the foundation of the information age Technology & Science Daily Pick

The Man Behind the Microchip 《硅谷之父》 Leslie Berlin A technical breakthrough persists as an industry only when paired with institutions that let engineers share in the rewards Technology & Science Daily Pick

The Idea Factory 《贝尔实验室与美国革新大时代》 Jon Gertner Innovation is not the lucky flash of genius but a product designed out of funding structures, physical space, and cross-disciplinary collaboration Technology & Science Daily Pick

Stuff Matters 《迷人的材料》 Mark Miodownik How matter shapes civilisation: a materials-science tour from steel and glass to graphite and aerogel Technology & Science Daily Pick