A permanent running log for suggested reading that may support a specific issue or the broader DFEI terrain. Books are grouped by primary category; entries may also support secondary categories.
Emerging Intelligence
Intelligence, sentience, cognition, model capability, and infrastructure.
02Human–Machine Interaction
Interface behavior, conversational systems, dependence, trust, and social repair.
03Agents, Access, and Continuity
Agents, access modes, context, memory, workflow orchestration, and evaluation.
04Trust, Repair, and Reliance
Reliability, breakdown, apology, repair, and operator reliance.
05Governance, Power, and Institutional Risk
Institutions, platform power, surveillance, militarization, and policy risk.
06Security, Influence, and Manipulation
Exploit surfaces, persuasion, social engineering, cyber-ai convergence, and adversarial misuse.
07Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Meaning, religion, society, labor, agency, and the cultural imagination around ai.
08Tools, Terrain, and Method
Building, evaluating, and operating ai systems.
Emerging Intelligence
Selected books on intelligence, sentience, cognition, model capability, and infrastructure. Suggested Reading is broader contextual terrain, distinct from the Source Backbone/load-bearing citation layer.
A Brief History of Intelligence
Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
Max S. Bennett — 2023
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
The Edge of Sentience
Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI
Jonathan Birch — 2024
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Being You
The Inside Story of Your Inner Universe
Anil Seth — 2021
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
The Emergent Mind
How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines
Gaurav Suri; Jay McClelland — 2024
Secondary: Human–Machine Interaction
The Line
AI and the Future of Personhood
James Boyle — 2024
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
The Maniac
Benjamín Labatut — 2023
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Source URL is not always a direct publisher record; confirm ISBN/date against final vendor or publisher listing.
Human–Machine Interaction
Selected books on interface behavior, conversational systems, dependence, trust, and social repair. Suggested Reading is broader contextual terrain, distinct from the Source Backbone/load-bearing citation layer.
Artificial Intimacy
Who We Become When We Talk to Machines
Sherry Turkle — 2026
Secondary: Trust, Repair, and Reliance
Source URL is not always a direct publisher record; confirm ISBN/date against final vendor or publisher listing.
The Media Equation
How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places
Byron Reeves; Clifford Nass — 1996
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Source URL is not always a direct publisher record; confirm ISBN/date against final vendor or publisher listing.
Computer Power and Human Reason
From Judgment to Calculation
Joseph Weizenbaum — 1976
Secondary: Trust, Repair, and Reliance
Source URL is not always a direct publisher record; confirm ISBN/date against final vendor or publisher listing.
Raising AI
An Essential Guide to Parenting Our Future
De Kai — 2025
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Co-Intelligence
Living and Working with AI
Ethan Mollick — 2024
Secondary: Tools, Terrain, and Method
Source URL is not always a direct publisher record; confirm ISBN/date against final vendor or publisher listing.
Alone Together
Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other
Sherry Turkle — 2011
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Reclaiming Conversation
The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
Sherry Turkle — 2015
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Penguin-family imprint may vary by territory.
Agents, Access, and Continuity
Selected books on agents, access modes, context, memory, workflow orchestration, and evaluation. Suggested Reading is broader contextual terrain, distinct from the Source Backbone/load-bearing citation layer.
AI Engineering
Building Applications with Foundation Models
Chip Huyen — 2025
Secondary: Tools, Terrain, and Method
Generative AI in Action
Amit Bahree — 2024
Secondary: Tools, Terrain, and Method
AI Agents in Action, Second Edition
Micheal Lanham — 2025
Secondary: Tools, Terrain, and Method
Pre-publication or evolving release state; verify final print metadata before purchase.
Building Agentic AI Systems
Create intelligent, autonomous AI systems that can adapt and learn
nan — 2025
Secondary: Tools, Terrain, and Method
The Scaling Era
An Oral History of AI, 2019–2025
Dwarkesh Patel — 2025
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Trust, Repair, and Reliance
Selected books on reliability, breakdown, apology, repair, and operator reliance. Suggested Reading is broader contextual terrain, distinct from the Source Backbone/load-bearing citation layer.
The AI Con
How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want
Emily M. Bender; Alex Hanna — 2025
Secondary: Governance, Power, and Institutional Risk
Governance, Power, and Institutional Risk
Selected books on institutions, platform power, surveillance, militarization, and policy risk. Suggested Reading is broader contextual terrain, distinct from the Source Backbone/load-bearing citation layer.
The Thinking Machine
Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip
Stephen Witt — 2025
Secondary: Tools, Terrain, and Method
Project Maven
A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare
Katrina Manson — 2026
Secondary: Security, Influence, and Manipulation
Empire of AI
Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI
Karen Hao — 2025
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Supremacy
AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World
Parmy Olson — 2024
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Cloud Policy
A History of Regulating Pipelines, Platforms, and Data
Jennifer Holt — 2024
Secondary: Security, Influence, and Manipulation
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
Shoshana Zuboff — 2019
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
The Technological Republic
Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West
Alexander C. Karp; Nicholas W. Zamiska — 2025
Secondary: Security, Influence, and Manipulation
Private Power and Democracy’s Decline
How to Make Capitalism Work for Us
Mordecai Kurz — 2026
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Digital Authoritarianism in the Making
Françoise Daucé; Benjamin Loveluck; Francesca Musiani (eds.) — 2025
Secondary: Security, Influence, and Manipulation
Security, Influence, and Manipulation
Selected books on exploit surfaces, persuasion, social engineering, cyber-AI convergence, and adversarial misuse. Suggested Reading is broader contextual terrain, distinct from the Source Backbone/load-bearing citation layer.
AI, Automation, and War
The Rise of a Military-Tech Complex
Anthony King — 2025
Secondary: Governance, Power, and Institutional Risk
Source URL is not always a direct publisher record; confirm ISBN/date against final vendor or publisher listing.
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All
Eliezer Yudkowsky; Nate Soares — 2025
Secondary: Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Code Red
The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI
Wynton Hall — 2026
Secondary: Governance, Power, and Institutional Risk
Culture, Philosophy, and Society
Selected books on meaning, religion, society, labor, agency, and the cultural imagination around AI. Suggested Reading is broader contextual terrain, distinct from the Source Backbone/load-bearing citation layer.
More Everything Forever
AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity
Adam Becker — 2025
Secondary: Governance, Power, and Institutional Risk
Nexus
A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
Yuval Noah Harari — 2024
Secondary: Security, Influence, and Manipulation
Artificial Religion
On AI, Myth, and Power
Mark Coeckelbergh — 2026
Secondary: Governance, Power, and Institutional Risk
Determined
A Science of Life without Free Will
Robert M. Sapolsky — 2023
Secondary: Emerging Intelligence
We Are as Gods
A Survival Guide for the Age of Abundance
Peter H. Diamandis; Steven Kotler — 2026
Secondary: Governance, Power, and Institutional Risk
The Singularity Is Nearer
When We Merge with AI
Ray Kurzweil — 2024
Secondary: Emerging Intelligence
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and the Image of God
Can Machines Attain Consciousness and Receive Salvation?
Peter J. Bellini — 2023
Secondary: Emerging Intelligence
What Should My Children Do?
A Human's Guide to the Future
Daniel Susskind — 2026
Secondary: Tools, Terrain, and Method
Tools, Terrain, and Method
Selected books on building, evaluating, and operating AI systems. Suggested Reading is broader contextual terrain, distinct from the Source Backbone/load-bearing citation layer.
Evals for AI Engineers
Hamel Husain; Shreya Shankar — 2026
Secondary: Trust, Repair, and Reliance
Pre-publication or evolving release state; verify final print metadata before purchase. Source URL is not always a direct publisher record; confirm ISBN/date against final vendor or publisher listing.