Science - Technology

12 BYTES: HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE LIVE AND LOVE

by Jeanette Winterson

read by Jeanette Winterson

running time 8hrs 59mins

In this original, deeply researched and lively new book, Jeanette Winterson traces the history of the AI revolution. She talks to some of the boldest and most imaginative thinkers in the field and looks to religion, myth and literature to help us understand the radical changes to the way we live and love that are just around the corner.When we create non-human life-forms, will we do so in our image? Or will we accept the once-in-a-species opportunity to remake ourselves in their image?What do love, caring and attachment look like with a non-biological life form? And what happens to the gender binary?What will happen when our destiny is not contained by physical bodies, and our destination is not planet Earth?With wit, compassion and curiosity, Winterson tackles AI's most urgent talking points, and asks readers to consider their role in imagining a more just and equal future.

21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

by Yuval Noah Harari

read by Derek Perkins

running time 11hrs 30mins

Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today’s most urgent issues. How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children? Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?

53 YEARS OF MOTORING MEMORIES

by L S Ives

read by Fred Parker

running time 5hrs

In these recollections of a vintage motorist, the author describes, with some humour, a collection of motoring memories.

AI 2041

by Chen Qiufan & Kai-Fu Lee

read by Miscellaneous

running time 18hrs 4mins

AI will be the defining development of the twenty-first century. Within two decades, aspects of daily human life will be unrecognizable. AI will generate unprecedented wealth, revolutionize medicine and education through human-machine symbiosis, and create brand new forms of communication and entertainment. In liberating us from routine work, however, AI will also challenge the organizing principles of our economic and social order. In this provocative, utterly original work of "scientific fiction," Kai-Fu Lee, the former president of Google China and bestselling author of AI Superpowers, joins forces with celebrated novelist Chen Qiufan to imagine our world in 2041 and how it will be shaped by AI. In ten gripping short stories, set twenty years in the future, they introduce readers to an array of eye-opening 2041 settings: In San Francisco, Tokyo and Seoul.

BLOOD, IRON & GOLD: HOW THE RAILWAYS TRANSFORMED THE WORLD

by Christian Wolmar

read by Michael Tudor Barnes

running time 15hrs

Christian Wolmar describes the vision and determination of the pioneers who developed railways that would one day span continents, as well as the labour of the navvies who built this global network.

THE COGWHEEL BRAIN

by Doron Swade

read by Michael St. John

running time 12hrs 15mins

In 1821 mathematician Charles Babbage was so frustrated with checking manual mathematical tables that he embarked on a quest to design and build a mechanical calculating engine. His vision is all around us in today's sophisticated computers.

EXPLOSIVE: BRINGING THE WORLD'S DEADLIEST BOMBERS TO JUSTICE

by Cliff Todd

read by Richard Burnip

running time 9hrs

Cliff Todd devoted his life to bringing bomb makers to justice. He and his colleagues at the Ministry of Defence's Forensic Explosives Laboratory are the unsung heroes of terrorist bomb attacks—the men and women in white suits who piece together who planted the bombs, what a device consisted of and how the perpetrators might give themselves away. In Explosive, Todd takes us step by step through the investigations, explaining the chemistry, the forensic work and the emotional toll on him and his staff as they sought to recreate and understand what had happened at some of the most shocking tragedies in modern peacetime history.

FANCY BEAR GOES PHISHING

by Scott J. Shapiro

read by Jonathan Todd Ross

running time 15hrs 9mins

It's a signal paradox of our times that we live in an information society but do not know how it works. And without understanding how our information is stored, used and protected, we are vulnerable to having it exploited. In Fancy Bear Goes Phishing, Scott Shapiro exposes the secrets of the digital age. With lucidity and wit, he establishes that cybercrime has less to do with defective programming than with the faulty wiring of our psyches and society. And because hacking is a human story, he tells the fascinating tales of perpetrators including Robert Morris Jr, the graduate student who accidentally crashed the internet in the 1980s, and the Bulgarian 'Dark Avenger' who invented the first mutating computer-virus engine. We also meet a sixteen-year-old from South Boston who took control of Paris Hilton's cell phone and the Russian intelligence officers who sought to take control of a US election, among others. In telling their stories, Shapiro exposes the hackers' tool kits and gives fresh answers to vital questions: why is the internet so vulnerable? What can we do in response? The result is a lively and original account of the future of hacking, espionage and war, and of how to live in an era of cybercrime.

GENIUS MAKERS

by Cade Metz

read by John Lee

running time 9hrs 59mins

The Genius Makers tells the story of AI from pioneering days to current achievements to future potential. At the same time it takes the lid off what has effectively become an arms race between Google, Microsoft, Facebook and OpenAI, in which Google may be the clear frontrunner at present, but Facebook has shown itself to be both nimble and innovative, and OpenAI, the company recently founded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, has made itself the confident upstart of the pack. Each of these companies represents something unique in the development of a technology that offers both extraordinary potential and extraordinary risks. Their personalities and business strategies are already changing the tech landscape in dramatic ways. And they will continue to do so. As well as explaining and exploring artificial intelligence and showing how individuals and companies are reaching for it, The Genius Makers also poses serious ethical questions about the technology. Should we even be pursuing it? How will strong AI change humanity? Will it carve out a giant hole in our job market? Are these companies blinded by the riches this technology will bring? Are they forgetting the existential realities of creating machines that behave like humans? Written by an expert who has exclusive access to each of these companies - and others who are working in this field - this is a rich, character-driven narrative that captures an extraordinary moment in the history of technology.

HIDDEN FIGURES

by Margot Lee Shetterly

read by Robin Miles

running time 10hrs 45mins

Before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” calculated the numbers that would launch rockets into space. Among these were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, and even though they were segregated from their white counterparts, the women helped America achieve a decisive victory over the Soviet Union. These four African American women participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes.

INFLUENCE EMPIRE: THE STORY OF TENCENT AND CHINA'S TECH AMBITION

by Lulu Chen

read by Richard Burnip

running time 9hrs 9mins

A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at one of the worlds biggest tech companies. In 2019, a Chinese entity called Tencent overtook Facebook to become the world's fifth-largest company. It was a watershed moment, a wake-up call for those in the West accustomed to regarding the global tech industry through the prism of Silicon Valley: Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft. Yet to many of the two billion-plus people who live just across the Pacific Ocean, it came as no surprise at all. Tencent's ambition to be an essential part of digital daily life means it holds a dizzyingly diverse range of products - music, gaming, messaging, and film. In this fascinating narrative - crammed with insider interviews, exclusive details about the company's culture - tech reporter Lulu Chen tells the story of how Tencent is changing the world and asks what the consequences will be for us all.

LIFE ON THE SCREEN: IDENTITY IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET

by Sherry Turkle

read by Derina Dinkin

running time 16hrs

This book tells a story of the changing impact of the computer on our psychological lives. What is emerging, Turkle argues, is a new sense of identity, one which is de-centred and multiple. She describes the trends in computer design, in artificial intelligence, and in people's experience of virtual environments.

MADE IN BRITAIN

by Evan Davis

read by Evan Davis

running time 7hrs 45mins

This book is about the things that Britain produces in order to pay its way in the world. From manufacturing to technology, design and the services industries, Made in Britain provides a cutting edge analysis - via entertaining stories - about what we make and why it matters.

THE NEW BREED

by Kate Darling

read by Hillary Huber

running time 9hrs 48mins

The robots are here. They make our cars, they deliver fast food, they mine the sea floor. And in the near-future their presence will increasingly enter our homes and workplaces - making human-robot interaction a frequent, everyday occurrence. What will this future look like? What will define the relationship between humans and robots? Here Kate Darling, a world-renowned expert in robot ethics, shows that in order to understand the new robot world, we must first move beyond the idea that this technology will be something like us. Instead, she argues, we should look to our relationship with animals. Just as we have harnessed the power of animals to aid us in war and work, so too will robots supplement - rather than replace - our own skills and abilities. A deeply original analysis of our technological future and the ethical dilemmas that await us, The New Breed explains how the treatment of machines can reveal a new understanding of our own history, our own systems and how we relate - not just to non-humans, but also to each other.

PINPOINT: HOW GPS IS CHANGING TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE AND OUR MINDS

by Greg Milner

read by John Hobday

running time 12hrs

Pinpoint tells the sweeping story of GPS from its conceptual origins as a bomb guidance system to its presence in almost everything we do. Milner examines the different ways humans have understood physical space, delves into the neuroscience of cognitive maps, and questions GPS's double-edged effect on our culture. A fascinating and original story of the scientific urge toward precision, Pinpoint offers startling insight into how humans understand their place in the world.

REALITY+: VIRTUAL WORLDS AND THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY

by David J Chalmers

read by Grant Cartwright

running time 17hrs

In the coming decades, the technology that enables virtual and augmented reality will improve beyond recognition. Within a century, world-renowned philosopher David J. Chalmers predicts, we will have virtual worlds that are impossible to distinguish from non-virtual worlds. But is virtual reality just escapism? In a highly original work of 'technophilosophy', Chalmers argues categorically, no: virtual reality is genuine reality. Virtual worlds are not second-class worlds. We can live a meaningful life in virtual reality - and increasingly, we will.

SEVEN WONDERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

by Deborah Cadbury

read by Michael St. John

running time 13hrs 45mins

The Industrial Revolution changed the face of the planet forever. Here we are presented with seven of the greatest feats of engineering of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Details of the technical achievements and human costs for each project are explained in a knowledgeable but accessible way.

THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE TALKING BOOK

by Matthew Rubery

read by Jim Denison

running time 11hrs 30mins

We have come a long way from the era of sound recorded on wax cylinders. Here, Rubery tells the untold story of this incredible evolution and, in doing so, breaks from convention by treating audiobooks as a distinctively modern art form that has profoundly influenced the way we read.

THE VILLAGE CARPENTER

by Walter Rose

read by Bob Rollett

running time 5hrs

Rose writes of village carpentry as it was practised in Buckinghamshire by his family and their men in Victorian times. These reminiscences touch upon such things as mill repairs, farm and house carpentry, timber buying, work in the saw yard, and making field gates, haymaking tools and coffins.

WHEN THE HEAVENS WENT ON SALE

by Ashlee Vance

read by Robert Petkoff

running time 18hrs 19mins

An instant New York Times Bestseller A momentous look at the private companies driving the revolutionary new space race, from the 3-million copy, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk In 2008, Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket that could reach orbit. Suddenly Silicon Valley, not NASA, was the epicentre of the new Space Age. Start-ups and investors began to realise that the heavens - ungoverned and unregulated - were open for business. When the Heavens Went on Sale tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied race to control access to outer space. Ashlee Vance follows four pioneering companies - Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs and Rocket Lab - as they attempt to launch thousands of low-cost rockets and satellites into orbit. While the space tourism ambitions of billionaires such as Bezos and Branson make headlines, these under-the-radar companies are striving to monetise Earth's lower orbit; to connect, analyse and monitor everything on Earth. With unprecedented access to private company headquarters, labs and top-secret launch locations - from the US to New Zealand, Ukraine to India - Vance presents a gripping account of private jets, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations and multimillionaires guzzling booze as their fortunes disappear. This is the most pressing and controversial technology story of our time, a tale of fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes. Welcome to the new Wild West above the clouds.