This is simply a list of some reading I have done which I can recommend for both entertainment and education. The list is probably not comprehensive, but I will make the attempt to make it so and to keep it updated.
by David Diamond A short biography of Linus Thorvalds, detailing his journey into computer science and the development of the Linus kernel. This is in my opinion, one of the best sources for understanding how great a feat the development of the Linux-kernel actually was.
by Ph.D. Mads Vestergaard On Social credit systems and capitalist incentives and how they manipulate and shape human behaviour, and how digital frameworks datamining people for profit or ideological seering undermine individuality and freedom of expression. A thesis that is, if not adjacent then related, to the one described by Zuboff in “The age of surveillance capitalism”, although I find this work a bit more concise, while taking into account the comparison between the ideological and capitalist motivations.
by Professor Shoshanna Zuboff Fantastic intellectual work on the capitalistic model of user data in the digital age, and the consequences for the diminishing of the individuals power in a society in which such a digital frameworks exists. This is very close to the main canonical text on this subject.
by Harlan Ellison Interesting sci-fi for the relation and ethics between human beings and a concious machine. Beside the comment on the ethical consideration associated with the control over concious beings, as illustrated by the reversal of roles between the artificial intelligence that under normal circumstances, can be shut down, and humans. It is also a fantastically uncomfortable piece of body-horror.
by Jorge Luis Borges Literature on literature though short fictions. I wil go as far, as to say that I have learned more about how text and stories works though this one book than anything else read or watched. In my opinion, a must-read!
by Ken Thompson Excelent paper on the mutual trust and fundamental uncertainty in compiled software, that do not require any academic prerequisites other than a small amout of intelligence, although a little experience in C along programatic thinking does help with a few details. Just read it!
by Allan Moore and David Lloyd An accessible analysis of the role of anarchism in the totalitarian state, done through compelling storytelling, set in the dystopian future of 1980’s England. Also, watch the movie, it is (in my opinion) an excellent adaptation!
by Professor emerita, Dr. Phil. Birgitte Possing A brilliant history and summary of the fight for emancipation (so far) of women in a danish context, and the arguments and resistance against this emancipation. Tragicomic in the absurdity of the arguments presented, and, to me, both very educational and entertaining.