Here’s a recent reading roundup across fiction, nonfiction, philosophy, contemporary literature, short stories, classics, and a newly translated novel.
Nonfiction: AI, consciousness, and the human cost of technology
Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labor Powering A.I.
James Muldoon, Mark Graham, and Callum Cant | Published August 6, 2024
An eye-opening look at the human labor powering artificial intelligence platforms, grounded in interviews with people working in Business Process Outsourcing companies — including content moderators and workers training self-driving AI systems. Like Cory Doctorow’s book below, it frames a central question: will AI work for humans, or will humans work for AI? Given conditions for some of the workforce supporting model training, the authors suggest that many people are already working for AI.
The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence—Before It’s Too Late
Cory Doctorow | Published June 23, 2026
The premise here is that much of the AI hype exists to generate investment. The investment case depends heavily on expected cost savings, while alarming headlines about AI’s future impact can further fuel that investment cycle. Doctorow argues that today’s AI tools are not as strong as advertised and that these bets may not pay off — potentially leading to an economic pullback tied to market overexposure.
The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning
Robert Wright | Published June 23, 2026
This book takes almost the opposite track. Wright likens AI advancement to biological evolution: systems adapt, and desirable attributes are selected into future generations. He explains “the Singularity” as a moment when AI becomes smarter than humans and begins improving itself. His view is that this could arrive sooner than expected, and that humanity needs global cooperation to steer the outcome toward something beneficial; via better (human) selected traits.
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness
Michael Pollan | Published February 24, 2026
Pollan takes on the unwieldy task of summarizing contemporary perspectives on consciousness across neurobiology, philosophy, and the humanities. His conclusion is a humble one: he ended the search knowing less than when he began. He also spends time challenging the “computer as brain” analogy and the idea that AI will someday gain consciousness.
Overall, I tend to side with Pollan that the computer-brain metaphor — silicon transistors compared with neurons — is a bit overblown. Machines can reason well, but the comparison starts to fall apart when consciousness enters the picture. We still don’t really know what consciousness is, though Virginia Woolf does a remarkable job capturing what it feels like in To the Lighthouse (see below).
The Reverse Centaur’s Guide felt a bit hyperbolic in its dismissal of AI’s impact, but it still had excellent takeaways. Feeding the Machine was probably the most interesting of the group because it offers insight into an opaque industry — though the stories are rather sad, frankly. It highlights an important point: while we debate the future impact of these technologies, very real consequences are already here today.
Fiction: contemporary favorites and a few classics
Below is a highlight reel of recent fiction reads, listed roughly from most favored first, followed by a couple of classics worth keeping on the list.
Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory
Iddo Gefen; translated by Daniella Zamir | Originally published July 7, 2023; translated from Hebrew April 1, 2025
This book was an absolute joy, and I highly recommend it. It’s an easy read set in Israel, with a colorful cast of characters. For lack of better words, it struck me as a feel-good story without trying too hard to be one.
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro | Published 2005
Recommended to me as strong literary fiction by the staff at Writer’s Block Bookstore in Orlando. You probably have already read it, but it was new to me. It’s an absolute page-turner — even if one literary device became a bit repetitive — and well worth reading. Ishiguro also won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Beggar Student
Osamu Dazai; translated by Sam Bett | Originally published July 1940
A quick novella with enjoyable imagery.
Sea, Poison
Caren Beilin | Published October 7, 2025
Autocorrect: Stories
Etgar Keret; translated by Jessica Cohen and Sondra Silverston | Published May 27, 2025
Neither of these quite did it for me — perhaps too much vulgarity in their portraits of contemporary life for my taste.
Classics worth revisiting
Old Man Goriot
Honoré de Balzac | Published 1835
Balzac is considered a great for a reason. He distills a character’s rationale for action into small bites and asks the reader to examine those same motives in themselves. It can be brash at times, but he still hits the nail on the head nearly two centuries later.
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf | Published May 5, 1927
This may be one of the earliest works to capture stream of consciousness so powerfully. It’s probably better suited for a college literature course than a casual beach read, but once you get into it, it is incredible to watch Woolf work. And this quality of writing about the human experience will always, in my humble opinion, be difficult to replicate—even for really good AI.