Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
Cathy O’Neil
An examination of different algorithmic systems and how they structure our education, finances, career opportunities, and more, often amplifying biases or creating unintended consequences. O’Neil gives us insight into the semi-opaque rules that define our lives in an era where statistical principles are (mis)used to shape our world, and what we can/should do to understand, revise, or fight those rules. This book will keep you reading because you’ll get madder and madder, but you’ll appreciate the insight into things we don’t always know about.
CATHERINE CRONQUIST BROWNING
Assistant Dean
Academic Programs, Equity & Inclusion
School of Information
Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History
Lea Ypi
This memoir by an Albanian political scientist who now lives and works in Britain is a very interesting personal window into a little-studied country that had a very closed, Soviet-style socialist government until much later than its neighbors. Ypi discovers the rules that structured her life as she was growing up and has the opportunity to contrast them with different kinds of rules and social structures later in life. Ypi’s book is compelling and HIGHLY readable; I could not put it down. It’s also a book that doesn’t shy away from difficult things, but it’s not so heavy that it’s hard to get through.
CATHERINE CRONQUIST BROWNING
Assistant Dean
Academic Programs, Equity & Inclusion
School of Information