Book Choice : Our Final Invention

Upon reading this assignment I knew that I wanted to do something relating to computers, since I am very interested in them. I was initially looking for something relating to the history of computers, but later stumbled upon the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence and found that much more interesting. Here were my original 3 choices with some research on them:

Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era - $16, 4/5, ~250 pages
Related Subjects: Artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, human engineering, human evolution

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies - $21, 4/5 stars, ~300 pages
Subjects: Artificial intelligence -- Philosophy, Cognitive science

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution - $20, 3.5/5 stars, ~500 pages
Subjects: Computer science, biography of computer scientists, internet history

Based on this research I came to the decision to pick Our Final Invention. Based on reviews it was a rather straight forward and gives a good overarching look into the dangers of artificial intelligence. Looking at some of my other choices, although I am interested in computer science, I thought that the topic of artificial intelligence better fits into the scope of this course and would be easier to interpret through what I learned in this course. I was considering Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies but reviews indicated it was a fairly difficult read and required prior knowledge about artificial intelligence.

After choosing my book I would read, I then looked up some scholarly reviews about the book. Here's a citation that I used from one of the reviews I might use in my final paper.

Perkins, Sid. "Our Final Invention." Science News Nov 02 2013: 29. ProQuest. Web. 13 Oct 2014.

... and here's the URL
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/pqrl/docview/1464619100/CF2FD48639644B14PQ/1?accountid=465