Lou Millar-Machugh

Reading list

140 books on technology, politics and design, read over two years. Each one has a summary, my honest take and who it's most useful for. It's the reading behind the essays and videos and the client work.

140 books

Tech and platforms

60 books
  • Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary CrisisNick Dyer-Witheford & Alessandra Mularoni
  • The Eye of the MasterMatteo Pasquinelli
  • Hegel in a Wired BrainSlavoj Žižek
  • The Age of DisruptionBernard Stiegler
  • After the FutureFranco Berardi
  • PsychopoliticsByung-Chul Han
  • The Automatic FetishBeverly Best
  • Investigative AestheticsMatthew Fuller & Eyal Weizman
  • The Language of New MediaLev Manovich
  • Information PoliticsTim Jordan
  • Dynamics of Critical Internet Culture (1994–2001)Geert Lovink
  • Post-EuropeYuk Hui
  • Digital DegrowthMichael Kwet
  • Marx and the RobotsFlorian Butollo & Sabine Nuss
  • The Digital PartyPaolo Gerbaudo
  • Data PowerJim Thatcher & Craig Dalton
  • Playing Politics in the Long Digital AgeAlexander Galloway
  • The Interface EffectAlexander Galloway
  • Surveillance CapitalismShoshana Zuboff
  • Automating InequalityVirginia Eubanks
  • Against TechnoableismAshley Shew
  • The Palestine LaboratoryAntony Loewenstein
  • Human Centred AIBen Shneiderman
  • Digital AnthropologyEd. Heather Horst & Daniel Miller
  • AnalogiaGeorge Dyson
  • The Myth of Artificial IntelligenceErik Larson
  • Atlas of Anomalous AIBen Vickers & K Allado-McDowell (eds.)
  • Virus Is a Language: AI, COVID-19 and the New AbnormalChris Nobles Gray
  • Co-IntelligenceEthan Mollick
  • Dream Lovers: The Gamification of RelationshipsAlfie Bown
  • Own This!Trebor Scholz
  • Resisting the Virtual LifeEd. James Brook & Iain Boal
  • The Twittering MachineRichard Seymour
  • The Internet LeftGraham Harrison
  • Code DependentMadhumita Murgia
  • Reverse Engineering Social MediaRobert W. Gehl
  • The Logic of Connective ActionW. Lance Bennett & Alexandra Segerberg
  • Recognition in the Age of Social MediaBruno Campanella
  • Eaten by the InternetEd. Corinne Cath
  • Future HistoriesLizzie O'Shea
  • The Internet ConCory Doctorow
  • EnshittificationCory Doctorow
  • CyberbossCraig Gent
  • Future PoliticsJamie Susskind
  • The Digital RepublicJamie Susskind
  • The Digital ClosetAlexander Monea
  • Other Internet 2018–2024Other Internet Collective
  • Dialogues on CoreCore & the Contemporary Online Avant-GardeEd. 0nty et al.
  • Becoming the ProductMorgane Billuart
  • Critical Meme Reader III: Breaking the MemeEd. Chloë Arkenbout & İdil Galip
  • Newslore: Contemporary Folklore on the InternetRobert Glenn Howard
  • Informatica: Mastering Information Through the AgesAlex Wright
  • The App GenerationHoward Gardner & Katie Davis
  • A History of the Transgender InternetAvery Dame-Griff
  • The Social PhotoNathan Jurgenson
  • This Is Not PropagandaPeter Pomerantsev
  • This Is for EveryoneTim Berners-Lee
  • The Science of HateMatthew Williams
  • The End of BiasJessica Nordell
  • Cybernetics or Ghosts?: Stories from Myth to AIMichael Salu

Design

29 books
  • Conspiratorial DesignCarlo Bramanti
  • Speculative EverythingAnthony Dunne & Fiona Raby
  • Designs for the PluriverseArturo Escobar
  • Design FuturingTony Fry
  • Mainframe ExperimentalismEd. Hannah Higgins & Douglas Kahn
  • Superstorm: Design and Politics in the Age of InformationNaomi Blaettton
  • The Responsible Object: A History of Design Ideology for the FutureEd. Martijn van Helvert
  • Design Against DesignSilvio Lorusso et al.
  • EntreprecariatSilvio Lorusso
  • What Design Can't DoSilvio Lorusso
  • Stuck on the PlatformGeert Lovink
  • With and AgainstDominique Routhier
  • Burning ImagesFlorian Göttke
  • Provocations: Social Media ArchitectureSet Margins
  • Who Can Afford to Be CriticalSet Margins
  • Socially Conscious Designing for Critical CausesVarious
  • What Is Post-Branding?Set Margins
  • The Slow Technology ReaderEd. MIT Press
  • An Activist Neuroaesthetics ReaderVarious
  • Longing for Lo-FiSébastien Bovie
  • Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science FictionNathan Shedroff & Christopher Noessel
  • Systems Thinking for Social ChangeDavid Peter Stroh
  • The Life-Centred Design GuideDamien Lutz
  • Designing HistoryChris Lee
  • Ways of SeeingJohn Berger
  • Emotional DesignDon Norman
  • The Design of Everyday ThingsDon Norman
  • The Art of ExplanationRos Atkins
  • Just My TypeSimon Garfield

Politics

20 books
  • Thinking in SystemsDonella H. Meadows
  • The Utopia of RulesDavid Graeber
  • Pirate EnlightenmentDavid Graeber
  • Bullshit JobsDavid Graeber
  • PostCapitalismPaul Mason
  • Postcapitalist CitiesOli Mould
  • The Shock DoctrineNaomi Klein
  • DoppelgangerNaomi Klein
  • No LogoNaomi Klein
  • This Changes EverythingNaomi Klein
  • Doughnut EconomicsKate Raworth
  • Tools for ConvivialityIvan Illich
  • Confidence CultureShani Orgad & Rosalind Gill
  • The EstablishmentOwen Jones
  • ChavsOwen Jones
  • Bringing Down GoliathJolyon Maugham KC
  • Languages of TruthSalman Rushdie
  • The Burnout SocietyByung-Chul Han
  • Buried TreasuresJack Zipes
  • The Rise and Fall of the Artificial StateJill Lepore

Attention

12 books
  • Alone TogetherSherry Turkle
  • Reclaiming ConversationSherry Turkle
  • How to Do NothingJenny Odell
  • Saving TimeJenny Odell
  • Stolen FocusJohann Hari
  • The Status GameWill Storr
  • Bad TasteNathalie Olah
  • This Is Not Who I AmEmily Bootle
  • The City of Today Is a Dying ThingDes Fitzgerald
  • New Dark AgeJames Bridle
  • Radical TechnologiesAdam Greenfield
  • The Imperial ArchiveThomas Richards

Philosophy

12 books
  • Being and TimeMartin Heidegger
  • The Phenomenology of SpiritG.W.F. Hegel
  • The Order of ThingsMichel Foucault
  • Simulacra and SimulationJean Baudrillard
  • The Society of the SpectacleGuy Debord
  • The Second SexSimone de Beauvoir
  • Pedagogy of the OppressedPaulo Freire
  • A Cyborg ManifestoDonna Haraway
  • On PhotographySusan Sontag
  • Capitalist RealismMark Fisher
  • Understanding MediaMarshall McLuhan
  • The Medium is the MassageMarshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore

Science

7 books
  • Thinking, Fast and SlowDaniel Kahneman
  • Reality+David Chalmers
  • Reality Is Not What It SeemsCarlo Rovelli
  • The Order of TimeCarlo Rovelli
  • How to Change Your MindMichael Pollan
  • The GiftLewis Hyde
  • On the Equality of All ThingsCarlo Rovelli