Top AI books I recommend to everyone
Read these to understand the world AI is creating
If you’re looking for something to keep your mind busy over the festive season while you prepare for 2026 (hopefully the year of AI realism), then these are my top picks.
They’re the books I return to. The ones I recommend. And the ones I’m still thinking about months - sometimes years - after I first read them.
Top easy read: Smart until it’s dumb
I interviewed the author back in July, and he has one of the sharpest insider perspectives I’ve come across on how tech companies actually work, how hype gets manufactured, and what’s really happening under the hood of AI systems.
He’s a CTO with a PhD in automation, image and signal processing - and it shows.
The book is easy read that will change your perspective on AI.
Most unsettling: Careless People
This book isn’t specifically about AI, but it is one of the clearest windows I’ve ever seen into the mindset of Mark Zuckerberg, and the wider culture inside Facebook (now Meta). A mindset that veers worryingly close to contempt for the people whose lives their products shape.
I found it fascinating.
I found it disturbing.
And I found myself repeatedly asking how none of these individuals (Zuck, Sandberg etc) have ever faced real consequences.
Most ‘big picture’: The Coming Wave
Mustafa Suleyman - co-founder of DeepMind (now Google DeepMind) and currently the CEO of Microsoft AI - has one of the most informed vantage points in the entire field. And it shows.
This book provides the most compelling overview I’ve seen of how AI might reshape society - and humanity - at a macro level. It’s not speculative. It’s not sensational. It’s a clear, structured explanation of the forces that are accelerating, the risks that matter, and the opportunities that could redefine the next decade.
If you want to understand AI not as a set of tools, but as a system that will influence economics, politics, power, geopolitics, biology, and everyday life, this is the place to start.
Most practical: Rewire or Retire: AI for leaders
This is one of the most practical books I’ve read on how leaders should approach AI. Not from a technical angle, but from an ethical, managerial, and operational one.
It helps you understand what AI actually means for you as a leader: how to integrate it, how it will impact workflows and decision-making, what it demands from your teams, and where the real risks (organisational, ethical, cultural) sit.
It doesn’t overwhelm you with tools or trends. It forces you to think clearly about responsibility, capability, and the very real shift in leadership mindset that AI now requires.
If you want something grounded, usable, and immediately relevant to how you run a business, this is the place to start.
Most annoying (but still worth reading): The Optimist
This is the story of Sam Altman and OpenAI, written by a Wall Street Journal reporter. It’s a good story, comprehensive, but it’s sycophantic in places. That’s what makes it annoying.
But it’s still worth reading.
Because underneath the flattery, a very clear picture emerges of Sam Altman as a sometimes ruthless, highly intelligent, extraordinarily strategic and somewhat manipulative individual. He understands power, he plays for advantage, and he rarely loses.
I was left with a strong distrust. A sense that we are watching someone consolidate extraordinary influence without the counterbalances you’d expect in a functioning society.
If you want to understand the psychology of the man shaping the direction of AI - for better or worse - this is a revealing, if frustrating, read.
These books provide important context about what’s going on in the AI space. But if you want to become a top 1% AI user and thinker in 2026, then consider joining the AI Edit. For £20 a month you get access to weekly, LIVE (so they can never be out of date), curated sessions on everything you need to know to become an AI super user.