Monday, July 20, 2026

AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter

Josh Tyrangiel
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
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In contrast to the wave of noisy polemics around AI, AI For Good explores how, in practice, it can actually improve our lives and tells the stories of everyday citizens at the forefront of this new “AI entrepreneurship

AI is often framed as a force of radical transformation, either catapulting us into a utopian future or dragging us toward existential ruin. But this book tells a different story. It’s not about high-profile tech CEOs who want to use AI to “break shit,” but about a bunch of smart pragmatists using AI to make the world better.

Josh Tyrangiel’s journey into AI began with a late-night YouTube video featuring General Gustave Perna, the retired four-star general who orchestrated the distribution of Covid vaccines during Operation Warp Speed. Perna’s success—and the end of the pandemic—depended on AI’s practical ability to synthesize and standardize vast amounts of logistical data. AI wasn’t the hero of the story—it was the tool that helped real people get things done.

This book follows those people, who make up a kind of AI counterculture. It explores AI’s quiet revolution in government services, medicine, education, and human connection—places where it’s being used to amplify human judgment rather than replace it. It tells the stories of teachers, doctors, and bureaucrats who often stumbled into AI as a means to solve specific, tangible problems, often with no prior software expertise.

While the loudest voices in AI debate doomsday scenarios and trillion-dollar market opportunities, this book focuses on those working in the messy, incremental, but deeply impactful space of AI practice. However, there is one big caveat—success is not guaranteed. Change is hard. Institutions move slowly. But even in failure there are lessons for everyone who’s interested in using AI—carefully, thoughtfully—to build a better world today.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

連結:從石器時代到AI紀元 (Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI)

哈拉瑞 (Yuval Noah Harari)
online access from HyRead eBook
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現在與未來,AI將會做什麼?
哈拉瑞的新巨作《連結》,以激勵人心的方式,
講述了我們如何走到這一刻,
以及現在必須做出的、攸關生存與發展的急迫決擇。

《連結》透過人類大歷史的長鏡頭,
檢視資訊網路與資訊流,如何將我們帶到AI紀元。
哈拉瑞引導我們走過石器時代、經歷《聖經》正典化、
印刷術的發明、大眾媒體的興起、以及民粹主義的重燃……
例舉了羅馬帝國、秦帝國、天主教會、蘇聯等體制
如何利用資訊技術來實現目標,無論是好是壞。
資訊,既不是真理真相的原料,也不只是權力與武器;
《連結》探索了許多極端之間、充滿希望的中間立場,
在鐵幕落下、矽幕升起之際,重新發現我們共有的人性。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, July 13, 2026

Architecture Against Architecture: A Manifesto

Reinier de Graaf
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central Perpetual Titles
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A fourteen-point manifesto to bring architecture into the twenty-first century

Architecture, as we know it, is in crisis. The authority of architects is crumbling, their methods no longer tenable. In a highly critical introspection, architect and writer Reinier de Graaf explores the tough choices ahead and the course of action that must follow.

Architecture Against Architecture demands we rethink both how and why we build. With wit and insight, De Graaf lays out the future of the profession, challenging readers to question the fundamental assumptions of the discipline. How do we end the feudal veneration of starchitects? When will architects finally recognize that it is in their own best interest to unionize? Why aren’t more practices collectively owned? Why do so many architects over sixty-seven refuse to retire? How do we stop buildings from being copy-righted? What will remain of architecture after AI? What can prevent iconic structures from being embroiled in money laundering? And the vital question: What projects should architects refuse on moral grounds?

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

執行長,請問什麼是工作?三星流翻轉職場的33個破框思考

高東真
online access from HyRead eBook
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在成為執行長後,更堅持定期與員工聚餐,以瞭解年輕人的想法,並透過自己的人生經驗,來回答他們的問題,幫助年輕員工在競爭激烈的三星環境中找到方向。本書歸納出高東真的五大成功心法:

◆建立正確的態度|當你覺得「一無所有」時,該怎麼做?
◆締造成果與價值|當一再努力卻還是失敗,要怎麼調適?
◆重視人際關係|不與任何人為敵、學會「抱怨」,而非「發牢騷」
◆莫忘人生初心|要過「穩定」的生活,還是「安於現狀」的人生?
◆經營自我的發展|為了自己成功,犧牲身邊的人一些是可以的嗎?

(摘錄自eslite.com)


Monday, July 6, 2026

Why Old Places Matter: How Historic Places Affect Our Identity and Well-Being

Thompson M. Mayes
online access from Ebook Central Academic Complete
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Why Old Places Matter is the only book that explores the reasons that old places matter to people. Although people often feel very deeply about the old places of their lives, they don’t have the words to express why. This book brings these ideas together in evocative language and with illustrative images for a broad audience.

The book reveals the fundamentally important yet under-recognized role old places play in our lives. While many people feel a deep-seated connection to old places -- from those who love old houses, to the millions of tourists who are drawn to historic cities, to the pilgrims who flock to ancient sites throughout the world -- few can articulate why. The book explores these deep attachments people have with old places –the feelings of belonging, continuity, stability, identity and memory, as well as the more traditional reasons that old places have been deemed by society to be important, such as history, national identity, and architecture.

This book will be appealing to anyone who has ever loved an old place. But more importantly, it will be an useful resource to articulate why old places are meaningful to people and their communities. This book will help people understand that the feeling many have for old places is supported by a wide variety of fields, and that the continued existence of these old places is good. It will give people the words and phrases to understand and express why old places matter.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

蔡康永的情商課2:因為這是你的人生

蔡康永
online access from HyRead eBook
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在《蔡康永的情商課:為你自己活一次》裡,康永把情商比喻成三件聽了就很舒服的事情:陽光、微風、水滴。陽光就是「明白」,《為你自己活一次》談的是怎麼變得明白;而微風,就是「剛剛好」,在這本書裡,康永要透過講人際關係,來談情商裡的「剛剛好」。

人際關係裡的「剛剛好」,是找出適合自己、恰如其分的條件,讓我們這個獨一無二的自己,活得更自在,而不是更辛苦。你要活得自在,不用任何人來解釋任何理由。因為啊,這是你的人生。

這裡有個讓人流連忘返的酒吧,有一個熱心過度的酒吧老闆、一個過氣的知名主持人、一個帥得掉渣的酒保、能做出美味蛋餅的小哥,以及謎般的巫醫老奶奶,他們要在人們的杯觥交錯中,帶來一個個你我都似曾相識、但沒想過竟有新解妙招的人生故事。

★康永談怎麼交朋友:
‧交朋友跟買東西不一樣,你會精挑細選一個感覺無瑕疵的洗衣機或鑽戒,但你不太會想要跟一個感覺無瑕疵的人做朋友。
‧有些人在抱怨朋友太現實時,其實是因為他們自己用了現實的標準去衡量友誼。
‧活著沒有標準範本,只有適合我們的劇本。
‧我們可以當拍照時補光的反光板,讓朋友變有趣,他就離不開你。
‧想增加自信時,就跟別人比我們強的地方;想增加鬥志時,就跟別人比我們弱的地方。
‧令你自在的,是友誼;令你焦慮的,比較偏向人脈。

★康永談怎麼同時滿足爸媽又成就自己:

‧我們會被什麼樣的人勒索?如果我們覺得自己虧欠對方,我們就會被對方勒索。
‧如果你真的受不了不了解自己的爸媽,或不愛自己的爸媽,有一個聽起來很阿Q的作法,可是很有用,就是在自己心裡,幻想出一對理想的父母。
‧把父母的期望,跟自己的願望區分開來,然後衡量一下自己有限的心力,做一個不委屈自己的分配。
‧在小事上滿足父母的期望,是為了儲備談判的籌碼,希望父母在大事上能尊重我們自己的意願。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)