Nova's PicksStandford AI Faculty Recommended Reading
Stanford HAI faculty share their favorite fiction and nonfiction books exploring technology—from disaster adventures to philosophical reflections on AI and our evolving relationship with machines.
1. 1. Mind & Consciousness
Exploring how intelligence, awareness, and creativity emerge—from octopus minds to human reasoning.
Other Minds
Picked by John Etchemendy, HAI Co-Director. Lessons from cephalopods that illuminate human consciousness.
The Beginning of Infinity
Recommended by John Etchemendy, HAI Co-Director. A mind-expanding meditation on science, creativity, and progress.
2. 2. Embodied Intelligence
Understanding how cognition extends beyond the brain, through the body, environment, and human experience.
Supersizing the Mind
From Fei-Fei Li, HAI Co-Director & Professor. A foundational exploration of embodied and extended intelligence.
When Breath Becomes Air
Picked by Fei-Fei Li, HAI Co-Director & Professor. A Stanford neurosurgeon’s memoir on meaning, mortality, and empathy.
3. 3. Technology & Society
How technology shapes justice, governance, and collaboration between humans and machines.
Race After Technology
Selected by Michele Elam, Professor of English. Insightful works on technology, race, and social transformation.
Lost Moon
Recommended by Russ Altman, Professor of Bioengineering. A gripping case of innovation under crisis and human-machine partnership.
What Computers Still Can't Do
From Chelsea Finn, Assistant Professor of Computer Science & EE. A timeless reminder of AI’s philosophical and practical limits.
4. 4. Data & Ethics
Revealing the hidden power dynamics and moral trade-offs behind data and digital surveillance.
5. 5. Nature & Systems Thinking
Connecting technology, ecology, and human values in a search for balance and understanding.
