Tech Book II

THE TOP TECH BOOKS OF 2017: PART IIFILO/GETTY IMAGES

Last week, we brought you six of the best tech books of 2017, which you promptly purchased in bulk as last-minute holiday gifts for your loved ones. No? Well, here’s another chance. We’re back this week with five morerecommendations to close out the year. This week’s books take a turn for the historical: Leslie Berlin and Noam Cohen offer complementary histories of Silicon Valley and the key personalities that define it today, while Brian Dear takes a deep dive into PLATO, a prescient 1960s-era computer network that enjoyed a brief heyday on college campuses before fading into obscurity.

It’s not all about the past. Rachel Botsman looks at how modern technology is rapidly reworking centuries-old networks of trust, and Jean Twenge highlights several surprising trends defining the lives of today’s adolescents.

In case you missed it, be sure to check out our first six recommendations, which include a look at the darker side of the Instagram influencer economy and a portrait of a WWII-era woman codebreaker who, until now, has gone largely uncredited for her groundbreaking work. Happy reading!

— Miranda Katz