Books like Machine man by Max Barry

In 2044, teenager Wade Watts lives for the virtual utopia OASIS, where he hunts legendary puzzles from old pop culture for a hidden prize that could change the world.

Neal Stephenson’s cyberpunk classic follows hacker Hiro as he confronts a deadly digital drug in a slick, future Metaverse full of hackers, virtual reality, and ancient Sumerian intrigue.

William Gibson’s debut Sprawl novel, *Neuromancer*, blends cyberpunk with a visionary digital future, following a hacker’s final job against a powerful AI. It earned Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards.

Candide: A Tale of Conviviality and Optimism in a Wretched World

In a future where corporations weaponize genetic engineering, Paolo Bacigalupi’s *The Windup Girl* explores the ethical and societal consequences of bioterrorism and gene hacking.

Flynne, a young woman living in a drug‑reliant city, helps her veteran brother Burton test a new virtual reality game. When the beta test turns into a murder investigation, she discovers a deadly conspiracy that threatens her life.

A tech‑savvy employee’s journey into a powerful internet company spirals from ambition to obsession, revealing the dark side of data privacy, social media, and a future where surveillance and corporate control blur boundaries.

A young man's struggle with faith and redemption in America's heartland of the 1930s and 1940s.

20s Young Woman’s Adventures in Old Edinburgh

A delight in Edinburgh, with witty dialogue and humor.

Explores robots of the past, present, and future.

Guy, his wife, and his mother-in-law: a wild and funny saga of love, loss, and literature gone wrong

A series of humorous short stories about the residents of a Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland, featuring the colorful characters of McCall Smith's beloved 44 Scotland Street series.

A town clerk's investigation of a murder that could clear a political scandal.

Sometime in the future the intelligence of machines will exceed that of human brain power. So are we on the edge of an AI-pocalypse, with superintelligent devices superseding humanity, as predicted by Stephen Hawking? Or will this herald a kind of Utopia, with machines doing a far better job at complex tasks than us? You might not realise it, but you interact with AIs every day. They route your phone calls, approve your credit card transactions and help your doctor interpret results. Driverless cars will soon be on the roads with a decision-making computer in charge. But how do machines actually think and learn? In Machines That Think , AI experts and New Scientist explore how artificial intelligence helps us understand human intelligence, machines that compose music and write stories - and ask if AI is really a threat.