Blood in the Machine, by Brian Merchant

Blood in the Machine is my favourite non-fiction book that I read in 2024, and one I keep recommending to people While the subtitle is “The origins of the rebellion against Big Tech,” and the last third of the book does deal with contemporary concerns, most of the book is a in-depth historical exploration of the Luddite movement in England between 1811-1813. After you read this book, you will never again be tempted to use “Luddite” as a slur against (or a self-deprecating joke about) someone who doesn’t like or can’t use new technology. Merchant dives deep into primary sources (at least, as deep as one can in a popular, rather than scholarly, history book) to show that the original Luddites, far from having a knee-jerk anti-technology reaction, were motivated by the desire to stand up against the greed of factory owners who were introducing new technology with no concern for the impact on the lives and livelihoods of workers. The parallels to today’s situation are obvious, and may make you wish that we might see more organized labour movements and more machine-breaking today.