Il Gattopardo

Not a technology book, but the opening conceptual frame for how technology waves actually play out. "Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi." — if we want everything to stay as it is, everything must change. Tancredi's line is the key to the gatopardismo dynamic: every technological revolution promises to change everything, and in a deeper sense the same forces of concentration return. Essential reading to stay sober about AI without becoming cynical: the question is not whether it transforms, but what exactly stays the same underneath.