Ask HN: What book should my CS1 students read?
In past years I assigned chapters from "Coders" by Clive Thompson for students to read, assessed by a few points of multiple-choice questions on our weekly quizzes. My goal was to complement the technical content and get students thinking about some of the broader issues surrounding technology. I think "Coders" does a nice job of this—covering some of the history of computing, discussing mental health challenges associated with software development, and providing well-reasoned arguments on sensitive topics such as gender and meritocracy.
Maybe I should just bring back "Coders". It was written before the rise of generative AI, but still holds up fairly well.
But I thought I'd ask this community for additional ideas. Note that this could either be required for some small amount of credit, or optional, incentivized with a small amount of extra credit. I'm also receptive to different or more open-ended goals, which is probably reflected in some of the ideas listed below. Generally speaking, I'd like the book to counterbalance an observed tendency among students in my course towards not being wary enough about the computing technology that they will one day participate in creating.
To get you thinking, a few options that I've been considering:
* "The Circle" by Dave Eggers. One of the better satirical takes I've read on our modern technology-centered era. Unfortunately includes some problematic sexual content. * "1984" by George Orwell. Or "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. I'd probably lean toward "1984", since it just seems like a better match for the present moment somehow. * "Weapons of Math Destruction" by Cathy O'Neill, or one of the many similar cautionary technology tales. One concern is that these tend to be somewhat more focused on one or two specific topics, and don't provide as nice of an overview as something like "Coders". * "Unmasking AI" by Joy Buolamwini, or something similar that mixes biography and technology criticism. Similar specificity concerns here to the group above.
Excited to hear your ideas! Thanks in advance. At this point about 2,000 students take my course each year, so whatever I choose does have the potential to impact more than a few young people.