Hello World

Author Hannah Fry
Narrator Hannah Fry
Publisher Transworld
Publish Date 23 August 2018
Run Time 6 hours and 51 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Algorithms and data structures, Computing and Information Technology, Impact of science and technology on society, Intelligent and automated transport system technology, Mathematics, Popular culture, Popular science, Privacy and data protection, Science: general issues, Society and Social Sciences.

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What to expect

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Hello World, written and read by Hannah Fry.

You are accused of a crime. Who would you rather determined your fate – a human or an algorithm?
An algorithm is more consistent and less prone to error of judgement. Yet a human can look you in the eye before passing sentence.
You need a liver transplant to save your life. Who would you want in charge of organ allocation?
An algorithm can match organ donors with patients, potentially saving many more lives. But it may send you to the back of the queue.
You’re buying a (driverless) car. One vehicle is programmed to save as many lives as possible in a collision. Another promises to prioritize the lives of its passengers. Which do you choose?
Welcome to the age of the algorithm, the story of a not-too-distant future where machines rule supreme, making important decisions – in healthcare, transport, finance, security, what we watch, where we go even who we send to prison. So how much should we rely on them? What kind of future do we want?

Hannah Fry takes us on a tour of the good, the bad and the downright ugly of the algorithms that surround us. In Hello World she lifts the lid on their inner workings, demonstrates their power, exposes their limitations, and examines whether they really are an improvement on the humans they are replacing.

'Wise, sharp and witty, the definitive guide to living in the age of social media, algorithms and automation.' Adam Rutherford

Critics Review

A stylish, thoughtful, and scrupulously fair-minded account of what the software that increasingly governs our lives can and cannot do … A beautifully accessible guide that leaps lightly from one story to the next without sparing the reader hard questions… deserves a place in the bestseller charts.

The Times

With refreshing simplicity, Fry explains what AI, machine learning and complicated algorithms really mean, providing some succinct explanations of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, driverless cars and many other unnerving modern phenomena…This book illustrates why good science writers are essential.

Guardian

Brilliantly clear…Fry succinctly outlines the ethical issues that beset AI

Sunday Times

Hello World is a gem of accessible science writing. With eloquence and charm, Hannah Fry outlines the maths of computer algorithms and explains how they are transforming fields such as health, justice, transport and the arts. She is a wise guide to the benefits – and horrors of our increasingly data-driven world.

Alex Bellos, author of Alex's Adventures in Numberland

Expertly told, wise and with a lightness of touch, Hannah Fry’s brilliant exploration of how we live our lives in the age of AI will prompt arguments in pubs and over dinner tables for years to come.

Adam Rutherford

Computers used to be tools, then they were toys, and now they’re all around us. You couldn’t ask for a better guide to this bewildering new world than Hannah Fry, who fills Hello World with wit, storytelling and superbly clear insight. Bravo!

Tim Harford, author and presenter of The Undercover Economist and more recently Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy.

Hannah Fry’s masterful and entertaining call to arms needs to be read by every last human who unthinkingly entrusts our destiny to algorithms. Because, what do you know, the machine-determined future may just work against our best interests, people.

David Rowan, Founder editor of WIRED UK

Hello World is an action-packed, quick read during which you will be outraged, provoked, and challenged. The numerous, meticulously researched examples reveal the astonishing new world we’re living in, one where secret decisions with ambiguous goals are deciding our individual and collective fates. Welcome to the modern world of big data, you’re quite possibly screwed.

Cathy O'Neil, author of Weapons of Math Destruction

Hello World is a brisk and friendly guidebook to the algorithms all around us

Jordan Ellenberg

Editor’s Choice: consistently illuminating

The Bookseller

User Reviews

Book 5.0

Narration 5.0

5.0

Adored this. Found it by accident in the sale section on xigxag after seeing many of her shorts on Youtube and recognising her name! Loved this view into algorithms, AI and machine learning!

lynnreads 05/05/2025

5.0

Both interesting and very informative

markjarmuz 01/04/2024

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