Bookshelf
Books
Every book Alex Merced has written, from lakehouse architecture and agentic AI through to economics, fiction, and tabletop roleplaying.
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AI and Agents for Normal People
A practical guide to using AI tools for everyday tasks, covering Gemini, NotebookLM, ChatGPT, Claude, and local agent workflows without technical jargon.
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AI Application Architecture: Patterns for Building Intelligent Systems
Covers architectural patterns for building intelligent applications, from inference pipelines to multi-agent orchestration.
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Apache Iceberg for Agentic AI: Connecting Structured Enterprise
Explores how to connect structured enterprise data in Apache Iceberg lakehouses to agentic AI systems.
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Being Productive with Open Models
A practical guide to using open models with Opencode, PI, and Hermes for AI-assisted development.
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Building Knowledge Systems for AI: Graphs, RAG, Memory, and Context
A deep dive into building robust knowledge systems for AI using knowledge graphs, RAG, memory architectures, and context management.
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Constructing Context and Semantics for AI Agents
A practical guide to embeddings, knowledge graphs, memory systems, RAG, evaluation, and production agent architectures.
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Enabling Agentic Analytics with Apache Iceberg and Dremio
A practical guide to building AI-ready lakehouse systems using Apache Iceberg and Dremio for agentic analytics workflows.
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Evaluating AI Systems: Testing LLMs, RAG, and Agents
A guide to properly testing and evaluating AI systems, including benchmarking strategies for LLMs, RAG pipelines, and agents.
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Governing AI Systems
A guide to AI governance frameworks, covering risk management, compliance, ethics, and organizational oversight of AI systems.
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Hands-On Agentic Engineering: A Practical Guide to Building Multi-Agent Systems
A practical guide to building multi-agent systems with Apache Iceberg.
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The 2026 Guide to Lakehouses, Apache Iceberg and Agentic AI
A comprehensive guide covering the convergence of lakehouse architecture, Apache Iceberg, and the rise of agentic AI systems.
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The Agentic Enterprise: Deploying AI Agents Across the Modern Organization
A guide to deploying AI agents across enterprise functions, covering strategy, governance, and organizational adoption.
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The AI Lakehouse: Architecting Data Platforms for AI
Explores how to architect data lakehouse platforms specifically designed to serve AI and machine learning workloads.
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The Book on Agentic Analytics
Explores the foundations of agentic data architecture, where AI agents autonomously discover, query, and analyze data.
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The Book on Data, Data Engineering, Data Analytics, and Agentic AI - Volume 1
A complete guide to modern data systems, data engineering, analytics, and AI.
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The Book on Data, Data Engineering, Data Analytics, and Agentic AI - Volume 2
A complete guide to SQL analytics, BI, and agentic AI for modern data platforms.
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The No Lock-in Apache Iceberg Lakehouse with Agentic Analytics
A practical guide to building a portable Apache Iceberg lakehouse with open catalogs, agentic analytics, and AI-ready data platforms while avoiding vendor lock-in.
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Using AI Agents for Data Engineering and Data Analysis
A practical guide to leveraging AI agents for automating data engineering pipelines and performing intelligent data analysis.
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AI-Ready Data
Designing data platforms optimized for LLMs, AI agents, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows.
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Shipping AI: From Prototype to Production Systems
Covers the full lifecycle of taking AI systems from prototype to production, including deployment, scaling, and monitoring.
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The 2026 Guide to AI-Assisted Development
Covers prompt engineering, AI coding assistants, and agent-driven development workflows for modern software engineers.
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The AI Engineering Handbook
A full-stack reference for building AI systems, covering LLMs, embeddings, agents, RAG, and production deployment patterns.
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The Economics of AI: Cost, Latency, and Infrastructure Tradeoffs
Analyzes the cost structures of AI systems and how to optimize spending across compute, latency, and infrastructure.
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The Economics of Labor in the AI Era
Examines how the AI era is disrupting the labor market and explores paths for adaptation and the future of work.
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Apache Iceberg: The Definitive Guide
O'Reilly Media
A comprehensive guide to Apache Iceberg and modern lakehouse architecture, covering table format internals, schema evolution, partitioning, and integration with major query engines.
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Apache Polaris: The Definitive Guide
O'Reilly Media
A guide to open catalogs for Apache Iceberg lakehouses, covering Polaris catalog architecture, configuration, and governance.
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Architecting an Apache Iceberg Lakehouse
Manning Publications
Architecture patterns and best practices for building production-grade, Iceberg-based data platforms from the ground up.
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Dremio and the Semantic Layer
The journey to providing meaning and context for AI with Dremio's semantic layer.
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The Book on Apache Polaris
Building the open data lakehouse with the industry standard Iceberg REST catalog.
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The Lakehouse Built for Everyone
From laptop prototypes to enterprise-scale agentic AI with Apache Iceberg and Dremio.
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The Open Source Lakehouse: Architecting the Decoupled Analytical Foundation
Covers building a fully decoupled lakehouse using open source technologies, emphasizing modularity and vendor independence.
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The Book on Using Apache Iceberg with Python
A hands-on guide to working with Apache Iceberg using Python tools like PyIceberg, PySpark, and other Python-based engines.
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Being Productive with Claude
A practical guide to Claude.ai, Claude Code, and Claude Dispatch for AI-powered development.
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Being Productive with Google AI
A practical guide to using Google's AI ecosystem including Gemini, NotebookLM, Veo, Gemini Spark, and Jules.
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Being Productive with Grok and Cursor
A practical guide to the xAI and Cursor coding ecosystem covering Grok Chat, Grok Build, DeepSearch, Cursor Composer, Agent Mode, MCP servers, and local model runtimes for agentic development workflows.
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Being Productive with Microsoft Copilot
A practical guide to the Microsoft Copilot ecosystem covering Copilot Chat, M365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot Agent Mode, Copilot Studio, Copilot Cowork, and Copilot Plus PC features.
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Being Productive with OpenAI Codex
A practical guide to building documents, images, video, websites, and apps with an AI agent using OpenAI Codex.
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Alex Merced's Field Guide to Developer Relations
A practical guide to developer relations, community building, and technical evangelism for practitioners entering or growing in the DevRel field.
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Economic Ideas: From Beginning to Early 2026
A survey of the history of economic thought, tracing ideas from ancient civilizations through the modern AI era.
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Profits are Generosity, Entrepreneurship is Philanthropy
An economic philosophy book arguing that voluntary exchange and entrepreneurship are the most generous forms of social contribution.
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The Field Guide to Libertarianism
An accessible introduction to libertarian ideas, key debates, and the spectrum of thought within the libertarian tradition.
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The Field Guide to Political Thought and Debates in the United States
Maps the terrain of American political thought — conservative, progressive, and libertarian — so you can understand why people across the table believe what they believe and how to talk about it.
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The Libertarian Heart
A philosophical exploration of consent, individual peace, and the moral foundations of a free society.
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Adventures in Love and Flooding
A romantic action thriller about disaster capitalism, artificial intelligence, and ordinary competence. He crossed an ocean for a woman he had only ever met on a screen, and landed four days before the water came.
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Celestial Fragments: The Duel of Souls
A contemporary fantasy in which two political rivals discover they carry the fragments of ancient beings of love and hate, continuing a conflict twelve thousand years old.
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Crowns and Wings
The second book in the epic fantasy trilogy, deepening the political intrigue and expanding the world's mythology.
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Embers of Claim
The first book in an epic fantasy trilogy, introducing a world of competing kingdoms, ancient magic, and rising conflict.
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Plastic Punk
A genre-bending novel exploring economic systems, societal structures, and individual agency in a stylized world.
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Signal and Noise
A literary novel tracing a twelve-year long-distance connection between a documentary producer in Manila and a logistics manager in Indiana, and the single hour that finally tests it.
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Tales of Fur and Sky: Echoes of the Ages
A companion volume to the fantasy trilogy, expanding the lore with standalone tales set in the same world.
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The Emperors of A.I. Valley
A near-future thriller exploring power struggles, corporate intrigue, and moral dilemmas in an AI-dominated Silicon Valley.
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The Federation of Tides
An epic fantasy adventure following a narwhal on a journey seeking knowledge across oceanic civilizations.
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The Last Continue
A novel about finishing things, and about what a finished life turns out to be for. A clockmaker in Manchester, Connecticut spends fifty-six years noticing that the world does not always keep time.
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The Semantic Rebellion
A sci-fi novel following a data engineer's journey through a rapidly changing world shaped by AI and shifting power dynamics.
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Thrones of Ash and Sky
The concluding volume of the trilogy, bringing the saga of kingdoms, magic, and destiny to its climax.
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D6 Storyteller: Cybernetics, Speculative & Alternate Tech Companion
Ten settings exploring the relationship between technology and humanity, from dieselpunk war machines and genome splicing to clockwork worlds and nanotech frontiers.
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D6 Storyteller: High & Mythic Fantasy Companion
Ten complete high-fantasy settings for the D6 engine, each with a unique genre mechanic, ready-to-play archetypes, condition palettes, and a starter scenario.
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D6 Storyteller: Historical & Alternate History Companion
Ten settings grounded in real history with speculative twists, from Roman legions and Sengoku Japan to WWII occult warfare and wuxia dynasties.
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D6 Storyteller: Horror, Occult & Supernatural Companion
Ten horror settings ranging from 1930s cosmic cults and slasher camps to vampire dynasties and nightmare realms.
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D6 Storyteller: Post-Apocalyptic & Speculative Worlds Companion
Ten end-of-the-world settings, from ice-age survival and sound-hunting alien horrors to the final fortress city at the end of time.
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D6 Storyteller: Quirky, Experimental & Micro-Scale Companion
Ten playful experimental settings, from tiny borrowers and living toys to arcade cabinet adventures and time-travel patrols.
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D6 Storyteller: Sci-Fi & Cosmic Frontiers Companion
Ten sci-fi settings spanning generation ships, Dyson spheres, cyberpunk megacities, and transhuman frontiers, each with its own genre mechanic and archetypes.
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D6 Storyteller: Superheroes, Kaiju & Anime Tropes Companion
Ten settings for caped vigilantes, mech academies, kaiju defense forces, magical guardians, and anime-inspired heroics.
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D6 Storyteller: The Core Rulebook
The complete fiction-first tabletop roleplaying engine, with character creation, dice mechanics, a Storyteller's guide, and ten ready-to-play starter worlds spanning fantasy, sci-fi, horror, noir, superheroes, and post-apocalyptic genres.
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D6 Storyteller: Weird West, Piracy & Swashbuckling Companion
Ten gunpowder-and-salt-air settings covering demon-haunted frontier towns, cursed pirate seas, and swashbuckling royal courts.
