WINNER OF THE 2026 ERIC HOFFER MONTAIGNE MEDAL
What happens when the most powerful thinking tool ever created starts doing some of our thinking for us?
Human Again: In the AI Age is a field diary from the frontlines of artificial intelligence.
Canadian journalist J.D. Macpherson began experimenting with generative AI expecting a productivity tool. Instead, she found herself confronting much bigger questions: What happens to creativity when machines can create? To judgment when answers become effortless? To identity when an algorithm can imitate our voice? And how do we use AI aggressively without quietly outsourcing the very abilities that make us human?
Part memoir, part cultural investigation, and part practical field guide, Human Again explores AI through fifty fast-moving chapters on creativity, work, critical thinking, relationships, burnout, originality, productivity, misinformation, attachment, and the future of human intelligence.
Macpherson doesn't argue that AI will save us or destroy us. She argues that how we use it matters.
Drawing on real-world experiments with ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, Human Again shows readers how to use AI as a thinking partner without surrendering judgment; ask better questions instead of accepting easy answers; protect creativity and individual voice; recognize the psychological traps of frictionless technology; and build skills that become more valuable as intelligence becomes cheaper.
Winner of the 2026 Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal and a Literary Titan Gold Book Award, Human Again has been praised by San Francisco Book Review, Midwest Book Review, Readers' Favorite, Literary Titan, and Reedsy Discovery.
For readers interested in artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, creativity, technology and society, the future of work, and what it means to remain human in an increasingly automated world.
About the Author :
J.D. Macpherson is a Canadian journalist and award-winning author exploring artificial intelligence, identity, creativity, work, and modern life. Her narrative nonfiction book Human Again: In the AI Age won the 2026 Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal and a Literary Titan Gold Book Award. Drawing on her background in journalism and communications, Macpherson approaches AI not as an engineer or futurist, but as a curious human testing what these tools can and cannot do. Her essays on artificial intelligence, technology, economics, and creativity have appeared in publications including The Quantastic Journal, The Pub, and Activated Thinker.
Review :
"Fans of authors like Cal Newport, Yuval Noah Harari, or Marshall McLuhan will find familiar intellectual territory here." - San Francisco Book Review ★★★★★
"Very highly recommended." - Midwest Book Review
"Human Again is a vital read." - Readers' Favorite ★★★★★
"A journalist's clear-eyed, research-driven case for using AI with intention..." - Reedsy Discovery ★★★★★
"Smart, engaging, and deeply relevant." - Briar's Reviews ★★★★★
"Human Again is more like a streetlight giving practical illumination, with a warning about what's prowling just outside the light." - Literary Titan ★★★★★
"Human Again is invaluable, and I recommend it to everyone." - Underrated Reads
"Thoughtful, engaging, and memorable... a must-read nonfiction narrative." - Anthony Avina, 10/10
