Books by Alex Merced
Discover 51+ published titles spanning Apache Iceberg, Data Lakehouses, AI Engineering, Economics, and Fiction.
Apache Iceberg: The Definitive Guide
Flagship O'Reilly guide to Apache Iceberg and modern lakehouse architecture.
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Apache Polaris: The Definitive Guide
Flagship O'Reilly guide to open catalogs for Iceberg lakehouses.
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Architecting an Apache Iceberg Lakehouse
Manning guide on architecture patterns for building Iceberg-based data platforms.
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The Book on Using Apache Iceberg with Python
Hands-on guide using PyIceberg, PySpark, PyFlink, and DataFusion with Iceberg.
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The 2026 Guide to Lakehouses, Apache Iceberg and Agentic AI
Comprehensive guide to lakehouse architecture, Iceberg, and AI agent integration.
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The Book on Agentic Analytics
Foundations of agentic data architecture, semantic layers, and autonomous analytics.
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Enabling Agentic Analytics with Apache Iceberg and Dremio
Building AI-ready lakehouse systems with open semantic layers and Apache Iceberg.
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Using AI Agents for Data Engineering and Data Analysis
Practical guide to AI-driven workflows, agentic ETL, and automated analysis.
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The AI Engineering Handbook
Full-stack reference for building, deploying, and evaluating production AI systems.
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AI-Ready Data
Designing Data Platforms for LLMs, AI Agents, and RAG architectures.
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The 2026 Guide to AI-Assisted Development
Prompt engineering, agent workflows, and AI coding assistants for developers.
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Apache Iceberg for Agentic AI: Connecting Structured Enterprise Data
Enabling Agentic AI on an Iceberg Lakehouse with governed context.
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The Agentic Enterprise: Deploying AI Agents Across the Modern Organization
Deploying AI agents at scale across enterprise architectures and teams.
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Constructing Context and Semantics for AI Agents
Practical guide to embeddings, knowledge graphs, memory, RAG, and production AI.
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The Open Source Lakehouse: Architecting the Decoupled Analytical Foundation
Building an open analytical foundation using decoupled open source tools.
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Evaluating AI Systems: Testing LLMs, RAG, and Agents
Comprehensive testing, benchmarks, and evaluation frameworks for AI systems.
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The Economics of Labor in the AI Era: Disruption, Adaptation, and the Future of Work
Analyzing the impact of rapid AI disruption on labor markets and productivity.
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Governing AI Systems
Security, compliance, and governance frameworks for organizational AI deployment.
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Shipping AI: From Prototype to Production Systems
Engineering patterns to move AI prototypes into reliable production systems.
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Building Knowledge Systems for AI: Graphs, RAG, Memory, and Context
Building resilient knowledge architectures for AI context engineering.
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The AI Lakehouse: Architecting Data Platforms for AI
Designing modern data lakehouses built specifically to serve AI workloads.
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AI Application Architecture: Patterns for Building Intelligent Systems
Architectural design patterns for enterprise intelligent applications.
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The Economics of AI: Cost, Latency, and Infrastructure Tradeoffs
Understanding inference costs, token economics, latency, and hardware tradeoffs.
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Alex Merced's Field Guide to Developer Relations
Practical guide to developer relations, community building, and technical evangelism.
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AI and Agents for Normal People
Practical guide to using AI tools for everyday tasks without technical jargon.
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The No Lock-in Apache Iceberg Lakehouse with Agentic Analytics
Building a portable Apache Iceberg lakehouse with open catalogs and agentic analytics.
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Being Productive with Google AI
Practical guide to Gemini, NotebookLM, Veo, Gemini Spark, and Jules.
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Being Productive with Open Models
Practical guide to Opencode, PI, and Hermes for AI-assisted development.
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Being Productive with Claude
Practical guide to Claude.ai, Claude Code, and Claude Dispatch for AI development.
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Being Productive with OpenAI Codex
Building documents, images, video, websites, and apps with an AI agent using Codex.
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Being Productive with Grok and Cursor
Practical guide to xAI Grok and Cursor Composer agentic development workflows.
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Being Productive with Microsoft Copilot
Practical guide to M365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot Agent Mode, and Copilot Studio.
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The Book on Data, Data Engineering, Data Analytics, and Agentic AI - Volume 2
Complete guide to SQL analytics, BI, and agentic AI for modern data platforms.
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The Book on Data, Data Engineering, Data Analytics, and Agentic AI - Volume 1
Complete guide to modern data systems, data engineering, analytics, and AI.
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Dremio and the Semantic Layer
Providing meaning and context for AI with Dremio's semantic layer.
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Hands-On Agentic Engineering: A Practical Guide to Building Multi-Agent Systems
Practical guide to building multi-agent systems with Apache Iceberg.
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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 Book on Apache Polaris
Building the open data lakehouse with the industry standard Iceberg REST catalog.
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Economic Ideas: From Beginning to Early 2026
History of economic thought from ancient origins through the AI era.
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The Field Guide to Libertarianism
Comprehensive guide to libertarian ideas, history, and modern debates.
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The Field Guide to Political Thought and Debates in the United States
Mapping conservative, progressive, and libertarian political thought.
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The Libertarian Heart
Philosophy of consent, voluntary interaction, and individual peace.
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Profits are Generosity, Entrepreneurship is Philanthropy
Economic philosophy exploring voluntary exchange and wealth creation.
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The Semantic Rebellion
A data engineer's journey through a changing technological world.
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The Emperors of A.I. Valley
Sci-fi thriller exploring power struggles in an AI-dominated future.
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The Federation of Tides
Epic journey of a narwhal seeking knowledge across distant ocean realms.
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Plastic Punk
Cyberpunk journey through economic systems and futuristic societies.
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Tales of Fur and Sky: Echoes of the Ages
Companion anthology to the fantasy trilogy.
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