Modern artificial intelligence (AI) is built upon a relatively small number of foundational research papers, which have been collected and republished in this unique 350-page book. The first chapter provides a summary of the historical roots of AI, and subsequent chapters trace its development, from Rosenblatt's perceptron in 1958 to one of the early GPT models in 2019. Each paper is introduced with a commentary on its historical context and a tutorial-style technical summary. In several chapters, additional context is provided by the paper's original author(s). Written in an informal style, with a comprehensive glossary and tutorial appendices, this book is essential reading for students and researchers who wish to understand the fundamental building blocks of modern AI.