{"product_id":"how-llms-actually-work-alexander-lazutin-9798199839785","title":"How LLMs Actually Work: Large Language Models Explained: From Hardware to Hallucination, Tokens to Transformers","description":"Millions of people use AI tools every day. Almost none of them can explain what is actually happening inside them.\u003cp\u003eYou use ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. You may use them daily. You have watched colleagues, clients, and competitors talk confidently about large language models. And somewhere in the back of your mind, a question has stayed unanswered: \u003cb\u003ewhat is this thing, really?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot the press-release version. Not the science fiction version. The real one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow LLMs Actually Work\u003c\/b\u003e is the book that finally answers that question, covering everything from the physical hardware that runs these systems to why they hallucinate, from the mathematics of meaning to how agents and AI coworkers are built. No code. No condescension. No hype.\u003c\/p\u003eWhat you will understand by the last page\u003cp\u003eThis is not a book about how to use AI tools. It is a book about how they work, at the level of mechanism, written for smart professionals who want a genuine explanation rather than a simplified version of one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eTokens, embeddings, and attention: \u003c\/b\u003e how text becomes mathematics and why this shapes everything the model does\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe transformer architecture: \u003c\/b\u003e the 2017 paper that changed everything, explained without a single equation\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eTraining and alignment: \u003c\/b\u003e what pre-training, RLHF, and Constitutional AI actually involve, who does it, and who funds it\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eHallucination, explained mechanistically: \u003c\/b\u003e why confident wrong answers are a structural feature, not a bug waiting to be fixed\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eBeyond text: \u003c\/b\u003e how image generation, voice synthesis, and video generation work using the same underlying ideas\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eRAG, memory, and agents: \u003c\/b\u003e how models get access to current information and the ability to take actions in the world\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe model landscape in 2026: \u003c\/b\u003e open versus closed models, quantisation, distillation, and the geopolitics of AI\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eBest uses and real limits: \u003c\/b\u003e a clear-eyed framework for when to trust model outputs and when to verify them\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003eWho this is for\u003cp\u003eYou work in technology, finance, law, consulting, healthcare, or any field where AI tools are changing how work gets done. You use these systems, make decisions about them, and explain them to others. You want to understand what is under the hood well enough to think clearly about all of the above.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo mathematics required. No programming background required. A willingness to follow a careful argument to a genuinely surprising conclusion is all this book asks.\u003c\/p\u003eWhat makes this different\u003cp\u003eThe existing books about AI divide into two camps: sweeping narratives about civilisational change that tell you these systems matter without explaining how they work, and dense technical texts that require a computer science degree to read. \u003cb\u003eHow LLMs Actually Work\u003c\/b\u003e occupies the space between them. Rigorous without being a textbook. Accessible without being vague. It explains the genuine mechanism, through intuition and analogy, in language that respects your intelligence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe people who use these systems most effectively are not the ones who trust them most. They are the ones who understand them best.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCovers large language models, GPT, Claude, Gemini, transformer architecture, tokenisation, embeddings, attention mechanisms, RLHF, Constitutional AI, retrieval-augmented generation, diffusion models, AI agents, quantisation, distillation, open source AI, Llama, Mistral, hallucination, scaling laws, and the complete model landscape in 2026.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alexander Lazutin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798199839785\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 246\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.74lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.56d","brand":"Alexander Lazutin","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48997859229951,"sku":"9798199839785","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/how-llms-actually-work-alexander-lazutin-9798199839785","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}