Assuming you're asking specifically about the history of DL/ML, I can recommend this (4-part) blog series: http://www.andreykurenkov.com/writing/ai/a-brief-hist

Assuming you're asking specifically about the history of DL/ML, I can recommend this (4-part) blog series: http://www.andreykurenkov.com/writing/ai/a-brief-history-of-neural-nets-and-deep-learning/ http://www.andreykurenkov.com/writing/ai/a-brief-history-of-.... It includes references for the relevant publications that identify problems (e.g., exploding gradients) and their solutions.