Books

I watched (and loved) The Expanse, but never read the books. This is the authors’ new series—James S. A. Corey, it turns out, is two people writing under a pen name. I tore through this. The setting, the science underpinning the narrative…

One of my most interesting friends shared Underground Empire on Bluesky. The book traces how the internet and the global financial system were built by idealists who wanted to connect the world and avoid centralized control. But those…

Bloodchild was an uncomfortable read. The body horror in it was jarring, and the coercive elements were unsettling. It gave me the creeps—probably Butler’s intention. I don’t always read fiction with an analytical lens (a lot of the time…

This was actually my second reading. I saw it marked as read in my Airtable, and I couldn’t remember it, even after searching for a description of it. Fine Structure has a lot of big ideas and disparate threads that eventually come…

Shortly after the big Liberation Day (2025) tariff shenanigans (announce tariffs, crash the market, pause tariffs, profit), I asked on Bluesky (in a since deleted post) if there is a good manual for how to trade and profit in a corrupt…

I can’t remember if I read Lena before Tycho and Gabe over at Penny Arcade recommended There Is No Antimemetics Division, but since the mind-warping experience of the latter, I’ve consumed everything qntm has published—including Fine…

I didn’t know what the SCP Foundation was when I discovered There Is No Antimemetics Division. I still mostly don’t. It doesn’t matter—this remains the most mind-blowing work I’ve read in years. We’re constantly inundated with memes. This…

A lot of what I know about how to use LLMs has come from following Mollick. His many diverse applications of LLMs have broadened my understanding of what’s possible with current models, and the prompting techniques he shares permeate my…

You’ve likely seen or heard the phrase “Don’t obey in advance” recently. That is the first chapter of 20 in this book of important lessons on how to act, learned from periods of rising tyranny around the world. Strongly recommended.

I recommended this to a few friends before I’d read it, based on its reputation. Then I recommended it to a partner and decided I should probably read it myself. Lots of valuable information, and worth consuming for the discussion of…

Published in 1966, but its vision of an AI at the center of a resistance movement feels very contemporary. This is one of a few books that I’ve read at the recommendation of John Carmack on social media. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I don’t ever want to be in a position where having a child isn’t a conscious, intentional decision, nor should anyone else be in that situation who doesn’t want to be. This book is informative if you’re not already well-versed, and…

A collection of short stories by the author of The Three-Body Problem, with some shared universes between a few of the stories. Lots of thought-provoking premises, and some very vivid settings, all through an eastern perspective that may…