Books

Like any normal, well-adjusted person, I keep track of which books I read each year. A lot of them are fun, trashy books about aliens or dragons, while others are not very fun, trashy books about aliens or dragons.

Ratings are how I felt about the book at the time, which in some cases has changed a lot.

I didn’t start tracking until about 2011, everything before then is from shaky memory, so there’s a bunch missing that maybe I’ll fill out some day.

2025

Pages
7,817
Books
21
Cover for Breakneck

Great overview of China's engineering-driven approach in contrast to the US legalistic approach, and why both countries need to learn from each other. more »

Final book jumps quite a bit ahead in time, can be skipped

Cover for The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

A bit too cutesy for my taste, but came highly recommended so might still read the others in the series.

Cover for Alien Clay

Hard sci-fi with some interesting ideas for an alien ecosystem. Pairs well with Parasite Rex

Cover for The Racket

I know basically nothing about tennis, but this was a great read. Goes into the details of what it takes to succeed at the top level, and how unglamorous it is unless you’re at the very top. You can read a pretty representative excerpt first to decide if it’s your type of thing.

Cover for Parasite Rex

Disgusting, but fascinating. The variety and innovation across parasite lifecycles is amazing.

Walks through the evolution of soccer tactics in Europe from the 1990s to 2020, with a focus on countries that influenced the game the most: The Netherlands, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and England.

Cover for A City on Mars

Nerdy, detail-oriented look into what it would really take to have humans living in space. Gets a bit bogged down in legal/governance details, but I enjoyed the exploration of biological and logistical issues.

Cover for How Big Things Get Done

tldr: Break big projects into small manageable tasks, understand the odds, and plan carefully

Cover for Rebel Girl

Enjoyed some of the background and anecdotes, but not quite enough there unless you’re a huge fan

Cover for Deep Utopia

There were a few interesting parts here, but ultimately this book less about AI and more about philosophy/the meaning of life. Not my cup of tea, I preferred Superintelligence.

Cover for Beastie Boys Book

Lots of good stories about them as young kids in 80s NYC in the nascent Hip-Hop scene. It was so early and everything was up for grabs. Absolutely recommended for fans of the band.

Fast-paced, fun young adult sci-fi series. My daughter loved it.

2024

Pages
11,009
Books
23

Series starts strong, though the most recent books were just OK. Waiting on the final five books to be written.

Cover for Polostan

Stephenson’s books always take a while to get going, and this is just Book 1 so still too early to really judge

Cover for Empire of Pain

This book does a great job of laying out just how much the Sackler family laid the groundwork for the opioid crisis and then managed to evade accountability for it. Depressing, but well-written.

If a book about capitalism within a fantasy world sounds like a good time, then this book is for you.

Cover for Chip War

Basically a 300-page long New Yorker article about the history of the semiconductor industry

Cover for La Sombra del Viento

I embarked on this (silly) goal to read ten Spanish-language books in 2023, but stupidly picked this 555-page monster with plenty of challenging Castilian vocabulary as my first book. Unsurprisingly, my reading speed in Spanish is far slower than English, and I discovered how much of my love of books is due to reading quickly. I kept on pausing this book to read other quick (English language) reads, so it took me about a year and half to finish this. I enjoyed the book, though my Spanish isn’t quite at the level to fully appreciate the quality of the writing.

Cover for A Primate's Memoir

Part African travelogue, part baboon behavioral study. The travelogue parts are interesting since traveling in Africa, especially in the 1980s, is always an adventure. But the stories of the baboons, and how similar they are to humans, are the highlight for me.

Cover for Extinction

Interesting premise, but not a fan of the writing style and drags a bit. I enjoyed Hominids more.

Cover for Nettle & Bone

This won the Hugo in 2023. It’s … fine. Easy read but not particularly memorable.

Cover for The Mercy of Gods

First book in the new series by the authors of The Expanse, shows promise.

The two books are interesting takes on foreign intelligence. The third book is skippable.

There are over 15 books in this series, not ready to dedicate that much time here

Cover for Babel

Historical fiction that tickles my wannabe language nerd heart.

Cover for The Spare Man

Had to force myself to finish this, I don’t know why this was nominated for a Hugo. There are some interesting ideas, but in the end this is a detective story where the main character is an unlikable Space Karen that uses her money to bully everyone around her.

Cover for Adventures on the Wine Route

A bit dated now, but some interesting stories about the French wine industry in the 80s. Drags at times with random stories though.

Cover for The Odyssey

Heard a lot of hype about Emily Wilson’s modern translation, so decided to give it a shot. I found the preface and initial notes to be fairly interesting, and the translation is definitely more readable than what I remember in high school. However, finishing this ended up being a bit of a slog for me.

2023

Pages
6,141
Books
21
Cover for The Creative Act

Zen advice on the creative process, can dip in and out of the book depending on where you are in a project. I wish he’d used specific examples from his work, but the book is probably already a bit longer than it could be anyway.

Cover of Going Infinite

Don't mistake this for a book about FTX, the focus here is Sam Bankman-Fried. Worthwhile if you're interested in his story and the genesis of FTX. more »

Cover for Upgrade

Another plot-driven sci-fi popcorn read with a familiar story line

Cover for The Kaiju Preservation Society

Popcorn read that is pretty much what you expect from the title. Enjoyable read, but I’m surprised it was nominated for the Hugo.

Bob’s consciousness is uploaded into a spaceship’s, which heads out to explore the universe. Breezy reading, with style reminiscent of The Martian at times.

The evolution and biology of a vastly different form of life living on a neutron star. Some interesting ideas, but should have been half the length. Written in the 80s and showing it’s age.

I know a lot of people that love this 10-book series, but I wasn’t a fan of the first, though the second was better

Quick series with some interesting ideas (human hive minds, vampires in space).

Cover for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Came very highly recommended, many likened it to Ready Player One, which isn’t a great comparison. Though both books lean heavily into nostalgic video games, this book is really about relationships, romantic and platonic. Not a bad read, but didn’t live up to the hype for me.

2022

Pages
16,287
Books
36

I haven’t played the games or watched the show, but the books are enjoyable enough if you like the genre.

Cover for Catch and Kill

Astounding to read all the gory details about Weinstein’s behaviors and everyone who enabled it. Ronan Farrow is a fantastic writer.

Cover for Termination Shock

Some interesting ideas, but not my favorite of his

Cover for The Silent Patient

I have no idea how this has a 4.2 on Goodreads or how I managed to finish it.

Cover for CIRCE

Fun, modern take on the backstory of characters from Greek Mythology

Cover for The Obesity Code

Good intro to the benefits of fasting, in case (like me) you have to convince people you’re not crazy for not eating six times a day

2021

Pages
10,908
Books
25

Space antics with realistic physics. Quality dips midway through, but first few books are great. I haven’t watched the show yet.

Cover for Version Control

Not for everyone, but I enjoyed this more than I expected. Nominally about time travel, but the evolution and permutations of adult friendships resonated with me.

Cover for Ninefox Gambit

Some interesting ideas, but a bit of a slog

Cover for Endurance

Intense story of Shackelton’s 1914 expedition to cross Antarctica.

Cover for Project Hail Mary

After the disappointing Artemis, Andy Weir is back with a read that recaptures the nerdy fun of The Martian

Cover for Atomic Habits

Some good ideas, but could have been condensed into a long article.

2020

Pages
6,866
Books
17
Cover for Winners Take All

Makes an important and though-provoking point, but with about twice as many pages as necessary which dilutes the message

2019

Pages
12,353
Books
25

Could have been edited down a bit, but overall was a fun series to read

Cover for Fall; or, Dodge in Hell

Classic Stephenson: Interesting ideas, but drags at times.

Cover for Conquerors

The history of Portugal’s colonization in the Indian Ocean. Does a really good job of showing how out of their element the Portuguese were, how they got incredibly lucky to be able to establish a multi-century foothold in Asia.

Cover for Another Day of Life

A history of Angola’s civil war as seen through the eyes of a Polish journalist.

Cover for The Swamp

A detailed history of the settlement and development of south Florida, focusing on the environment impact on the Everglades. Before this book, I didn’t have a great notion of just how young most of Florida is, it was a sparsely populated backwater up until recently (now it’s a highly-populous backwater).

This took a long while to read. Drags a bit in the middle, but finishes strong.

2018

Pages
9,773
Books
13
Cover for Bad Blood

Fascinating look at the story of Theranos, absolutely appalling how far Holmes and co were willing to go.

2017

Pages
9,431
Books
17
Cover for Artemis

Loved The Martian, but this felt like it was trying too hard.

Cover for Deep Work

A good idea, but this is a New Yorker article worth of content stretched into a book.

2016

Pages
11,902
Books
26

Can be a little tricky to keep the Chinese names straight, but some really interesting ideas. Each book is quite different.

Cover for Sapiens

There is very little new here if you’ve read Guns, Germs, and Steel and The Third Chimpanzee, both of which I recommend over this

There are five more books in the series that I haven’t gotten around to

Plot-driven and entertaining, I enjoyed them at the time. There are additional books out now, but haven’t felt the need to continue.

2015

Pages
10,422
Books
26
Cover for Armada

A forgettable failed attempt to re-capture the spirit of Ready Player One

Cover for The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Like many of these types of books, a bit padded to get to book length. Kondo comes off as quite a bit kooky, but the general intention and advice is good and can inspire some good habits.

Cover for Seveneves

If you like Stephenson’s other books, you’ll probably like this as well.

Cover for Neuromancer

Like a lot of highly-influential books, ends up feeling dated and overhyped because it’s innovative ideas have been copied and improved upon by others.

2014

Pages
16,306
Books
40
Cover for Redshirts

If you’ve watched more than a season of Star Trek (any version), then you’ll probably enjoy this

Agentic AI before it was cool.

Cover for The Martian

Fun nerdy read with enough semi-realistic science to make it plausible.

Whipped through these two, but the third book is famously taking forever to come out.

2013

Pages
9,228
Books
20

Takes forever to get good, and then it’s great.

Considered an absolute masterpiece, these were crazy dense and I wasn’t in a time of my life where I had the spare brainpower to fully appreciate.

Cover for Ready Player One

I’m the right age, and right amount of nerd, for this to hit the spot.

Cover for Accelerando

Enjoyed this take on future tech and its implications on economic systems.

Cover for Ringworld

Neat premise, surprisingly still holds up given it’s age

2012

Pages
4,599
Books
9

Some good ideas, but way too long

2011

Pages
11,120
Books
17

Read right these right before the show came out, still waiting for the next book, though I’ve mostly lost interest after how the show ended.

Cover for Hominids

A parallel world where Neanderthals won instead of us.

Cover for Sandkings

Great novella, you can find it online to read for free.

2010

Pages
2,149
Books
5

2009

Pages
2,860
Books
7

2008

Pages
11,386
Books
32
Cover for A Fine Balance

Read while traveling in India. Depressing, but well-written.

Cover for Blind Side

Honestly, don’t remember much about this book but I know it hasn’t aged well.

Cover for Moneyball

Didn’t know anything about baseball before reading this, know a tiny bit after.

Cover for The Namesake

Even though it’s a completely different culture, I identified a lot of the depictions of the immigrant experience in the book.

2007

Pages
9,677
Books
24
Cover for A Pattern Language

This book is somewhat famous in software circles as a shining example of documenting best practices. It’s definitely interesting to skim through, but unless you’re an urban planner or something it’s not a particularly great read as it’s just a huge list of best practices for physical spaces.

I read the Portuguese (Portugal) translations of these

Cover for The Mapmaker's Wife

Title sounds like a a cheesy romance, but it’s actually a true story about exploration in the Amazon jungle.

2006

Pages
7,508
Books
20
Cover for A Million Little Pieces

No idea how anyone ever though this was a true story.

2005

Pages
4,830
Books
11

2004

Pages
3,437
Books
12
Cover for Fight Club

The movie translated this very well, no particular reason to read it if you’ve seen it

2003

Pages
5,252
Books
15
Cover for A Random Walk Down Wall Street

Reading this early in my career was very helpful, it meant I invested in index funds early and often.

Cover for Daisy Miller

Read the Spanish translation because I was traveling and ran out of books

Cover for The Da Vinci Code

Not great, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

Cover for The Tipping Point

Absolutely loved this when it came out, not sure how it holds up now.

Cover for Your Money Or Your Life

Heart’s in the right place I guess, but the authors got super lucky buying bonds when rates were high in the 80s so good luck replicating that

2002

Pages
6,533
Books
17
Cover for The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

This was a long series of posts on kuro5hin, eventually made into a book

Cover for The Third Chimpanzee

Not quite as good as Guns, Germs, and Steel, but was still a great read.

2001

Pages
4,576
Books
11
Cover for Breaking Windows

Read this right before I started working at Microsoft.

Cover for The Guns, Germs, and Steel

Put me on a path to read all sorts of history, evolutionary biology, and linguistics books.

Cover for Reinventing Comics

Much more comics-focused than Understanding Comics

Cover for The Lost Colony

Had a lot of concrete advice to improve writing

Cover for The Diamond Age

If you’re going to only read on Stephenson book, make it this one. Especially relevant now in the age of LLMs.

2000

Pages
4,586
Books
9
Cover for A Confederacy of Dunces

The Simpsons’ comic book guy vibe, but for an entire book. Got old quickly.

Cover for Cryptonomicon

My first Stephenson novel, and likely his second best after The Diamond Age

Cover for Godel, Escher, Bach

Ties math, art, and music together in a really interesting way. By no means an easy read, but absolutely fascinating.

Cover for On the Road

Didn’t speak to me, but perhaps I was too young

1999

Pages
847
Books
4

1998

Pages
1,775
Books
6
Cover for Exegesis

Quite ahead of it’s time for 1997, tells the story of the emergence of an AI through email exchanges.

Cover for The Stranger

I should probably re-read this one.

1997

Pages
3,129
Books
5
Cover for Atlas Shrugged

Barely finished this, not sure how I was convinced it was worth reading (it is not).

1996

Pages
4,956
Books
15

The first book is definitely worth reading, the rest are quite different.

1995

Pages
4,132
Books
9
Cover for The Lost World

Not as good as the first, but if you love dinosaurs…

1994

Pages
2,208
Books
6

1993

Pages
1,215
Books
2
Cover for Jurassic Park

This is one of only two English-language books I had during a year abroad, and the only good one. I read it at least six times.