Non-Fiction

This book really helped my mental health

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

MIT nerds making money at blackjack using math

Convinced my inner introvert to socialize more

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

Depressing, but Kolbert is a good writer.

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.

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

Good overview across the AI stack

Pragmatic overview of the role

A moderately accessible introduction about the very real risks of superintelligent AI. more »

Read this right before I started working at Microsoft.

Fun read, but turns out it’s mostly fake.

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

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 »

Much more comics-focused than Understanding Comics

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Novel-length hustle porn

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