Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
Project Hail Mary is another excellent book by Andy Weir. This one follows an astronaut that wakes from a coma realizing that they have to figure out how to stop the “space algae” that is eating the energy of the Sun causing Earth to cool down which will have a dire affect on the climate, and…
Genre: Science FictionStyle: Fiction
Personal Knowledge Graphs
This is a fairly academic look at taking notes and what a personal knowledge graph is. The format of the book is a series of essays, that at times are helpful, but also spend entire chapters on defunct operating systems like Haiku. Yes Haiku runs still, but you’re never going to use it so telling…
Style: Non-fiction
Not with a Bug but with a Sticker
The authors show us just how dumb AI systems are and how overblown the claims of computer vision investors, and LLM producers really are. Don’t believe the AI hype, the systems are brittle and not that smart, everyone invested in them just wants you to think the opposite. Purchase Not with a Bug but with…
Genre: AIStyle: Non-fiction
The Shock Doctrine – Naomi Klien
Naomi Klien looks at how natural disasters, war and terrorism are used by government and business to further capitalism and take away benefits to poor people. Most often non-white Americans, or entire other countries, bear the brunt of the capitalist push to use a shock to reset what is normal. Purchase The Shock Doctrine on…
Style: Non-fiction
Your Face Belongs to Us – Kashmir Hill
Kashmir Hill takes us on a look at Clearview AI’s founding and where it currently sits with it’s facial recognition technology. Is it a good thing to give up privacy to catch child abusers, which actually happened during the course of research for this book, or should we combat this so we don’t loose privacy?…
Style: Non-fiction
Number Go Up – Zeke Faux
Number Go Up is a look at the crypto currency “industry” though by the end readers are left with the distinct impression that crypto is more about scamming people and a very few people earning big bucks on the backs of the losses of many. Ostensibly the author is looking for the real world US…
Style: Non-fiction
The Climate Book – Greta Thunberg
The Climate Book is a stark awakening on the climate crisis that we’re in. My biggest takeaway is how little the Global North (North American and Europe) are truly doing to make a dent in the climate crises. They’ve done a good job at making it look like they’re doing stuff, but mostly off-loaded emissions…
Genre: Climate ChangeStyle: Non-fiction
Scarcity – Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir
I continue to come back to this book as one that informs my thoughts about many scenarios, especially when I’m faulting someone for a decision I think is a bad one. Scarcity makes a great case, though not explicitly, for universal basic income, because if we can take away monetary scarcity from people they have…
Style: Non-fiction
Book Wars – John B Thompson
John B Thompson covers the rise of the ebook and what it meant for publishing. From the dominance of Amazon, to the metoric rise, then slow dwindle of ebook readers…there is something here for anyone that is interested in the industry of writing and books. Read my longer review of Book Wars Purchase Book Wars…
Style: Non-fiction
Learn to Love Reading – Alex Wieckowski
When I heard about Alex Wieckowski I thought I had a kindred spirit in a reader, but after reading his book and following his newsletter it’s mostly fluff. This is nothing more than a bunch of quotes about reading, some of them from very questionable people, who were questionable long before Alex included them, like…
Style: Non-fiction