I read obsessively. Always have. My Kindle has 400+ books. My apartment has piles that my wife tolerates. My browser has 47 tabs of papers I’ll “get to later.”
This isn’t a flex — it’s a problem. But also maybe the only way I know how to understand anything.
Here’s what’s shaped my thinking. Not comprehensive. Not ranked. Just the ones I keep coming back to.
🧠 How I Think About Thinking
Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman
The book that made me realize I can’t trust my own brain. System 1 vs System 2. Cognitive biases. The illusion of understanding. I re-read sections of this constantly.
The Scout Mindset — Julia Galef
Why we’re so bad at updating our beliefs. The difference between wanting to be right and wanting to find out what’s right. Changed how I argue.
Rationality — Steven Pinker
Dense but worth it. How to actually think clearly in a world designed to make you think badly.
Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock
Most experts are terrible at predictions. Some aren’t. What’s the difference? Turns out: humility, updating, and thinking in probabilities.
💻 Software & Systems
A Philosophy of Software Design — John Ousterhout
Thin book. Massive impact. The best articulation of what makes code good vs bad. I’ve bought copies for my entire team.
Designing Data-Intensive Applications — Martin Kleppmann
The bible. If you build systems, you read this. End of discussion.
The Mythical Man-Month — Fred Brooks
Written in 1975. Still accurate. “Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.” We keep not learning this.
Staff Engineer — Will Larson
What do you actually do after senior? This helped me figure it out.
🤖 AI & The Future
The Alignment Problem — Brian Christian
Not doomer porn. Actual thoughtful exploration of what it means to make AI systems that do what we want. The history alone is worth it.
Human Compatible — Stuart Russell
What if we built AI that’s uncertain about human values instead of certain? Surprisingly readable for how technical it gets.
Life 3.0 — Max Tegmark
The big picture. What happens when intelligence isn’t limited to biological brains? I don’t agree with everything but it’s the right set of questions.
📖 Philosophy That Actually Matters
Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
A Roman emperor’s private journal. Never meant to be published. Raw, honest, timeless. I read a few pages most mornings. The Stoics got a lot right.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra — Nietzsche
Insane. Beautiful. Probably shouldn’t be anyone’s introduction to philosophy but I don’t care. The Übermensch isn’t what you think.
Letters from a Stoic — Seneca
Practical philosophy from 2000 years ago. How to deal with adversity, mortality, other people being idiots. Still works.
Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor Frankl
Concentration camp survivor’s reflection on finding purpose in suffering. Not easy to read. Impossible to forget.
Mythology — Edith Hamilton
Greek myths as they should be told. These stories have been shaping Western thought for millennia. Worth understanding.
Norse Mythology — Neil Gaiman
The Nordic tradition, retold well. Different culture, different answers to the same questions about fate, heroism, and mortality.
🌍 How The World Works
Chip War — Chris Miller
Why semiconductors are the new oil. Why Taiwan matters. Why the US and China are in a cold war over sand and lithography. Way more gripping than it sounds.
The Prince — Machiavelli
Ruthless. Honest. Everyone should read this to understand power, even if you don’t want to use it that way.
Seeing Like a State — James C. Scott
Why big plans fail. How states try to make legible what can’t be made legible. Changed how I think about systems and unintended consequences.
Why Nations Fail — Acemoglu & Robinson
Institutions matter. That’s the thesis. 500 pages of evidence. Convinced me.
🧬 Science & Reality
The Selfish Gene — Richard Dawkins
Not actually about genes being selfish. About seeing evolution from the gene’s perspective. Mind-bending when you first read it.
Gödel, Escher, Bach — Douglas Hofstadter
I’ve started this book four times. Never finished. Still the most interesting thing about consciousness, self-reference, and strange loops.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions — Thomas Kuhn
How science actually works (paradigm shifts, not gradual progress). Short. Dense. Foundational.
What Is Life? — Erwin Schrödinger
A physicist’s take on biology from 1944. Predicted DNA before we knew what it was. Still worth reading.
🧩 Psychology & Behavior
The Elephant in the Brain — Simler & Hanson
We don’t know why we do what we do. This book is uncomfortable because it’s probably true.
Influence — Robert Cialdini
How persuasion works. Why you say yes when you should say no. Read this before someone uses it on you.
Flow — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The psychology of optimal experience. Why some activities absorb you completely. Helped me understand why I code.
✍️ Writing & Thinking
On Writing Well — William Zinsser
The only writing book you need. Clear, practical, no bullshit.
Bird by Bird — Anne Lamott
About writing but really about life. “Shitty first drafts” changed how I approach everything.
The Elements of Style — Strunk & White
94 pages. Read it once a year. Get better every time.
📚 Currently Reading
- The Master and His Emissary — Iain McGilchrist (on the divided brain and Western culture)
- Various papers on mechanistic interpretability
- The Brothers Karamazov — Dostoevsky (perpetually in progress)
📖 The Pile (What’s Next)
- Permutation City — Greg Egan
- The Beginning of Infinity — David Deutsch
- Energy and Civilization — Vaclav Smil
- The WEIRDest People in the World — Joseph Henrich
This page is a living document. I’ll add book notes as I get to them.
If you have recommendations, especially things you think I’d hate, email me. Those are usually the most interesting.
Related
See also: What I Believe | Questions I’m Exploring | What I’m Doing Now