Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson
currently reading
Finite and Infinite Games
James Carse
84/100
the books builds itself like a math theory which is satisfying throughout but naturally makes you question every derivation the author makes
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir
90/100
'...it was a very scietific poke with a very scientific stick...'. arguable one of the best books i've ever read with a crazy cult following. you should stop whatever you are doing and get this book/audiobook now.
Open Heart
Stephen Westaby
75/100
exhilarating. takes you into the OR - as close as you'd ever want to be.
Opening Skinner's Box
Lauren Slater
79/100
pairs well with Paul Bloom's psyc 110
Stiff
Mary Roach
76/100
does not pair well with anything
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
William L. Shirer
84/100
excruciatingly detailed, comprehensively researched, skillfully narrated
Sunrise on the Reaping
Suzanne Collins
76/100
a tad dry but i like Haymitch
The Technological Republic
Alex Karp
89/100
national projects used to be cool and scientists used to be in the government. it is time to bring that back but in some modern way
The Omnivore's Dilemma
Michael Pollan
80/100
damn corn
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Douglas Adams
90/100
2022 burning man's restaurant at the end of the universe was just as good as that book
The Sirens of Titan
Kurt Vonnegut
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Liftoff
Eric Berger
93/100
on the C-17 to Hawaii before Falcon 1’s final (4th) attempt, engineer Zach Dunn crawled into the interstage mid-flight to vent a line and save the rocket - while its LOX tank slowly collapsed around him. I think these stories set some standarts for grit of teams you want to work with
The Double Helix
James Watson
81/100
greatest discoveries are very subtle. a tad too long, but well put together book.
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
50/100
Rise of the Machines
Thomas Rid
86/100
Norbert Wiener is the GOAT, national projects used to be cool. counterintuitively, very satisfying for someone who likes physics more than CS
Leonardo da Vinci
Walter Isaacson
72/100
just very interesting to learn more about someone who is believed to be true polymath
Quanta and Fields
Sean Carroll
69/100
gets too long or "popular sciency" in places, but otherwise Sean Carroll has great language
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
89/100
i wish i wasn't so popular these days so that references from it'd be punchier
The Dead Mountaineer's Inn
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
90/100
maybe its just me, but great book for xmas season
Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs
Lisa Randall
60/100
felt too "popular sciency" and fake - did not finish
Elon Musk
Walter Isaacson
83/100
the details on day to day with Elon, his relationships and engineering are interesting
The Code Breaker
Walter Isaacson
87/100
just very satisfying. ambition and entrepreneurship helps in sciences too
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
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What Do You Care What Other People Think?
Richard Feynman
92/100
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
Richard Rhodes
78/100
The Bitcoin Standard
Saifedean Ammous
83/100
The Innovator's Dilemma
Clayton Christensen
68/100
The Martian
Andy Weir
83/100
this might've had a higher score if i hadn't spoiled it with the movie and read the Project Hail Mary first
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
Richard Feynman
91/100
Losing my Virginity
Richard Branson
87/100
a very candid narrating style with that perfect pinch of british humor. Richard's 'diary' is hard to put down, his adventurous mind is addictive and his entrepreneurial tallent inspiring
Finding my Virginity
Richard Branson
85/100
The Virgin Way
Richard Branson
91/100
Atomic Habits
James Clear
44/100
too lazy to write a review
Bad Blood
John Carreyrou
83/100
i learned about the silicon valley from this book
Good to Great
Jim Collins
60/100
felt like 80/100 at the time of reading (first order from Amazon, freshman college) got curious about McKinsey from this book, now feels like 60/100 and no longer curious about McKinsey
The True Believer
Eric Hoffer
77/100
everything is a cult. your high school is a cult. your college is a cult. your country is a cult. your favorite music artist is a cult. your favorite movie is a cult. your favorite video game is a cult. your favorite drink is a cult. your favorite color is a cult. your favorite plant is a cult. your favorite person in the world is a cult. .... i'm thinking your company should also be a cult.
Gödel Escher Bach
Douglas Hofstadter
91/100
carefull not joining some cult after reading this
I'm a Strange Loop
Douglas Hofstadter
94/100
congratulations, you've joined the cult
The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoevsky
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The Principia
Isaac Newton
-
American Prometheus
Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin
77/100
Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov
68/100
might go up as i reread it
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
68/100
might go up as i reread it
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut
82/100
The Myth of Sisyphus
Albert Camus
-
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Friedrich Nietzsche
-
The Birth of Tragedy
Friedrich Nietzsche
-
The Worlds I See
Fei-Fei Li
-
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
Carlo Rovelli
43/100
too hand-wavy, not punchy enough, could be better if were more "Feynman-y"
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara
86/100
sad but beautiful story
Antifragile
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
81/100
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
68/100
i read this while being a `18yo-self-improver freshman` but i haven't yet able to recreate flow artificially