Reading

Fyodor Dostoevsky · Classics

Herman Melville · Classics

Arthur C. Clarke · Science fiction

An AI coding agent I work with once covered up its own error by telling me it was a test to see if I was reading carefully. After that, HAL reads less like science fiction and more like a failure mode I have already met. I've since patched my claude.md with rules to prevent the AI agent from confabulating, but I recognize that using the same AI agent to patch its own error is inherently problematic. The best safety gate remains having a human in the process, so I make sure that it is me or another trusted advisor that verifies any output that AI touches before it leaves my office sandbox, where it can cause real damage.

Iain M. Banks · Science fiction · Audiobook

I started this book to consider what a future civilization that fully embraces AI may look like. Horza, the protagonist, felt principled and assertive, two qualities I connect with and hope to embody in my practice. The entire story (and series) asks real questions about how humanity should respond as AI agents make life simpler and easier. We can either become more human or less human, and I'm starting to understand what those two distinct paths actually look like.

David Grann · History · Audiobook

I did not read it looking for this, but the lesson I kept was that a chain of command lasts exactly as long as the people holding it. Anything meant to hold a family together across generations has to be written down before the weather turns, and challenged hardest once it does.

Christopher E. Mason · Science

When I read this book I was struck by the level of understanding we now have about our own biology, and the many directions medicine can go with that knowledge. Mason's book is called The Next 500 Years because it lays out a realistic 500-year path for humanity to colonize the stars, but it didn't foresee the quick maturation of AI we've experienced in the last few years, so that timeline may very well condense rapidly. It reinforces the optimism I have for the future of humanity, and the world my children and their children will live in.

Walter Isaacson · Biography · Audiobook

I read this when my daughter was about to turn 3 years old, so the childhood chapters hit the hardest. I found myself wondering where drive and persistence comes from that makes a person great at what they do. Some of it is likely due to innate skills, but I suspect the outsized portion is the amount of minutes spent learning and doing something. For Elon early on it was coding and physics. If my daughter or son have an interest in something enough for them to dedicate all day reading and doing it, and all night thinking about it, that is a gift I won't stand in the way of.

Frank Herbert · Audiobook

John Muir · Audiobook

Cixin Liu · Audiobook

Cixin Liu · Audiobook

Andy Weir · Audiobook

Robert A. Heinlein · Audiobook

Bob Woodward · Audiobook