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The books and other media are sorted in reverse chronological order. The ones I found particularly interesting are marked with a ✨

  • Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter
    • Really enjoyed the clever mathematical dialogues between the imaginary characters. Did not enjoy the author inventing their own idiosyncratic terminology for well-known computer science topics, instead of using existing terminology and allowing the reader to fit the book into the greater context of the field
  • Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything by Michio Kaku
    • This book was written for a very general audience, and contained very little on how quantum computers work
  • God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning✨ by Meghan O’Gieblyn
    • A lot of writing about AI is religious in tone, and I appreciated how this book was up-front about its intentions
  • Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux
    • The most interesting part is when he diverts from cryptocurrency into talking about the general phone and internet scam industry
  • Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems✨ by Martin Kleppman
    • There’s so much detail in here, it’s better used as a reference than reading it straight through as I did
  • Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
    • Particularly enjoyed the sections about the ASML corporation
  • The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the 21 Century’s Greatest Dilemma by Mustafa Suleyman
    • Too general and hand-wavy for my tastes, would have preferred concrete examples and historical analogues
  • Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis
    • Michael Lewis likes his protagonist, and it comes across in his writing, usually for the worse
  • Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell
  • AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future by Kai-Fu Lee & Chen Qiufan ✨
    • Using science fiction stories as framing was a fun choice. The almost-self-driving-car short story was my personal favorite.
  • The Age of AI and Our Human Future by Kissinger, Schmidt & Huttenlocher
    • Too general and hand-wavy for my tastes, would have preferred concrete examples and historical analogues
  • What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work? by Stephen Wolfram ✨
    • A really well-presented explanation of LLMs
  • Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark
    • Too general and hand-wavy for my tastes, would have preferred concrete examples and historical analogues
  • Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom
    • Far too assertive about engineering topics that are highly speculative, in a writing style that I found off-putting
  • Artificial Intelligence: The Past, Present and Future of Machines that Think by New Scientist
  • Consciousness: Understanding the Ghost in the Machine by New Scientist
    • The tl;dr of most of the articles in this edition of New Scientist were “🤷” which I appreciate the honesty
  • AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee
  • Cosmos: Possible Worlds✨ by National Geographic
  • Nova: Computers v. Crime by PBS
  • Unknown: Killer Robots by Netflix
    • Seemed too much like an advertisement for the companies showcased in this documentary
  • Workshop on Responsible and Open Foundation Models by Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy
  • Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders by Foer, Thuras & Morton
  • The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters by J.W. Ocker
    • Had some fun stories about robot and technology themed crytids
  • The 90’s✨ by Chuck Klosterman
    • Contains a fun exploration of the rise of the internet in the late 90’s
  • How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
  • How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall Munroe
  • Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions by Sabine Hossenfelder
  • What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
  • Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe
  • Wired (2 issues)
  • PCWorld (1 issue)
  • Computeractive (2 issues)
  • Fog of War: How the Ukraine Conflict Transformed the Cyber Threat Landscape by Google Threat Analysis Group
  • Spectrum Science, Gr. 3-7
    • Looking for introductory STEM books to work through with my nieces
  • Adventures in Raspberry Pi by Carrie Anne Philbin
  • Getting Started with Raspberry Pi: Getting to Know the Inexpensive ARM-powered Linux Computer by Matt Richardson
  • Getting Started with Sensors by Kimmo Karvinen
  • Dummies Jr.
    • Looking for introductory STEM books to work through with my niece
    • Building Your Own Robots: Design & Build Your First Robot! by Gordon McComb
    • Getting Started with Electronics by Cathleen Shamieh
    • Build a Mobile App by Sarah Guthals
    • Creating a Web Site Greg Rickaby
    • Getting Started with Raspberry Pi by Richard Wentk
    • Python for Kids by Brendan Scott
    • Scratch for Kids by Derek Breen
  • The Spy in Your Phone by Al Jazeera
  • Coding by DK
  • The Official ScratchJr Book: Help Your Kids Learn to Code! by Marina Umaschi Bers
    • Looking for introductory technology books to work through with my niece
  • Master Builder Roblox: The Essential Guide by Triumph Books
    • Looking for introductory technology books to work through with my niece
  • Good Night Oppy✨ by Amazon

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