Range by David Epstein. Strong argument that creativity, invention, excellence are driven by breadth of knowledge, not depth. Important to read, learn, use tools outside your focus area. Lost in Math by Sabine Hossenfelder. Great book about biases in modern […]
Narconomics by Tom Wainwright. They may be criminals, but they have all the same economics and behaviours of commercial enterprises. Good insight into why attempting to eradicate narcotics at the source is such a waste of time. Brown Dog by […]
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. A woman murders her husband and is found insane, and a therapist digs in to get the truth. Very twisty and fun. Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters. A suspense story set in a […]
Circe by Madeline Miller. Excellent retelling of the story of Circe, making her the central and most human part of so much of Greek myth. Very good. The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz. Eh, just didn’t care enough […]
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I am ambivalent. Certainly the story is creative, and much work was done to plot it out. But I am not really convinced the story went anywhere. I was compelled to finish but I […]
Red Mountain by Boo Walker. Outside my normal interest range and for good reason, this is horrible. A Hallmark movie. Cloying, ridiculous. The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. Post apocalypse, zombies, nano-machines, AI, pandemic, white nationalists, climate change, conspiracies, this has […]
Noumenon and Noumenon Infinity by Marina Lostetter. A space exploration trip returns to Earth after centuries away and can barely relate to the evolved human culture. And so on. Fun. The Institute by Stephen King. Very average Stephen King. So […]
Three articles worth reading: The Tesla Model 3 Invaded My Neighborhood — But It’s Bigger Than That (GM President Mark Reuss Take Note) GM president: Electric cars won’t go mainstream until we fix these problems German car industry faces ‘day […]
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. Whew what a tough read. We have been so fortunate to always have access to housing and family in our lives. Life for people at the bottom of the […]
Eggshells by Caitriona Lally. An odd woman in Dublin tries to connect with the world, or escape the world. Tiring. Misterioso by Arne Dahl. Another Swedish mystery. Characters seem very cold. Either A) Swedes are really different, or B) the […]
We get to spend two days with strategy consultants this week. I spent the first four years of my career as a strategy consultant and I have some perspective. Strategy is not some task you do every once in a […]
The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden. Started out great with some novel characters and South African setting, kind of sputtered out. The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. OK how did I miss this for so long?? What a […]
Tesla is just kicking ass in car apps — https://electrek.co/2019/09/15/tesla-v10-first-look-release-notes-features/. They made an investment in a UX and data architecture and it is paying off. Most carmakers are targeting where Tesla was 18-24 months ago, and by the time […]
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. In the late 1800s in NYC, a golem and a jinni struggle to fit into human society and become human themselves. Very entertaining and a nicely introspective about what defines humanity. I’d […]
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. Very helpful coverage of a very tough topic. Horrific recent news stories about personal attacks on the author. Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. A deep slice of history during […]
Writing software for cars is hard. Processors are generations behind mobile phones. Compute/network platforms are byzantine and fractured within/across OEMs. OS environments/toolchains are clunky/archaic. Internet connectivity is unavailable, intermittent, and costly. Long OEM production cycles are fundamentally inconsistent with modern […]
Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart. Great story based of a budding female detective in the early 1900s. Based on a real person, this is a great retelling. How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr. The history of […]
The Old Man by Thomas Perry. A lazy suspense novel, unimpressed. The action moves along ok but the characters are tissue thin. And when I see a character arrive in Vancouver on a train and “catch a cab to Victoria”, […]
Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. My first Doctorow, and I am not sure I will do any more. A hash of steampunk, cyberpunk, biohacking, post-gender, libertarian themes all jammed into a stew, and there just isn’t much story or character in […]
The Genius Plague by David Walton. Award Winner, and has some great concepts, but wasn’t an amazing story. Fun but forgettable. Empty Planet by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson. Very interesting book about declining birth rates and the implications for […]
