I’m trying to read 52 books this year. Someone suggested that I share my reading list here. I thought that wasn’t such a bad idea.
Book #1 - Life Among Scorpions by @Jayajaitly. An interesting alternate perspective on Indian political history made all the more interesting by the fact that it had some dear friends in cameo roles. amazon.in/Life-Among-Sco…
Book #2 - Connections by James Burke - a wonderful history of the interconnected was of human inventions. amazon.in/gp/aw/d/074329…
Book #3 - Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson - the only fantasy author I still look forward to. I’m a little behind on his Stormlight Archive but these are big books and I need to save up time if I want to read Oathbringer. amazon.in/gp/aw/d/125016…
Book #4 - The Librarian by my erstwhile classmate @kavitharao. A bittersweet story about the love of books to encourage me along in this my year of reading | amazon.in/gp/aw/d/981114…
Book #5 - The Great Arc by John Keay is the story of the Great Trignometrical Survey of India undertaken by George Everest and William Lambton. It’s also the first book I have read in physical format in a decade | amazon.com/gp/aw/d/006019…
Book #6 - Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy. Delightful light read by @timharford about tech that has influenced the modern work that is so so deep in places. smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MXV…
Book #7 - The Driver in the Driverless Car by @wadhwa. I have to say I was slightly underwhelmed by this book. But perhaps that’s because it covers so much of the ground I tend to write about myself | amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B07849…
Book #8 - The Grid by Gretchen Bakke. A history of the evolution of the US electricity grid from Thomas Edison to today’s renewable energy nanogrids | smile.amazon.com/dp/1632865688/…
Book #9 - The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore. A fictional history of the battle between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison over the patent to the light bulb. The surprising hero is a young Paul Cravath the inventor of the modern law firm. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01A4A…
Book #10 - Rules for a Flat World by Gillian Hadfield. I took longer to read this than I anticipated but there’s a lot to take in. A book about how we need to re-think law and law making in the connected world | amazon.in/gp/aw/d/019991…
Book #11 - The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. A novel telling of the history of Europe from the perspective of a netsuke collection owned by the wealthy Ephrussi family | amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003R0…
Book #12 - Being Mortal by @Atul_Gawande. I can’t believe I waited so long to read this. Brilliantly written book that focuses on an issue at the core of modern medicine - the real cost of keeping us alive. amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B06XXZ…
Book #13 - The Square and the Tower by @nfergus. Delightful analysis of hierarchies and networks over the ages. I savored this book so much I took more time than I should have to finish it. amazon.com/Square-Tower-N…
Book #14 - Surveillance Valley by Yasha Levine. On how surveillance and control has always been hardwired into the Internet | amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N80…
Book #15 - The Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman. While we should rightfully be quick to condemn Fake News, it is important to remember that facts themselves have a half life. Interesting analysis of the evolution of knowledge - amazon.com/Half-Life-Fact…
Book #16 - Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. A more optimistic book about how far we have come as a civilisation I have not read | amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B073TJ…
Book #17 - Dent’s Modern Tribes by Susie Dent. I love words and this is a whimsical book about the secret words and phrases that modern tribes - doctors, lawyers, football players, etc. - use to communicate amongst themselves | amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0796R…
Book #18 - The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Muller. For someone who believes in the power of data this was a tough premise to swallow. But this is an important perspective to consider as we embrace our data driven future - amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B076ZW…
Book #19 - Prediction Machines by Ajay Agarwal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb. One of the clearest discussions on the economics of AI I have read. If you are looking for a primer on the way it all works for this is it. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B075GX…
Book #20 - Army of None by Paul Scharre. An insightful, often scary look into the problem of autonomous weapons and the things we might need to do to dig ourselves out of this hole - amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B073VX…
Book #21 - Conspiracy - Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday. A strangely riveting behind the scenes account of the takedown of the Gawker publishing empire. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07637…
Book #22 - Matchmakers by David Evans and Richard Schmallensee. A beautiful primer on the economics of multisided platforms. Hat tip to @MandarKagade for the recommendation. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01BO6…
Book #23 - The Future of Humanity by @michiokaku. An exploration of our inevitable future as an extra planetary species - filled with science fiction references but all the while supported by lucid explanations of all the latest scientific theories. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07173…
Book #24 - The People vs. Tech by Jamie Bartlett. About how tech is destroying democracy. I so wanted to love this book but somewhere along the way it became a bit of a rant. amazon.in/People-Vs-Tech…
Book #25 - Foundation’s Fear by Gregory Benford. After all my research into AI and Big Data I felt like spending time in the original Big Data world - Asimov’s foundation series. The first book in the Second Foundation Trilogy is a tedious read. But good amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FC…
Book #26 - Six Degrees - The Science of a Connected World by Duncan Watts. A dense, technical but nevertheless fascinating book about network science and it’s many implications on society, disease and markets. amazon.com/Six-Degrees-Sc…
Book #27 - Future Presence by @provenself. A romp through the current state of virtual reality technology and a glimpse of what is to come. Never before have I felt such a strong urge to go out and drop a pile of cash on new tech after reading a book | amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071YR…
Book #28 - Halting State by Charles Stross. A gripping near future novel about a world that we could very well be heading towards. Thank you @udhay_shankar for the recommendation. amazon.com/Halting-State-…
Book #29 - Inglorious Empire by @ShashiTharoor There has never been not likely ever will be a more cutting takedown of the glory days of the British Raj. As historical as this is it is a must read to counter the years of fake news we have been fed. amazon.in/Inglorious-Emp…
Book #30 - AIQ by Nick Polson and James Scott. A lucid explanation of the basic concepts of AI including the gnarly maths explained so even a dunce like me can understand. Must read if you want to come to grips with the science of data amazon.com/AIQ-People-Mac…
Book #31 - Four Futures: Life After Capitalism by Peter Frase. A thoroughly probable scientific exploration of four alternate visions of the future after the inevitable death of capitalism - amazon.com/Four-Futures-A…
Book #32 - Antisocial Media: How Facebook disconnects us and Undermines Democracy by @sivavaid. A brutal and in places somewhat unfairly one-sided takedown of social media as represented by Facebook. amazon.com/Antisocial-Med…
Book #33 - Us and Them: The Failure of Globalism by Ian Bremen. A fabulously informative analysis of the deep divisions that exist today - from Trump to Brexit and including India, China, Russia and most of the other significant economies of the world | amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B074DG…
Book #34 - Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich. On the science of Ancient DNA and how it is shaking up our understanding of our world. TIL there are two types of Indian ancestry ANI and ASI and most of us are a mixture of these genotypes | amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B073NP…
