https://books.everythingsings.art A personal reading journal — reviews of every book I've finished since 2019. en https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-romance-of-reality/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-romance-of-reality/ 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT This is probably one of the coolest books I've ever read. It ties together a lot of intuitions I already had and grounds them in some science — science that isn't completely established, it's still kind of speculative, but it's more tangible than just my own intuitions and observations. It's a spiritual book, and a philosophical one, but it's also very generalist and autodidactic. It weaves together biology and information science, and eventually it even takes on the hard problem of consciousnes https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-singularity-is-nearer/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-singularity-is-nearer/ 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Recommended to those looking for a boost of technological optimism. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-coming-wave/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-coming-wave/ 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Technologists must remember, "with great power comes great responsibility". Technology has always been a tool, and tools can build or destroy, but the coming wave of AI and synthetic biology may be the first tools capable of outpacing the hands that built them. I believe in the power of optimism, but that doesn't mean we can be blind to the potential risks of the coming wave. This book outlines potential failure scenarios, related to AI and other emerging technologies, but not as a call to panic https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-sovereign-individual/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-sovereign-individual/ 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-beginning-of-infinity/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-beginning-of-infinity/ 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT "Problems are inevitable, and problems are soluble." I can't agree with everything in this book but I do agree with its optimism. I'm excited to see what problems humanity solves, and for what comes after. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-end-of-the-world-is-just-the-beginning/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-end-of-the-world-is-just-the-beginning/ 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/neuromancer/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/neuromancer/ 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-quantum-thief/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-quantum-thief/ 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/red-rising/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/red-rising/ 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/breath/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/breath/ 27 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/teranesia/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/teranesia/ 18 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-untethered-soul/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-untethered-soul/ 04 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-comfort-crisis/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-comfort-crisis/ 03 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT This was a really good one. The central idea, "comfort creep," isn't exactly a secret. We all know society is more comfortable than the world we evolved in. But Easter's point is that constant comfort costs us something, and the value is in actually becoming aware of what we lose: never sitting with boredom, never being cold, even exercising in an air-conditioned room doing the same repeatable movements that look nothing like how our bodies were meant to move. The book is really about getting ba https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/leadership-and-self-deception/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/leadership-and-self-deception/ 22 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT This felt like an exploration of psychology approached from an everyday and practical perspective. Initially I wasn't sure what to expect (maybe boredom?) but it was pleasantly intriguing. It wasn't hard to follow, even though at times they did dig into some introspective topics. It's a business oriented book, set in a corporation and aimed at improving work results, however we quickly see that it's near impossible to truly separate our work from our home lives. How we show up in one place will https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/how-to-change-your-mind/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/how-to-change-your-mind/ 20 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT This book came into my life like reuniting with an old friend, even though this was just my first read. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/dungeon-crawler-carl/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/dungeon-crawler-carl/ 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/stories-of-your-life-and-others/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/stories-of-your-life-and-others/ 16 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/nexus/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/nexus/ 24 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/tress-of-the-emerald-sea/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/tress-of-the-emerald-sea/ 18 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/build/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/build/ 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT Review pending. https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/universal-principles-of-design/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/universal-principles-of-design/ 23 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT This book offers lots of thorough design concepts in an encyclopedic format. My main interest in design is User Experience design, as software is one of my primary focuses, but this had a lot of design principles that were outside of software. Even if a concept wasn't entirely related to software, I could still relate some principles to software design. This book was really interesting and had a nice mix of reading and visual information. As someone focused on software design, I found this book https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/co-intelligence/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/co-intelligence/ 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT I listened to this book as an audiobook, and while the author's pronunciation was occasionally difficult to understand, it didn't significantly detract from the overall experience. However, it's worth noting if you prefer reading for clarity. The book offers a thorough exploration of our evolving AI landscape, blending perspectives from both academia and business. While some concepts weren't entirely new to me, the content remained consistently engaging. The author covered a broad spectrum of id https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/read-write-own/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/read-write-own/ 01 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT I was exposed to this through Rick Rubin's podcast, Tetragrammaton, and listened to it on Audible. I became intrigued about Chris' ideas while listening to the podcast, and realized we share a lot of thoughts, so from there it was a quick decision to get his book. 'Read Write Own' is a fairly technical exploration of blockchain technology and the historical progression of the Internet as a whole. I've always been a computer nerd, so I really enjoyed the experience. Chris Dixon (American entrepre https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/what-is-chatgpt-doing-and-why-does-it-work/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/what-is-chatgpt-doing-and-why-does-it-work/ 26 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT I loved this quick little read. Its "typical time to read" is 3 hours on Amazon and it felt about that long. The first part of the book was a pretty thorough explanation of the inner workings of large language models. I'm not very well educated in the details, most of my experience is in directly interacting with artificial intelligence, not theory. A lot of it was over my head, but very interesting. The second part seemed to be about the differences between ChatGPT and Wolfram|Alpha, one of Ste https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/reality-hunger/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/reality-hunger/ 18 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT I was intrigued by this book from the second I read the title right through to the very end. "Reality Hunger"? How can we hunger for something we are so steeped in? How could there be anything but Reality, so where would this hunger come from? Our age is one of change. An age of remixing, an age of reflection and disruption. 'Reality Hunger' is composed of many quotes, which have had their authors stripped from them and placed in the back of the book (and then we're told to ignore them), for art https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-creative-act-a-way-of-being/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/the-creative-act-a-way-of-being/ 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT We're all creatives in some fashion. How conscious are we of our creative process? How can we discover more about our creativity? What stops us from creating to the best of our potential? I've listened to this book multiple times through this year and it's incredibly rewarding each time. Not only does each chapter offer incredible, direct insight, but you can feel the wisdom behind each beautiful sentence. These lessons are carried into my everyday living, my programming and my conversations, an https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/dogs-of-war/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/dogs-of-war/ 11 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT "Dogs of War" by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant novel that explores the ethical implications of bioengineering and artificial intelligence. The story follows a pack of augmented animals, led by the dog Rex, a bloodthirsty monster that just follows orders. Throughout the story, Tchaikovsky's prose is vivid and evocative, bringing the reader into the minds of the characters and immersing them in the world of the novel. The author expertly weaves together themes https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/swift-design-patterns/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/swift-design-patterns/ 17 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT I'm a big fan of Paul's work, and this book demonstrates his commitment to creating quality content once again. Paul says "great code is thoughtful code", and then goes on to show us what makes code thoughtful with plentiful examples ranging from MVC, MVVM, SwiftUI architecture, and even into more detailed concepts like associative storage and key paths. This book focuses on Swift but also does a good job at including the more classic, language agnostic patterns all while providing helpful examp https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/cage-of-souls/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/cage-of-souls/ 23 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT "Cage of Souls" by Adrian is a captivating science-fiction novel that explores the complexities of psychology through its intricate and perplexing characters. The book takes place in a harsh world where people imprison one another, but the real prisons are the ones inside the mind. The author's use of the first-person autobiography format adds depth to the protagonist's voice and makes the setting, a forgotten world filled with strange devices and mysterious spires, entirely convincing. The auth https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/atomic-habits/ https://books.everythingsings.art/reviews/atomic-habits/ 12 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT It's special to me that this would be my one-hundredth book review. I didn't plan it like that. In 2019 I had the idea to form a habit around one of my favorite activities. I figured if I were to make a habit of reading I might as well try to create something from it as well. James said "behind every system of actions are a system of beliefs", and it was my belief in the value of literature and conversation that led me to build on this rewarding habit. Keeping these book reviews has reinforced m