Category Archives: Books
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines is a novel about the parallel lives of two of the 20th Century’s greatest mathematicians, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing. Through fictionalized accounts, it explores the power of genius, the price it sometimes exacts and the limitations of our ability to discover the truth. Continue reading
All the Beauty in the World
Patrick Bringley spent ten years working as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. All the Beauty in the World is a wonderful memoir of that time. It’s about art, of course, and about grief and joy and how art reflects them back to us. Continue reading
The War Below
The clean energy transition is forcing countries and communities to make very difficult choices. Weaning ourselves off fossil fuels means we need huge quantities of raw materials: lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, aluminum and other critical minerals. The War Below explores the conflicts around mining for the materials we need to power the clean energy transition. Continue reading
A Sand County Almanac
Aldo Leopold was one of the founders of the modern environmental movement. His book A Sand County Almanac, written 75 years ago, is a key source of many pivotal concepts about ecology and the environment, especially his idea of the “land ethic.” It’s still worth reading today. Continue reading
The Worlds I See
Dr. Fei-Fei Li may not be a household name, but for over twenty years she’s been a driving force behind the advancement of artificial intelligence, particularly computer vision and deep learning. Her book, The Worlds I See, is both a personal memoir and a history of AI. Continue reading
What an Owl Knows
Humans have always been fascinated by owls. Some people see them as symbols of knowledge and wisdom, others as omens of death. In What an Owl Knows, Jennifer Ackerman surveys the latest research about these enigmatic birds, the scientists who study them, and the ways we humans relate to them. Continue reading
Democracy in a Hotter Time
Democracy in a Hotter Time is a collection of essays about the relationship between climate change and democracy. The contributors do a good job diagnosing democracy’s problems dealing with the “long emergency” of climate change, but few propose practical solutions. I was disappointed by this book. Continue reading
Not the End of the World
Not the End of the World is a powerful antidote to climate doom-ism. Hannah Ritchie shows how our situation today, awful as it is, is still far better than the past. And she points to solutions that could make the future even better. Continue reading
The Rights of Nature
In 2017, New Zealand’s Parliament passed a law granting legal personhood to the Whanganui River. Granting legal rights and personhood to nature might seem crazy at first. But David Boyd explains in this book that extending rights to non-humans isn’t so strange after all, and could help save the planet. Continue reading
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
The Creative Act is an unconventional book, a collection of short reflections gleaned from Rick Rubin’s career as a nine-time GRAMMY award-winning music producer.
It offers insight into being an artist/creator and inspiration to do artistic, creative work. The key is being open to the creative energy of the Universe. Continue reading
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