Books Read

2025

Books Read

2025

This page contains the books that I read during 2025.


Book Title Author Completed On Comments
January
The Message The Message Ta-Nehisi Coates This book takes a look at the Isreal Palestine Gaza conflict
The Lantern of Lost Memories The Lantern of Lost Memories Sanaka Hiiragi
Translated by Jesse Kirkwood 		This book takes a look at what if you can relive the most important day of your life after departing this world
You Should Have Left You Should Have Left Daniel Kehlmann This ghost like story was interesting but it wasn't as good as the reviews lead to believe
Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence Sara Imari Walker This book talks about a new theory called Assembly Theory which combines the Laws of Physics and Algorithms. It is being used to try to explain the difficult questions, What is Consciousness?, What is Matter? and What is Life? It was a very interesting look into creating a new paradigm shift in Science.
Is Math Real: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics' Deepest Truths Is Math Real: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics' Deepest Truths Eugenia Cheng This book looks at Math from a different perspective from how we normally look at Math. It is trying to show that anyone can do Math. She talks about elementary math and leads one into a field of Mathematics called, Category Theory.
February
A Journey of Embedded and Cyber-Physical Systems: Essays Dedicated to Peter Marwedel on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday A Journey of Embedded and Cyber-Physical Systems: Essays Dedicated to Peter Marwedel on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday Jian-Jia Chen This book contains research papers on embedded and cyber-physical systems. It was interesting learning about this type of work even thou it isn't the type of work that I do. I enjoyed learning about these different topics.
Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics Jo Boaler This book discusses the state of our teaching of Mathematics and how archaic it is in its current state. It offers a new way of teaching Mathematics that can be more beneficial to students and society. These techniques have been used within other societies with great success.
March
The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way Amanda Ripley This book discusses the different level of education around the world. It shows how the United States compares to other countries education system. It looks who is successful and what makes them successful. It also goes into greater details on what might make a great education system.
The Geography of Words: Vocabulary and Meaning in the World's Languages The Geography of Words: Vocabulary and Meaning in the World's Languages Daniko Šipka This book talks about how the different languages in the world can have different meanings with similar words and phrases. It also talks about how similar languages culture impact words and phrases.
The Life Impossible The Life Impossible Matt Haig This book was written by one of my favorite author in recent years. It is a story about realizing that we should live our life with the understanding that we aren't perfect. We shouldn't let our past influence our future well-being.
Oxygen: A Four Billion Year History Oxygen: A Four Billion Year History Donald E. Canfield This book sets out to explain our current understanding of the evolution of the planet Earth. It explains what we understand on how the planet Earth maintains itself now. In turn, it tries to explain how our planet has evolved throughout is exists for 4.5 billions of years. It explains that we are limited by what we can explain since Earth contains only so much information about the past. With that, it then explains the different speculations that we have defined.
April
Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership Christie Smith
Kelly Monahan 		This book explains the history of leadership since the industrial revolution. It points out the good and the bad parts of those different leadership practices. It then delves into the current evolution of leadership model that has proven to be successful. This model encompasses the need to involve the humanistic side of leadership to be able to succeed in this age. Specifically, it talks about the flywheel leadership model and its benefits to companies.
Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe Steven Strogatz This book talks about the history of Calculus from its inception to now. It offers examples of is power and how is has impacted the world around us. It also reveals that its birth was not through Newton but an accumulation of all that came before him. It was such a pleasure to read and would recommend this book to anyone that is slightly interested in Math and its impact on our world.
The Blanket Cats The Blanket Cats Kiyoshi Shigematsu
Translated by Jesse Kirkwood 		This book contains seven self-contained short stories that are connected by the blanket cats. The stories can be read in any order and are interesting in and of themselves.
The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics Tim Harford This book is about the use of statistics in the real world. It describes how statistics can skew or enlighten us about the world around us. The author offers ten techniques to look at statistics to better understand the data. The main point that he is making is that we need to be curious about the data, from what it is using to what it is trying to show. I enjoyed the different points and its reminder that doing statistics is not that simple.
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies Nick Bostrom This book discusses the control problem involved with AGI and its current state. It discusses what we should be thinking about while trying to create AGI. It makes us realize that we are far from being ready to deal with super inteligent systems.
May
Kazuo Ishiguro Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro This novel is about an AI Robot that is an Artificial Friend, (AF), to a teenager girl called Josie. It is about its struggle to be able to help Josie through a difficult period. It considers what an AF might be thinking while trying to care for someone.
Life Lessons from a Parasite: What Tapeworms, Flukes, Lice, and Roundworms Can Teach Us About Humanity's Most Difficult Problems Life Lessons from a Parasite: What Tapeworms, Flukes, Lice, and Roundworms Can Teach Us About Humanity's Most Difficult Problems John Janovy Jr. This book is written by a Parasitologist that offers fourteen chapters about the different kind of research that has been done. While each chapter is interesting, it also not something for the faint of heart. These articles are very instructive about how parasites move around our environment and how they are related to our society.
Yoko Ogawa<br>Translated by Stephen B. Snyder Mina's Matchbox Yoko Ogawa
Translated by Stephen B. Snyder 		This novel is about a middle school girl named Tomoko that goes a live with her cousin named Mina. It was good about how they've grown closer during Tomoko year long stay with Mina and her family.
John Warner More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI John Warner This book argues why LLM's can not replace the emotional impact that a human writer can have on written work. While LLM's can produce fundentally correct text it's unable to extract nor produce the emotional feeling that a human being can produce.
Charles Wheelan Write for Your Life: A Guide to Clear and Purposeful Writing (and Presentations) Charles Wheelan This is one of my favorite authors and this book doesn't disappoint. This book is full of great advice on how to write and present.
Ivan Turgenev First Love Ivan Turgenev
Translated by Isaiah Berlin 		This novel was mentioned in one of my prior novels that I read. I decided to read it and alas I wasn't that impressed by the story. The only good thing about this book was that it was a novella and I was done reading it fairly quickly.
June
Yoko Ogawa<br>Translated by Stephen Snyder The Memory Police Yoko Ogawa
Translated by Stephen Snyder 		This is the second novel from Yoko Ogawa that I read. It was an interesting look at the possibility that a "Memory Police" can control what disappears in their world. This world is an island that different things disappear and how people just accept these disappearances.
David Bessis<br>Translated by Kevin Frey Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiousity David Bessis
Translated by Kevin Frey 		The author of this book tries to explain how Mathematicians think. The objective is to try to get others interested in Math by removing the intrinsic fear that most people feel towards Math. I must admit that he has done a pretty good job at removing the sense of fear for Math. I am one that also believes that others will benefit from this book.
Gary F. Marcus Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure That AI Works for Us Gary F. Marcus This book is about how generative AI is not really what it is cut out to be. In fact, it explains that much of the hype is not something that we should be excited about. The author explains that the lack of governance of AI is allowing the proliferation of unethical use of AI. He goes on to explain that the use of governance will enable companies to focus on providing ethical products that will benefit society and not the tech companies and/or criminal organizations.
Steven Strogatz The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity Steven Strogatz This is a book on Mathematics for the general public. It is written is a very clear way that allows regular individuals to enjoy the subject of Math. The author writes about different aspects of Mathematics starting with Numbers and ending with the concept of infinity. I, for one, think that this is a great book for anyone that is curious about Math that has or doesn't have higher level Mathematical training. Still, this book will still be interesting for individuals that have higher Mathematical training.
John Green Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection John Green This was an interesting book about Tuberculosis (TB). Its history and the current state of this disease around the world today. The fact that we as a human race can save so many individuals that have TB. Yet, we don't because of them being poor or because of racism. Why do we not understand how lucky we are living within a developed country. With all of its conveniences and benefits compared to under developed countries that don't have what we have. This book talks about this with respect to TB. It lets us know that we can eradicate this disease if we choose to. Lastly, it talks about how there are groups that are trying to do just that. It is trying to instill a desire to join the cause against TB.
July
Michael Scott Ancient Worlds: A Global History of Antiquity Michael Scott This book took a different perspective about Ancient Historical Cultures that included the Roman Empire in the West all the way to China in the East. It describes how the Roman Empire, India, China and others came together through trade and religous pilgrimages from around 800 BC to 400 CE. I really enjoyed the stories that were written about those times, even thou we cannot be certain how exact they are. Nonetheless, these stories were interesting and gave you an idea how the world was functioning during that period in time.
Yasunari Kawabata The Rainbow Yasunari Kawabata
Translated by Haydn Trowell 		This was a nice story about three sisters that have the same father but different mothers. The three sisters are completely different people that have their own way of life that doesn't agree with each of them. It offered how people from Japan perceive life that is different than how I do. Which, I found this is interesting in and of itself. I also enjoyed the way that the author described Japan from the landscape to their way of life.
Safiya Umoja Noble Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism Safiya Umoja Noble This book gives a really great perspective of how Artificial Inteligence effects our lives in a good and bad way. It talks about the need to be able to vet our models before publishing them to the world. It also reflects on the need to generate policies that companies should follow before releasing these types of products. I find that it isn't trying to criticize but that it asks us to reflect on what we are creating before relasing it to the world.
Martha Wells Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy Martha Wells This short story is part of the "Murderbot Diaries" series about a mission to a planet that doesn't include the main character of the series. It was an alright short story but it felt lacking in substance compared to the other stories that I have read in the series.
August
Kyle Chayka Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture Kyle Chayka This book contained some really interesting food for thought issues with respect to how we as a society are consistently being distracted. The author talks about the different effect that this has on individuals and society. He ultimately talks about his experience trying to control this distraction such that he can live his life without the need to be entertained every second. I highly recommend this book to whoever is interested in how technology is being used to keep our attention for the different companies benefit and not our own.
David Spiegelhalter The Art of Uncertainty: How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck David Spiegelhalter This book offers a really good representation of how statistics and probability is used currently and how it can be misunderstood. The author offers many examples on how the public can be misrepresented with respect to estimates about different conditions. For instance, how some have use the total number of individuals that have died after getting the vacine compared to the number of individuals that died that didn't get the covid vacine. Yes, more died that got the vacine compared to those that didn't. If you compare the percentage of people who died who got the vacine compared to those that didn't. You would see that a greater percentage of people died who didn't get the vacine compared to those that did. This was just one example where we see how easy it is to misinterpret the data. The author does talk about how much certainty one has with certain set of data compared to others. The more uncertainty there is the greater the range of estimates because of being unable to properly quantify the information. This is a great book for those that want to have a better understanding on how we use Statistics and Propabilty to access the world around us.
September