Tim's bookshelf: read en-US Fri, 25 Apr 2025 14:34:54 -0700 60 Tim's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Written Matter 51777717 384 Gabriel Orozco 0262538873 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.67 Written Matter
author: Gabriel Orozco
name: Tim
average rating: 4.67
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date added: 2025/04/25
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]]> <![CDATA[The Scaling Era: An Oral History of AI, 2019�2025]]> 230112000 An inside view of the AI revolution, from the people and companies making it happen.

How did we build large language models? How do they think, if they think? What will the world look like if we have billions of AIs that are as smart as humans, or even smarter?

In a series of in-depth interviews with leading AI researchers and company founders—including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis, OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, MIRI cofounder Eliezer Yudkowsky, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg—Dwarkesh Patel provides the first comprehensive and contemporary portrait of the technology that is transforming our world.

Drawn from his interviews on the Dwarkesh Podcast, these curated excerpts range from the technical details of how LLMs work to the possibility of an AI takeover or explosive economic growth. Patel’s conversations cut through the noise to explore the topics most compelling to those at the forefront of the the power of scaling, the potential for misalignment, the sheer input required for AGI, and the economic and social ramifications of superintelligence. The book is also a standalone introduction to the technology. It includes over 170 definitions and visualizations, explanations of technical points made by guests, classic essays on the theme from other writers, and unpublished interviews with Open Philanthropy research analyst Ajeya Cotra and Anthropic cofounder Jared Kaplan.

The Scaling Era offers readers unprecedented insight into a transformative moment in the development of AI—and a vision of what comes next.]]> 384 Dwarkesh Patel 1953953565 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.04 The Scaling Era: An Oral History of AI, 2019–2025
author: Dwarkesh Patel
name: Tim
average rating: 4.04
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]]> <![CDATA[Programming Massively Parallel Processors: A Hands-on Approach]]> 61667312 Programming Massively Parallel A Hands-on Approach shows both students and professionals alike the basic concepts of parallel programming and GPU architecture. Concise, intuitive, and practical, it is based on years of road-testing in the authors' own parallel computing courses. Various techniques for constructing and optimizing parallel programs are explored in detail, while case studies demonstrate the development process, which begins with computational thinking and ends with effective and efficient parallel programs. The new edition includes updated coverage of CUDA, including the newer libraries such as CuDNN. New chapters on frequently used parallel patterns have been added, and case studies have been updated to reflect current industry practices.

Parallel Patterns Introduces new chapters on frequently used parallel patterns (stencil, reduction, sorting) and major improvements to previous chapters (convolution, histogram, sparse matrices, graph traversal, deep learning) Ampere Includes a new chapter focused on GPU architecture and draws examples from recent architecture generations, including Ampere Systematic Approach Incorporates major improvements to abstract discussions of problem decomposition strategies and performance considerations, with a new optimization checklist]]> 543 David B. Kirk 0323984630 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.64 2010 Programming Massively Parallel Processors: A Hands-on Approach
author: David B. Kirk
name: Tim
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Stormlight Archive, Books 1-4: The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, Rhythm of War]]> 154629368 This Stormlight Archive discounted ebundle The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, and Rhythm of War.

The #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series by Brandon Sanderson!

The Stormlight Archive is the wildly imaginative epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Brandon welcome to the remarkable world of Roshar, a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Roshar is shared by humans and the enigmatic, humanoid Parshendi, with whom they are at war.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them, but in the war against the Parshendi, the ancient weapons and armor may not be enough.

Speak again the ancient

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.

---
Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson

The Cosmere

The Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
Edgedancer (Novella)
Oathbringer
Dawnshard (Novella)
Rhythm of War

The Original Trilogy
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages

The Wax and Wayne series
Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
Bands of Mourning
The Lost Metal

Collection
Arcanum Unbounded

Other Cosmere novels
Elantris
Warbreaker
Tress and the Emerald Sea (forthcoming)
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (forthcoming)
The Sunlit Man (forthcoming)

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
The Scrivener's Bones
The Knights of Crystallia
The Shattered Lens
The Dark Talent
Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians (co-authored with Janci Patterson)

The Rithmatist series
The Rithmatist

Other novels
The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (forthcoming)

Other books by Brandon Sanderson

The Reckoners
Steelheart
Firefight
Calamity

Skyward
Skyward
Starsight
Cytonic

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 6705 Brandon Sanderson 1250334020 Tim 0 4.81 The Stormlight Archive, Books 1-4: The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, Rhythm of War
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.81
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Digital Video and HD: Algorithms and Interfaces (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)]]> 431195
With the help of hundreds of high quality technical illustrations, this book presents the following Basic concepts of digitization, sampling, quantization, gamma, and filtering* Principles of color science as applied to image capture and display* Scanning and coding of SDTV and HDTV* Video color luma, chroma (4:2:2 component video, 4 f SC composite video)* Analog NTSC and PAL* Studio systems and interfaces* Compression technology, including M-JPEG and MPEG-2* Broadcast standards and consumer video equipment]]> 736 Charles Poynton 1558607927 Tim 0 to-read 4.11 2002 Digital Video and HD: Algorithms and Interfaces (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)
author: Charles Poynton
name: Tim
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Decode to Encode: Master Complex Concepts Faster, Bridge Gaps and Be the Expert in Video Coding]]> 43077316 284 Avinash Ramachandran Tim 0 to-read 3.90 Decode to Encode: Master Complex Concepts Faster, Bridge Gaps and Be the Expert in Video Coding
author: Avinash Ramachandran
name: Tim
average rating: 3.90
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]]> <![CDATA[Things Become Other Things (Fine Art Edition)]]> 203738636 240 Craig Mod 0984595872 Tim 5 Beautiful, haunting, sublime 4.78 Things Become Other Things (Fine Art Edition)
author: Craig Mod
name: Tim
average rating: 4.78
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2025/03/05
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Beautiful, haunting, sublime
]]> <![CDATA[C. S. Lewis and the Art of Writing: What the Essayist, Poet, Novelist, Literary Critic, Apologist, Memoirist, Theologian Teaches Us about the Life and Craft of Writing]]> 32895169 250 Corey Latta 1498225349 Tim 0 to-read 4.08 C. S. Lewis and the Art of Writing: What the Essayist, Poet, Novelist, Literary Critic, Apologist, Memoirist, Theologian Teaches Us about the Life and Craft of Writing
author: Corey Latta
name: Tim
average rating: 4.08
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/13
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]]> <![CDATA[A Wonderland of Words: Around the Word in 101 Essays]]> 217317504 He demystifies punctuation, guides us through the arcane rules of spelling and grammar, and explains a wide array of essential components of the language including acronyms, bacronyms, contronyms, oxymorons, kennings, metaphors, similes, idioms, euphemisms, palindromes, and much much more. He delves into the history and evolution of English, delights in its quirks, embraces its geographical variants, provides hilarious examples of its misuse around the world, is awed by the way in which the masters of literature use it, and revels in its beauty and grandeur. Passionate, learned, funny, and brilliantly readable, A Wonderland of Words is a book that will enchant and educate all those who delight in the English language.]]> Shashi Tharoor 8196906196 Tim 0 to-read 4.22 A Wonderland of Words: Around the Word in 101 Essays
author: Shashi Tharoor
name: Tim
average rating: 4.22
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date added: 2025/02/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective]]> 25670869
Controversial at its heart, yet refreshingly provocative, this book challenges readers to consider life without a destination and discovery without a compass.]]> 154 Kenneth O. Stanley 3319155245 Tim 4 4.00 2015 Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective
author: Kenneth O. Stanley
name: Tim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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date added: 2025/01/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)]]> 203578847 The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive―the iconic epic fantasy masterpiece that has sold more than 10 million copies, from acclaimed bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.

Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare―and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray.

Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide―Adolin in Azimir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah at Thaylen City. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.

At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiants killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.]]> 1344 Brandon Sanderson 1250319188 Tim 0 to-read 4.35 2024 Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive, #2.5)]]> 34703445 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, a special gift edition of Edgedancer, a short novel of the Stormlight Archive.

Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop her from growing older--a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the free-spirited Lift, who can't help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility.

]]> 272 Brandon Sanderson 1250166543 Tim 0 to-read 4.14 2016 Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive, #2.5)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)]]> 49021976 The eagerly awaited sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling Oathbringer, from epic fantasy author Brandon Sanderson

After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar's crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move.

Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin's scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.

At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own problem: As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition’s envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.]]> 1232 Brandon Sanderson 0765326388 Tim 0 to-read 4.58 2020 Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)]]> 34002132 Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe with numbers as great as their thirst for vengeance.

Dalinar Kholin's Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.

Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar's blood-soaked past and stand together--and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past--even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.]]> 1248 Brandon Sanderson Tim 0 currently-reading 4.60 2017 Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)]]> 17332218 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance, Book Two of the Stormlight Archive, continues the immersive fantasy epic that The Way of Kings began.

Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.

The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin's master has much deeper motives.

Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.]]> 1088 Brandon Sanderson 0765326361 Tim 5 4.76 2014 Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.76
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2018/02/03
date added: 2025/01/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Other Rivers: A Chinese Education]]> 199347135
More than twenty years after teaching English to China’s first boom generation at a small college in Sichuan Province, Peter Hessler returned to Sichuan to teach the next generation. At the same time, Hessler and his wife enrolled their twin daughters in a local state-run elementary school, where they were the only Westerners in a student body of about two thousand. Over the years, Hessler had kept in close contact with more than a hundred of his former students, who were now in their forties. By reconnecting with these individuals—members of China’s “Reform generation� —while teaching current undergrads, Hessler was able to gain a unique perspective on China's incredible transformation over the past quarter-century.


In the late 1990s, almost all of Hessler's students were the first member of their extended families to become educated. Their parents were subsistence farmers who could offer little guidance as their children entered a brand-new world. By 2019, when Hessler arrived at Sichuan University, he found a very different China and a new kind of student—an only child whose schooling was the object of intense focus from a much more ambitious and sophisticated cohort of parents. Hessler’s new students have a sense of irony about the regime but mostly navigate its restrictions with equanimity, and embrace the astonishing new opportunities China’s boom affords. But the pressures of this system of extreme “meritocracy� at scale can be gruesome, even for much younger children, including his own daughters, who give him and his wife an intimate view into the experience at their local school.


In Peter Hessler’s hands, China’s education system is the perfect vehicle for examining what’s happened to the country, where it’s going, and what we can learn from it, for good and ill. At a time when anti-Chinese rhetoric in America has grown blunter and uglier, Other Rivers is a tremendous, indeed an essential gift, a work of enormous human empathy that rejects cheap stereotypes and shows us China from the inside out and the bottom up, using as a measuring stick this most universally relatable set of experiences. As both a window onto China and a distant mirror onto America and its own education system, Other Rivers is a classic, a book of tremendous value and compelling human interest.]]> 464 Peter Hessler 0593655338 Tim 0 currently-reading, asia 4.44 2024 Other Rivers: A Chinese Education
author: Peter Hessler
name: Tim
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/09
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]]> <![CDATA[When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach]]> 62050244 A momentous look at the private companies building a revolutionary new economy in space, from the New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk.

In When the Heavens Went on Sale, Ashlee Vance illuminates our future and unveils the next big technology story of our time: welcome to the Wild West of aerospace engineering and its unprecedented impact on our lives.

With the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Silicon Valley began to realize that the universe itself was open for business. Now, Vance tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab by following four pioneering companies—Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab—as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into orbit by the thousands.

With the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new, scrappy companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheap, thereby opening Earth’s lower orbit for business. Vance has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history, and he chronicles it all in full color: the top-secret launch locations, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations, and multimillionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear.

Through immersive and intimate reporting, When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the tale of technology’s most pressing and controversial revolution, as told through fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes in the race to space.]]> 528 Ashlee Vance 0062998870 Tim 5 space 4.26 2023 When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach
author: Ashlee Vance
name: Tim
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: space
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]]> <![CDATA[Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX]]> 53402132 "This is as important a book on space as has ever been written and it's a riveting page-turner, too." —Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Rocket Boys

The dramatic inside story of the historic flights that launched SpaceX—and Elon Musk—from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.

SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race it is private companies, led by SpaceX, standing alongside NASA pushing forward into the cosmos, and laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.

But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling startup, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.

In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company’s first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company’s inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

Filled with never-before-told stories of SpaceX’s turbulent beginning, Liftoff is a saga of cosmic proportions.]]> 288 Eric Berger 0062979973 Tim 5 space 4.43 2021 Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
author: Eric Berger
name: Tim
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: space
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]]> <![CDATA[Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age]]> 205309521 How did a shaky startup that barely got its first rocket off the ground defy expectations to become the world’s leading spaceflight company?Ěý Get the untold story of the team of game-changers, led by a well-known billionaire, who are sending NASA astronauts to space—and just might carry the human race to Mars.In the 21st century, space travel has become a commercial venture. And one company dominates the modern space SpaceX, founded by controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002, and now sending more payloads into Earth orbit than the rest of the world combined.ĚýBut Musk didn’t do it alone. The saga of SpaceX is the story of a diverse cadre of true believers in the limitless potential of space travel. For the first time, Reentry relates the definitive chronicle of how this daring team of risk-takers was able to redefine what it takes to reach the stars.ĚýWith Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Eric Berger, author of Liftoff, as your guide, you’ll accompany SpaceX’s innovative thinkers during their toughest trials and most audacious moments, Creating the first orbital rockets that can land by themselves and fly againTransporting a 120-ft rocket from Texas to Florida by truck via back roadsĚýFixing a cracked engine nozzle using hand tools, just days before liftoffĚýSending a wheel of cheese into orbitSearching the ocean for the first rocket that splashed down intactBeing in the room where it happened—when SpaceX nearly lost big to BoeingIdentifying the $4 part that led to a rocket exploding in flightModifying a Tesla to prevent implosion in spaceFrom launchpad explosions to a pernicious cricket infestation to the harsh management style of Musk himself, the rise of SpaceX was beset with challenges and far from inevitable. Find out how a start-up that no one thought could get off the ground flew high enough to outpace their rivals . . . and where they’re going next.]]> 450 Eric Berger 1637745273 Tim 0 currently-reading, space 4.44 2024 Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age
author: Eric Berger
name: Tim
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation]]> 216417281 A timely investigation of the causes of technological and scientific stagnation, and a radical blueprint for accelerating innovation.

From the Moon landing to the dawning of the atomic age, the decades prior to the 1970s were characterized by the routine invention of transformative technologies at breakneck speed. By comparison, ours is an age of stagnation. Median wage growth has slowed, inequality and income concentration are on the rise, and scientific research has become increasingly expensive and incremental.

Why are we unable to replicate the rate of progress of past decades? What can we do to reinvigorate innovation?

In Boom, Byrne Hobart and Tobias Huber take an inductive approach to the problem. In a series of case studies tracking some of the most significant breakthroughs of the past 100 years—from the Manhattan Project and the Apollo program to fracking and Bitcoin—they reverse-engineer how transformative progress arises from small groups with a unified vision, vast funding, and surprisingly poor accountability. They conclude that financial bubbles, while often maligned as destructive and destabilizing forces, have in fact been the engine of past breakthroughs and will drive future advances. In other Bubbles aren’t all bad.

Integrating insights from economics, philosophy, and history, Boom identifies the root causes of the Great Stagnation and provides a blueprint for accelerating innovation. By decreasing collective risk aversion, overfunding experimental processes, and organizing high-agency individuals around a transcendent mission, bubbles are the key to realizing a future that is radically different from the present. Boom offers a definite and optimistic vision of our future—and a path to unleash a new era of global prosperity.]]> 377 Byrne Hobart 1953953484 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.02 Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation
author: Byrne Hobart
name: Tim
average rating: 4.02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry]]> 811258 336 Barry Bluestone 0465015921 Tim 0 to-read 4.09 1982 The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry
author: Barry Bluestone
name: Tim
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1982
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/07
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]]> <![CDATA[From Know How to Nowhere: The Development of American Technology]]> 4736506 199 Elting E. Morison 0465025803 Tim 0 currently-reading 3.20 1975 From Know How to Nowhere: The Development of American Technology
author: Elting E. Morison
name: Tim
average rating: 3.20
book published: 1975
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)]]> 17934530 Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.]]> 195 Jeff VanderMeer 0374104093 Tim 0 currently-reading 3.80 2014 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Tim
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[We Are As Gods: Back to the Land in the 1970s on the Quest for a New America]]> 25898192
When Loraine, Craig, Pancake, Hershe, and a dozen of their friends came into possession of 116 acres in Vermont, they had big to grow their own food, build their own shelter, and create an enlightened community. They had little idea that at the same moment, all over the country, a million other young people were making the same move -- back to the land.

We Are As Gods follows the Myrtle Hill commune as its members enjoy a euphoric Free Love summer. Nearby, a fledgling organic farm sets to work with horses, and a couple -- the author's parents -- attempts to build a geodesic dome. Yet Myrtle Hill's summer ends in panic as they rush to build shelter while they struggle to reconcile their ideals with the somber realities of physical hardship and shifting priorities -- especially when one member goes dangerously rogue.

Kate Daloz has written a meticulously researched testament to the dreams of a generation disillusioned by their parents' lifestyles, scarred by the Vietnam War, and yearning for rural peace. Shaping everything from our eating habits to the Internet, the 1970s Back-to-the-Land movement is one of the most influential yet least understood periods in recent history. We Are As Gods sheds light on one generation's determination to change their own lives and, in the process, to change the world.]]> 384 Kate Daloz 1610392256 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.11 2016 We Are As Gods: Back to the Land in the 1970s on the Quest for a New America
author: Kate Daloz
name: Tim
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/13
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> The Gone-Away World 3007704 531 Nick Harkaway 0434018422 Tim 0 to-read 4.10 2008 The Gone-Away World
author: Nick Harkaway
name: Tim
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom]]> 204193039 A standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America's age of anxiety, by New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin.

Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.

But there are rules:

He cannot look inside the box.
He cannot ask questions.
He cannot tell anyone.
They must leave immediately.
He must leave all trackable devices behind.

As these eccentric misfits hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the box is part of a carefully orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war.

The truth promises to be even stranger, and may change how you see the world.]]> 393 Jason Pargin 1250285968 Tim 0 to-read 4.13 2024 I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
author: Jason Pargin
name: Tim
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Bright Sword 201751543
They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Tables, from the edges of the stories, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.

But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords are laying siege to Camelot, and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.]]> 688 Lev Grossman 0735224056 Tim 0 to-read 4.18 2024 The Bright Sword
author: Lev Grossman
name: Tim
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting]]> 290153
Numerous photographs and illustrations provide clear examples of the theories, while sidebars highlight special lighting questions. Expanded chapters on available light in portraiture, as well as new information on digital equipment and terminology make this a must have update!]]> 320 Fil Hunter 0240808193 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.22 1997 Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting
author: Fil Hunter
name: Tim
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Kings of Crypto: One Startup's Quest to Take Cryptocurrency Out of Silicon Valley and Onto Wall Street]]> 53998148 "Tech writer Roberts debuts with a page-turning account of the rise of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase from the Y Combinator startup incubator to becoming a 'pillar of the larger crypto economy.'" � Publisher's Weekly

For a moment late in 2018, one bitcoin, which physically amounts to a few electrons blipping on a tiny bit of silicon, was worth $20,000—the same as a pound of gold. Libertarian technologists who believed bitcoin would be the foundation of a new world order saw the moment as an apotheosis. Everyone else saw a bubble. Everyone else was right, and the bubble burst. But bitcoin survived, and the battle for its soul rages on.

Kings of Crypto drops us into the unfolding drama, tracing the rise, fall, and rebirth of cryptocurrency through the experiences of major players across the globe. We follow Silicon Valley entrepreneur Brian Armstrong and the turbulent rocket ride of his startup, Coinbase, as he tries to take bitcoin mainstream while fighting off hackers, thieves, and zealots. Author Jeff John Roberts keenly observes the world of virtual currencies and what happens when startups try to disrupt the world of high finance. Clear explanations of crypto technology are woven into an amazing landscape full of meme-fueled startup hijinks, hacking (so much hacking!), shady investors, government investigations, billionaire bros and their Lambos, and closed-door meetings with Jamie Dimon.

This is the surprising story of the origins of cryptocurrency and how it is changing money forever.]]> 236 Jeff John Roberts 1647820197 Tim 5 btc, business 4.23 Kings of Crypto: One Startup's Quest to Take Cryptocurrency Out of Silicon Valley and Onto Wall Street
author: Jeff John Roberts
name: Tim
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/03
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: btc, business
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Just Enough Design: Reflections on the Japanese Philosophy of Hodo-hodo]]> 60420633
The Japanese phrase " hodo-hodo" originates in ancient times. When contemporary designer Taku Satoh applies it to his work, it means "just enough." Hodo-hodo design deliberately holds back, leaving room for individuals to engage with objects according to their unique sensibilities. In the midst of a consumerist age, Satoh has built an illustrious design career around this philosophy, creating iconic work in fashion, food, and architecture. His ideas speak not just to professional designers, but to anyone who wishes to move more thoughtfully through the world. Within this slim but powerful volume, Satoh explains his philosophy through tangible examples—from the aesthetic of a timeworn ramen shop to a rooftop playground inspired by onomatopoeia. Urging readers to appreciate everyday objects and spaces and to question the lure of convenience, he delivers a message rooted in the past yet perfectly suited to our times.

TIMELY As more people begin to question the structures of consumerism, this thoughtful book offers a different way of seeing the world. Satoh's philosophy aligns perfectly with sustainable lifestyles.

UNIQUE INSIGHTS INTO JAPANESE Japan is a huge cultural exporter and a booming travel destination. Many Japanese ideas and traditions—such as ikigai, forest bathing, and wabi-sabi—are being widely celebrated as pathways to a more fulfilling life. This book presents hodo-hodo , a concept not yet widely exported. Learning about hodo-hodo will enrich readers' understanding of Japan, as well as inspire designers and other creatives in their work.

AUTHORITATIVE Taku Satoh has over four decades of design experience. His work is renowned in Japan, and he's worked with major brands and museums and won many awards. Here, he shares wisdom drawn from his design expertise and his deep love for his culture.

ACCESSIBLE The handy paperback format is perfect for a book that you will want to read and re-read. Satoh proposes fascinating and pertinent ideas in an unintimidating way.

Perfect Anyone interested in Japanese culture and history]]> 144 Taku Satoh 1797209906 Tim 0 currently-reading, design 4.14 Just Enough Design: Reflections on the Japanese Philosophy of Hodo-hodo
author: Taku Satoh
name: Tim
average rating: 4.14
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rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
shelves: currently-reading, design
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]]> <![CDATA[Algorithms and Data Structures for Massive Datasets]]> 55338899 Massive modern datasets make traditional data structures and algorithms grind to a halt. This fun and practical guide introduces cutting-edge techniques that can reliably handle even the largest distributed datasets.In Algorithms and Data Structures for Massive Datasets you will Probabilistic sketching data structures for practical problems Choosing the right database engine for your application Evaluating and designing efficient on-disk data structures and algorithms Understanding the algorithmic trade-offs involved in massive-scale systems Deriving basic statistics from streaming data Correctly sampling streaming data Computing percentiles with limited space resources Algorithms and Data Structures for Massive Datasets reveals a toolbox of new methods that are perfect for handling modern big data applications. You’ll explore the novel data structures and algorithms that underpin Google, Facebook, and other enterprise applications that work with truly massive amounts of data. These effective techniques can be applied to any discipline, from finance to text analysis. Graphics, illustrations, and hands-on industry examples make complex ideas practical to implement in your projects—and there’s no mathematical proofs to puzzle over. Work through this one-of-a-kind guide, and you’ll find the sweet spot of saving space without sacrificing your data’s accuracy. About the technology Standard algorithms and data structures may become slow—or fail altogether—when applied to large distributed datasets. Choosing algorithms designed for big data saves time, increases accuracy, and reduces processing cost. This unique book distills cutting-edge research papers into practical techniques for sketching, streaming, and organizing massive datasets on-disk and in the cloud. About the book Algorithms and Data Structures for Massive Datasets introduces processing and analytics techniques for large distributed data. Packed with industry stories and entertaining illustrations, this friendly guide makes even complex concepts easy to understand. You’ll explore real-world examples as you learn to map powerful algorithms like Bloom filters, Count-min sketch, HyperLogLog, and LSM-trees to your own use cases. What's inside Probabilistic sketching data structures Choosing the right database engine Designing efficient on-disk data structures and algorithms Algorithmic tradeoffs in massive-scale systems Computing percentiles with limited space resources About the reader Examples in Python, R, and pseudocode. About the author Dzejla Medjedovic earned her PhD in the Applied Algorithms Lab at Stony Brook University, New York. Emin Tahirovic earned his PhD in biostatistics from University of Pennsylvania. Illustrator Ines Dedovic earned her PhD at the Institute for Imaging and Computer Vision at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Ěý Table of Contents 1 Introduction PART 1 HASH-BASED SKETCHES 2 Review of hash tables and modern hashing 3 Approximate Bloom and quotient filters 4 Frequency estimation and count-min sketch 5 Cardinality estimation and HyperLogLog PART 2 REAL-TIME ANALYTICS 6 Streaming Bringing everything]]> 304 Dzejla Medjedovic 1617298034 Tim 0 to-read 3.95 Algorithms and Data Structures for Massive Datasets
author: Dzejla Medjedovic
name: Tim
average rating: 3.95
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rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/28
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]]> <![CDATA[The Trading Game: A Confession]]> 188543465
'If you were gonna rob a bank, and you saw the vault door there, left open, what would you do? Would you wait around?

Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs on the streets of East London in the shadow of Canary Wharf's skyscrapers, Gary wanted something better. Something a whole lot bigger.

Then he won a competition run by a 'The Trading Game'. The a golden ticket to a new life, as the youngest trader in the whole city. A place where you could make more money than you'd ever imagined. Where your colleagues are dysfunctional maths geniuses, overfed public schoolboys and borderline psychopaths, yet they start to feel like family. Where soon you're the bank's most profitable trader, dealing in nearly a trillion dollars. A day . Where you dream of numbers in your sleep - and then stop sleeping at all.

But what happens when winning starts to feel like losing? When the easiest way to make money is to bet on millions becoming poorer and poorer - and, as the economy starts slipping off a precipice, your own sanity starts slipping with it? You want to stop, but you can't. Because nobody ever leaves .

Would you stick, or quit? Even if it meant risking everything?]]> 352 Gary Stevenson 0593727215 Tim 5 4.20 2024 The Trading Game: A Confession
author: Gary Stevenson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/08/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Singapore, Singapura: From Miracle to Complacency]]> 40828166
Nicholas Walton walked across the entire country in one day, to grasp what it was that made Singapore tick, and to understand the challenges that it now faces. Singapore, Singapura teases out the island's story, from mercantilist Raffles and British colonial rule, through the war years, to independence and the building of the current miracle.

There are challenges ahead, from public complacency and the constraints of authoritarian democracy to changing geographic realities and the difficulties of balancing migration in such a tiny state. Singapore's second half-century will be just as exacting as the one since independence--as Walton warns, talk of a "Singapore model" for our hyper-globalized world must face these realities.]]> 224 Nicholas Walton 1787380106 Tim 0 currently-reading, asia 3.55 Singapore, Singapura: From Miracle to Complacency
author: Nicholas Walton
name: Tim
average rating: 3.55
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/14
shelves: currently-reading, asia
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]]> The Giant on the Skyline 196043235
'Clover's writing is sensationally beautiful.' Laura Cumming

'Stroud's writing is knife-sharp, beautiful and profound.' Madeline Miller

'I love Clover Stroud's writing. It feels like she's mining for treasure, drilling down with lyrical prose, getting to the thing that makes us human.' Christie Watson
........................................................................................................................................................................................................

What is it that makes a home? What is a home without the roots that tie you to a place? What is a home when a family is split?

Clover's eldest children are leaving home for university. Her husband Pete's work is in America. The only way for Clover and the younger children to live with him is to uproot, leave their rural life near the ancient Ridgeway in Oxfordshire and move to Washington DC. Forced to leave the home she loves and consider these questions, Clover sets out to explore the place where she lives, walk the Ridgway, understand a little of the history of her landscape and work out why it is that it is so hard for her to go. In doing so she paints a beautifully layered portrait of family, community and of belonging in a landscape that has drawn people to it for generation after generation.]]> 329 Clover Stroud 1529197473 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.03 The Giant on the Skyline
author: Clover Stroud
name: Tim
average rating: 4.03
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rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Learning Advanced Python by Studying Open Source Projects (Chapman & Hall/CRC The Python Series)]]> 157094129 138 Rongpeng Li 1032328169 Tim 0 currently-reading 0.0 Learning Advanced Python by Studying Open Source Projects (Chapman & Hall/CRC The Python Series)
author: Rongpeng Li
name: Tim
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/13
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]]> Geometry for Programmers 61294688 Master the math behind CAD, game engines, GIS, and more! This hands-on book teaches you the geometry used to create simulations, 3D prints, and other models of the physical world.

In Geometry for Programmers you will learn how to:

Speak the language of applied geometry Compose geometric transformations economically Craft custom splines for efficient curves and surface generation Pick and implement the right geometric transformations Confidently use important algorithms that operate on triangle meshes, distance functions, and voxels
Geometry for Programmers guides you through the math behind graphics and modeling tools. It’s full of practical examples and clear explanations that make sense even if you don’t have a background in advanced math. You’ll learn how basic geometry can help you avoid code layering and repetition, and even how to drive down cloud hosting costs with more efficient runtimes. Cheerful language, charts, illustrations, equations, and Python code help make geometry instantly relevant to your daily work as a developer.

Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

About the Technology

Geometry is at the heart of game engines, robotics, computer-aided design, GIS, and image processing. This book draws back what is for some a mathematical curtain, giving them insight and control over this central tool. You’ll quickly see how a little geometry can help you design realistic simulations, translate the physical world into code, and even reduce your cloud services bill by improving the efficiency of graphics-intensive applications.

About the Book

Geometry for Programmers is both practical and entertaining. Fun illustrations and engaging examples show you how to apply geometry to real programming problems, like changing a scan into a CAD model or developing 3D printing contours from a parametric function. And don’t worry if you aren’t a math expert. There’s no heavy theory, and you’ll learn how to offload most equations to the SymPy computer algebra system.

What’s Inside

Speak the language of applied geometry Compose geometric transformations economically Craft custom splines for efficient curves and surface generation Confidently use geometry algorithms
About the Reader

Examples are in Python, and all you need is high school–level math.

About the Author

Oleksandr Kaleniuk is the creator of Words and Buttons Online, a collection of interactive tutorials on math and programming.

Table of Contents

1 Getting started
2 Terminology and jargon
3 The geometry of linear equations
4 Projective geometric transformations
5 The geometry of calculus
6 Polynomial approximation and interpolation
7 Splines
8 Nonlinear transformations and surfaces
9 The geometry of vector algebra
10 Modeling shapes with signed distance functions and surrogates
11 Modeling surfaces with boundary representations and triangle meshes
12 Modeling bodies with images and voxels]]> 440 Oleksandr Kaleniuk 1633439607 Tim 0 to-read 4.50 Geometry for Programmers
author: Oleksandr Kaleniuk
name: Tim
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cage Kings: How an Unlikely Group of Moguls, Champions & Hustlers Transformed the UFC into a $10 Billion Industry]]> 62918071 A “propulsive and wildly engrossing� (Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store) account of how the UFC turned mixed martial arts into a multibillion-dollar business and global pop culture phenomenon.Decried as “human cockfighting� by Senator John McCain and dismissed by the New York Times as a “pay-per-view prism� onto the decline of Western civilization, the UFC seemed by 2000 to be bleeding out. The cage fighting promotion had been banned in thirty-six states and was struggling to cover production costs for its next event. But three buddies in Las Vegas—an ambitious personal trainer and two young casino heirs—saw something else in the a vision of the future. Over the next two decades, the trio would transform the company into one of the most valuable sports properties in the world, worth more than the Beatles catalog or the New York Yankees. And along the way, they would also transform the lives of some of the sport’s biggest stars, both for better and worse. A “captivating� (Christopher Leonard, author of The Lords of Easy Money) behind-the-scenes account of a once-reviled subculture’s strange path to pop legitimacy, Cage Kings embeds you in a world of desperate fighters, audacious promoters, fanboy bloggers, fatherly trainers, philosophical announcers, hustling sponsors, and three improbable twentysomething corporate titans on a darkly comic odyssey to normalize a new level of brutality in American pop culture—and make a fortune doing so. For in an era of generational poverty, eroding labor rights, radical media transformations, simmering political grievances, and an obsession with winning at any cost, the spectacle of two people fighting in a cage for another few months� wages suddenly seemed to make sense. Stylishly written and poignantly observed, this “must-read for fans and the simply curious alike� (Matthew Polly, author of American Shaolin) offers a provocative look at how the hollowing out of the American dream and the violence of modern capitalism left us ready to embrace a sport like cage fighting.]]> 620 Michael Thomsen 150119853X Tim 0 to-read 4.03 Cage Kings: How an Unlikely Group of Moguls, Champions & Hustlers Transformed the UFC into a $10 Billion Industry
author: Michael Thomsen
name: Tim
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[My Trade Is Mystery: Seven Meditations from a Life in Writing]]> 60747390
“Illuminating, deeply endearing essays.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post
Ěý
“A lovely, loving letter to aspiring writers.”—Diego Báez, Booklist
Ěý
In these intimate and eloquent meditations, the award-winning poet Carl Phillips shares lessons he has learned about the writing life, an “apprenticeship to what can never fully be mastered.� Drawing on forty years of teaching and mentoring emerging writers, he weaves his experiences as a poet with the necessary survival skills, including ambition, stamina, silence, politics, practice, audience, and community.
Ěý
In the tradition of Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird , Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet , and Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations , this is an invaluable companion for writers at every stage of their journey. Phillips’s book serves as a partner in speculation and an invitation to embrace mystery.]]> 112 Carl Phillips 0300257872 Tim 0 currently-reading, poetry 4.41 My Trade Is Mystery: Seven Meditations from a Life in Writing
author: Carl Phillips
name: Tim
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/05
shelves: currently-reading, poetry
review:

]]> <![CDATA[American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970]]> 907122 548 Thomas P. Hughes 0226359271 Tim 0 to-read 3.87 1989 American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970
author: Thomas P. Hughes
name: Tim
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> Empire 88867 In this extraordinarily powerful epic Gore Vidal recreates America's Gilded Age—a period of promise and possibility, of empire-building and fierce political rivalries. In a vivid and breathtaking work of fiction, where the fortunes of a sister and brother intertwine with the fates of the generation, their country, and some of the greatest names of their day, including President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, William and Henry James, the Astors, the Vanderbilts, and the Whitneys, Gore Vidal sweeps us from the nineteenth century into the twentieth, from the salvaged republic of Lincoln to a nation boldly reaching for the world.


From the Paperback edition.]]> 496 Gore Vidal 037570874X Tim 0 to-read 3.85 1987 Empire
author: Gore Vidal
name: Tim
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood]]> 82872
Here are two vastly different Peru—earthquake-prone, charged with ghosts of history and mythology—and the sprawling prairie lands of Wyoming. In these rich terrains resides a colorful cast of family members who bring Arana’s historia to life...her proud grandfather who one day simply stopped coming down the stairs; her dazzling grandmother, “clicking through the house as if she were making her way onstage.� But most important are Arana’s he a brilliant engineer, she a gifted musician. For more than half a century these two passionate, strong-willed people struggled to overcome the bicultural tensions in their marriage and, finally, to prevail.]]> 309 Marie Arana 0385319630 Tim 0 currently-reading 3.69 2001 American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood
author: Marie Arana
name: Tim
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/11
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing]]> 192723955
What is the work of art? In this guided tour inside the artist’s head, Adam Moss traces the evolution of transcendent novels, paintings, jokes, movies, songs, and more. Weaving conversations with some of the most accomplished artists of our time together with the journal entries, napkin doodles, and sketches that were their tools, Moss breaks down the work—the tortuous paths and artistic decisions—that led to great art. From first glimmers to second thoughts, roads not taken, crises, breakthroughs, on to one triumphant finish after another.

Featuring: Kara Walker, Tony Kushner, Roz Chast, Michael Cunningham, Moses Sumney, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Sondheim, Susan Meiselas, Louise GlĂĽck, Maria de Los Angeles, Nico Muhly, Thomas Bartlett, Twyla Tharp, John Derian, Barbara Kruger, David Mandel, Gregory Crewdson, Marie Howe, Gay Talese, Cheryl Pope, Samin Nosrat, Joanna Quinn & Les Mills, Wesley Morris, Amy Sillman, Andrew Jarecki, Rostam, Ira Glass, Simphiwe Ndzube, Dean Baquet & Tom Bodkin, Max Porter, Elizabeth Diller, Ian Adelman / Calvin Seibert, Tyler Hobbs, Marc Jacobs, Grady West (Dina Martina), Will Shortz, Sheila Heti, Gerald Lovell, Jody Williams & Rita Sodi, Taylor Mac & Machine Dazzle, David Simon, George Saunders, Suzan-Lori Parks]]> 432 Adam Moss 059329758X Tim 0 currently-reading 4.20 The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing
author: Adam Moss
name: Tim
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/11
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension]]> 181346634
There’s Always This Year is a triumph, brimming with joy, pain, solidarity, comfort, outrage, and hope. No matter the subject of his keen focus—whether it's basketball, or music, or performance—Hanif Abdurraqib’s exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves.]]> 334 Hanif Abdurraqib 0593448790 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.32 2024 There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
author: Hanif Abdurraqib
name: Tim
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[LatinoLand: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority]]> 176530628 A sweeping yet personal overview of the Latino population of America, drawn from hundreds of interviews and prodigious research that emphasizes the diversity and little-known history of our largest and fastest-growing minority.

LatinoLand is an exceptional, all-encompassing overview of Hispanic America based on personal interviews, deep research, and Marie Arana’s life experience as a Latina. At present, Latinos comprise 20% of the US population, a number that is growing. Census reports project that by 2050, one in every three Americans will claim Latino heritage.

But Latinos do not represent a single group. The largest numbers are Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, and Cubans. Each has a different cultural and political background. Puerto Ricans, for example, are US citizens, whereas some Mexican Americans never immigrated because the US-Mexico border shifted after the US invasion of 1848, incorporating what is now the entire southwest of the United States.

Cubans came in two great waves—those escaping communism in the early years of Castro, many of whom were professionals and wealthy, and those permitted to leave in the Mariel boat lift 20 years later, representing some of the poorest Cubans, including prisoners.

As LatinoLand shows, Latinos were some of the earliest immigrants to what is now the US—some of them arriving in the 1500s. They are racially diverse, a random fusion of White, Black, Indigenous, and Asian. Once overwhelmingly Catholic, they are becoming increasingly Protestant and Evangelical. They range from domestic workers and day laborers to successful artists, corporate CEOs, and US senators. Formerly solidly Democratic, they now vote Republican in growing numbers. They are as varied culturally as any immigrants from Europe or Asia.

Marie Arana draws on her own experience as the daughter of an American mother and Peruvian father who came to the US at age nine, straddling two worlds, as many Latinos do. LatinoLand unabashedly celebrates Latino resilience and character and shows us why we must understand the fastest-growing minority in America.]]> 573 Marie Arana 1982184914 Tim 0 4.31 2024 LatinoLand: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority
author: Marie Arana
name: Tim
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/11
shelves: currently-reading, geopolitics
review:

]]> Real Americans 62929342 Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than answers.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.

Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made, and if so, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?

From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin: How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family, and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures? ]]> 399 Rachel Khong 0593537254 Tim 0 currently-reading 3.93 2024 Real Americans
author: Rachel Khong
name: Tim
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations]]> 51122895
Named Energy Writer of the Year for The New Map by the American Energy Society

â€� A master class on how the world works.”Ěý—NPR

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and global energy expert, Daniel Yergin offers a revelatory new account of how energy revolutions, climate battles, and geopolitics are mapping our future

The world is being shaken by the collision of energy, climate change, and the clashing power of nations in a time of global crisis. Out of this tumult is emerging a new map of energy and geopolitics. The “shale revolution� in oil and gas has transformed the American economy, ending the “era of shortage� but introducing a turbulent new era. Almost overnight, the United States has become the world's number one energy powerhouse. Yet concern about energy's role in climate change is challenging the global economy and way of life, accelerating a second energy revolution in the search for a low-carbon future. All of this has been made starker and more urgent by the coronavirus pandemic and the economic dark age that it has wrought.

World politics is being upended, as a new cold war develops between the United States and China, and the rivalry grows more dangerous with Russia, which is pivoting east toward Beijing. Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping are converging both on energy and on challenging American leadership, as China projects its power and influence in all directions. The South China Sea, claimed by China and the world's most critical trade route, could become the arena where the United States and China directly collide. The map of the Middle East, which was laid down after World War I, is being challenged by jihadists, revolutionary Iran, ethnic and religious clashes, and restive populations. But the region has also been shocked by the two recent oil price collapses--and by the very question of oil's future in the rest of this century.

A master storyteller and global energy expert, Daniel Yergin takes the reader on an utterly riveting and timely journey across the world's new map. He illuminates the great energy and geopolitical questions in an era of rising political turbulence and points to the profound challenges that lie ahead.]]> 512 Daniel Yergin 1594206430 Tim 3 economics, geopolitics 4.16 2020 The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
author: Daniel Yergin
name: Tim
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2020/11/22
date added: 2024/05/11
shelves: economics, geopolitics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Understanding Software Dynamics (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series)]]> 57850403
From mobile and cloud apps to video games to driverless vehicle control, more and more software is time-constrained: It must deliver reliable results seamlessly, consistently, and virtually instantaneously. If it doesn't, customers are unhappy--and sometimes lives are put at risk. When complex software underperforms or fails, software engineers need to identify and address the root causes. This is difficult and, historically, few tools have been available to help.

In Understanding Software Dynamics , performance expert Richard L. Sites tackles the problem head on, offering expert methods and advanced tools for understanding complex, time-constrained software dynamics, improving reliability and troubleshooting challenging performance problems.

Sites draws on several decades of experience pioneering software performance optimization, as well as extensive experience teaching graduate-level developers. He introduces principles and techniques for use in any environment, from embedded devices to datacenters, illuminating them with examples based on x86 or ARM processors running Linux and linked by Ethernet. He also guides readers through building and applying a powerful, new, extremely low-overhead open-source software tool, KUtrace, to precisely trace executions on every CPU core. Using insights gleaned from this tool, readers can apply nuanced solutions--not merely brute-force techniques such as turning off caches or cores.
Understanding Software Dynamics will be valuable to experienced software professionals, including application and OS developers, hardware and system architects, real-time system designers, and game developers, as well as advanced students.

Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.]]> 464 Richard L. Sites 0137589735 Tim 0 to-read 4.03 Understanding Software Dynamics (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series)
author: Richard L. Sites
name: Tim
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food]]> 123979561 The world’s most sophisticated gastronomic culture, brilliantly presented through a banquet of thirty Chinese dishes.

Chinese was the earliest truly global cuisine. When the first Chinese laborers began to settle abroad, restaurants appeared in their wake. Yet Chinese has the curious distinction of being both one of the world’s best-loved culinary traditions and one of the least understood. For more than a century, the overwhelming dominance of a simplified form of Cantonese cooking ensured that few foreigners experienced anything of its richness and sophistication―but today that is beginning to change. In Invitation to a Banquet, award-winning cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores the history, philosophy, and techniques of Chinese culinary culture. In each chapter, she examines a classic dish, from mapo tofu to Dongpo pork, knife-scraped noodles to braised pomelo pith, to reveal a distinctive aspect of Chinese gastronomy, whether it’s the importance of the soybean, the lure of exotic ingredients, or the history of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. Meeting food producers, chefs, gourmets, and home cooks as she tastes her way across the country, Fuchsia invites readers to join her on an unforgettable journey into Chinese food as it is cooked, eaten, and considered in its homeland. Weaving together history, mouthwatering descriptions of food, and on-the-ground research conducted over the course of three decades, Invitation to a Banquet is a lively, landmark tribute to the pleasures and mysteries of Chinese cuisine.]]> 480 Fuchsia Dunlop 0393867137 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.25 2023 Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food
author: Fuchsia Dunlop
name: Tim
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China]]> 1195268 320 Fuchsia Dunlop 0091918308 Tim 5 4.07 2008 Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China
author: Fuchsia Dunlop
name: Tim
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/29
date added: 2024/03/29
shelves:
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]]> Private Equity: A Memoir 195267508 A gripping memoir of one woman’s self-discovery inside a top Wall Street firm, and an urgent indictment of privilege, extreme wealth, and work culture

When we meet Carrie Sun, she can’t shake the feeling that she’s wasting her life. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Carrie excelled in school, graduated early from MIT, and climbed the corporate ladder, all in pursuit of the American dream. But at twenty-nine, she’s left her analyst job, dropped out of an MBA program, and is trapped in an unhappy engagement. So when she gets the rare opportunity to work at one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world, she knows she can’t say no. Fourteen interviews later, she’s in.

Carrie is the sole assistant to the firm’s billionaire founder. She manages his work life, becoming the right hand to an investor who can move mountains and markets with a single phone call. Eager to impress, she dives headfirst into the firm’s culture, which values return on time above all else. A luxury-laden world opens up for her, and Carrie learns that money can solve nearly everything.

Playing the game at the highest levels, amid the ultimate winners in our winner-take-all economy, Carrie soon finds her identity swallowed whole by work. With her physical and mental health deteriorating, she begins to rethink what it actually means to waste one’s life. A searing examination of our relationship to work, Carrie’s story illuminates the struggle for balance in a world of extremes: efficiency and excess, status and aspiration, power and fortune. Private Equity is a universal tale of self-invention from a dazzling new voice, daring to ask what we’re willing to sacrifice to get to the top—and what it might take to break free and leave it all behind.]]> 352 Carrie Sun 0593654994 Tim 5 3.54 2024 Private Equity: A Memoir
author: Carrie Sun
name: Tim
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/19
date added: 2024/02/19
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]]> <![CDATA[War in Val d'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944]]> 835779 239 Iris Origo 0879234768 Tim 0 to-read 4.17 1947 War in Val d'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944
author: Iris Origo
name: Tim
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1947
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Earth, Four or Five Worlds: Reflections on Contemporary History]]> 1194386 213 Octavio Paz 0586091750 Tim 0 to-read 4.00 1983 One Earth, Four or Five Worlds: Reflections on Contemporary History
author: Octavio Paz
name: Tim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Extreme Mobile: Innovative Techniques for Crafting Customizable Mobile Apps Using iOS Frameworks]]> 199016969 Book Description

Designing exceptional, versatile, and efficient mobile apps is crucial to compete and succeed in the fiercely competitive mobile app space.

Extreme Mobile employs a hands-on approach to demonstrate state-of-the-art programming techniques for developing reusable, configurable, brandable, and localizable iOS mobile apps. The book starts with basic concepts for creating customizable software by leveraging iOS Frameworks. Each subsequent chapter adds complexity to the apps being developed, at a pace that’s both clear and comprehensible. The book utilizes Swift Protocols, the Model-View-ViewModel design pattern, Dependency Injection, Combine, Storyboards, and SwiftUI. Techniques for dynamically integrating iOS frameworks are also showcased. The book concludes with the creation of distinct apps using the developed frameworks, all without the need for code changes.

Who this book is for

This book is intended for intermediate software developers with a basic understanding of Xcode, iOS SDK, Swift, and Storyboards.

Table of ContentsDesigning Frameworks Using Protocols & UIKitDesigning Frameworks Using Model-View-ViewModel, Local Services, & UIKitDesigning Frameworks Using Model-View-ViewModel, Dependency Injection, Combine, Remote Services, & UIKitDesigning Frameworks Using Model-View-ViewModel, Dependency Injection, Combine, Mock Services, Core Data, In-App Purchases, & SwiftUIDesigning Frameworks Using In-App Purchases and UIKitDriving Feature Enablement in Frameworks Using In-App PurchasesIntegrating Frameworks Dynamically - ScratchTraxApp1Integrating Frameworks Dynamically - ScratchTraxApp2LocalizationBrandingDistribution and Integration]]> 220 Charlie Cocchiaro Tim 0 currently-reading 5.00 Extreme Mobile: Innovative Techniques for Crafting Customizable Mobile Apps Using iOS Frameworks
author: Charlie Cocchiaro
name: Tim
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building]]> 63063173
“Whether you are a new manager or a CEO, there are going to be moments when you feel alone and need help. Odds are, the advice you need is in Scaling People . You are going to pull this book off your shelf over and over!"
Ěý —Kim Scott, New York Times bestselling author of Radical Candor and Just Work

A leader at both Google and Stripe from their early days, Claire Hughes Johnson has worked with founders and company builders to try to replicate their success. The most common questions she’s asked are not about business strategy—they’re about how to scale the operating structures and people systems of a rapidly growing startup.

Scaling People is a practical and empathetic guide to being an effective leader and manager in a high-growth environment. The tactical information it puts forward—including guidance on crafting foundational documents, strategic and financial planning, hiring and team development, and feedback and performance mechanisms—can be applied to companies of any size, in any industry. Scaling People includes dozens of pages of worksheets, templates, exercises, and example documents to help founders, leaders, and company builders create scalable operating systems and lightweight processes that really work.

Implementing effective leadership and management practices takes effort and discipline, but the reward is a sustainable, scalable company that’s set up for long-term success. Scaling People is a detailed roadmap for company builders to put the right operating systems and structures in place to scale the most important resource a company its people.]]> 480 Claire Hughes Johnson 1953953212 Tim 2 4.23 Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building
author: Claire Hughes Johnson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Ambition and Identity: Chinese Merchant Elites in Colonial Manila, 1880�1916]]> 3180395 320 Andrew Wilson 0824826507 Tim 0 3.50 2004 Ambition and Identity: Chinese Merchant Elites in Colonial Manila, 1880–1916
author: Andrew Wilson
name: Tim
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves: currently-reading, asia, history
review:

]]> No Feast Lasts Forever 2753848 313 Wellington Koo 0812905733 Tim 0 4.09 1975 No Feast Lasts Forever
author: Wellington Koo
name: Tim
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves: currently-reading, asia, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[From Predators to Icons: Exposing the Myth of the Business Hero]]> 6615873
In contrast to the familiar image of the entrepreneur as a visionary with a plan, Villette and Vuillermot instead discover a far less dramatic process of improvised adaptations gradually assembled into a coherent course of conduct. And rather than being risk-takers, those who are most successful in business are risk-minimizers. Huge gains, these case studies reveal, are most reliably obtained in circumstances where the entrepreneur has established careful provisions for risk reduction. As for the view that innovation makes success possible, the authors find that because innovation is an expensive process that takes a long time to produce profits, innovators first of all require capital; success makes innovation possible. The necessary resources, they show, are most often derived from what they provocatively term "predation": ruthlessly taking advantage of imperfections, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities within the market or among competitors. Finally, From Predator to Icon considers the "practical ethics" implemented during the phase in which capital is most rapidly accumulated, as well as the social consequences of these activities. Drawing on interviews with some of their subjects and, crucially, close readings of the authorized biographies and other hagiographic accounts of these figures, which eliminates the bias of malicious interpretations, Villette and Vuillermot provide revelatory insights about the creation and maintenance of business wealth that will be profitably read by both the captains and the critics of contemporary capitalism.]]> 272 Michel Villette 080147566X Tim 0 to-read 4.00 2009 From Predators to Icons: Exposing the Myth of the Business Hero
author: Michel Villette
name: Tim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life]]> 18775383
Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale’s admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to "practical" subjects like economics and computer science, students are losing the ability to think in innovative ways. Deresiewicz explains how college should be a time for self-discovery, when students can establish their own values and measures of success, so they can forge their own path. He addresses parents, students, educators, and anyone who's interested in the direction of American society, featuring quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and clearly presenting solutions.]]> 245 William Deresiewicz 1476702713 Tim 4 3.85 2014 Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
author: William Deresiewicz
name: Tim
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2017/09/17
date added: 2023/08/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation]]> 101162222 An in-depth exploration of the vibrant food and culture of Taiwan, including never-before-seen exclusive recipes and gorgeous photography.

Taipei-based food journalist Clarissa Wei presents Made in Taiwan, a cookbook that celebrates the island nation’s unique culinary identity—despite a refusal by the Chinese government to recognize its sovereignty. The expansive book contains deeply researched essays and more than 100 recipes inspired by the people who live in Taiwan today.

For generations, Taiwanese cuisine has been miscategorized under the broad umbrella term of Chinese food. Backed with historical evidence and interviews, Wei makes a case for why Taiwanese food should get its own spotlight. Made in Taiwan includes classics like Peddler Noodles, Braised Minced Pork Belly, and Three-Cup Chicken, and features authentic, never-before-seen recipes and techniques like how to make stinky tofu from scratch and broth tips from an award-winning beef noodle soup master.

Made in Taiwan is an earnest reflection of what the food is like in modern-day Taiwan from the perspective of the people who have lived there for generations. It is the story of a proud nation—a self-sufficient collective of people who continue to forge on despite unprecedented ambiguity.]]> 343 Clarissa Wei 1982198982 Tim 5 4.62 Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation
author: Clarissa Wei
name: Tim
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/07/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Children of the Night: The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania]]> 58808305 Misha Glenny 'Will leave you astonished, exhausted and curious... An unapologetic page turner' Spectator 'Essential reading for anyone interested in Romania past and present' John Simpson 'An engaging introduction to the rich history [of Romania]' New StatesmanBalanced precariously on the shifting fault line between East and West, Romania's past is one of the great untold stories of modern Europe. The country that gave us Vlad Dracula, and whose citizens consider themselves descendants of ancient Rome, has traditionally preferred the status of enigmatic outsider. But it has experienced some of the most disastrous leaderships of the last century.After a relatively benign period led by a dutiful King and his vivacious British-born Queen, the country oscillated wildly. Its interwar rulers form a gallery of bizarre the corrupt and mentally unbalanced King Carol; the fascist death cult led by Corneliu Codreanu; the vain General Ion Antonescu. After 1945 power was handed to Romania's tiny communist party, under which it experienced severe repression, purges and collectivisation. Then in 1965, Nicolae Ceau?escu came to power. And thus began the strangest dictatorship of all.]]> 544 Paul Kenyon Tim 0 to-read 4.64 2021 Children of the Night: The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania
author: Paul Kenyon
name: Tim
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Korea: A New History of South and North]]> 62834771 Ěý
Korea has a long, riveting history—it is also a divided nation. South Korea is a vibrant democracy, the tenth largest economy, and is home to a world-renowned culture. North Korea is ruled by the most authoritarian regime in the world, a poor country in a rich region, and is best known for the cult of personality surrounding the ruling Kim family. But both Koreas share a unique common history.
Ěý
Victor Cha and Ramon Pacheco Pardo draw on decades of research to explore the history of modern Korea, from the late nineteenth century, Japanese occupation, and Cold War division to the present day. A small country caught amongst the world’s largest powers—including China, Japan, Russia, and the United States—Korea’s fate has been closely connected to its geography and the strength of its leadership and society. This comprehensive history sheds light on the evolving identities of the two Koreas, explaining the sharp differences between North and South, and prospects for unification.]]> 276 Victor D. Cha 0300259816 Tim 0 to-read 4.24 2023 Korea: A New History of South and North
author: Victor D. Cha
name: Tim
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Everything Blueprint: The Microchip Design that Changed the World]]> 63251885 **A Financial Times Best Summer Book 2023**

Out a gripping look at the rise of the microchip and the British tech company behind the blueprint to it all.

'A gripping and inspiring read.' Sir James Dyson

'A revealing and insightful biography of the company whose blueprints define the digital world.' Chris Miller, author of CHIP The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology

'[A] sparkly corporate biography.' Financial Times
__________

One tiny device lies at the heart of the world's relentless technological the microchip. Today, these slivers of silicon are essential to running just about any machine, from household devices and factory production lines to smartphones and cutting-edge weaponry.

At the centre of billions of these chips is a blueprint created and nurtured by a single Arm.

Founded in Cambridge in 1990, Arm's designs have been used an astonishing 250 billion times and counting. The UK's high-tech crown jewel is an indispensable part of a global supply chain driven by American brains and Asian manufacturing brawn that has become the source of rising geopolitical tension.

With exclusive interviews and exhaustive research, The Everything Blueprint tells the story of Arm, from humble beginnings to its pivotal role in the mobile phone revolution and now supplying data centres, cars and the supercomputers that harness artificial intelligence.

It explores the company's enduring relationship with Apple and numerous other tech titans, plus its multi-billion-pound sale to the one-time richest man in the world, Japan's Masayoshi Son.

The Everything Blueprint details the titanic power struggle for control of the microchip, through the eyes of a unique British enterprise that has found itself in the middle of that battle.
__________]]> 423 James Ashton 1529394058 Tim 0 currently-reading 3.92 The Everything Blueprint: The Microchip Design that Changed the World
author: James Ashton
name: Tim
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/16
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology]]> 60321447
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everythingâ€� from missiles to microwaves, smartphones to the stock market â€� runs on chips. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower. Now, America's edge isĚýslipping, undermined by competitors in Taiwan, Korea,ĚýEurope, and, above all, China. Today, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more money each year importing chips than it spends importing oil,Ěýis pouring billions into a chip-building initiative to catch up to the US. At stake is America's military superiority and economic prosperity.

Economic historian Chris Miller explains how the semiconductor came to play a critical role in modern life and how the U.S. become dominant in chip design and manufacturing and applied this technology to military systems. America's victory in the Cold War and its global military dominance stems from its ability to harness computing power more effectively than any other power. But here, too, China is catching up, with its chip-building ambitions and military modernization going hand in hand.ĚýAmerica has let key components of the chip-building process slip out of its grasp, contributing not only to a worldwide chip shortage but also a new Cold War with a superpower adversary that is desperate to bridge the gap.

Illuminating, timely, and fascinating, Chip War shows that, to make sense of the current state of politics, economics, and technology, we must first understand the vital role played by chips.]]> 464 Chris Miller 1982172002 Tim 0 4.38 2022 Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
author: Chris Miller
name: Tim
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/12
shelves: currently-reading, geopolitics, tech_history
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]]> The Great Reclamation 60462539 Set against a changing Singapore, a sweeping novel about one boy's unique gifts and the childhood love that will complicate the fate of his community and country

Ah Boon is born into a fishing village amid the heat and beauty of twentieth-century coastal Singapore in the waning years of British rule. He is a gentle boy who is not much interested in fishing, preferring to spend his days playing with the neighbor girl, Siok Mei. But when he discovers he has the unique ability to locate bountiful, movable islands that no one else can find, he feels a new sense of obligation and possibility--something to offer the community and impress the spirited girl he has come to love.

By the time they are teens, Ah Boon and Siok Mei are caught in the tragic sweep of history: the Japanese army invades, the resistance rises, grief intrudes, and the future of the fishing village is in jeopardy. As the nation hurtles toward rebirth, the two friends, newly empowered, must decide who they want to be, and what they are willing to give up.

An aching love story and powerful coming-of-age that reckons with the legacy of British colonialism, the World War II Japanese occupation, and the pursuit of modernity, The Great Reclamation confronts the wounds of progress, the sacrifices of love, and the difficulty of defining home when nature and nation collide, literally shifting the land beneath people's feet.]]> 464 Rachel Heng 059342011X Tim 5 3.99 2023 The Great Reclamation
author: Rachel Heng
name: Tim
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/12
date added: 2023/07/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World]]> 61030740
For decades, a single, free-market philosophy has dominated global economics. But this intellectual monoculture is bland and unhealthy.

Bestselling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang makes challenging economic ideas delicious by plating them alongside stories about food from around the world, using the diverse histories behind familiar food items to explore economic theory. For Chang, chocolate is a lifelong addiction, but more exciting are the insights it offers into postindustrial knowledge economies; and while okra makes Southern gumbo heart-meltingly smooth, it also speaks of capitalism’s entangled relationship with freedom.Ěý

Myth-busting, witty, and thought-provoking, Edible Economics serves up a feast of bold ideas about globalization, climate change, immigration, austerity, automation, and why carrots need not be orange. It shows that getting to grips with the economy is like learning a recipe: when we understand it, we can adapt and improve it—and better understand our world.
Ěý]]> 224 Ha-Joon Chang 1541700546 Tim 5 3.81 2022 Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World
author: Ha-Joon Chang
name: Tim
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/12
date added: 2023/07/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Essentials of Compilation: An Incremental Approach in Racket]]> 61190353 A hands-on approach to understanding and building compilers.

Compilers are notoriously some of the most difficult programs to teach and understand. Most books about compilers dedicate one chapter to each progressive stage, a structure that hides how language features motivate design choices. By contrast, this innovative textbook provides an incremental approach that allows students to write every single line of code themselves. Essentials of Compilation guides the reader in constructing their own compiler for a small but powerful programming language, adding complex language features as the book progresses. Jeremy Siek explains the essential concepts, algorithms, and data structures that underlie modern compilers and lays the groundwork for future study of advanced topics. Already in wide use by students and professionals alike, this rigorous but accessible book invites readers to learn by doing.


Deconstructs the challenge of compiler construction into bite-sized pieces
Enhances learning by connecting language features to compiler design choices
Develops understanding of how programs are mapped onto computer hardware
Learn-by-doing approach suitable for students and professionals
Proven in the classroom
Extensive ancillary resources include source code and solutions]]> 240 Jeremy G. Siek 0262047764 Tim 0 to-read 4.33 Essentials of Compilation: An Incremental Approach in Racket
author: Jeremy G. Siek
name: Tim
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Four Laws That Drive the Universe (Very Short Introductions)]]> 1853781 Written by Peter Atkins, one of the worlds leading authorities on thermodynamics, this powerful and compact introduction explains what these four laws are and how they work, using accessible language and virtually no mathematics. Guiding the reader a step at a time, Atkins begins with Zeroth (so named because the first two laws were well established before scientists realized that a third law, relating to temperature, should precede them--hence the jocular name zeroth), and proceeds through the First, Second, and Third Laws, offering a clear account of concepts such as the availability of work and the conservation of energy. Atkins ranges from the fascinating theory of entropy (revealing how its unstoppable rise constitutes the engine of the universe), through the concept of free energy, and to the brink, and then beyond the brink, of absolute zero.
C.P. Snow once remarked that not knowing the second law of thermodynamics is like never having read a work by Shakespeare. This brief but brilliant book introduces general readers to one of the cornerstones of modern science, four laws that are as integral to the well-educated mind as such great dramatic works as Hamlet or Macbeth.]]> 144 Peter Atkins 0199232369 Tim 0 science, physics, to-read 4.01 Four Laws That Drive the Universe (Very Short Introductions)
author: Peter Atkins
name: Tim
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/05/11
shelves: science, physics, to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry]]> 18293427
A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.’s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn’t see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.]]> 260 Gabrielle Zevin 1616203218 Tim 0 to-read 4.00 2014 The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Tim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Tim 5 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Tim
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/06
date added: 2023/05/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Linear Algebra: Theory, Intuition, Code]]> 57036788 The way linear algebra is presented in traditional textbooks is different from how professionals use linear algebra in computers to solve real-world applications in machine learning, data science, statistics, and signal processing. For example, the "determinant" of a matrix is important for linear algebra theory, but should you actually use the determinant in practical applications? The answer may surprise you!
If you are interested in learning the mathematical concepts linear algebra and matrix analysis, but also want to apply those concepts to data analyses on computers (e.g., statistics or signal processing), then this book is for you. You'll see all the math concepts implemented in MATLAB and in Python.

Unique aspects of this
- Clear and comprehensible explanations of concepts and theories in linear algebra.
- Several distinct explanations of the same ideas, which is a proven technique for learning.
- Visualization using graphs, which strengthens the geometric intuition of linear algebra.
- Implementations in MATLAB and Python. Com'on, in the real world, you never solve math problems by hand! You need to know how to implement math in software!
- Beginner to intermediate topics, including vectors, matrix multiplications, least-squares projections, eigendecomposition, and singular-value decomposition.
- Strong focus on modern applications-oriented aspects of linear algebra and matrix analysis.
- Intuitive visual explanations of diagonalization, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and singular value decomposition.
- Codes (MATLAB and Python) are provided to help you understand and apply linear algebra concepts on computers.
- ALL CODE IS DOWNLOADABLE from
- A combination of hand-solved exercises and more advanced code challenges. Math is not a spectator sport!]]> 582 Mike X. Cohen 9083136612 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.35 Linear Algebra: Theory, Intuition, Code
author: Mike X. Cohen
name: Tim
average rating: 4.35
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]]> <![CDATA[Linear Algebra and Optimization for Machine Learning: A Textbook]]> 52734743 2. Optimization and its Much of machine learning is posed as an optimization problem in which we try to maximize the accuracy of regression and classification models. The “parent problem� of optimization-centric machine learning is least-squares regression. Interestingly, this problem arises in both linear algebra and optimization, and is one of the key connecting problems of the two fields. Least-squares regression is also the starting point for support vector machines, logistic regression, and recommender systems. Furthermore, the methods for dimensionality reduction and matrix factorization also require the development of optimization methods. A general view of optimization in computational graphs is discussed together with its applications to back propagation in neural networks.
A frequent challenge faced by beginners in machine learning is the extensive background required in linear algebra and optimization. One problem is that the existing linear algebra and optimization courses are not specific to machine learning; therefore, one would typically have to complete more course material than is necessary to pick up machine learning. Furthermore, certain types of ideas and tricks from optimization and linear algebra recur more frequently in machine learning than other application-centric settings. Therefore, there is significant value in developing a view of linear algebra and optimization that is better suited to the specific perspective of machine learning.]]> 516 Charu C. Aggarwal 3030403432 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.65 Linear Algebra and Optimization for Machine Learning: A Textbook
author: Charu C. Aggarwal
name: Tim
average rating: 4.65
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]]> <![CDATA[Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction (Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning)]]> 739791 Richard Sutton and Andrew Barto provide a clear and simple account of the key ideas and algorithms of reinforcement learning. Their discussion ranges from the history of the field's intellectual foundations to the most recent developments and applications.

Reinforcement learning, one of the most active research areas in artificial intelligence, is a computational approach to learning whereby an agent tries to maximize the total amount of reward it receives when interacting with a complex, uncertain environment. In Reinforcement Learning, Richard Sutton and Andrew Barto provide a clear and simple account of the key ideas and algorithms of reinforcement learning. Their discussion ranges from the history of the field's intellectual foundations to the most recent developments and applications. The only necessary mathematical background is familiarity with elementary concepts of probability.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I defines the reinforcement learning problem in terms of Markov decision processes. Part II provides basic solution methods: dynamic programming, Monte Carlo methods, and temporal-difference learning. Part III presents a unified view of the solution methods and incorporates artificial neural networks, eligibility traces, and planning; the two final chapters present case studies and consider the future of reinforcement learning.]]> 322 Richard S. Sutton 0262193981 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.55 Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction (Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning)
author: Richard S. Sutton
name: Tim
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]]> <![CDATA[Deep Reinforcement Learning Hands-On: Apply modern RL methods to practical problems of chatbots, robotics, discrete optimization, web automation, and more]]> 50720973 New edition of the bestselling guide to deep reinforcement learning and how it’s used to solve complex real-world problems. Revised and expanded to include multi-agent methods, discrete optimization, RL in robotics, advanced exploration techniques, and more

Key FeaturesSecond edition of the bestselling introduction to deep reinforcement learning, expanded with six new chaptersLearn advanced exploration techniques including noisy networks, pseudo-count, and network distillation methodsApply RL methods to cheap hardware robotics platformsBook DescriptionDeep Reinforcement Learning Hands-On, Second Edition is an updated and expanded version of the bestselling guide to the very latest reinforcement learning (RL) tools and techniques. It provides you with an introduction to the fundamentals of RL, along with the hands-on ability to code intelligent learning agents to perform a range of practical tasks.

With six new chapters devoted to a variety of up-to-the-minute developments in RL, including discrete optimization (solving the Rubik's Cube), multi-agent methods, Microsoft's TextWorld environment, advanced exploration techniques, and more, you will come away from this book with a deep understanding of the latest innovations in this emerging field.

In addition, you will gain actionable insights into such topic areas as deep Q-networks, policy gradient methods, continuous control problems, and highly scalable, non-gradient methods. You will also discover how to build a real hardware robot trained with RL for less than $100 and solve the Pong environment in just 30 minutes of training using step-by-step code optimization.

In short, Deep Reinforcement Learning Hands-On, Second Edition, is your companion to navigating the exciting complexities of RL as it helps you attain experience and knowledge through real-world examples.

What you will learnUnderstand the deep learning context of RL and implement complex deep learning modelsEvaluate RL methods including cross-entropy, DQN, actor-critic, TRPO, PPO, DDPG, D4PG, and othersBuild a practical hardware robot trained with RL methods for less than $100Discover Microsoft's TextWorld environment, which is an interactive fiction games platformUse discrete optimization in RL to solve a Rubik's CubeTeach your agent to play Connect 4 using AlphaGo ZeroExplore the very latest deep RL research on topics including AI chatbotsDiscover advanced exploration techniques, including noisy networks and network distillation techniquesWho this book is forSome fluency in Python is assumed. Sound understanding of the fundamentals of deep learning will be helpful. This book is an introduction to deep RL and requires no background in RL

Table of ContentsWhat Is Reinforcement Learning?OpenAI GymDeep Learning with PyTorchThe Cross-Entropy MethodTabular Learning and the Bellman EquationDeep Q-NetworksHigher-Level RL librariesDQN ExtensionsWays to Speed up RLStocks Trading Using RLPolicy Gradients � an AlternativeThe Actor-Critic MethodAsynchronous Advantage Actor-CriticTraining Chatbots with RLThe TextWorld environmentWeb Navigation<]]> 828 Maxim Lapan 1838820043 Tim 0 currently-reading 3.43 Deep Reinforcement Learning Hands-On: Apply modern RL methods to practical problems of chatbots, robotics, discrete optimization, web automation, and more
author: Maxim Lapan
name: Tim
average rating: 3.43
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]]> <![CDATA[Foundations of Deep Reinforcement Learning: Theory and Practice in Python (Addison-Wesley Data & Analytics Series)]]> 49018783 The Contemporary Introduction to Deep Reinforcement Learning that Combines Theory and Practice Deep reinforcement learning (deep RL) combines deep learning and reinforcement learning, in which artificial agents learn to solve sequential decision-making problems. In the past decade deep RL has achieved remarkable results on a range of problems, from single and multiplayer games—such as Go, Atari games, and DotA 2—to robotics. Foundations of Deep Reinforcement Learning is an introduction to deep RL that uniquely combines both theory and implementation. It starts with intuition, then carefully explains the theory of deep RL algorithms, discusses implementations in its companion software library SLM Lab, and finishes with the practical details of getting deep RL to work. This guide is ideal for both computer science students and software engineers who are familiar with basic machine learning concepts and have a working understanding of Python. Understand each key aspect of a deep RL problem Explore policy- and value-based algorithms, including REINFORCE, SARSA, DQN, Double DQN, and Prioritized Experience Replay (PER) Delve into combined algorithms, including Actor-Critic and Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) Understand how algorithms can be parallelized synchronously and asynchronously Run algorithms in SLM Lab and learn the practical implementation details for getting deep RL to work Explore algorithm benchmark results with tuned hyperparameters Understand how deep RL environments are designed Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.]]> 416 Laura Graesser 0135172489 Tim 0 to-read 3.70 Foundations of Deep Reinforcement Learning: Theory and Practice in Python (Addison-Wesley Data & Analytics Series)
author: Laura Graesser
name: Tim
average rating: 3.70
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]]> <![CDATA[Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)]]> 23437156 Alternate cover of ISBN 9781627792127

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.]]> 480 Leigh Bardugo 1627792120 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.47 2015 Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Tim
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)]]> 22299763
Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.]]> 561 Leigh Bardugo Tim 0 to-read 4.58 2016 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Tim
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny]]> 128824
The company also sent along a new employee to guard its treasure. He was Jeronimus Corneliszoon, a disgraced and bankrupt man with great charisma and dangerously heretical ideas. With the help of a few disgruntled sailors, he hatched a plot to seize the ship and her riches. The mutiny might have succeeded, but in the dark morning hours of June 3, 1629, the Batavia smashed through a coral reef and ran aground on a small chain of islands near Australia. The captain and skipper escaped the wreck, and in a tiny lifeboat they set sail for Java—some 1,500 miles north—to summon help. More than 250 frightened survivors waded ashore, thankful to be alive. Unfortunately, Jeronimus and the mutineers had survived too, and the nightmare was only beginning.]]> 512 Mike Dash 0609807161 Tim 0 to-read 4.16 2002 Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny
author: Mike Dash
name: Tim
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure]]> 61102803
The world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil. In his latest and perhaps most readable book, Invention and Innovation , the prolific author—a favorite of Bill Gates—pens an insightful and fact-filled jaunt through the history of human invention. Impatient with the hype that so often accompanies innovation, Smil offers in this book a clear-eyed corrective to the overpromises that accompany everything from new cures for diseases to AI. He reminds us that even after we go quite far along the invention-development-application trajectory, we may never get anything real to deploy. Or worse, even after we have succeeded by introducing an invention, its future may be marked by underperformance, disappointment, demise, or outright harm.

Drawing on his vast breadth of scientific and historical knowledge, Smil explains the difference between invention and innovation. He then looks at three different types of inventions.

Inventions that failed to dominate as promised:

Inventions that turned disastrous:

Inventions we have long been promised (and that would be highly beneficial):

Finally, he offers a “wish list� of inventions that we most urgently need to confront the staggering challenges of the twenty-first century.

Filled with engaging examples and pragmatic approaches, this book is a sobering account of the folly that so often attends human ingenuity—and how we can, and must, better align our expectations with reality.]]> 232 Vaclav Smil 0262048051 Tim 0 to-read 3.77 2023 Invention and Innovation: A Brief History of Hype and Failure
author: Vaclav Smil
name: Tim
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/03/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Hardcore Software: Inside the Rise and Fall of the PC Revolution]]> 111060857 To be hardcore is to be wildly optimistic about what can be achieved tomorrow while harshly pessimistic about what works today. Creating software is an art. It is computer science and engineering. It is inspiration, and perspiration. It is inherently individual yet relies on a team. Most of all, building software is a group of people coming together to conjure something into existence and turning that into a product used by billions.

That is hardcore software.

HARDCORE SOFTWARE shares the ups and downs of building massive software projects used by billions of people around the world including Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows. The scale of the software increases as the narrator and participant grows, starting as an individual contributor on pioneering tools for building Windows applications then rising to leading Microsoft Office and then Microsoft Windows. Sinofsky shares his experiences creating and managing successful software as well as the lessons that come from failure. We learn the inside story of how Microsoft tackled the challenges of the rise of the internet, the creation of Windows 95 and Office 95, and the wildly successful pivot to building enterprise products as Sinofsky works for Chairman/CEO Bill Gates as technical assistant and then as a member and eventual leader and executive of the Office team. Following this is a period of challenging management and morale through the development of Office 2007 and Windows Vista. Sinofsky then moves to managing the Windows team and sees the team through the creation of the successful and stabilizing Windows 7 product followed by the controversial and ultimately unsuccessful product aimed at competing with Apple, Windows 8. Readers are offered a front row seat in the development of everything from the too-early to work Microsoft paperclip assistant, Clip-It, to the bold and successful redesign of the Office user interface, the re-energizing that came with Windows 7, and the attempted strategic reach of Windows 8. Through all of this, candor and insider are the words that best describe the colorful and detailed analysis of what went well and what could have gone better.]]> 1798 Steven Sinofsky 1667887742 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.18 Hardcore Software: Inside the Rise and Fall of the PC Revolution
author: Steven Sinofsky
name: Tim
average rating: 4.18
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]]> <![CDATA[Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues]]> 55287844
The structure of the book follows the general arc of relationships, with real-life examples from the course, the authors' work with organisations, their own personal lives and even their working relationship with each other. Focusing on relationship-building through self-awareness, engagement, communication, building trust and giving and receiving feedback, the practical takeaways and memorable concepts have been honed over decades of teaching. At the end, self-assessments help to deepen the reader's learning. It's the proven route to better, more fulfilling relationships at home and at work.]]> 322 Carole Robin 0593237102 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.28 Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues
author: Carole Robin
name: Tim
average rating: 4.28
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date added: 2023/02/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Engineers Survival Guide: Advice, tactics, and tricks After a decade of working at Facebook, Snapchat, and Microsoft]]> 59727746
There are a lot of amazing technical books out there. But what about your life as an engineer ? How you interact with others ? How happy are you with your career ?
If you've been feeling alone in your journey and keep wishing you had a friend or a mentor you could get some advice about non-technical aspects, look no further!

Inside, you will find the summary of advice, tactics, and tricks learned the hard way through many years of working on mission-critical components, complex system designs supporting billions of users, and working with thousands of the most brilliant engineers around the world.

Have a survival guide for most situations you'll be facing throughout your career as an engineer and learn how to play for the long game .

----------------------------------------------------------------

Topics Conflict resolution, finding mentors, prioritization, interviews, importance of data, visibility, failures, consensus, design discussions, how to drive meetings, adaptability, ambiguity, networking, meetings with your managers (one on ones), biggest regret, perfectionism, system design, calendar, focus blocks, office jargon, diversification, positive surroundings, being the happy coworker, working at a startup, office politics, playing for the long game]]> Merih Taze Tim 0 4.20 Engineers Survival Guide: Advice, tactics, and tricks After a decade of working at Facebook, Snapchat, and Microsoft
author: Merih Taze
name: Tim
average rating: 4.20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Handbook of Banking Technology]]> 57715654 394 Tim Walker Tim 0 currently-reading, fintech 4.50 The Handbook of Banking Technology
author: Tim Walker
name: Tim
average rating: 4.50
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rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/15
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]]> Lady Tan’s Circle of Women 62919732
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,� but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus , they tell from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? A captivating story of women helping each other, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a triumphant reimagining of the life of one person who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.]]> 352 Lisa See 1982117087 Tim 0 to-read 4.31 2023 Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
author: Lisa See
name: Tim
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/20
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]]> <![CDATA[American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer]]> 80571
J. Robert Oppenheimer is one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress.

When he proposed international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticized plans for a nuclear war, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup during the anti-Communist hysteria of the early 1950s. They declared that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America’s nuclear secrets.

In this magisterial biography twenty-five years in the making, which won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for biography, the authors capture Oppenheimer’s life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War.]]> 721 Kai Bird Tim 0 history 4.27 2005 American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
author: Kai Bird
name: Tim
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Natural Language Processing with Transformers, Revised Edition]]> 61305504
Transformers have been used to write realistic news stories, improve Google Search queries, and even create chatbots that tell corny jokes. In this guide, authors Lewis Tunstall, Leandro von Werra, and Thomas Wolf, among the creators of Hugging Face Transformers, use a hands-on approach to teach you how transformers work and how to integrate them in your applications. You'll quickly learn a variety of tasks they can help you solve.


Build, debug, and optimize transformer models for core NLP tasks, such as text classification, named entity recognition, and question answering
Learn how transformers can be used for cross-lingual transfer learning
Apply transformers in real-world scenarios where labeled data is scarce
Make transformer models efficient for deployment using techniques such as distillation, pruning, and quantization
Train transformers from scratch and learn how to scale to multiple GPUs and distributed environments]]> 691 Lewis Tunstall 1098136756 Tim 0 currently-reading, ml 4.44 Natural Language Processing with Transformers, Revised Edition
author: Lewis Tunstall
name: Tim
average rating: 4.44
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]]> <![CDATA[The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War]]> 37542581
Gordijevski käveli rauhallisesti lentokentän turvatarkastuksen läpi, mutta tyynen ulkokuoren alla kalvoi pelko. Kutsussa Moskovaan oli ollut jotain outoa, ja Gordijevskilla oli hyvä syy olla huolissaan: Neuvostoliiton uskollinen palvelija oli toiminut jo vuosia kaksoisagenttina Britannian hyväksi. Jos hän oli paljastunut, Moskovassa odotti varma kuolema.

Vakooja ja petturi on päätähuimaava tositarina petoksesta, rohkeudesta ja luopumisen tuskasta. Yksikään vakooja ei onnistunut tunkeutumaan yhtä syvälle KGB:n ytimeen ja välittämään yhtä tärkeitä tietoja lännelle kuin Oleg Gordijevski - nämä tiedot muuttivat koko kylmän sodan suunnan. Hinta oli kuitenkin kova.

Vakooja ja petturi voitti vuonna 2019 CWA:n Kultaisen tikarin parhaasta rikostietokirjasta.]]> 384 Ben Macintyre 0771060335 Tim 0 4.48 2018 The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
author: Ben Macintyre
name: Tim
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/14
shelves: currently-reading, geopolitics, history
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]]> <![CDATA[The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World]]> 822438
The renowned novelist Carlos Fuentes has crafted a unique history of the social, political, and economic forces that created the remarkable culture which stretches from the mysterious cave drawings at Altamira to the explosive graffiti on the walls of East Los Angeles.

“A bittersweet celebration of the hybrid culture of Spain in the New World…Drawing expertly on five centuries of the cultural history of Europe and the Americas, Fuentes seeks to capture the spirit of the new, vibrant, and enduring civilization [in the New World] that began in Spain."� Los Angeles Times]]> 400 Carlos Fuentes 0395924995 Tim 5 geopolitics, history, latam 4.03 1992 The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World
author: Carlos Fuentes
name: Tim
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/11
date added: 2022/12/11
shelves: geopolitics, history, latam
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]]> The New Spaniards 182129 458 John Hooper 0141016094 Tim 0 to-read 3.86 1987 The New Spaniards
author: John Hooper
name: Tim
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/05
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]]> <![CDATA[España: A Brief History of Spain]]> 60317000 Bestselling author Giles Tremlett traverses the rich and varied history of Spain, from prehistoric times to today, in a brief, accessible primer for visitors, curious readers and hispanophiles.

Spain's position on Europe's south-western corner has exposed it to cultural, political and actual winds blowing from all quadrants. Africa lies a mere nine miles to the south. The Mediterranean connects it to the civilizational currents of Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians, and Byzantines as well as the Arabic lands of the near east. Bronze Age migrants from the Russian steppe were amongst the first to arrive. They would be followed by Visigoths, Arabs, Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants. Circular winds and currents linked it to the American continent, allowing Spain to conquer and colonize much of it.

As a result, Spain has developed a sort of hybrid vigour. Whenever it has tried to deny this inevitable heterogeneity, it has required superhuman effort to fashion a 'pure' national identity â€� which has proved impossible to maintain. In ·ˇ˛ő±č˛ąĂ±˛ą, Giles Tremlett argues that, in fact, that lack of a homogenous identity is Spain's defining trait.]]> 320 Giles Tremlett 1639730575 Tim 5 history 3.93 2022 España: A Brief History of Spain
author: Giles Tremlett
name: Tim
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/05
date added: 2022/12/05
shelves: history
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]]> <![CDATA[Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and its Silent Past]]> 94797 Ěý
Ghosts of Spain is the fascinating result of that journey. In elegant and passionate prose, Tremlett unveils the tinderbox of disagreements that mark the country today. DelvingĚý into such emotional questions as who caused the Civil War, why Basque terrorists kill, why Catalans hate Madrid, and whether the Islamist bombers who killed 190 people in 2004 dreamed of a return to Spain’s Moorish past, Tremlett finds the ghosts of the past everywhere. At the same time, he offers trenchant observations on more quotidian aspects of Spanish life today: the reasons, for example, Spaniards dislike authority figures, but are cowed by a doctor’s white coat, and how women have embraced feminism without men noticing.
Ěý
Drawing on the author’s twenty years of experience living in Spain, Ghosts of Spain is a revelatory book about one of Europe’s most exciting countries.]]> 400 Giles Tremlett 0802715745 Tim 0 to-read 3.90 2006 Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and its Silent Past
author: Giles Tremlett
name: Tim
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/05
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]]> Ego Is the Enemy 27036528
Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back.

The Ego is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to history. We meet fascinating figures like Howard Hughes, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, all of whom reached the highest levels of power and success by conquering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well.

But why should we bother fighting ego in an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion?Ěý Armed with the lessons in this book, as Holiday writes, “you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.”]]> 226 Ryan Holiday 1591847818 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.12 2016 Ego Is the Enemy
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Tim
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/12/05
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]]> Desert Solitaire 214614 Desert Solitaire is one of Edward Abbey’s most critically acclaimed works and marks his first foray into the world of nonfiction writing. Written while Abbey was working as a ranger at Arches National Park outside of Moab, Utah, Desert Solitaire is a rare view of one man’s quest to experience nature in its purest form.

Through prose that is by turns passionate and poetic, Abbey reflects on the condition of our remaining wilderness and the future of a civilization that cannot reconcile itself to living in the natural world as well as his own internal struggle with morality. As the world continues its rapid development, Abbey’s cry to maintain the natural beauty of the West remains just as relevant today as when this book was written.]]> 337 Edward Abbey 0345326490 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.18 1968 Desert Solitaire
author: Edward Abbey
name: Tim
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1968
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/11/26
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]]> The Fool's Progress 118541 The Fool's Progress, the "fat masterpiece" as Edward Abbey labeled it, is his most important piece of it reveals the complete Ed Abbey, from the green grass of his memory as a child in Appalachia to his approaching death in Tuscon at age sixty two. When his third wife abandons him in Tucson, boozing, misanthropic anarchist Henry Holyoak Lightcap shoots his refrigerator and sets off in a battered pick-up truck for his ancestral home in West Virginia. Accompanied only by his dying dog and his memories, the irascible warhorse (a stand-in for the "real" Abbey) begins a bizarre cross-country odyssey--determined to make peace with his past--and to wage one last war against the ravages of "progress.""A profane, wildly funny, brash, overbearing, exquisite tour de force." -- The Chicago Tribune]]> 528 Edward Abbey 0805057919 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.21 1988 The Fool's Progress
author: Edward Abbey
name: Tim
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1988
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook]]> 56228129
In short, direct sales of the sort a B2B SAAS software startup would engage in.

With that said, if you are looking to be a first time salesperson, transitioning in from another type of role, or fresh out of school, in an organization that meets those characteristics above, you will get value out of this book.

Similarly, if you are a first time sales manager, either of the founder type, or a sales individual contributor who is transitioning into that role, again, in an organization who meets the criteria above, you will also get value from this book.Ěý]]> 636 Peter R Kazanjy 1734505109 Tim 0 currently-reading 4.22 Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook
author: Peter R Kazanjy
name: Tim
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/09/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Queen Of The Sea: A History Of Lisbon]]> 40866505
Barry Hatton unearths these forgotten memories in a vivid account of Lisbon’s colourful past and present, bringing to life the 1147 siege during the Iberian reconquista, the assassination of the king, the founding of a republic and the darkness of a modern dictatorship. He reveals the rich, international heritage of Portugal's metropolis―the gateway to the Atlantic and the unrivalled Queen of the Sea.]]> 280 Barry Hatton 1849049971 Tim 0 to-read, portugal 3.94 2018 Queen Of The Sea: A History Of Lisbon
author: Barry Hatton
name: Tim
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/09/10
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]]> <![CDATA[A Very Short History of Portugal]]> 40493707
The history of Portugal is long and complex, and so Oliveira Marquez, one of the most renowned Portuguese historians, began by writing it down in three volumes which became a classic of Portuguese historiography. Based on them, he also prepared this very short version, which summarises all crucial events. This rare, small-format book retains all the rigour and historical breadth of longer editions, and is as useful for scholars as it is for inquisitive people.]]> 245 A.H. de Oliveira Marques 9896714207 Tim 0 currently-reading 3.15 A Very Short History of Portugal
author: A.H. de Oliveira Marques
name: Tim
average rating: 3.15
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]]> The Accidental Malay 60622285 Winner of the 2022 Epigram Books Fiction Prize

Jasmine Leong wants to be the next CEO of Phoenix, her family's billion-ringgit company known especially for its bak kwa. But when Jasmine discovers she is actually a Malay Muslim, her newfound identity threatens to upend her life and ambitions. Set in Kuala Lumpur and other areas of Malaysia, The Accidental Malay examines the human cost of a country's racial policies, and paints a portrait of a woman unwilling to accept the fate history has designated for her.]]> 232 Karina Robles Bahrin 9814984671 Tim 0 currently-reading 3.49 2022 The Accidental Malay
author: Karina Robles Bahrin
name: Tim
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/09/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising Asia]]> 912861
The 1997 economic crisss in Asia heaped devastation upon millions. Yet Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn argue that it was the best thing that could have happened to Asia. It destroyed the cronyism, protectionism, and government regulation that had been crippling Asian business for decades, and it left in its wake a vast region of resilient and determined millions poised to wrest economic, diplomatic and military power from the West.

Thunder from the East is a riveting look at a complex region, a fascinating panoply of compelling characters, and a prophetic analysis from arguably the West's most informed and intelligent writers on Asia.]]> 377 Nicholas D. Kristof 0375703012 Tim 0 to-read 3.86 2000 Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising Asia
author: Nicholas D. Kristof
name: Tim
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/08/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Androids: The Team That Built the Android Operating System]]> 58753360
This is the inside story, told by the people who made it happen.

“What are the essential ingredients that lead a small team to build software at the sheer scale and impact of Android? We may never fully know, but this first person account is probably the closest set of clues we have.�
–Dave Burke, VP of Android Engineering

“Androids captures a strong picture of what the early development of Android, as well as the Android team, was like.�
–Dianne Hackborn, Android Framework Engineer

“Androids is the engaging tale of a motley group of coders with a passion to make insanely great products who banged out the operating system when that idea seemed nuts.
True to his geek genes, Chet Haase tells this remarkable tale of technical and business success from the trenches, an inspiring, massive collective effort of dozens of programmers who flipped their seemingly late timing to their advantage, and presaged a generation of platform builders. Read Androids to discover what it takes to create a hot tech team that shipped a product running today on more than 3 billion devices.�
–Jonathan Littman, co-author of The Entrepreneurs Faces: How Makers, Visionaries and Outsiders Succeed, and author of The Fugitive Game]]> 370 Chet Haase 1737354845 Tim 4 tech_history 4.29 2021 Androids: The Team That Built the Android Operating System
author: Chet Haase
name: Tim
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/21
date added: 2022/08/21
shelves: tech_history
review:

]]> Robert Kuok: A Memoir 36859564
Kuok has lived through fascinating and often tumultuous times in Asia - from British colonialism to Japanese military occupation to post-colonial Southeast Asia and the dramatic rise of Asian economies, including, more recently, China. From his front-row seat and as an active participant, this keen, multi-cultural observer tells nearly a century of Asian history through his life and times. Readers interested in business, management, history, politics, culture and sociology will all enjoy Robert Kuok's unique and remarkable story.]]> 376 Robert Kuok Hock Nien 9814189731 Tim 5 asia, bios, business 4.38 Robert Kuok: A Memoir
author: Robert Kuok Hock Nien
name: Tim
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/21
date added: 2022/08/21
shelves: asia, bios, business
review:

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