Reading List May - September 2018
The Book of Joy by the 14th Dalai Lama, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton
I loved this book. It is a documentation of a week long discussion between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu on joy, but also on loss, forgiveness, and meditation and prayer. It made me smile with simple joy at the exchanges between these two holy men. It was also my first introduction to the value of meditation which I have been contemplating ever since.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
This was so much fun! A sweeping saga about the changing times in Russia from the Bolshevik Revolution to the glasnost period of the end of the Cold War, it follows the life of a man imprisoned in a hotel for being an aristocrat in the Communist era of Russian history. It is delightfully written with humor and a love of the culture and history of Russian aristocracy, but also a keen eye for the absurdity of Communism. It was a very fun read.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Hugely impactful. Paul Kalanithi left this raw manuscript on his computer when he passed away from an aggressive form of lung cancer. He was a neurosurgeon on the cusp of finishing residency when he was diagnosed with cancer and this book documents his thoughts and explorations into the meaning of mortality. It was a fascinating look inside his thoughts. It also leaves you in tears, but I took comfort in following his contemplations on mortality and how we can learn to live with it.
The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos
This book is a review of machine learning technologies in existence today. I will be honest, Domingos took on a difficult challenge when he decided to write a book for the layman on how machine learning works, but I sometimes found it difficult to follow. I think his explanations were sometimes too abstract and too non-technical for my liking. I know he was trying to write for everybody, but I think his explanations might have benefited from using some simple mathematical or logical examples to provide concrete examples of the algorithms. Nevertheless, it was a good overview and helped educate me on the topic prior to attending MLSE 2018.
The House by the River by Lena Manta (translated by Gail Holst-Warhaft)
I got this book through a random Kindle offering of international novels and I really enjoyed it! It was originally written in Greek, and follows the lives of five daughters. It is so fantastically over the top in its drama and tragedy, but it was a compelling, enjoyable read over the summer.
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
This book and its concepts have been pretty heavily publicized, but I wasn't interested in reading it until several of my friends recommended it and I decided to give it a chance despite its "gimmicky-ness". And the book was actually pretty good, it presents a nice paradigm for understanding how different people communicate their love in all kinds of relationships, although primarily Chapman focuses on romantic ones. It is a nice conversation starter for talking about these concepts with your loved ones, and an easy read.
The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory by John Seabrook
This book was awesome!! I love learning about the music industry and this was a fascinating exploration of the development of pop music. Seabrook is an excellent writer who can convey the feeling of a place, a person or a piece of music. The book moved along at a good pace and taught me a lot about how the music industry developed, and how it was driven by musical, business and technological developments. I would recommend this book to anyone who has strong feelings about the Top 40 hits, good or bad!