Recommendations you can check.
Theoretical computer scientist at the University of Texas at Austin working on quantum computing; author of the blog Shtetl-Optimized.
6 things
Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19Book Alina Chan and Matt Ridley
Briefly, I think that this is one of the most important books so far of the twenty-first century.
Shtetl-Optimized review of the Chan/Ridley book on COVID origins.
2022-01-01·scottaaronson.blog ↗
The AI Does Not Hate You: Superintelligence, Rationality, and the Race to Save the WorldBook Tom Chivers
Briefly, I think the book is a triumph.
Shtetl-Optimized review of Chivers's book on the rationalist community.
2019-10-07·scottaaronson.blog ↗
Inadequate EquilibriaBook Eliezer Yudkowsky
I do have two criticisms of the book, both relatively minor compared to what I loved about it.
Shtetl-Optimized review of Yudkowsky's book, which ends by telling readers to go read it.
2017-11-16·scottaaronson.blog ↗
2040Book Pedro Domingos
Having said all that: I confess I enjoyed "2040." The plot is tightly constructed, the dialogue crackles (certainly for a CS professor writing a first novel), the satire at least provokes chuckles, and at just 215 pages, the action moves.
Shtetl-Optimized review of Domingos's satirical novel, after several paragraphs of disagreement with its politics.
2024-09-01·scottaaronson.blog ↗
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and ProgressBook Steven Pinker
So my advice is this: buy Pinker's book and read it.
Shtetl-Optimized review of Pinker's book; he discloses in the post that he received a review copy, met Pinker while it was being written and is thanked in the preface.
2018-03-22·scottaaronson.blog ↗
Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change EverythingBook Michio Kaku
So I can now state with confidence: beating out a crowded field, this is the worst book about quantum computing, for some definition of the word "about," that I've ever encountered.
Shtetl-Optimized review headed 'tl;dr DO NOT BUY'; he bought and read the book to review it.
2023-05-19·scottaaronson.blog ↗
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