Books I’ve read, re-read, and recommended over the years. They’ve kept me company, introduced me to
friends, and continue to surface in places I don’t expect.
A collection of mind-bending stories and essays exploring infinite libraries, forking paths, and the nature of time and identity.
Labyrinths
by Jorge Luis Borges, Donald A. Yates & James Irby
Ted Chiang's second collection of stunningly original sci-fi stories that ask deep philosophical questions through meticulous thought experiments.
Exhalation
by Ted Chiang
The quintessential dystopian novel about totalitarian surveillance, the erasure of truth, and the struggle to remain human in a society of total control.
1984
by George Orwell
A monumental epic where intellectuals are cloistered in monasteries to protect knowledge, only to be called upon to save the world from an existential threat.
Anathem
by Neal Stephenson
A satirical and dark apocalyptic tale about science, religion, and the end of the world via a substance called ice-nine.
Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
A curated anthology of essays and fiction exploring the mystery of consciousness, the self, and the soul.
I Am a Strange Loop
by Douglas R. Hofstadter
Whimsical and profound stories narrated by a being named Qfwfq, witnessing the birth of the universe and evolution with human neuroses.
The Complete Cosmicomics
by Italo Calvino
A sociological examination of how modernity produces "human waste"—populations rendered superfluous by globalization and progress.
Wasted Lives
by Zygmunt Bauman
A poetic dialogue between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, describing impossible, fantastical cities that reflect the human condition.
Invisible Cities
by Italo Calvino
A bounty hunter tracks down rogue androids in a post-apocalyptic future, blurring the line between human empathy and artificial life.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick
An investigation into why some people are better at predicting the future and the teachable skills that refine their foresight.
Superforecasting
by Philip E. Tetlock & Dan Gardner
Oliver Sacks explores the world of the Deaf, examining sign language not just as communication but as a unique cognitive and cultural landscape.
Seeing Voices
by Oliver Sacks
A classic study on how people mentally map their urban environments, introducing concepts like legibility and wayfinding.
The Image of the City
by Kevin Lynch
An allegorical novella where farm animals overthrow their humans to run a utopian society, only to recreate the tyranny they fought against.
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
An anthropological analysis of how different cultures classify things as "clean" or "dirty" to maintain social order and boundaries.
Purity and Danger
by Mary Douglas
Lewis Carroll's surreal masterpiece of nonsense and logic, following a girl's journey through a world where rules constantly shift.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
A vision of a future society engineered for pure happiness and stability at the cost of freedom, individuality, and deep emotion.
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
A cult thriller diving into the secret history of cinema, subliminal messaging, and a conspiracy hidden within the flickering lights of film.
Flicker
by Theodore Roszak
Kafka's nightmarish tale of a man who wakes up transformed into a giant insect and his family's subsequent alienation and cruelty.
The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka
Hemingway's spare, powerful story of an aging fisherman's epic solitary battle with a giant marlin and his own endurance.
The Old Man and the Sea
by Ernest Hemingway
A satirical Victorian novella about a two-dimensional world, exploring geometry and the difficulty of perceiving dimensions beyond our own.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
by Edwin Abbott Abbott
An exploration of how buildings adapt effectively to their environments and users over time, contrasting those that age well with those that become obsolete.
How Buildings Learn
by Stewart Brand
A foundational architectural theory arguing that buildings and towns should be built from patterns that create a living, human-centric environment.
A Pattern Language
by Christopher Alexander
A lyrical narrative documenting the decades-long scientific struggle and eventual triumph of the LIGO team in detecting gravitational waves.