Books 2024

Back after popular request, my favorite books I read this year! A decent year for reading, though I don’t have a big list of things I still want to read. If you have any suggestions of good things you’ve read recently, please send them my way!

Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick

This year I really started feeling the effects of AI on my work, with Cursor making me noticeably more productive. It makes it easy to get over writers’ block and work on side-projects. There’s a couple people I follow to stay up-to-date with AI, one being Simon Willison who blogs about new model releases and also develops tooling in Python.

Another great blog is Ethan Mollick’s who blogs less frequently and is more about the bigger picture: how to think about using AI, how to fit it in your organization. He wrote Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI which is a very level-headed explanation of how Large-Language Models are built and how to work with them. And he’s written it in a way where a technical background is not required.

De Renner (The Rider) by Tim Krabbé

I got really into cycling this year, participating in the Marmotte Granfondo cycling tour. The world of cycling has so many legends and history, and from that also flows superstition and inside jokes. My friend Joris recommended I read this book. It’s a short book documenting the a race that the author participates in and what’s going through his mind as he’s riding. The superstitions and jokes are ridiculous, e.g. he believes the rain brings more oxygen and one of the riders always puts his bottle from his frame into his back pocket so his bike weighs less. Highly recommended!

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Definitely one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read, a drug-infused fever dream classic that keeps your heart racing the whole time you’re reading it. It’s not really ‘about’ anything, the experience of reading the book is the point. I was laughing out loud while reading it, it’s so crazy.

Dec 2024