What I've Been Reading (Jan 2025)
I went to the library yesterday, and returned three books. Unfortunately, I also checked out another 5 or 6 books in the process, which means I have a lot of books at home. To list them all out, they are:
Whiplash - How to Survive Our Faster Future; by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe.
I checked this book out since when I head off to college next year, I better know how to survive. Also I'm a little bit worried about this whole AI thing.The Death of Truth; by Michiko Kakutani.
I haven't opened this book but I'm hoping it's philosophical in nature; with everyone being able to make any claim and us humans believing a lot of rubbish, hopefully this book will provide me with some insight on the nature of truth (whatever this means) and be a good read.The Drone Age - How Drone Technology Will Change War and Peace; by Michael J. Boyle.
Who doesn't love a good book about war and drones and weapons of miniature mass destruction? Hopefully this book sheds some light onto the nature of warfare and just, drones. Maybe also how war is evolving.You Have the Right to Remain Innocent; by James Duane.
Just on the law grind right now (law seems not bad for some reason). We'll see if this book is good or not good.How to Stay Smart in a Smart World; by Gerd Gigerenzer.
See the MIT book thing -- for now, I'm tryna figure out how to survive the (exponentially) faster future.The Brothers Karamazov; by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
In this list, only this and the next book (on Scalia) are books that I've actually started reading. Clearly, I've got a long ways to go -- especially since this book is like 700 pages. It is however, my only fiction book, and I think it sheds light onto the nature of humans. This book is sort of what kickstarted Freud's theories into the mind.The Essential Scalia - On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law; by Antonin Scalia (edited by Jeffrey S. Sutton and Edward Whelan).
Like I said, on the law grind. Scalia is/was a giant in his field, and I respect the man. With that said, this book is a collection of his works -- his opinions, his concurrences, his dissents, and his speeches. So far, I like this book although at times it is verbose (it is law after all).When McKinsey Comes to Town - The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm; by Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe.
As people who know me know, I am not exactly the biggest fan of the big consulting firms and the influence they wield. This book will hopefully shine light into the deep sea -- illuminating both the dark side of consulting as well as the true amount of power and influence that they wield.Fatal System Error; by Joseph Menn.
Written in 2010, this book on cyber crime is dated. However, I hope a read 15+ years later can provide some new insights into the time we're currently in as well as just be a fun read overall about drug trafficking and all those other online criminal activities.How Democracies Die; by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
Look. Even if the US collapses as a result of either Trump, the president after him, or general partisanship, the earth -- the planet -- won't care. As John Green articulated (this is a paraphrased quote along the lines of what he said but not in his words), "The Earth will get over us like a bad dream. It's been through worse -- ice caps covering the globe, carbon dioxide levels perhaps as high as Venus, and so on. It won't care about us humans, and can/will shrug us off as just another failed species."
Essentially, the earth doesn't care. Yet even though it won't matter whether or not the US falls as a nation or not, I think it's still worth examining the pillars of democracy, the constitution -- not the document, but rather what constitutes a democracy and how each piece plays a role in it -- of democracy, and perhaps see how I can provide even the tiniest resilience to a tractor steamrolling the growing crop that I am.
If, in a few weeks, you wonder where I am and what I'm doing, chances are that (hopefully) I'll be reading in my room. With luck, I'll finish half these books by March.