book / recommends
The Dream Machine
“The Dream Machine, which is a tremendous history of prehistory, really, of modern computing, ostensibly following the life of J.C.R. Licklider, but really much broader than that. is a tremendous missing piece of history in my opinion. I think in my discipline in computer science, we were not properly educated. We learned about Alan Turing and we learned about some of the technical underpinnings of computer science theory, but the modern computer and the path to it is a profound and fascinating one. And it has particular resonance today as J. C. Licklider's observation was human in the loop computing. And I think we are now in human in the loop AI. And I think there's a tremendous resonance there. The second one is Good Inside, which is Dr. Becky's book. And again, I think it's a tremendous parenting book. But more than that, it does contain lessons for how we think about our own emotions and how we manage those, which I find to be useful in any context.”