Reading Highlights 2024

2024 was challenging and rewarding in equal measure when it came to me being able to set time aside for reading. Lots of travel across multiple oceans and much time spent in hotels, Airbnbs and flights. So I switched to a more multi-device, multi-platform approach. My main platform for reading was my Kobo and my iPhone 14 Pro. The goto app on both is Libby which connects to my Singapore National Library account and via OverDrive (on kobo) and Libby (on iOS) gave me "handoff" between devices to pick up where I left off. Eventually, Libby (as always) has an integration with Readwise which helps me sync my highlights for the spaced repetition magic ✨

Having said that, I think this year I am most proud of the list I have for you. I have finally started aggressively attacking my to-read list (which keeps growing and growing and growing..).

Previous reading recommendations can be found here. My other reading updates can be found on my Goodreads.

The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey

This is a first contact book which for the first time is written not from Earth's perspective but from another human colony's perspective - I don't think this has been done before. Has a somewhat similar partial arc to Gladiator but with science nerds. Back in Summer of 2022, I recommended Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (duo behind James S.A. Corey)'s masterpiece sci fi series (& tv show!) The Expanse. Most of us in my generation & before grew up on cool science and technology ideas we read from the greats of sci fi (Asimov, Heinlein, Lem, Le Guin, etc) OR watched in Star Wars or Star Trek. It inspired us to build technologies and scientific advancements which we read and saw to reality (rockets, GPS, mobile phones, VR, AI, robotics, neural interfaces, laser communications, etc). One of my biggest complaints recently has been that I do not know what should our children read to inspire them to create the future we don't know yet or cannot imagine yet. This is the first book in a completely new adventure, which I feel might be even better than The Expanse eventually. After you have read it, highly recommend this review by Hugonauts ❤️.

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry

Through games (Disney's Hercules for PC!!), books, articles, encyclopedias and tv shows, I have always glimpsed at the greek myths. I was introduced to Stephen Fry's work first in my university days via the criminally underrated and underwatched Jeeves and Wooster (still one of my top shows ever!). Across Blackadder, A Bit of Fry and Lauries and Hitchhiker's Guide, he has cemented himself an amazing storyteller. This is no different. I heard this on audiobook and is mostly informative and majorly eye-watering humorous in its lengthy and comprehensive journey from moment of Creation to creation of the of the first greek human civilization. It is a MUST for someone trying to piece together that knowledge and definite for your young children. My biggest learning - Zeus was 🤦‍♂️

In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

This is a (thin) book which covers a very non linear journey of observation on human behaviour, life and cultural changes between pre- and post- electrification of Japan. Japan is eternally fascinating - people, culture, food, history, language, seas, rocks, mountains, customs, etc. There were times when the author was talking about how lacquerware was kinda designed to be in the dark and how it's beauty comes out in candlelight rather than in bright electric lights - and I would find myself pondering for very long about this while the narrator had moved ahead by 15-20 mins! So after a lot of rewinds, I finally finished it having probably absorbed like 30%. I will re-read this next year in book form as I feel it's a layered book that reveals itself on multiple reads. Loved it irrespective. Highly recommend getting the Vintage Design Edition.

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

This has now become my goto recommendation when someone asks - "Do you have a book which talks about 100-1000s of years in the future in which AI is central to our existence?". Everything goes to shit (as always!) and the humans and AI have an ULTIMATE showdown. This and Culture series both do a fantastic job of talking about conscious AI running things. The Galaxy being divided into "Zones of Thought" (i.e. how "Smart" is an AI) based on how electronics is affected by physical laws which vary throughout the galaxy (we call it Anisotropy of Natural Laws). We are kinda already seeing that with different params LLM models where "intelligence" is varied by how many params it has and how much inference hardware from NVIDIA can be thrown at it (less GPUs means slower or dumber response). A lot of the action sequences remind me of The Expanse (since this is from 1992, I think it has to be the other way around w.r.t. inspiration). Highly recommend sitting through first 30% of the book – it's not very action packed but does a great job setting up payoffs that indeed "payoff" at the end.

The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton

This is my new fav retro heist! It's a trope done many times and includes elements that have been repeated in many movies that came after - one of the more famous ones being Ocean's Series and Italian Job. I could say more or I can point you to my awesome Book Trailer on this book (100% AI made last year as I was playing with creative AI coding).

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography by Eric Idle

This is the behind the scenes of the Pythons by my second fav Python. It's extremely funny (!) and has a lot of heart when talking about everything they went together as a group of colleagues and life long friends. I really liked that they would do these 3-month or more long excursions to Tuscany and other places south of France to get away from distractions, get a giant villa, live in the countryside together and just write sketches and jokes. What an awesome idea! And they had amazing celebs from The Beatles to Carrie Fisher to others come by. The parties in NY and London, the interaction with Hollywood, the stiffness of BBC - Eric's way of storytelling is unique and very vanilla to any Python sketch. I did the audiobook which is a must!

And on that note, I would leave you until next time with my fav song from one of my favorite Python movie (and for millions around the world). My absolute fav is the Holy Grail btw.