Matt Lehrer

Be someone or do something

This is a new favorite for me. So many life lessons in here. Coram does a great job of making it clear how Boyd's priorities and work ethic influenced everyone around him, especially his family. It's unforgivable even as it's obvious that he was a hero and one of the most influential thinkers of all time.

This book has everything I can ask for from sci-fi. A fun read that felt well researched. Like the other Suarez books I've read, he did a great job of helping me think about the ways space industry will affect society and how it could work.

Not just the history of the people but the conflicts in ways of thinking across cultures and the way the book forces you to think about what a map is and who history belongs to. Loved it.

It took me a bit to get into this. There are many things I really enjoyed about it: police bureaucracy, fights for power, what it means to be a parent and partner in extremely difficult circumstances, and more.

It feels like the whole product manager experience and the first ~1/3 of the book is very focused on who should be and how to be a product manager. The rest is about what to do though each section is not very deep.

Much more realistic than The Ministry for the FutureI think this was my 8th Stephenson book. It's not the first one I'd recommend but I really liked the characters and story.



I did not know anything about it in advance and was pleased to discover that it's about climate and solar geoengineering. I have been consuming a lot of non-fiction and fiction climate media lately and this was one of the best. It felt the most grounded in reality: self-interest driving action more than anything else.

Good but read The Making of the Atomic Bomb instead

The bomb is used halfway through this book and the rest is about the tragedy of the McCarthy era. It includes a play-by-play of terrible moments in anti-communist fear mongering. It's worthwhile history though not nearly as interesting as the complexities of Oppenheimer's success in leading scientists with competing egos under immense pressure.

Very good premise, lacking substanceI wanted more action, less blockchain.

Another interesting dimension to Lincoln's challenges and leadership

Worthy godfather of the true crime genre

Excellent storytelling well categorized by Capote as “a non-fiction novel.”

A lot to like but it didn't live up to the hype for me.

It makes a convincing case that we should all be paying attention and that free market ideals conflict with national security. Ultimately, I enjoyed the Acquired podcast episode about TSMC more. Maybe I would have rated this higher if I had not previously listened to that episode.

Well-titled story of the most undertold life story of the 20th century

I enjoyed the book, though some of the tangents into work done building on von Neumann's ideas felt long-winded.

Acab

Sublime and accessible

A spectacular story filled with wonderful prose. And if you read all the footnotes you'll triply well read.

“The loser of an argument is the one who can learn something” Worth it just for that line. Interesting study on the history of argument.

Mitt Romney was right. It's incredible how much Russia has tested their cyber weapons, how much we know about it, and how little things have changed despite how obvious the dangers are.

Eye opening and well written

Dense, obviously. 3000 years of facts, people, events. It's a lot in a good and overwhelming way. There's not a lot of room for fun stories or depth of character beyond a few people. It is definitely the kind of book you could read multiple times and pick up a lot each time.

I was expecting this to be the kind of book that has a big idea that could easily be explained in an article, but has to be lengthened to sell it. It ended up being a good length and worth it.

A lot of books could have been blog posts and this one could have been a tweet

Great book. Helped me to understand why what I do now is a waste of time and what to do about it.

Wonderful nostalgia for anyone who once made sure their computer had a math coprocessor or brought a desktop tower and monitor to a LAN party.

I'm glad I pushed through to the end. Everything after Vietnam felt much more impactful and relevant. Reagan, Clinton, W and Obama all come out very poorly. This is not a fun read but I do feel more informed.

Some incredibly relevant insights on human nature, the aspects that change and the aspects that don't.