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Library

Bookshelf

This is my public facing bookshelf. My digital home library. Books I am happy to display to others as a conversation starter. If you have any recommendations based on my taste, please let me know!

Last updated — September 2026

Currently Reading

Reasons and Persons

Reasons and Persons

Derek Parfit

Active Inference: The Free Energy Principle in Mind, Brain, and Behavior

Active Infer­ence: The Free Energy Prin­ciple in Mind, Brain, and Beha­vior

Thomas Parr

Nausea

Nausea

Jean-Paul Sartre

Lolita

Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov

Read

10/10

Rationality: From AI to Zombies (The Sequences)
Ration­al­ity: From AI to Zombies (The Sequences)

Eliezer Yudkowsky

Notes from Underground
Notes from Under­ground

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Meditations
Med­it­a­tions

Marcus Aurelius

Stay or Leave: Essays On Relationships
Stay or Leave: Essays On Rela­tion­ships

The School of Life

9/10

Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings
Labyrinths: Selec­ted Stories & Other Writ­ings

Jorge Luis Borges

Beyond Good and Evil
Beyond Good and Evil

Friedrich Nietzsche

On The Shortness Of Life
On The Short­ness Of Life

Seneca

Crime and Punishment
Crime and Pun­ish­ment

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Richard P. Feynman

Unsong
Unsong

Scott Alexander

There Is No Antimemetics Division
There Is No Antim­emet­ics Divi­sion

qntm

Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon

Daniel Keyes

A Brief History of Intelligence
A Brief History of Intel­li­gence

Max Solomon Bennett

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
Super­in­tel­li­gence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

Nick Bostrom

Making Sense
Making Sense

Sam Harris

8/10

Something to Do with Paying Attention
Some­thing to Do with Paying Atten­tion

David Foster Wallace

The Death of Ivan Ilych
The Death of Ivan Ilych

Leo Tolstoy

The Stranger
The Stranger

Albert Camus

The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

The Sense of Style
The Sense of Style

Steven Pinker

Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
Con­sider the Lobster and Other Essays

David Foster Wallace

Why I Write and Other Essays
Why I Write and Other Essays

George Orwell

Permutation City
Per­muta­tion City

Greg Egan

Red Heart
Red Heart

Max Harms

Worm
Worm

Wildbow

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Harry Potter and the Methods of Ration­al­ity

Eliezer Yudkowsky

Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching

Lao Tzu

Apology
Apology

Plato

Discourses and Selected Writings
Dis­courses and Selec­ted Writ­ings

Epictetus

The Little Prince
The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell
The Doors of Per­cep­tion & Heaven and Hell

Aldous Huxley

1984
1984

George Orwell

Animal Farm
Animal Farm

George Orwell

Four Thousand Weeks
Four Thou­sand Weeks

Oliver Burkeman

Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person
Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person

The School of Life

Quantum Computing Since Democritus
Quantum Com­put­ing Since Demo­critus

Scott Aaronson

Our Mathematical Universe
Our Math­em­at­ical Uni­verse

Max Tegmark

The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watch­maker

Richard Dawkins

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas R. Hofstadter

Otherness and Control in the Age of AGI
Oth­er­ness and Control in the Age of AGI

Joe Carlsmith

Inadequate Equilibria
Inad­equate Equi­lib­ria

Eliezer Yudkowsky

7/10

Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future
Break­neck: China's Quest to Engin­eer the Future

Dan Wang

Zero to One
Zero to One

Peter Thiel

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
The Meta­morph­osis and Other Stories

Franz Kafka

Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
Brief Inter­views with Hideous Men

David Foster Wallace

Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughter­house-Five

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Fahrenheit 451
Fahren­heit 451

Ray Bradbury

Stories of Your Life and Others
Stories of Your Life and Others

Ted Chiang

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

Richard P. Feynman

Ketamine
Ket­am­ine

Bita Moghaddam

What Do You Care What Other People Think?
What Do You Care What Other People Think?

Richard P. Feynman

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories

H.P. Lovecraft

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adven­tures in Won­der­land

Lewis Carroll

Ecce Homo
Ecce Homo

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Denial of Death
The Denial of Death

Ernest Becker

The Myth of Sisyphus
The Myth of Sis­yphus

Albert Camus

On Bullshit
On Bull­shit

Harry G. Frankfurt

Free Will
Free Will

Sam Harris

Waking Up
Waking Up

Sam Harris

Man's Search for Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

The School of Life: An Emotional Education
The School of Life: An Emo­tional Edu­ca­tion

Alain de Botton

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
If Anyone Builds It, Every­one Dies

Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares

A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own

Virginia Woolf

Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast
Only Dull People Are Bril­liant at Break­fast

Oscar Wilde

This Is Water
This Is Water

David Foster Wallace

6/10

Neurolinguistics
Neur­o­lin­guist­ics

Giosuè Baggio

The MANIAC
The MANIAC

Benjamín Labatut

Simulacra and Simulation
Simu­lacra and Sim­u­la­tion

Jean Baudrillard

Man and His Symbols
Man and His Symbols

C.G. Jung

A Brief History of Time
A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking

Letters to a Young Poet
Letters to a Young Poet

Rainer Maria Rilke

Letter to a Christian Nation
Letter to a Chris­tian Nation

Sam Harris

Twelve Angry Men
Twelve Angry Men

Reginald Rose

The Crucible
The Cru­cible

Arthur Miller

Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare

To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mock­ing­bird

Harper Lee

The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye

J.D. Salinger

Siddhartha
Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Ursula K. Le Guin

Holes
Holes

Louis Sachar

A Christmas Carol
A Christ­mas Carol

Charles Dickens

Year of Wonders
Year of Wonders

Geraldine Brooks

Nine Days
Nine Days

Toni Jordan

5/10

The Symposium
The Sym­posium

Plato

The Frogs
The Frogs

Aristophanes

White Nights
White Nights

Fyodor Dostoevsky

4/10

Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot

Samuel Beckett

3/10

The Time Machine
The Time Machine

H.G. Wells

2/10

The Alchemist
The Alchem­ist

Paulo Coelho

All About Love
All About Love

bell hooks

Other Influences

I have read too many

Last updated — August 2026

Scott Alexander

i love scott

  • The Whispering Earring
  • The Colors Of Her Coat
  • Universal Love, Said The Cactus Person
  • 1960: The Year The Singularity Was Cancelled
  • The Hour I First Believed

nostalgebraist

  • the void

janus

  • Simulators

jacob cannell

  • The Brain as a Universal Learning Machine
  • AI Timelines via Cumulative Optimization Power: Less Long, More Short