Library

Books, essays, and resources that genuinely shifted how I think. Not a "top 10" list — just the ones that stuck.

Product

• Taste for Makers — Paul Graham (2002)
  Written more than two decades ago, feels more relevant today than ever. When AI lets you build infinitely fast, taste is the only bottleneck left.
• Inspired — Marty Cagan (2017)
  The standard reference on product management in tech. I disagree with parts of it, but it's the shared language.

AI

• The Alignment Problem — Brian Christian (2020)
  A thorough survey of the AI alignment landscape. Good for understanding the technical and philosophical dimensions of the problem.
• Machines of Loving Grace — Dario Amodei (2024)
  A concrete, optimistic vision of what AI could do for science, health, and governance — from someone building the systems.
• The Coming Wave — Mustafa Suleyman (2023)
  On the convergence of AI and synthetic biology, and the containment problem that no one has solved yet.

Anthropology

• The Mushroom at the End of the World — Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (2015)
  On precarity, supply chains, and what it means to build in the ruins of capitalism. Surprisingly relevant to product work.
• Body Ritual Among the Nacirema — Horace Miner (1956)
  A six-page essay that reframes the familiar as exotic. The best introduction to the anthropological gaze I know.
• Bullshit Jobs — David Graeber (2018)
  On the proliferation of pointless work and what it reveals about how institutions actually allocate effort.

Organizations

• BlueDot Impact — BlueDot Impact
  Courses on AI safety and governance. A serious entry point for anyone who wants to work on these problems.
• Center for Humane Technology — Center for Humane Technology
  Thinking clearly about the incentive structures behind attention-driven technology and what alternatives look like.

Purpose

• Astronomical Waste: The Opportunity Cost of Delayed Technological Development — Nick Bostrom (2003)
  A short paper that reframes urgency. Every moment of delay in reducing existential risk has a cost measured in potential lives — an argument that changes how you prioritize.
• La fiesta de la insignificancia — Milan Kundera (2013)
  Kundera's last novel. A quiet meditation on the lightness of meaning — and why that lightness might be the point.
• What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness — Robert Waldinger (2015)
  Seventy-five years of data, one finding: relationships. The simplest answer that keeps being right.