The Anti-Library
Nassim Taleb's idea: the unread books on your shelves are worth more than the read ones a standing inventory of everything you've yet to learn. — the premise
So this isn't a list of trophies. It's a working library the fiction that shaped how I think, the non-fiction I keep returning to, and the textbooks I actually reach for. A few favorites first, then the whole shelf.
Favorites
Fiction
Six I'd press on anyone
A Gentleman in Moscow
My favorite novel a semi-exiled aristocrat lives out the rise of the Soviet Union without ever leaving a single hotel.
The Last Wish
The book that pulled me into the Witcher the source material outdoes both the games and the show.
Anna Karenina
Even with the ending spoiled, Tolstoy's characters carry every page. No one captures the human condition better.
Animal Farm
The true essence of Orwell a whole critique of Stalinism folded into a simple story of farm animals.
War and Peace
Knocked off my bucket list early in the pandemic; it sparked a lasting love of Russian literature.
Fathers and Sons
A timeless portrait of the generational divide that still reads like it was written today.
Non-Fiction
The ones I reread
The Incerto Collection
Five books of skepticism informed by probability funny, rigorous, and quietly ruthless with false expertise.
Permanent Record
A candid account that makes the integrity and courage whistleblowing demands unmistakably clear.
Mathematics and its History
Math as a centuries-long continuum of discovery the historical context cemented my intuition.
A Brief History of Time
I assumed it was overhyped. It isn't space-time and black holes made genuinely intuitive.
Upheaval
A framework for how nations rebuild after crisis, told through Diamond's gift for narrative history.
War on Peace
The case for diplomacy its history, its people, and its uncertain future.
Textbooks
The desk reference
AI: A Modern Approach
The bible of AI dense, but it reads surprisingly easily and traces the whole arc of the field.
Deep Reinforcement Learning
Got me through GT's RL course the author, our lead TA, explained it better than the lectures did.
Convex Optimization
Sacred text for anyone in optimization rigorous, thorough, and endlessly referenced.
Introduction to Algorithms
My go-to reference for algorithms and data structures, built around real intuition.
High Performance Python
Speed as a process, not an afterthought how to get the most out of Python.
Linear Algebra Done Right
Finally, eigenvalues without determinants the book that gave me intuition for linear algebra.
The whole shelf
The full collection 230 volumes and counting, from Russian novels to numerical optimization.
… volumes on the shelf.