My review:
Great turns of phrase, very meta, funny.
Some interesting bits, but mostly a confusing jumble excerpting other work.
Mostly themes I was already familiar with, but well-presented.
Wide-ranging but also deep enough to be engaging. Cool binding and print layout. Hits the best parts of several books I’ve read, and made me add a couple new ones to the list.
Honest, clear, motivating
Finally read it, and I see why it’s so often recommended
Aiming for (not reaching) Ted Chiang, with some Age of Em and Deep Utopia. Recommended, and quick.
Broad overview of many different areas of recent engineering, with some limited deeper dives. Unsurprisingly, I learned more in the first couple chapters about physical engineering than in the later parts about computers.
Informative, well-paced, even-handed
I learned a lot. Always interesting to see how a difference in perceived value can snowball
Still relevant despite 2023 feeling so long ago in LLM development, but mostly covers ground that will since have become familiar to most interested people.
I really like the beginnings of Nick Harkaway books
I want to believe!
Intense and epic
Always cool to see the roots of stuff we’re working on today
Good job of showing not telling. Paced well to cover a lot of ground
Really uneven
Brutal, deeply researched, often overwritten and melodramatic
Wish I could give it six stars. I learned a lot, despite being familiar with many of the topics covered. Well-written, moves quickly, covers a lot of ground. Probably the best book I’ve read this year.
