I definitely have a strange relationship with books. I like reading, don't get me wrong, but I am a slow reader and very eager book-buyer. This recently became alarmingly apparent when I moved out of my college apartment at the end of May. I had a full book shelf of unread books, which filled up a large plastic tote. And this was only half of the books I had! I have another even larger tote back at my mother's house. Seeing the "brunt" of this, I've decided to try to read more and buy less in 2021 -- if only to save some space!
The books I have cover a wide range of genres and subject matter: from non-fiction books about machine learning to classics from the 19th century, I feel as though I have a book for every occasion! This seems both intimidating and exciting, since I have so much to choose from, but also I feel like I'll be able to learn a lot more about myself. So I've decided to share this journey and let you know what I've read and what I think as I go through the process of freeing up space for new books and learning more about what I love to read most.
I pick this book up every now and then to slowly go through the life of the former Supreme Court Justice. The book was published a few years before her passing, but still presents an interesting biography of her life from childhood to her time on the bench of America's highest court. It's always interesting to read biographies like this that humanize people that many see as geniuses, cultural icons, or role models. And RBG encapsulates all three all at once!
I read excerpts from this book during a class I took in undergrad. Perhaps it's the liberal arts kid in me, but I want so badly to finish this book and understand it! However, I've been halfway through this book for over a year, so I'm sure any insight I've taken from this book is lost by now. Perhaps it would be workwhile to start from from the beginning again and really try to understand the ideas a bit better.
This one I bought a long time ago while telling myself I really liked physics for the sole reason that physics is a smart people thing that I should like. While I have lost my faux-passion for physics and theoretical sciences, this book is still fascinating! I only just started it this week, but this short volume is overflowing with amazing theories for how the universe came to be and how we know what we know, while also being very approachable for non-physicists (like me!). The science itself is very interesting, but Hawking's addition of facts and tidbits about the history of science and major scientists is very entertaining!
This book was definitely eye-opening, especially to a younger person like me that takes a lot of the technical advances around us as a given: I've grown up using technology and being a product for large corporations without giving it too much thought. (Granted, as a computer science major, I have probably thought about it more than most, but still, perhaps not as much as I should.) This also comes from a place of immense privilege: these big data systems tend to make trouble for people of lower socio-economic classes and people of color. These types of books should be standard for anyone learning about or pursuing a career in a technical field, especially big data.
Within the tech field, I think, more than many other fields, it is easy for people to think of their work as abstract and disconnected from any human consequences. I'm reminded of a friend I met in college who would go on to work at Raytheon. When a friend of ours made a joke about how he was programming weapons systems that would actually kill people, he responded that, "I just write code." While this is a relatively extreme example, it is unfortunately very rare that many people in the field of computing think about the moral and ethical consequences of the code that they write and distribute.