2025 Reading

Ali Hodroj

Ali Hodroj @ahodroj

36 本书  

Reading list for 2025

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves [图书]
The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves
作者: Matt Ridley Harper 2010 - 5
Life is getting better—and at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down — all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people’s lives as never before. The pessimists who dominate public discourse insist that we will soon reach a turning point and things will start to get worse. But they have been saying this for two hundred years.
Yet Matt Ridley does more than describe how things are getting better. He explains why. Prosperity comes from everybody working for everybody else. The habit of exchange and specialization—which started more than 100,000 years ago—has created a collective brain that sets human living standards on a rising trend. The mutual dependence, trust, and sharing that result are causes for hope, not despair.
This bold book covers the entire sweep of human history, from the Stone Age to the Internet, from the stagnation of the Ming empire to the invention of the steam engine, from the population explosion to the likely consequences of climate change. It ends with a confident assertion that thanks to the ceaseless capacity of the human race for innovative change, and despite inevitable disasters along the way, the twenty-first century will see both human prosperity and natural biodiversity enhanced. Acute, refreshing, and revelatory,
will change your way of thinking about the world for the better.
Skin in the Game [图书] 豆瓣 Goodreads
7.7 (7 个评分) 作者: Nassim Nicholas Taleb Random House 2018 - 2
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Black Swan, a bold new work that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility
In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.
As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights:
• For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations.
• Ethical rules aren’t universal. You’re part of a group larger than you, but it’s still smaller than humanity in general.
• Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities imposing their tastes and ethics on others.
• You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. “Educated philistines” have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low-carb diets.
• Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines.
• True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it.
The phrase “skin in the game” is one we have often heard but rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it’s also an astonishingly complex worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives.
The Bed of Procrustes [图书] 豆瓣
作者: Nassim Nicholas Taleb Random House 2010 - 11
By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan, this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect.
The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects—modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery.
Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized.
With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness.
Six Easy Pieces [图书] 豆瓣
作者: Richard P. Feynman / Robert B. Leighton Basic Books 2011 - 3
The six easiest chapters from Feynmans landmark work, Lectures on Physics specifically designed for the general, non-scientist reader.
The Lessons of History [图书] 豆瓣
8.4 (5 个评分) 作者: Will Durant / Ariel Durant Simon & Schuster 2010 - 2
The Lessons of History is a book by historians Will Durant and Ariel Durant.
In The Lessons of History the authors provided a summary of periods and trends in history they had noted upon completion of their momentous eleven volume The Story of Civilization. Will Durant stated that he and Ariel "made note of events and comments that might illuminate present affairs, future probabilities, the nature of man, and the conduct of states."
The book thus presents an overview of the themes and lessons observed from 5000 years of world history examined from 13 perspectives such as geography, biology, race, character, morals, religion, economics, socialism, government, war, growth and decay and progress.
Thing Explainer [图书] 豆瓣
作者: Randall Munroe Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2015 - 11
Have you ever tried to read up on some incredible part of the world, only to find yourself faced with incomprehensible terminology and jargon? It’s nice to know what the parts of a thing are called, but it’s even more interesting to know what they do. What if you had something that could clearly explain it all using simple words?
Thing Explainer, by Randall Munroe, does just that. Using line drawings and only the thousand (or, rather, “ten hundred”) most common words, he provides simple explanations for some of the world’s most interesting things: our food-heating radio boxes (microwaves), our very tall roads (bridges), and our computer buildings (datacenters). He also explains the other worlds around our sun (the solar system), the big flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates), and even the stuff inside us (cells).
Where do these things come from? How do they work? What do they look like if you open them up? What would life be like without them? And what would happen if we heated them up, cooled them down, pointed them in a different direction, or pressed this button? In Thing Explainer, Munroe gives us the answers to these questions and so many more. Funny, interesting, and always understandable, this book is for anyone—age 5 to 105—who has ever wondered how things work, and why.
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius [图书] Goodreads
作者: Marcus Aurelius / George Long Wisehouse Classics 2015 - 12
MEDITATIONS (Medieval Greek: Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν Ta eis heauton, literally "to himself") is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy.

Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180. Some of it was written while he was positioned at Aquincum on campaign in Pannonia, because internal notes tell us that the first book was written when he was campaigning against the Quadi on the river Granova (modern-day Hron) and the second book was written at Carnuntum.

It is unlikely that Marcus Aurelius ever intended the writings to be published and the work has no official title, so Meditations is one of several titles commonly assigned to the collection. These writings take the form of quotations varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs.
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It [图书] 豆瓣
作者: Kamal Ravikant CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2012 - 7
In December of 2011, I gave a talk to an audience of scientists, Pentagon officials, politicians, and CEO's on the secret of life and how I'd figured it out the previous summer.
Afterwards, people came up individually and told me how much what I'd shared meant to them. This book is based on the truth I spoke about.
It's something I learned from within myself, something I believed saved me. And more than that, the way I set about to do it.
This is a collection of thoughts on what I learned, what worked, what didn't. Where I succeed and importantly, where I fail daily.
The truth is to love yourself with the same intensity you would use to pull yourself up if you were hanging off a cliff with your fingers. As if your life depended upon it. Once you get going, it's not hard to do. Just takes commitment and I'll share how I did it.
It's been transformative for me. I know it will be transformative for you as well.
How to Die [图书] 谷歌图书
作者: Seneca Princeton University Press 2018 - 02
Timeless wisdom on death and dying from the celebrated Stoic philosopher Seneca

"It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die," wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC–65 AD). He counseled readers to "study death always," and took his own advice, returning to the subject again and again in all his writings, yet he never treated it in a complete work. How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca's remarkable meditations on death and dying. Edited and translated by James S. Romm, How to Die reveals a provocative thinker and dazzling writer who speaks with a startling frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out.

Seneca believed that life is only a journey toward death and that one must rehearse for death throughout life. Here, he tells us how to practice for death, how to die well, and how to understand the role of a good death in a good life. He stresses the universality of death, its importance as life's final rite of passage, and its ability to liberate us from pain, slavery, or political oppression.

Featuring beautifully rendered new translations, How to Die also includes an enlightening introduction, notes, the original Latin texts, and an epilogue presenting Tacitus's description of Seneca's grim suicide.
Poor Charlie's Almanack [图书] 谷歌图书
作者: Charles T. Munger Stripe Matter Incorporated 2023 - 06
From the legendary vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, lessons in investment strategy, philanthropy, and living a rational and ethical life. "A timeless classic that will change how you approach life. There is a billion-dollar education inside this book." --Shane Parrish, founder of Syrus Partners and Farnam Street
"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up," Charles T. Munger advises in Poor Charlie's Almanack. Originally published in 2005, this compendium of eleven talks delivered by the legendary Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman between 1986 and 2007 has become a touchstone for a generation of investors and entrepreneurs seeking to absorb the enduring wit and wisdom of one of the great minds of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Edited by Peter D. Kaufman, chairman and CEO of Glenair and longtime friend of Charlie Munger--whom he calls "this generation's answer to Benjamin Franklin"--this abridged Stripe Press edition of Poor Charlie's Almanack features a brand-new foreword by Stripe cofounder John Collison.
Poor Charlie's Almanack draws on Munger's encyclopedic knowledge of business, finance, history, philosophy, physics, and ethics--and more besides--to introduce the latticework of mental models that underpin his rational and rigorous approach to life, learning, and decision-making. Delivered with Munger's characteristic sharp wit and rhetorical flair, it is an essential volume for any reader seeking to go to bed a little wiser than when they woke up.
Hands-On Large Language Models [图书] 豆瓣 Goodreads 谷歌图书
作者: Jay Alammar / Maarten Grootendorst 译者: Maarten Grootendorst O'Reilly Media 2024 - 10 其它标题: Hands-On Large Language Models: Language Understanding and Generation / Hands-on Large Language Models
AI has acquired startling new language capabilities in just the past few years. Driven by the rapid advances in deep learning, language AI systems are able to write and understand text better than ever before. This trend enables the rise of new features, products, and entire industries. With this book, Python developers will learn the practical tools and concepts they need to use these capabilities today.
You'll learn how to use the power of pre-trained large language models for use cases like copywriting and summarization; create semantic search systems that go beyond keyword matching; build systems that classify and cluster text to enable scalable understanding of large amounts of text documents; and use existing libraries and pre-trained models for text classification, search, and clusterings.
This book also shows you how to:
Build advanced LLM pipelines to cluster text documents and explore the topics they belong to
Build semantic search engines that go beyond keyword search with methods like dense retrieval and rerankers
Learn various use cases where these models can provide value
Understand the architecture of underlying Transformer models like BERT and GPT
Get a deeper understanding of how LLMs are trained
Understanding how different methods of fine-tuning optimize LLMs for specific applications (generative model fine-tuning, contrastive fine-tuning, in-context learning, etc.)
Optimize LLMs for specific applications with methods such as generative model fine-tuning, contrastive fine-tuning, and in-context learning
Scaling Python with Ray: Adventures in Cloud and Serverless Patterns [图书] 豆瓣 Goodreads
作者: Holden Karau / Boris Lublinsky O'Reilly Media 2023 - 1 其它标题: Scaling Python with Ray
Serverless computing enables developers to concentrate solely on their applications rather than worry about where they've been deployed. With the Ray general-purpose serverless implementation in Python, programmers and data scientists can hide servers, implement stateful applications, support direct communication between tasks, and access hardware accelerators. In this book, experienced software architecture practitioners Holden Karau and Boris Lublinsky show you how to scale existing Python applications and pipelines, allowing you to stay in the Python ecosystem while reducing single points of failure and manual scheduling. Scaling Python with Ray is ideal for software architects and developers eager to explore successful case studies and learn more about decision and measurement effectiveness. If your data processing or server application has grown beyond what a single computer can handle, this book is for you. You'll explore distributed processing (the pure Python implementation of serverless) and learn how
AI Engineering [图书] 谷歌图书
作者: Chip Huyen "O'Reilly Media, Inc." 2024 - 12
Recent breakthroughs in AI have not only increased demand for AI products, they've also lowered the barriers to entry for those who want to build AI products. The model-as-a-service approach has transformed AI from an esoteric discipline into a powerful development tool that anyone can use. Everyone, including those with minimal or no prior AI experience, can now leverage AI models to build applications. In this book, author Chip Huyen discusses AI engineering: the process of building applications with readily available foundation models.The book starts with an overview of AI engineering, explaining how it differs from traditional ML engineering and discussing the new AI stack. The more AI is used, the more opportunities there are for catastrophic failures, and therefore, the more important evaluation becomes. This book discusses different approaches to evaluating open-ended models, including the rapidly growing AI-as-a-judge approach.AI application developers will discover how to navigate the AI landscape, including models, datasets, evaluation benchmarks, and the seemingly infinite number of use cases and application patterns. You'll learn a framework for developing an AI application, starting with simple techniques and progressing toward more sophisticated methods, and discover how to efficiently deploy these applications.Understand what AI engineering is and how it differs from traditional machine learning engineeringLearn the process for developing an AI application, the challenges at each step, and approaches to address themExplore various model adaptation techniques, including prompt engineering, RAG, fine-tuning, agents, and dataset engineering, and understand how and why they workExamine the bottlenecks for latency and cost when serving foundation models and learn how to overcome themChoose the right model, dataset, evaluation benchmarks, and metrics for your needsChip Huyen works to accelerate data analytics on GPUs at Voltron Data. Previously, she was with Snorkel AI and NVIDIA, founded an AI infrastructure startup, and taught Machine Learning Systems Design at Stanford. She's the author of the book Designing Machine Learning Systems, an Amazon bestseller in AI.AI Engineering builds upon and is complementary to Designing Machine Learning Systems (O'Reilly).
Fundamentals of Data Engineering [图书] 豆瓣 Goodreads
作者: Joe Reis / Matt Housley O'Reilly 2022 - 10 其它标题: Fundamentals of Data Engineering: Plan and Build Robust Data Systems
Data engineering has grown rapidly in the past decade, leaving many software engineers, data scientists, and analysts looking for a comprehensive view of this practice. With this practical book, you'll learn how to plan and build systems to serve the needs of your organization and customers by evaluating the best technologies available in the framework of the data engineering lifecycle.
Authors Joe Reis and Matt Housley walk you through the data engineering lifecycle and show you how to stitch together a variety of cloud technologies to serve the needs of downstream data consumers. You'll understand how to apply the concepts of data generation, ingestion, orchestration, transformation, storage, governance, and deployment that are critical in any data environment regardless of the underlying technology.
This book will help you:
Assess data engineering problems using an end-to-end data framework of best practices
Cut through marketing hype when choosing data technologies, architecture, and processes
Use the data engineering lifecycle to design and build a robust architecture
Incorporate data governance and security across the data engineering lifecycle
Apache Iceberg: The Definitive Guide: Data Lakehouse Functionality, Performance, and Scalability on the Data Lake [图书] Goodreads
作者: Tomer Shiran O'Reilly Media 2024 - 6
Traditional data architecture patterns are severely limited. To use these patterns, you have to ETL data into each tool—a cost-prohibitive process for making warehouse features available to all of your data. This lack of flexibility forces you to adjust your workflow to the tool your data is locked in, which creates data silos and data drift. This book shows you a better way. Apache Iceberg provides the capabilities, performance, scalability, and savings that fulfill the promise of an open data lakehouse. By following the lessons in this book, you'll be able to achieve interactive, batch, machine learning, and streaming analytics with this lakehouse. Authors Tomer Shiran, Jason Hughes, Alex Merced, and Dipankar Mazumdar from Dremio guide you through the process. With this book, you'll
Clandestine in Chile [图书] 豆瓣
作者: Gabriel Garcia Marquez 译者: Asa Zatz NYRB Classics 2010 - 7
In 1973, the film director Miguel Littín fled Chile after a U.S.-supported military coup toppled the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende. The new dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, instituted a reign of terror and turned Chile into a laboratory to test the poisonous prescriptions of the American economist Milton Friedman. In 1985, Littín returned to Chile disguised as a Uruguayan businessman. He was desperate to see the homeland he’d been exiled from for so many years; he also meant to pull off a very tricky stunt: with the help of three film crews from three different countries, each supposedly busy making a movie to promote tourism, he would secretly put together a film that would tell the truth about Pinochet’s benighted Chile—a film that would capture the world’s attention while landing the general and his secret police with a very visible black eye.
Afterwards, the great novelist Gabriel García Márquez sat down with Littín to hear the story of his escapade, with all its scary, comic, and not-a-little surreal ups and downs. Then, applying the same unequaled gifts that had already gained him a Nobel Prize, García Márquez wrote it down. Clandestine in Chile is a true-life adventure story and a classic of modern reportage.
创建日期: 2025年2月10日