Author: Candice Millard
Rating: 5/5
This book tells the story of Theodore Roosevelt’s expedition down an uncharted river in the Amazon rainforest. What’s that? You didn’t know Roosevelt went on an expedition like that? Oh man, then there’s a treat in store for you. Theodore Roosevelt, age 55, AFTER serving two terms as the US president, just up and decides to embark on an harrowing journey through the uncharted jungle. Things started going wrong basically as soon as the journey began, making for a riveting story with life-or-death consequences. Many times, throughout the book, I thought to myself, “I can’t believe this really happened.” I especially enjoyed learning more about Roosevelt and grew to respect his courage and fortitude. I won’t say more for fear of spoilers. Read the book!
\n" }, { "id": "/books/brave-new-words", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#brave-new-words", "date_published": "2026-02-12T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Brave New Words", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Sal Khan
Rating: 4/5
In this book, Sal Khan (founder of Khan Academy) talks about generative AI and its potential to revolutionize education in a positive way. Sal was privileged to get early access to ChatGPT and used that opportunity to build Khanmigo, a K-12 AI tutor available on the Khan Academy platform. The book describes how tools like Khanmigo can improve education, not by replacing teachers, but by helping them give personalized instruction to students at a scale that was impossible before. Sal acknowledges that there are risks (cheating, etc), but that with thoughtful integration, they can be overcome and result in better educational outcomes for everyone. Khan Academy wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for a novel, potentially disruptive, educational technology (online video), so nobody is more qualified than Sal to see the potential in AI. The book is a bit dated (AI has changed a lot in 2 years) and it can feel like an advertisement for Khanmigo at times, but was otherwise great.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/stories-that-shape-us", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#stories-that-shape-us", "date_published": "2025-12-23T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Stories That Shape Us", "summary": "Rating: 2/5", "content_html": "Author: Steve Mann
Rating: 2/5
This book is about how we can use stories to share our beliefs and values with loved ones. In one way, the book serves as a memoir, with the author, Steve Mann, sharing his own stories and the values they contain. In another way, the book is a workbook, helping you, the reader, identify stories that represent your own values. Steve was my mission president from 2007-2008 and I enjoyed learning more about his life and experiences from the stories. I didn’t get as much value from the workbook part but maybe I’d find it more useful at a different phase in my life.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/hell-yeah-or-no", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#hell-yeah-or-no-what-s-worth-doing", "date_published": "2025-12-17T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Hell Yeah Or No: What's Worth Doing", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Derek Sivers
Rating: 3/5
I’ve enjoyed other books by Derek Sivers so I thought I’d give this one a try. It turned out to be a collection of Derek’s blog posts, all loosely connected to the topic of deciding what’s worth doing. I’ve been following Derek’s blog for years, so most of the ideas and stories were familiar to me. It’s hard to read this after “How to Live,” without feeling like the advice in this book is undermined by the other perspectives from that book. That said, I think it makes this book a bit more personal—it’s more like “How I live” instead of “How to live.” From that perspective, I appreciated how much Derek and I have in common. I see myself in his measured responses, his desire to disconnect, and the way he develops future projects (sound familiar?). It makes me want to do more writing myself.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-murderbot-diaries-2", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#artificial-condition-the-murderbot-diaries-2", "date_published": "2025-10-05T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Artificial Condition: The Murderbot Diaries 2", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Martha Wells
Rating: 3/5
This is book two in the Murderbot series. The first one was so short and satisfying that I decided to keep going. In this one, the main character (the SecUnit/Murderbot) tries to learn more about it’s past, encounters new characters, and takes on a contract where things get interesting. These books almost feel like episodes in a science-fiction / action series (something like the Mandalorian). I liked the first book better but this one was also good.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-murderbot-diaries-1", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#all-systems-red-the-murderbot-diaries-1", "date_published": "2025-09-28T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries 1", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Martha Wells
Rating: 4/5
This book is the first in a science-fiction series where the main character is a humanoid security robot (“murderbot”), that has gone rogue. By “gone rogue”, I mean, it overrode it’s own governance systems without it’s employer knowing, so now it has to pretend like it’s functioning normally, while trying to figure out what it wants to do with it’s new-found freedom. It’s a neat premise, but it’s the robot’s personality that really makes it shine. The robot is neurotic, insecure, and addicted to TV shows… basically a weaponized bodyguard with the emotional maturity of a teenager. I burned through the audiobook in one shot (it’s super short) and found it very entertaining.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-road-to-character", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-road-to-character", "date_published": "2025-09-19T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Road to Character", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: David Brooks
Rating: 3/5
I became interested in this book when I discovered it was written by David Brooks—a New York Times columnist whose writing I’ve enjoyed in the past. The book discusses character—what it is and how we might develop it in the modern world. Much of the book follows the lives of lesser-known historical figures who became influential in their fields despite misfortune, personal failings, and terrible circumstances. Each story demonstrated a degree of character development amid the chaos and messiness of life. The stories were ok, but the idea that stuck out the most to me was “The Big Me,” his term for the dominant culture today. He describes it as an unquestioned belief that the true authority for your decision making should be your inner-self. You hear it in phrases like “follow your passion,” and “be yourself,” which suggest that you should trust your feelings, your logic, and your drives, when deciding what to do in life. In this world-view, anything you feel is legitimate because you felt it. It’s empowering but it fuels selfishness (and all it’s societal byproducts). What’s the opposite of this? Self-mastery. This idea that your desires are not always good sign-posts, and that you should take an active role in evaluating the inner voices, feeding the good ones, and starving the bad ones. How do we know what is good and bad? If we can’t find the answer inside, we are forced to look outside… to find a higher authority. Instead of asking ourselves, “what do I want?” we start asking ourselves “what does the world need?” We start to have a reason to self-confront, to deprioritize our own desires, and to sacrifice for the greater good. The world could use more people like that, in my opinion.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/fire-in-the-valley", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#fire-in-the-valley", "date_published": "2025-09-02T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Fire in the Valley", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Michael Swaine and Paul Freiberger
Rating: 3/5
This book gives a history of the personal computer, with a focus on the people and culture who brought it into the world. I was familiar with several of the stories (from the Steve Jobs biography) but there was a lot more to the computer revolution besides Apple. I especially enjoyed learning about the early days, where amateur tinkerers spun up magazines, clubs, conferences, and companies, all for the sake of experimenting and sharing information. The world wasn’t always just Macs and PCs, and it was interesting to learn more about how we got this place.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-gods-themselves", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-gods-themselves", "date_published": "2025-08-03T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Gods Themselves", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 4/5
This story follows a handful of scientists and physicists as they make a world-changing discovery, ushering in a period of energy abundance. But while some researchers embrace the new discoveries (and the recognition that comes with them), others start raising concerns that the new technologies put humanity at risk. Who is right, and who is motivated by ego and pride? This was my first time reading Isaac Asimov, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it felt modern, fresh, and weirdly realistic (for a story about free energy). Yes, it’s science-fiction, but ultimately it’s a story about how the desire for recognition creates incentives that may not align with truth-seeking. Maybe I’ll read more Asimov in the future.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-remains-of-the-day", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-remains-of-the-day", "date_published": "2025-07-21T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Remains of the Day", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Rating: 3/5
This book follows the story of Mr. James Stevens, a butler who dedicates his life to his work, managing the household of an influential British nobleman, Lord Darlington. As the story progresses, we see Stevens confronted with nuanced situations, like an ambiguous relationship with one of the housekeepers, and Lord Darlington’s growing sympathies with Nazi Germany. How Steven navigates these situations is the crux of the story. Are his actions (or inactions) dignified? Do they produce pride or regret? How often do we pass the moral burden of action for the sake of duty? I found these themes interesting, but they were pretty subtle, and buried in a lot of day-by-day recounting of butler-y activities that were hard for me to get excited about. For this reason, I suspect I would have liked the movie more.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-scout-mindset", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-scout-mindset", "date_published": "2025-07-03T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Scout Mindset", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Julia Galef
Rating: 4/5
This book is a defense of using truth-seeking as your north-star principle in life. A lot of people seem to value truth-seeking until they find themselves in a situation where the truth challenges their ego, identity, or income stream. To explain this, the author describes two possible mindsets: The Soldier Mindset (which seeks to protect you), and the Scout Mindset (which seeks to see reality clearly). The Scout Mindset (which she advocates) is flexible, willing to pursue the truth wherever it leads. Instead of assuming that the value of truth is self-evident, the book evaluates several arguments against maximal truth-seeking (like, “irrational self-belief results in better outcomes,” and “prioritizing truth-seeking sacrifices happiness”). She made a strong case! I liked her examples of Solider Mindset “ripple effects,” which helped me see its unseen costs. The discussion of “can I believe this” vs “must I believe this” clicked with me as well. I suspect that I’ll be thinking about this book for awhile.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/unsong", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#unsong", "date_published": "2025-06-03T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Unsong", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Scott Alexander
Rating: 4/5
This book describes a world where the US Apollo 8 mission to the moon collides with the crystal sphere surrounding the earth, cracking it, and causing the fundamental laws that govern the physical world to start breaking down. This process also restores previously-hidden fundamental laws, based not on mathematics, but on divine light. It’s a world where angels exist, divine utterances act as powerful incantations, and kabbalistic biblical interpretations can accurately describe physical reality. This world is absurd in all the best ways. The characters engage in philosophic debates, entire storylines are created to set up a pun, and ridiculous things are taken seriously because THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES. While you can read the book online, I recommend the audiobook (found in this podcast feed) because the production quality was 👌. The book feels best suited for someone who is both logically-minded and religious (ideally, Jewish), so I can’t speak for anyone else, but it was working for me. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/never-let-me-go", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#never-let-me-go", "date_published": "2025-05-27T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Never Let Me Go", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Rating: 3/5
I read “Never Let Me Go” because I loved Ishiguro’s other book “Klara and the Sun.” This book was similar in many ways. Both are well-written stories focused on human relationships, set in a world with dystopian elements that the reader slowly discovers over time. “Never Let Me Go” is the story of a friend group, describing the details of their lives as they attend boarding school, graduate, and enter the real world. While I enjoyed discovering the dystopian elements, I was disappointed that the book spent so much time documenting the details of the characters social lives (teasing, gossip, love triangles, etc). I get it, it emphasizes their humanity (important to the plot), but I would have rather spent that time wrestling with bigger topics. Even the book’s revealed mysteries felt somewhat underwhelming, being not as ambitious as my own theories. All that said, the book was so well-written, that it held my interest throughout. I understand why the book is highly-rated, even if it didn’t meet the expectations I had going into it.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/abundance", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#abundance", "date_published": "2025-05-21T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Abundance", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
Rating: 4/5
In this book, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue that the US needs to do a better job at building stuff, if it’s going to rise to the challenges of the future (climate change, cost-of-living increases, competition from China, etc). What kind of stuff do we need to build? Housing, green energy, transmission lines, safe AI, advanced medicine, and various other forms of infrastructure. Throughout the book, the authors dig into why we’ve gotten so bad at building these kinds of things and what we might do to turn it around. I liked the case-study of the I-95 overpass in Philadelphia being successfully rebuilt in 12 days, and what made it an outlier. I also enjoyed the chapters on innovation, including this killer quote: “Generations from now, inventions that we can scarcely imagine will feel core to modern life… If these things are possible in the realm of physical reality, then they are possible to discover—and if they can be discovered in a century, they can be discovered in a decade. Or in a year.” The book felt important, pragmatic, and focused on all the right things. Let’s go do it!
\n\n" }, { "id": "/books/staff-engineer", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#staff-engineer-leadership-beyond-the-management-track", "date_published": "2025-03-29T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Will Larson
Rating: 3/5
Thus far in my software dev career, I’ve preferred “individual contributor” (IC) roles over management roles. In many companies, there’s this idea of an IC track, parallel to the management track, where an engineer can advance in their skills and impact. In these companies, at the top of the IC track, there’s a role called “Staff Engineer.” That role is the topic of this book. From what I could tell reading this book, Staff Engineers tend to only exist at larger companies because their work often involves using context and expertise to solve cross-cutting problems. The responsibilities of Staff Engineers vary widely from company to company but it’s always about using your technical expertise to drive business impact. The book attempts to find commonalities in the role across companies and teach to those topics, but I felt like those chapters fell flat. I learned a lot more from the series of interviews with Staff Engineers that were printed verbatim in the second half of the book. In fact, you could cut everything but the interviews, and I think the book would be just as good (if not better).
\n" }, { "id": "/books/one-world-schoolhouse", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#one-world-schoolhouse", "date_published": "2025-03-23T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "One World Schoolhouse", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Salman Khan
Rating: 4/5
In this book, Sal Khan (the founder of Khan Academy) does two things. First, he tells the story of Khan Academy, how it grew from a collection of math lessons on YouTube to an ambitious online platform for self-paced learning. Second, he lays out his vision for the future of education, calling out the flaws he sees in the current system, and the ways we can use technology to build something better. Despite this book being thirteen years old now, I still found his vision fresh and compelling. As a product, Khan Academy has made a big impact in my household, and reading this book helped me see how much of the product is a result of Sal’s vision. I’m excited to see what Sal and Khan Academy do next.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/blindsight", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#blindsight", "date_published": "2025-02-08T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Blindsight", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Peter Watts
Rating: 4/5
I discovered this book by feeding my list of 200+ book reviews into ChatGPT and asking it to recommend me something I would enjoy. I was not disappointed. Blindsight is a hard science-fiction story about a crew of future humans on a mission to make first contact with an unknown alien presence in the solar system. The crew consists of six hyper-specialized humans—byproducts of genetic engineering and advanced neural surgery. Their attempts to understand the alien presence takes them on a mind-bending journey that leaves them questioning everything they thought they knew. If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be “intense.” It was action-packed and suspenseful throughout, with a fair amount of violence (and spicy language). The science and philosophy got pretty deep and I felt myself struggling at times to keep up. It was worth it though, for the mind-blowing ideas it explores around consciousness, evolution, and identity. Even the vampires, which I was initially dismissive of, ended up elevating the story significantly. I left thinking that the author must be some sort of genius to have written this book. I’m definitely going to have to tap ChatGPT for more book recommendations in the future.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/useful-not-true", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#useful-not-true", "date_published": "2025-01-02T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Useful Not True", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Derek Sivers
Rating: 4/5
This is a book about reframing. It shows you how to change how you think about something and choose a perspective that is useful to you. The key is the word useful. So often we say that we seek “truth.” It’s a noble pursuit! But shockingly few things meet a strict definition of true. Memories are inaccurate. The past is interpreted. Science itself is series of models that are continually superseded by better ones. Even a question like “what time is it?” has no “true” answer because it depends on where you are. If we only pursued what was strictly true, we’d have very little to build a life around. It’s better to pursue what is useful. Beliefs can be useful when they cause us to take the actions that we want to embody. We can intentionally adopt useful beliefs and reframing is how we do it. This book is fairly cerebral (thinking about thinking!) so it’s probably not for everyone but I found it very empowering.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-anxious-generation", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-anxious-generation", "date_published": "2024-12-31T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "The Anxious Generation", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Jonathan Haidt
Rating: 4/5
In this book, Jonathan Haidt looks at the mental illness crisis facing young people today and argues that it has a single, undeniable cause: early, excessive use of smartphones (and other online technologies). This isn’t a new hypothesis, but Haidt brings a mountain of data, studies, and evidence (both correlational and causal) to make a strong, defensible case. A key point is that by allowing our children to be raised online, we have crowded out valuable experiences in the physical world that help young people grow, develop confidence, and learn to trust themselves. In short: we’ve been overprotective in the physical world and underprotective in the digital world. What’s the solution? Haidt proposes four new norms for parents and schools to adopt. I love these—they are simple, inexpensive, concrete, and memorable. This year, my wife and I became parents of a teenage girl, so reading this book felt like the responsible thing to do. I’m glad we did, and I strongly recommend it to all parents of preteen kids (in part because changing norms is a collective action problem and we need your help). For a taste of the book’s content, check out Haidt’s popular blog post on the topic (or his other related ones). Important book!
\n\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-lathe-of-heaven", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-lathe-of-heaven", "date_published": "2024-11-30T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "The Lathe of Heaven", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Rating: 3/5
This is an older science fiction book I heard about from a friend. In the story, George Orr finds himself with the ability to change reality based on what he dreams. Unable to control the power, he attempts to suppress it and eventually finds himself in the care of a sleep psychologist (Dr. Haber). With time and research, Dr. Haber learns how to control George’s dreams, but wielding the power to alter reality can have harmful consequences (as you can imagine). The story raises some interesting questions. Is utopia possible? Is one person’s utopia invariably another person’s dystopia, because of our differing values? As a society, what are we working towards (and will we like it when we get there)? I like how Dr. Haber is a complex antagonist. He clearly wants to do what is right and his actions can be justified nearly every step of the way. His accumulation of power is for the purpose of advancing knowledge and addressing the world’s problems, right? It’s only when you look at the big picture that it all feels off. I’m not sure how I feel about the book’s ending but there was a lot to enjoy along the way.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/romney-a-reckoning", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#romney-a-reckoning", "date_published": "2024-11-26T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Romney: A Reckoning", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: McKay Coppins
Rating: 4/5
This is a biography on the political life of Mitt Romney. The book describes Romney’s journey to each of his political roles, from governor of Massachusetts to US Presidential candidate to US Senator (Utah). Along the way, the author focuses on Romney’s internal struggles as he tries to hold to his principles in the face of increasing political polarization and authoritarianism in his own party. The book gives an unfiltered view of the people and processes in the US Senate (including some unflattering portrayals of several current politicians) which added entertainment value. Overall, I came away with increasing respect for Romney because of his integrity and loyalty to country (over party).
\n" }, { "id": "/books/flowers-for-algernon", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#flowers-for-algernon", "date_published": "2024-11-22T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Flowers for Algernon", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Daniel Keyes
Rating: 4/5
Flowers for Algernon (1959) is a fictional story about Charlie, a mentally handicapped man who undergoes an experimental medical procedure to make him smarter. The story is told through a series of journal entries, written by Charlie himself (for research purposes). There was strong foreshadowing throughout the book, which gave me with this feeling of dread, like I was watching a train wreck in slow motion. Charlie’s progression gives you a lot of things to chew on. The world can be a cruel place, even when it’s nobody’s fault. We’re all handicapped in various ways and we often hurt each other without even realizing it. Intelligence is a double-edged sword; ignorance can be bliss. The storyline itself was a whirlwind of human social dynamics and perhaps even an allegory for the journey we all take through life. Wow.
\n\n" }, { "id": "/books/right-thing-right-now", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#right-thing-right-now", "date_published": "2024-11-16T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Right Thing, Right Now", "summary": "Rating: 2/5", "content_html": "Author: Ryan Holiday
Rating: 2/5
I read nearly everything of Ryan Holiday’s so when I learned that he wrote this, I was excited to go through it. Ryan explains that the book is about justice, or more accurately, the principle of justice as the Stoics saw it. This ended up expanding the topic to include virtues like integrity, incorruptibility, and empathy for others. The book pulled stories from the lives of many people involved in causes of justice including Florence Nightingale, Martin Luther King, Harry S. Truman, and Ghandi. I especially enjoyed learning about Ghandi (I should read a full biography about him). There’s a tension in the book between being principled and pragmatic, with some examples of standing on principle and others of making compromises to achieve the greater good. Ryan gives no clear direction for these situations, arguing that life is messy and it falls to us to do the best we can at making these kinds of choices (an answer I found less than satisfying). Overall the book had great parts (the afterword was stellar, as usual) but it suffered from a lack of focus. It felt possible that he only wrote it for the sake of writing a book on each of the four cardinal virtues. I’m glad I read it nonetheless.
\n\n" }, { "id": "/books/hillbilly-elegy", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#hillbilly-elegy", "date_published": "2024-11-03T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Hillbilly Elegy", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: J.D. Vance
Rating: 4/5
This book is a memoir about J.D. Vance’s experience growing up in Middletown Ohio. Vance’s childhood was notable in that he was raised in a poor household by his mother and grandparents, who were hillbilly immigrants from Kentucky. J.D.’s experiences highlight a culture-clash between the hillbilly people and modern society. His people often suffer from addiction, broken families, chronic unemployment, poor health outcomes, and a host of other issues. The book discussed questions like “who is responsible for these bad outcomes”, and “what does it take for a person to overcome them.” Overall, I found the story interesting. I liked how it shined a light on a world that felt foreign despite being in my own backyard.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-wisdom-of-insecurity", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-wisdom-of-insecurity", "date_published": "2024-10-27T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Wisdom of Insecurity", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Alan Watts
Rating: 4/5
Alan Watts was a philosopher who became known for books and lectures he produced in the 1950s which blended eastern philosophy with western religion. This book, The Wisdom of Insecurity, explains the causes of “Insecurity” (which today, we might call anxiety), the role it plays in our lives, and how we can overcome it. The discussion is wide-ranging, addressing topics like human desire, self-awareness, faith vs skepticism, science vs religion, and finding meaning in life. A key theme is the Law of Reversed Effort, which is often described in analogies: When you try to stay on the surface of the water, you sink; but when you try to sink you float. Or another: when you hold your breath you lose your breath. This idea applies to anxiety in that it’s our efforts to obtain security that results in the insecurity we feel daily (this was also touched on in Pixar’s “Inside Out 2”). I enjoyed the topic and found resonance in many of his other ideas (especially his thinking around science and religion). For a taste of his thinking, see excerpts of his speeches in this whiteboard video or this game trailer.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/klara-and-the-sun", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#klara-and-the-sun", "date_published": "2024-10-05T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Klara and the Sun", "summary": "Rating: 5/5", "content_html": "Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Rating: 5/5
This was a fictional book following the story of Klara, an advanced humanoid robot (or “AF”—artificial friend) who was designed to be a companion for children. We follow along as Klara is purchased from her store, meets Josie, her child, and assists Josie’s family as they navigate the challenges of their world. The story is told from Klara’s perspective, which lets you see the world like a AI would see it. I loved this aspect of it. Her perspective is naive, often insightful, but also biased by her programming and early formative experiences. It colors everything that happens in the plot, which centers around this question of whether AI’s like Klara can fully replace humans. The book had a lot of symbolism, and I was able to discover layers of meaning as the story unfolded (especially in the parts about the sun). I found myself recommending the book to people before I even finished it. It was a joy to read.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress", "date_published": "2024-09-25T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", "summary": "Rating: 2/5", "content_html": "Author: Robert A. Heinlein
Rating: 2/5
This book follows the story of a group of Moon colonists (Loonies) who stage a political revolution and declare independence from the earthly governments ruling over them. The story was set on the Moon but the book was more political fiction than science fiction. It often went into great detail about political strategy and diplomacy, which wasn’t that interesting to me. They explored what a Moon society might look like, but it felt a bit hit-or-miss. The family structures were confusing, and the idea of the Moon being better for farming than Earth felt laughable. I did however, enjoy Mike (the supercomputer character) and how his capabilities guided the story.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-almanack-of-naval-ravikant", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-almanack-of-naval-ravikant", "date_published": "2024-08-13T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Almanack of Naval Ravikant", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Eric Jorgenson
Rating: 4/5
This book is a collection of thoughts and writings from Naval Ravikant, mostly sourced from his interviews and social media posts. Naval is a startup founder and venture capitalist in Silicon Valley who’s known for his original and concise advice about wealth and happiness. The book is organized into aphorisms, with expanded thoughts below each one (a good format for a book, though it’s a little tricky to follow via audiobook). The book was short but felt like it was packed with wisdom. You could learn a lot by going through it slowly and reflecting on each point. This feels like a good one to re-read from time to time.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/material-world", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#material-world-the-six-raw-materials-that-shape-modern-civilization", "date_published": "2024-08-03T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Ed Conway
Rating: 4/5
This book is an in-depth exploration of six raw materials that our modern would is built on. The six materials are sand, salt, iron and steel, copper, crude oil/gas, and lithium, though the definitions were pretty loose (the author’s definition of ‘salt’ included industrial fertilizers). The idea behind the book’s title is that most of us are so insulated from the processes that source these materials, that it’s like a parallel world—a world that’s both invisible and critical to our way of life. The book goes into great detail providing a history of each material, including its discovery, mining, processing, and scaling up to today. It’s a long book, but the author does a great job keeping it interesting by bringing a sense of curiosity and wonder to each chapter. The subject reminded me of playing the video game Factorio, where you spend a lot of time in the “material world” building supply chains for mining and processing materials. It feels like a topic we should all know more about, given how much our modern lives depend on it.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow", "date_published": "2024-07-14T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Rating: 4/5
This is a story about two childhood friends who decide to make a video game together, kicking off a journey of ambition, conflict, success, and failure. My favorite parts were about the game-making. The drive to create something novel and worthy of your expectations. The forces of compromise, criticism, and luck. The details of the creative-struggle. The games themselves were clever and I found myself impressed with the author for inventing them in the detail she did. Ultimately though, this book was more about relationships and interpersonal conflict. I liked these parts less. The characters were flawed, often petty and immature, hungry for recognition, and willing to hold grudges. Still, the plot grabbed my attention and made for a enjoyable read.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/lets-talk-about-the-law-of-consecration", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#let-s-talk-about-the-law-of-consecration", "date_published": "2024-06-24T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Let's Talk About: The Law of Consecration", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Steven C. Harper
Rating: 3/5
Steven Harper was one of my favorite college professors so when I heard that he wrote this book, I wanted to give it a read. The book is targeted towards members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it assumes a fair amount of pre-existing knowledge. It covers a period of LDS church history where the people tried various forms of communal living, including “The Family,” the United Order, and the Law of Consecration. It was a short book—I actually found myself wishing it was a bit longer, with more selections included from the Doctrine and Covenants. It was a good mix of interesting history and relevant principles for church members today.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/a-fire-upon-the-deep", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#a-fire-upon-the-deep", "date_published": "2024-06-23T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "A Fire Upon the Deep", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Vernor Vinge
Rating: 4/5
This was a science-fiction story set in a future where humans are just one of many known lifeforms in the Milky-Way galaxy. The story is about a cancerous advanced life-form (named “the blight”) that is accidentally released into the galaxy, and the humans who attempt to stop it. It isn’t a short book and it took a while for me to get enough context to get pulled into the story, but it ended up being worth it. I loved the idea of a galaxy divided into regions of different physical properties, like the Transcend, which supports faster-than-light interactions. Such places support the existence of advanced, super-intelligent life-forms (“powers”) whose dealings are beyond human comprehension. It’s like something out of a Lovecraft story and I dig it (even if it ended up feeling a bit too magical for my taste).
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-inner-game-of-tennis", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-inner-game-of-tennis", "date_published": "2024-04-30T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Inner Game of Tennis", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Timothy Gallwey
Rating: 4/5
This book is a guide on how to improve your Tennis performance by mastering something the author calls “the inner game.” The inner game is all about trusting your body to know what to do and not letting your mind get in the way. In modern terms, it’s learning how to get into a “flow state” and keep yourself there. I don’t play Tennis but the concepts felt relevant to my own interests (like piano and weightlifting) so I found myself taking all sorts of notes. The author did a great job of bringing the ideas to life using stories from his coaching practice. I was especially interested in the parts about overcoming nervousness and non-judgemental observation. A classic book and still relevant today.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/scarcity-brain", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#scarcity-brain", "date_published": "2024-04-18T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Scarcity Brain", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Michael Easter
Rating: 4/5
Scarcity Brain is a book about the challenges of living in a world of abundance with a brain that’s adapted to living in a world of scarcity. The author, Michael Easter, argues that our reward pathways were optimized to forage for food, an activity full of anticipation and unpredictable rewards. Much of our modern day entertainment hijacks those reward pathways, resulting in compulsive use that hurts our physical and mental health. Easter calls this cycle “The Scarcity Loop” and shows how it’s behind a surprising number of our modern problems, including gambling addiction, cardiovascular disease, and overconsumption in all of it’s various forms (doomscrolling, retail therapy, alcoholism, etc). To understand how to break this cycle, Easter spends time living with a tribe in the Amazon, Benedictine Monks, and wilderness survival experts, to see what he can learn. I was hoping the book would address modern hangups around time scarcity and money scarcity, but overall I liked the topic and found it engaging throughout. I especially enjoyed the part about the history of slot machines. Recommended!
\n\n" }, { "id": "/books/dopamine-nation", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#dopamine-nation", "date_published": "2024-03-28T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Dopamine Nation", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Anna Lembke, MD
Rating: 4/5
In this book, Doctor Anna Lembke discusses the prevalence of dopamine-based addiction in our modern society. The book focuses on the stories of dozens of Anna’s patients, each one dealing with addiction in some form (yes, drugs and alcohol, but also romance novels, food, sex, pain, and more). The sheer diversity of the addictions helped broaden my understanding of what addiction is. We really have to watch ourselves for signs of compulsive use of anything as a coping strategy, lest it become destructive. I liked her break-down of the efficacy of Alcoholics Anonymous, as it brought up interesting parallels with religious groups that have similar practices around abstinence. I also liked her perspective on self-binding, pro-social shame, and radical honesty—again, all practices that are woven into many religious traditions. The book was like a secular argument for the unpopular, but healthy, practices that we all need when fighting the modern struggle. Important book!
\n" }, { "id": "/books/i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream", "date_published": "2024-02-29T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Harlan Ellison
Rating: 3/5
This short story is part science-fiction, part horror. It’s about a AI that goes rogue and tortures the humans that created it. Very disturbing. It felt like the AI was right out of a Lovecraft story—alien and incomprehensible. It reminded me of “Shoggoths with a Smiley Face” (specifically, that unforgettable image). It’s hard to believe this was written in 1967.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/sea-of-tranquility", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#sea-of-tranquility", "date_published": "2024-02-27T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Sea of Tranquility", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Emily St. John Mandel
Rating: 4/5
This is a fairly short science-fiction story about the investigation of a mysterious supernatural event. It had everything: good characters, interesting science, moral dilemmas… I loved it! It did some narrative jumping, like Cloud Atlas, but unlike Cloud Atlas, it did a great job of connecting all the stories together. I expect that I’ll be recommending it a lot in the future (especially because it was very approachable for science-fiction).
\n" }, { "id": "/books/but-what-if-were-wrong", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#but-what-if-we-re-wrong", "date_published": "2024-02-16T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "But What If We're Wrong?", "summary": "Rating: 2/5", "content_html": "Author: Chuck Klosterman
Rating: 2/5
I listened to the audiobook, which is basically 10 hours of Chuck Klosterman working his way through every category of popular culture, pontificating for a while, and then taking a contrarian viewpoint about what it’s going to look like in the future. He focuses a lot on trends in music, art, literature, and sports… squishy topics where nothing can really be disproven. He does talk about physics, which I found interesting, but it was a pretty light pass that leans heavily on some interviews he did. The audiobook made me feel like I was in a college dorm listening to an annoying philosophy student argue about things that don’t matter. It was self-indulgent. Think Nassim Taleb, without the insights. Pass.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/red-mars", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#red-mars", "date_published": "2024-01-14T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Red Mars", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Rating: 3/5
Red Mars is the first book in a three-book sci-fi series about humans from Earth colonizing Mars. It starts with the “first hundred” as they make their journey, arrive, and start building infrastructure. As they progress, various conflicts arise, from interpersonal drama to philosophical debates (whether or not to terraform, how they will be governed, etc). The book was reasonably technical and not too speculative (though it’s probably 100+ years ahead of where we are today). My biggest complaint was the number of main characters and storylines, which made the book feel a bit tedious (it was 640 pages). I’d still recommend it, if you’re the kind of person who likes thinking about Mars colonization.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse", "date_published": "2023-11-05T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Charlie Mackesy
Rating: 4/5
This book is like a collection of modern proverbs, centered loosely around the story of a boy, a mole, a fox, and a horse, journeying across a landscape. The book is just as much art as it is literature, each page being illustrated with a distinctive combination of watercolor and scribbley ink. The illustrations look nice but they also show what’s happening on the journey, giving context to the messages. The custom drawn words were a bit difficult to read but it had the effect of slowing me down, making the messages more impactful. Still, it was a quick read and good for all ages. The whole vibe was like “The Little Prince” meets “Frog and Toad are Friends”—both classics in their own right. The sheet music on the inside cover was a nice touch too (I played it on the piano and it sounded great). Highly recommended!
\n" }, { "id": "/books/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "date_published": "2023-10-01T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Robert M. Pirsig
Rating: 3/5
This book tells the story of a man and his son taking a motorcycle trip across the country. As he travels, the author often digresses into deeper topics, including technology, craftsmanship, motivation, philosophy, and metaphysics. The story was compelling and often insightful, though it took some patience to work through some parts. The author had this ability to take a latent feeling (like frustration with technology) and put it into words, making me say “Yes! That’s what it is!” I experienced this in his discussion of “gumption traps” (basically, managing your motivation), and also the “lack of care” that we see in the world. I struggled with the discussions on philosophy (a central part of the plot). Overall, the book had a unique vibe and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the topics described above.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/wanting", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#wanting-the-power-of-mimetic-desire-in-everyday-life", "date_published": "2023-09-06T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Luke Burgis
Rating: 4/5
“What we want” is at the root of all of our decisions. So why do we want what we want? To answer that question, this book explores the ideas of the late literary philosopher René Girard, who taught that much of our desire is mimetic. To explain, our wanting often comes from models—people we use as a reference for ourselves. These could be role models (who we want to be like) or rivals (who we don’t want to be like). We can easily get swept away in mimetic cycles (like competition or mob behavior), where our desires spiral out of control. This isn’t ideal, since it often leads to violence or other regrettable outcomes. The book offers some ideas on how to identify our true (“thick”) desires and pursue them intentionally, for a more satisfying life. Overall, the topic was interesting and approachable. A good tool for increasing your self-awareness.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-comfort-crisis", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-comfort-crisis", "date_published": "2023-08-18T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Comfort Crisis", "summary": "Rating: 5/5", "content_html": "Author: Michael Easter
Rating: 5/5
This book argues that the comfort of our modern lives is the source of many of our problems today. The book’s narrative is built around a challenge that the author (Michael Easter) undertook to survive in the arctic for 30+ days. Throughout the story, Easter describes the impact of our modern environment on our minds and our bodies, including lots of good research and expert opinion. He gave words to some concepts I had believed but not articulated, like “comfort creep,” where we adapt to yesterday’s comforts until they become unacceptable (similar to lifestyle creep), and “problem creep,” where we regularly lower our threshold for what constitutes a problem. This is how we become, as George Bernard Shaw says, “a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that life will not devote itself to making you happy.” The book covers many lifestyle topics, like physical activity, eating, boredom, sleep, and our modern exposure to nature, hunger, noise, and death. Some of Easter’s solutions included undertaking deliberate challenges (Misogis), gratitude, and designing more workflows into our lives that our bodies are better adapted for (more exposure to nature, more quiet, more boredom, more hunger, and more daily, functional, physical activity). There’s lots of overlap with Stoicism. It feels like a book that everyone should read!
\n" }, { "id": "/books/managing-humans", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#managing-humans", "date_published": "2023-07-30T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Managing Humans", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Michael Lopp
Rating: 3/5
This book is basically a collection of blog posts from “Rands in Repose” a popular blog by Michael Lopp (Rands) on Engineering Management. It covers a variety of topics like meetings, hiring, and company reorganizations, all written in a jokey-casual tone from a early 2000’s Silicon Valley perspective. Rands leans on stereotypes a lot, often coining new terms for the types of people and situations he encountered, though it was usually good-natured. I didn’t really connect with the writing style, and it was hard to tell how relevant the advice was to me, but I found a few of the stories entertaining.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/finite-and-infinite-games", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#finite-and-infinite-games", "date_published": "2023-07-29T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Finite and Infinite Games", "summary": "Rating: 2/5", "content_html": "Author: James P. Carse
Rating: 2/5
I had heard of this concept of “finite” and “infinite” games in the past, and it seemed pretty interesting to me, so when I discovered the book which introduced the concept, I was excited to read it. The book was not what I expected though. It jumps right into defining finite games and infinite games but without any real context or examples. There was no narrative or prose at all—it was like reading “board game instructions” meets “the book of Proverbs.” The discussion of games shifted in many directions like, art, history, culture, nature, and religion, but everything was discussed in philosophical and abstract terms. It was frankly difficult to follow, and hard to find application to anything real. I guess I was hoping the book would help me identify finite or infinite games in my life so I could decide whether I wanted to play them (or how I wanted to play them). The book was too abstract for that. Regardless, it seems like it contains some interesting ideas if you’re willing to put in the time and effort to unpack them.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/boundaries", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#boundaries", "date_published": "2023-07-11T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "Boundaries", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Henry Cloud and John Townsend
Rating: 4/5
This was one of the first books on my booklist and I finally got around to reading it (it was a Dave Ramsey recommendation 10+ years ago). The book is about improving your life by setting boundaries in your relationships, (all of your relationships, including you/spouse, you/child, you/parent, and you/friend). It was written by a psychologist but the text is so heavily Christian-influenced that it almost felt like a sermon (especially how it used scripture references to support its assertions). I was skeptical about the Christian framing at first but it ended up adding value to the book, because the fact is that people often use Christian principles (like meekness, humility, charity, obedience, “turning the other cheek,” etc.) to justify boundary problems. The book helps you navigate those issues and clearly see where your personal boundaries actually lie. It turned out to be surprisingly tangible: you control what you do and others control what they do. I especially appreciated all of the example conflicts, which made the principles a lot more clear. Overall, the book was a lot less boring and more helpful than I expected it to be.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-diamond-age", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-diamond-age", "date_published": "2023-05-30T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Diamond Age", "summary": "Rating: 3/5", "content_html": "Author: Neal Stephenson
Rating: 3/5
This is a story set in a future where nano-technology has enabled a post-scarcity society. In this world, everybody has access to a matter compiler—basically a 3D printer where you select whatever you need from a menu and it’ll print it (food, clothing, a mattress, etc). You would think this abundance would result in peace and prosperity but instead we find a society of illiteracy, crime, and tribalism. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition and one I was excited to explore. While I enjoyed much of the story, I struggled to keep track of all the politics, which ended up being pretty central to the story. There were a lot of tribes, locations, and people, and the book wasn’t very explicit on their roles, which left me wondering who was rebelling against who (and why). I suspect everything would be easier to follow on a second read-through. Regardless, the book was still interesting. I always like stories about technology and its impact on society.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/the-rational-optimist", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#the-rational-optimist", "date_published": "2023-04-30T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "The Rational Optimist", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Matt Ridley
Rating: 4/5
This is a book about the history of human prosperity. The books starts with ancient humans and walks forward in time, describing the breakthroughs that advanced human civilization. Some of these things were technologies (cooking, writing, the internet, etc), but the author really focused on practices like free exchange, specialization, and cultural evolution. The optimism comes from looking at the big picture—life for humans is much better today than it has ever been in the past and we have every reason to believe that it will continue to improve. There are a lot of people out there who get caught in a bubble of doom and have no idea that our current problems are just the latest in a series of crises that humans overcame. It’s easy to say “this time it’s different,” but this book gives you the evidence you need to believe otherwise.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/4000-weeks", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#4000-weeks-time-management-for-mortals", "date_published": "2023-03-29T00:00:00-04:00", "title": "4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Oliver Burkeman
Rating: 4/5
This was like a post-modern productivity book. Where a typical productivity book might give you tips on how to work efficiently, this book asks, “What’s the point of working more efficiently, if you’ll just be rewarded with more work?” In this way, it was more a philosophy book, asking the big questions behind our productivity obsession. True to it’s subtitle (“Time Management for Mortals”), the book described how our time-management behaviors are a byproduct of how we grapple with “finitude,” the reality that we are mortals with finite lifespans, that could end at any moment. It was honestly a very refreshing take on the topic. If you want to know more, check out this post summarizing some of the more interesting ideas from the book.
\n" }, { "id": "/books/deaths-end", "url": "https://www.bryanbraun.com/books/#death-s-end", "date_published": "2023-03-09T00:00:00-05:00", "title": "Death's End", "summary": "Rating: 4/5", "content_html": "Author: Cixin Liu
Rating: 4/5
This is the third and final book in the “Three Body Problem” series (also called, “Remembrance of Earth’s Past”), by Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu. The story follows humanity, navigating a cold-war existence with other alien lifeforms in a hostile universe. The story timeline jumps around a lot (thanks to hibernation technology and time dilation), which made it feel like five science-fiction books in one. Like the other books in the series, this one is packed with technology, philosophy, and periods of utter despair. The storyline was so baffling that I’d often find myself in disbelief, needing to share details with my family members. While the book had flaws (it was often disorienting and I had a hard time connecting with the characters), it was incredibly ambitious and a worthy conclusion to the series.
\n" } ] }