A running catalog of books and series that continue to shape how I think.

Science Fiction

• Isaac Asimov
  • Foundation series
    • Prelude to Foundation — Hari Seldon’s origins amid Imperial intrigue
    • Forward the Foundation — Seldon’s struggle to complete psychohistory
    • Foundation — the birth of the Foundation and first Seldon Crises
    • Foundation and Empire — the Mule’s disruption of the plan
    • Second Foundation — the hunt for the secretive Second Foundation
    • Foundation’s Edge — a search for the mythical planet Earth
    • Foundation and Earth — the quest to find Earth’s legacy
    • Foundation’s Fear — revival of galactic politics and simulation ethics
    • Foundation and Chaos — confrontation with robot-driven conspiracies
    • Foundation’s Triumph — the reconciliation of human and robotic destinies
  • The Naked Sun
  • The Robots of Dawn
• Philip K. Dick
  • Electric Dreams
  • Minority Report
• Ray Nayler — The Mountain in the Sea
• Jack Vance
  • The Languages of Pao (Amazon)
  • Tales of the Dying Earth (Amazon)
• Exurbia — The Fifth Science (Amazon)
• QNTM
  • There Is No Antimemetics Division
  • Valuable Humans in Transit
  • Ra
• Greg Egan — Morphotrophic
• Philip José Farmer — The Unreasoning Mask
• Joi Ito & Jeff Howe — Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future (Amazon)
• Olaf Stapledon
  • Last and First Men
  • Star Maker

Technical

• Rob J Hyndman — Forecasting: Principles and Practice (Amazon)
• Peter Thiel — Zero to One
• James C. Scott — Seeing Like a State (Amazon)
• Stephen King — On Writing (Amazon)
• Most Stripe Press books on technical leadership
• Most O’Reilly books on AI, machine learning, and software development

Nonfiction

• Mitchell Waldrop — The Dream Machine

Fantasy

• Raymond E. Feist — Riftwar Cycle
  • Magician — Pug and Tomas discover their destinies during the Riftwar
  • Silverthorn — a desperate quest to save Anita from a poisoned blade
  • A Darkness at Sethanon — a climactic battle to protect Midkemia
  • Prince of the Blood — twin princes unravel conspiracies in Kesh
  • The King’s Buccaneer — a kidnapping sparks a globe-spanning rescue
  • Shadow of a Dark Queen — mercenaries confront ancient evil in Novindus
  • Rise of a Merchant Prince — Roo Avery builds an empire amid war
  • Rage of a Demon King — the dark queen’s forces threaten Midkemia
  • Shards of a Broken Crown — rebuilding lands ravaged by war
  • Krondor: The Betrayal — game-inspired intrigue and invasion
  • Krondor: The Assassins — assassins and guilds unsettle the Kingdom
  • Krondor: Tear of the Gods — a lost artifact jeopardizes Midkemia’s faiths
  • Talon of the Silver Hawk — a lone survivor vows revenge and renewal
  • King of Foxes — Talon navigates political traps to protect the Orosini
  • Exile’s Return — alliances shift as ancient threats reemerge