Roughly we go into that good night

An annotated reading of the books I finished in October 2026.

Books Read in October 2026

  1. Subliminal
  2. My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla
  3. The Elements of Marie Curie
  4. The Singularlity is Nearer
  5. Speaker for the Dead

Unconscious and unseen

How can old memories and nearly imperceptible phenomena sway what decisions we make? Answer: the unconscious says so. Subliminal captures the feeling of wonder that arises upon discovering how peculiar the human mind’s inner workings truly are. Notably, the book is comprised of many first and third-hand accounts of contexts where one’s mental intuitions have been automatically bypassed in favor of deep-seated cognitive templates our minds have developed over the years. As such, this work has implications for several aspects of our lives, including our relationships, vocations, and community structures.

The Whiz Kid

Tesla, oh Tesla…Nikola Tesla, that is. What an eccentric fellow, who went on to develop transformative technologies, such as the Tesla coil and the transformer (n.b., not the AI one). His autobiography poignantly presents Tesla’s inner monologue as he grows and matures as both a human being and an inventor. There are many lessons we can learn from a life like Tesla’s, such as the time and attention often required to become true creatives within a given industry. One part intuition, many parts perspiration.

Time will tell a story

Marie Curie is one of the most recognizable names in science. Not only did she win two Nobel Prizes, but she was also the first non-male to win any. Her work on radioactivity, among many other endeavors, quickly launched Marie and her husband/collaborator Pierre into the scientific limelight. As documented in The Elements of Marie Curie, what stands out most to me about Marie is how dedicated she was to scientific mentorship alongside research. As several women scientists were eager to start their own research labs, Marie provided the training grounds necessary for them to launch their careers, acting as a force multiplier for heterogeneous scientific talent pools.

Woh, that fast?

Long ago, I heard of a book called The Singularity is Near. When I went to read it, little did I know at the time that the author, Ray Kurzweil, published its sequel under the similar title The Singularity is Nearer. So I accidentally read the sequel rather than the original, but in hindsight, I think this worked out well. Since machine learning has advanced exponentially over the last 15 years, an updated synposis of Kurzweil’s views on AI, digital twins, and digital biology was long overdue. Having finished the book, I can confidentally say that it will challenge most readers to consider how quickly the world will change in the next decade, in particular how our self-conceptions will rapidly evolve with AI.

Jesus and Hitler, two for the price of one

The sequel to Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, does not disappoint. In fact, its philosophical undertones came across rather naturally as the story wrestles with describing its protagonist as both savior of humanity and a genocidal mastermind (n.b., you were right, Kyle!). How would you view yourself if you were tricked into committing an alien genocide but later lauded by your species as a hero? Speaker for the Dead explores these themes with delicate precision, building on the worlds and characters of its well-known prequel.

Alex