Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
The canonical map of the field. Read once for vocabulary, then again for structure.
Knowledge Bank04
Reading room
Library · Field maps · Method
The inputs
behind the work.
Books, papers and side projects organised by the question they help answer. This is the research layer behind the engineering, writing and atlases.
Twelve resources.
Models that keep paying off.
This is the complete curated list from the original site. Every item is retained here with the reason it matters and the part of the portfolio it informs.
Artificial Intelligence
Deep Learning
Goodfellow, Bengio and Courville on the mechanics behind modern neural networks.
Landmark papersArtificial Intelligence
Attention Is All You Need
The architecture paper that opened the modern era. Best read beside the systems consequences.
Read essayArtificial Intelligence
The Bitter Lesson
Rich Sutton on why general methods that exploit computation keep winning.
Field ManualSoftware Systems
The Mythical Man-Month
Fred Brooks on communication cost, conceptual integrity and why late projects resist brute force.
Selected workSoftware Systems
Designing Data-Intensive Applications
Martin Kleppmann's clear map of storage, replication and distributed trade-offs.
Auth case studyIntelligence and Cognition
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas Hofstadter on self-reference, patterns and minds. Slow, strange and foundational.
Bio atlasIntelligence and Cognition
How Buildings Learn
Stewart Brand on how systems adapt under use. It rewards being read as a software book.
WritingStartups and Strategy
Zero to One
Peter Thiel on differentiation, power laws and building something difficult to substitute.
Commercial mapStartups and Strategy
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries on cycle time, hypothesis testing and learning before scaling.
Selected workStartups and Strategy
High Output Management
Andy Grove's operational handbook for leverage, measurement and management systems.
Selected workStartups and Strategy
Poor Charlie's Almanack
Charlie Munger on mental models, incentives and reducing avoidable error.
Scientific processSix shelvesOrganised by use,
Organised by use,
not discipline.
Each shelf groups material that compounds around a recurring problem in the work.
Artificial Intelligence
Foundations, deep learning, language models, agents and evaluation.
Foundations · FrontierSoftware Systems
Architecture, infrastructure, reliability, security and production engineering.
Build · RunIntelligence and Cognition
Biological intelligence, learning, neuroscience, evolution and decision-making.
Mind · PatternStartups and Strategy
Company building, distribution, positioning, venture capital and markets.
Sell · ScaleTrust, Risk and Regulation
Auditability, verification, AI governance, security and institutional trust.
Verify · GovernWriting and Communication
Clear thinking, explanation, persuasion, storytelling and public work.
Think · ExplainLonger than an essay.
Narrower than an atlas.
Focused research projects kept here so they remain honest side paths rather than competing with the recruiter-facing portfolio.
01Side map
The Peptide World
An educational map of peptide science, evidence, hype, safety risks and source databases.
Open field map02Side map
The Scientific Process
A practical guide to evidence, uncertainty, bias and forming better beliefs.
Open field map03Field map
Software Systems Atlas
A practical map of how modern software is designed, built, secured, shipped and operated.
Open field map04Field guide
What Is Coding?
A model of coding as behaviour, state, rules, interfaces and complexity boundaries.
Open field mapReading methodThree passes.
Three passes.
Understanding to use.
- 01
Understand the main idea
Read for the shape of the argument before naming every part.
- 02
Extract models and mechanisms
Capture assumptions, moving parts, edge cases and useful names.
- 03
Connect it to active systems
Map the idea onto work in progress. If nothing connects, park it until it does.
Research routesFrom reading
From reading
to working systems.
The library is complete here. Continue into the writing archive for arguments, or the atlases for interactive maps of the ideas and infrastructure.
Browse all writing