Mastering AI

Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered Future 

by Jeremy Kahn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Too often we mistakenly view technological development as deterministic, as if technology were a force of nature immune to our actions. This attitude robs us of agency and turns us into mere subjects. It is a dehumanizing pose, for one of our defining characteristics as a species is our ability to bend the world to our favor. And AI is bendable. It is a protean technology. We can still sculpt its final form. The decisions we make, individually and collectively, over the next few years will determine AI's fate, and our own. If we do nothing, humanity is careening toward a cliff edge; the fall may not doom us all, but it will injure us in countless ways We can act now to avoid the precipice and steer toward a brighter future that AI will help deliver. In trying to pull off this maneuver, our greatest impediment is not AI. It's us." (p. 245-6)

This book is both terrifying and encouraging. Kahn looks at how AI is developing, what it actually is and can do right now, and what it could become (good and bad). I found the deep dives into specific areas where AI is being developed, such as education, especially fascinating. Kahn is not giving us an objective view of AI, he has a very definite message about the dangers it poses and the opportunities it offers if we (both individually and as a species) can harness this technology instead of letting it harness us. 

I rarely feel like any book is one "everyone should read," but this one is an exception.

November Book Report

Stillwater, OK, November 2024

I finished 4 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“A dog will wag and lick your face and just about knock the door down waiting for you to come in at the end of the day. But are they really thrilled? Or are they running the world’s longest con, a scheme developed over thousands of generations for better chow and a warm place to sleep?”
― Tommy Tomlinson, Dogland

I finished 1 book from my Classics Club list, which was on my owed-but-not-read shelf (currently at 135 books). 

 Here are the books I finished in November 2024: 

1. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (4-stars)
2. Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show by Tommy Tomlinson  (4-stars)
3. The Year of Less by Kate Flanders (audio, 3-stars)
4. Earthly Remains by Donna Leon (audio, 3-stars)

Not a big month for reading. I have some solid reading time planned in December which I am looking forward to.

NonFiction November 2024 - Week 2

Week 2 of Nonfiction November is hosted at Volatile Rune. Technically week two ended on 11/8, but I am ignoring that fact and posting about it anyway. 

Before I answer the prompt I encourage you to go read the host post at Volatile Rule which talks about the freedom to read. I totally agree with what Frances has to say. It is an important message we should all be thinking about. Please read it.

Q: What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? 

A: When I pick up a book I am looking for good writing that fits the subject matter; to learn something I didn't know, or think about something in a new way; and to enjoy the reading experience. I'm looking for these same things regardless of fiction or nonfiction.

Q: Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? 

A: There are some topics that consistently appeal to me: biography (esp. of writers and powerful women), personal finance, organization and project management, history of specific things (bananas, board games, brewing, etc.). Almost anything might jump out at me from the library shelves though and pique my interest. 

Q: Do you have a particular writing style that works best? 

A: The writing needs to match the topic--a light airy tone is great for a memoir about doing everything Oprah suggests for a year, but a serious, scholarly tone is called for with a history of Islam. 

Q: When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.

A: I don't think covers have a big influence on my book choices. 

October Book Report

Portland, ME, October 2024

I finished 7 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

““I once attempted to flirt with her our freshman year of college, complimenting her sandals before class. She didn't respond, just glared at me with a scowl that would've liquefied helium, for which I repaid her many years later by marrying into her family and sitting next to her every Thanksgiving.”" ― Harrison Scott Key, How to Stay Married

I made no progress on any of my various goals or challenges. 

 Here are the books I finished in October 2024: 

1. Lethal Treasure by Jane Cleland (3-stars)
2. How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told by Harrison Scott Key  (4-stars)
3. The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey (4-stars)
4. Murder on the Half Shelf by Lorna Barrett (3-stars)
5. The Five Years Before You Retire by Emily Guy Birkin (3-stars)
6. Georgia by Dawn Tripp (5-stars)
7. Not That Fancy by Reba McEntire (3-stars)

Three Men in a Boat To Say Nothing of the Dog

Three Men in a Boat 

by Jerome K. Jerome
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this book very funny. It is the thoughts of one man, J. who embarks on a boat trip on the Thames with two friends and a dog named Montmorency. The events of their journey are described and various other stories are told (like the signing of the Magna Carta) when something on the trip reminds J. of them. There is also life advice sprinkled throughout the story.

"Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need--a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing." 

This novel was first published in 1899, the same year as Dom Casmurro and 2 years after Dracula. It felt more modern than that--the tone was very similar to P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) or John Mortimer (1923-2009).  It had summary notes at the head of each chapter--in the style of Henry Fielding--which I find entertaining. 

This book is from my Classics Club list and was my spin title. 

NonFiction November 2024 - Week 1

This first week of NonFiction November is being hosted at Based on a True Story. This week's questions are what NF have we read this year and what were our favorites?

I have read 78 books so far this year and 30 of them were nonfiction. Mostly I read books about productivity, a little history, and some memoir/biography. 

As far as favorites these were the standouts:

Congratulations! The Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas -- funny and touching memoir and the audiobook, read by the author, was great.

The Life List by Kate Christie -- a woman of "a certain age" taking control of her own destiny and nailing it!

All it Takes is a Goal by Jon Acuff -- sensible, practical tools for getting stuff done.

Boom Town by Sam Anderson -- a true story of Oklahoma City and basketball.

As always, I hope to discover some new-to-me NF titles and learn more about ones I might have been considering that are not likely to be good picks for me.

Georgia

Georgia: A Novel of Georgia O'Keeffe 

by Dawn Tripp
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dawn Tripp was at the NH Book Festival (which was awesome) talking about her new book on Jackie Kennedy. That one sounded really good, but this one was on the shelf at the public library so I decided to read it first. I am so glad I did because it was fabulous! I have had Laurie Lisle's biography of O'Keeffe on my owned-but-not-read shelf for years (maybe decades) and will definitely need to dig it out. 

When I saw her speak Tripp talked about how important it is to her to stick to the historic record in writing her fiction which made this novel even more interesting to me. 

Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz are the center of this story which begins when they met and takes us beyond his death. Along the way we discover how the artists felt about their own work, each other's work, and each other. I couldn't put this book down and I learned a lot. I am anxious to go back and revisit O'Keeffe's paintings now that I know more about why she painted what she did.

This is a novel full of great lines too. I'm not sure if they are Tripp's or O'Keeffe's, but either way they are memorable.

"A life is built of lies and magic, illusions bedded down with dreams. And in the end what haunts us most is the recollection of what we failed to see." (p. 15)

"There are those moments, always, looking back on a life when you can see the points--fully lit in hindsight, real or imagined--where the path split, where you could have made a different choice and the cost of the choice you made." (p. 173)

I am counting this book toward the Historical Fiction Reading challenge.

The Frozen River

The Frozen River 

by Ariel Lawhon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history." -- publisher's blurb

This was not a book that jumped out at me as something I would be interested in, but it was fabulous! Lawhon brings her readers into the mind of Martha Ballard which is a fascinating place to be. The story includes a lot of hard things, but the narrator is a very practical and sensible woman who's matter-of-fact dealing with what is put in front of her keeps the book from being too harrowing to read. I loved the ending!

This book counts toward the 2024 Historical Fiction reading challenge.  

Classics Club Spin

The Classics Club is hosting another spin. A number will be selected on Sunday 10/20/24. I have until December 18th to read the book from my list at that number.

Here is my list:

1. Hard Times, Charles Dickens, 1854
2. Come and Get It, Edna Ferber, 1935
3. Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome, 1889
4. Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy, 1955
5. Steamboat Gothic, Francis Parkinson Keyes, 1952
6. Russia House, John le Carre, 1989
7. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, 1945
8. Howards End, E. M. Forster, 1910
9. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1967
10. Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey, 1912
11. Dune, Frank Herbert, 1965
12. The Razor's Edge, W. Somerset Maugham, 1944
13. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry, 1985 
14. True Grit, Charles Portis, 1968
15. 3 Lives, Gertrude Stein, 1909
16. A Tale of a Tub, Jonathan Swift, 1704
17. Aesop's Fables
18. Song of the Lark, Willa Cather, 1915
19. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, 1859
20. Delta Wedding, Eudora Welty, 1946