My Bookshelf

These are the books on my bookshelf at the moment. I don’t necessarily endorse any of the books in here, but I do curate my collection and remove books that no longer feel like they belong.

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Physics

Astrophysics & Stellar Physics

• Turbulence and Transport in Stars and Planets (my PhD thesis)
• The Atmospheric Dynamics of Pulsar Companions (my senior thesis)
• Stellar Structure (Chandrasekhar)
• The Structure and Evolution of Stars (Eldridge and Tout)
• Stellar Structure and Evolution (Kippenhahn, Weigert, and Weiss)
• Stellar Interiors (Hansen and Kawaler)
• Formation and Evolution of Rotating Stars (Meynet)
• Physics of Fully Ionized Gases (Spitzer)
• Introduction to High Energy Astrophysics (Rosswog and Brüggen)
• Theoretical Astrophysics Volumes 1, 2, and 3 (Padmanabhan)
• Morphological Astronomy (Zwicky)

Fluid Mechanics

• Physical Fluid Dynamics (Tritton)
• Hydrodynamics and Hydromagnetic Stability (Chandrasekhar)
• The Dynamical Theory of Gases (Jeans)

Condensed Matter & Statistical Physics

• Solid State Physics (Ashcroft and Mermin)
• Principles of Theory of Solids (Ziman)
• Electrons and Phonons (Ziman)
• Condensed Matter Field Theory (Altland and Simons)
• Field Theoretic Renormalization Group and Critical Behavior Theory and Stochastic Dynamics (Vasil’ev)
• Statistical Physics (Landau and Lifshitz, 3rd edition part 1 & part 2)
• Thermal Physics (Kittel and Cromer)
• Statistical Physics of Fields (Kardar)
• Statistical Physics of Particles (Kardar)
• Statistical Thermodynamics (Hill)
• Thermodynamics (Fermi)
• Entropy, Order Parameters and Complexity (Sethna)
• Lectures on Phase Transitions and Renormalization Group (Goldenfeld)
• Renormalization Methods: A Guide for Beginners (McComb)

General Physics & Field Theory

• Course of Theoretical Physics volumes 5 & 6 (Landau and Lifshitz)
• Modern Classical Physics (Thorne and Blandford)
• Gravitation (Meisner, Thorne, and Wheeler)
• Dynamics for Physicists (Faber)
• Oscillations and Waves (Kato)
• Quantum Field Theory (Lifshitz)
• Analytical Mechanics (Hand and Finch)
• Introduction to Quantum Field Theory (Peskin and Schroeder)
• Introduction to Electrodynamics (Griffiths)
• Theory of Groups and Quantum Mechanics (Hermann Weyl)
• Quantum Field Theory (Srednicki)
• Biophysics (Bialik)

Mathematics

• Principles of Mathematical Analysis (Rudin)
• Street Fighting Mathematics (Mahajan)
• Elementary Analysis: The Theory of Calculus (Ross)
• Fundamentals of Complex Analysis (Saff and Snider)
• Generatingfunctionology (Wilf)
• First Course in Abstract Algebra (Fraleigh)
• Mathematical Methods in Physical Sciences (Boas)
• History of Pi (Beckmann)
• Probability Theory and Random Processes (Grimmett and Stirzaker)
• Probability Theory (Jaynes)

Chemistry

• Inorganic Chemistry (Miessler and Tarr)

Computer Science & AI

• Modern Fortran Explained (Metcalf, Reid, and Cohen)
• Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems (Pearl)
• Quantum Computation and Quantum Information (Nielsen and Chuang)
• Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms (MacKay)
• The Artificial Intelligence Debate (Graubard)
• The Emperor’s New Mind (Penrose)
• Machines of Loving Grace (Dario Amodei)
• Chip War (Miller)

Popular Physics & Science

• The Road to Reality (Penrose)
• Sustainable Energy (MacKay)
• The Science of Interstellar (Thorne)
• A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bryson)
• How Things Work (Bloomfield)
• Starry Messenger (Tyson)
• Many Worlds in One (Vilenkin)

Science & Engineering Philosophy

• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn)
• Art of Doing Science and Engineering (Hamming)
• Scientific Freedom: The Elixir of Civilization (Kealey)
• Tuxedo Park
• Star Warriors

Carl Sagan Collection

• Cosmos
• Contact
• The Varieties of Scientific Experience
• The Dragons of Eden
• Pale Blue Dot
• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Sagan and Druyan)

Feynman Collection

• The Feynman Lectures on Physics volumes 1, 2, and 3
• Exercises for the Feynman Lectures
• Statistical Mechanics by Feynman
• The Quantum Labyrinth (Halpern)
• Quantum Man (Krauss)
• Six Easy Pieces (audiobook)
• Feynman’s Thesis
• No Ordinary Genius (Sykes)
• Feynman (Ottaviani and Myrick)
• The Feynman Lectures on Computation
• QED
• Classic Feynman
• The Quotable Feynman
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
• The Meaning of It All
• Feynman’s Rainbow (Leighton)
• Perfectly Reasonable Deviations
• Feynman’s Lost Lecture (Goodstein and Goodstein)
• Most of the Good Stuff

Freeman Dyson Collection

• Maker of Patterns
• The Scientist as Rebel
• Infinite in All Directions

Other Science Biographies

• Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson)
• We Are All Stardust (Stefan Klein)
• The Selfish Gene (Dawkins)
• Carl Sagan: A Life (Davidson)
• Sir James Jeans (C.V. Jeans)

Iain M. Banks Culture Series

• The Algebraist
• Surface Detail
• Inversions
• Consider Phlebas
• The State of the Art
• The Hydrogen Sonata
• Look to Windward
• Excession
• The Player of Games
• Use of Weapons
• Matter

Kim Stanley Robinson Mars Trilogy

• Red Mars
• Green Mars
• Blue Mars

Terra Ignota Series

• Too Like the Lightning (Palmer)
• The Will to Battle
• Seven Surrenders
• Perhaps the Stars

Vernor Vinge

• The Peace War
• Children of the Sky
• Deepness in the Sky

Philip Pullman Series

• The Subtle Knife
• Northern Lights
• The Amber Spyglass
• The Secret Commonwealth
• The Book of Dust
• Lyra’s Oxford

Tamora Pierce Collection

• Wild Magic
• Wolf Speaker
• Emperor Mage
• The Realm of the Gods
• First Test
• Page
• Squire
• Lady Knight
• Circle of Magic books 1-4
• The Circle Opens books 1-4
• The Will of the Empress
• Battle Magic
• Melting Stones

Other Science Fiction

• Anathem (Stephenson)
• The Diamond Age (Stephenson)
• Spin (Wilson)
• The Wandering Earth (Liu Cixin)
• The Terraformers
• Stories of Your Life and Others (Ted Chiang)
• Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
• Record of a Space Born Few
• The Galaxy and the Ground Within
• Good Omens (Pratchett and Gaiman)
• The Man Who Folded Himself
• Hidden Empire (Kevin Anderson)

LessWrong/Rationality Books

• Map and Territory (Rationality: From AI to Zombies)
• How to Actually Change Your Mind Volume 2
• Inadequate Equilibria (Yudkowsky)
• “The Carving of Reality” (Best of LessWrong 2020) containing:
  • Reality & Reason
  • Coordination & Constraint (includes “Timelines and Takeoff”)
  • Alignment & Agency
  • Takeoff & Takeover

Social Sciences

• Law and Economics (Cooter and Ulen)
• Analyzing Congress
• A Political Theory Primer
• Identification Problems in the Social Sciences (Manski)
• The American People Volumes 1 and 2 (APUSH history)

Popular Science & Practical

• How To (Randall Munroe)
• What If (Randall Munroe)
• How to Invent Everything (Ryan North)
• Soonish (Kelly and Zach Weiner Smith)
• Strange Planet (Nathan Pyle)
• The Checklist Manifesto (Gawande)
• Watching the English (Kate Fox)

Space & Exploration

• The NASA Archives
• To the Stars (George Takei)
• Leonard Nimoy’s I Am Spock

History & Reference

• The Dorling Kindersley History of the World
• Ancient Egypt (Eyewitness Books)
• The Incredible Journey (Nicholas Harris)

Philosophy & Miscellaneous Non-fiction

• The Good Neighbor (Maxwell King)
• The World According to Mister Rogers
• How Good Do We Have to Be? (Harold Kushner)
• The Path of Law
• The Declaration of Independence/Constitution of the United States
• Zen Wisdom for the Anxious
• Seeing and Believing (Richard Panek)
• Mating in Captivity
• Adventures of a Reckless Amateur (Sverre Aarseth)
• Immune (Philipp Dettmer)

Health & Nutrition

• The Psychology of Eating (Ogden)
• Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism
• Smart People Don’t Diet

Cookbooks

• Jewish Cooking for Dummies
• Good Eats
• The Modern Table
• Staples Plus 5
• Introduction to High Performance Blending
• The Food Lab (López-Alt)
• Foolproof Fish
• Comfort
• Dishoom
• On Food and Cooking (McGee)

Children’s/YA Literature

• Holes (Sachar)
• My Side of the Mountain (George)
• Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)
• The Giving Tree (Silverstein)
• The City of Ember (DuPrau)
• The People of Sparks
• The Diamond of Darkhold
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Volumes 1-5 (Adams) plus Young Zaphod Plays It Safe
• Alanna

Comics/Graphic Novels

• The World of Edena
• The Art of Edena

Fiction (Various)

• The Heart of the Hunter (Laurens van der Post)
• A Story Like the Wind (Laurens van der Post)
• A Far Off Place (Laurens van der Post)
• Making History (Stephen Fry)

Caltech

• The Gnome Club
• Little t by Caltech (2010-2011)
• Little t by Caltech (2011-2012)

Other

• The Atlantic: “It’s Later Than You Think”