written works that altered my brain chemistry, listed and linked in no particular order.
there's a long tail of pieces that i appreciated but didn't make this list; this is my shortlist of absolute favorites.
for books, i also have my storygraph.
this page will be under construction for the rest of my life, but it is especially so right now. i haven't included all the pieces that i want to include yet.
I've read many great novels, but this is my favorite, period. I plan on re-reading this book and writing some proper thoughts on it.
I'm all for creating healthy boundaries that keep us satisfied and emotionally healthy—inside and outside of work. And of course I believe you can love something without it having to hurt. But I've never truly loved anything that didn't move me to my core. I can't help but wonder if all this effort we're putting into keeping work at arm's length is actually holding us back from being our best selves.
Because what I've learned from having the privilege of working in a place that asks for my best and helps me get there is how much it can unlock in a life. The benefits extend far beyond the skills required to get great work done. The really, really good stuff comes from looking back on something you created and thinking, “I had no idea I could do that.” It comes from looking around and thinking “wow these people helped me, really helped me, get there.”
This one comes to mind often, but not because the piece itself drove a particular revelation. Rather, I think it articulates a benefit of expressive type systems that I came to cherish by writing my own programs.
Type systems like Haskell's and Rust's let programmers precisely state and enforce invariants about values. By doing so, you can eliminate entire classes of problems that exist when writing programs in other languages. It's an illuminating experience. In my opinion, this post is so well-known because it makes such a good case for type-driven design.
This is another gem from bookbear express. It makes me reflect on acting with intention, on projecting interiority, and, of course, on loving wholeheartedly.
It's easy to be nonchalant. It's easy to pretend to be above it all. But my favorite conversations and closest friendships exist because of times I've been totally vulnerable and totally true to myself.
This piece is absolutely worth reading in its entirety. It's an accessible introduction to stateful firewalls and Network Address Translators in the real world. I learned a lot by reading it. It's also just fascinating reading about the different tricks that Tailscale uses to holepunch and establish connectivity.
Succinct and well-written. Distrbuted systems was my favorite CS elective in university, so I have a soft-spot for the subject matter. Since I haven't worked professionally on any distributed systems yet, I'm also the target audience :D
sometimes i wonder if the people i've grown apart from know that if they need me, i'm still here. even if we broke up, even if i moved away, even if you hurt me, even if i hurt you, the offer still stands. i continue to hold on to a bit of everyone i've ever cared about in case i'll ever need it.
i know too much about you to stand aside and watch you fall without offering my hand. i know right now i have to walk past you and pretend we've never been anything more than strangers, but i still think about you and i wonder if you think about me too.
I just think about this one a lot. I really love the sentiment.
In another piece I love that touches on similar themes, Ava writes about never getting over the people we love, platonically or romantically. I'm sure that some people that I talk to (truly speak freely to) will one day become people that I used to talk to. Yet, they'll probably also be with me forever.
A fantastic essay on meaning. I absolutely adore the way this ends.
Here, I wrote about how this short story changed how I approached my relationship with my parents.
Each issue is a precise and fascinating explanation of some part of the financial system.
For me, the broader takeaway from reading all of these is that my mental model of organizations like banks should consider various incentive structures at play. Observable behavior that seems unreasonable can become legible when viewed with a new lens.
I don't think I could write a sufficient note about it. It's fantastic.
This essay says a lot of things that I also believe about what it means to have taste. Like many other bookbear express posts, it also motivates me to articulate my own thoughts on interiority.
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