Book and Resource Suggestions
As a principle, I do not suggest books that I have not read myself. Lately on the interwebs, people have made it a job to repost and share tons of resources that they come across, in hopes of getting internet brownie points. While it could be useful overall by increasing the exposure for some books, I find it too noisy. Hence I only share books and resources I have consumed myself and have something to say about. I'll also have this as a fresh documentation and start from 01-09-2025 onward.
Technical Books
These are technical books that, I believe, will help you improve. I mostly focus on Computer Graphics & Vision, Mathematics, and Machine Learning, so these books will reflect my preferences. I sometimes read books from different areas as well, to expand my horizons.
- Build a Large Language Model (From Scratch): Great introduction to LLMs. People with expertise with LLMs will probably not benefit a lot from it, but if you are just starting it will teach you a lot.
Technical Resources
These are resources that are not exactly books, but could be websites, courses or hands-on projects that are published online.
- Build Your Own Lisp: To be fair, I didn't finish this resource this year, I completed it a long time ago. However, it added a lot to my knowledge. It teaches you how to build a working, functional programming language and introduces many fundamental concepts you'd encounter in a university-level Programming Languages course. I learned most of my C programming knowledge from this resource.
Fiction
I have been trying to replace doom-scrolling with something more beneficial. Every time I want to scroll Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube, I just sit down and read for 15-25 minutes. It has helped me a lot and, quite frankly, improved my attention span by leaps and bounds. These books are not for improving your skills but simply ones I have enjoyed and read in my free time.
The Wheel of Time Series [at 7th Book]: I always loved fantasy books where characters are on a journey to fight against evil. The formula is simple but Robert Jordan is really good at world building and epic story telling. Some of the characters are driving me crazy with their single-minded personalities but I am already invested in this story and will finish the series one way or another.
The Mistborn Trilogy [Era 1]: I got suggested Brandon Sanderson by a friend and I got hooked immediately. I love his magic systems and world building. The extended Cosmere idea is also something I love. I have been reading his books non-stop for the last year.
The Three Body Problem Series [3 Books]: I love fantasy books because they allow you to go into worlds that are much different than ours. I enjoy sci-fi books because they are possibilities of what our world could be. I first watched the Netflix series but after two episodes decided to jump into the books. At times it gets a bit slow but I love the science, world building and the mystery. I really like the series, even though there were some low moments through the books.