Bookshelf | Olly Britton

These are my notes on books I’ve read.

You can click on each one to get to the corresponding post about that book. There’s a varying level of detail in each post; some just have a couple of quick thoughts and maybe some clippings like The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Hoffman^N, and some have very detailed notes like Thinking, Fast and Slow^N.

2025

Paradise Regained, Milton — Paradise Regained, Milton^N

Paradise Lost, Milton — Paradise Lost, Milton^N

The Ascent of Money, Ferguson — The Ascent of Money, Ferguson^N
★

Religio Medici, Browne — Religio Medici, Browne^N

Complete Poems, Milton — Complete Poems, Milton^N

Unfinished

Why We Sleep, Walker — Why We Sleep, Walker^N

The Three Body Problem, Liu — The Three Body Problem, Liu^N

The Confessions, Augustine — The Confessions, Augustine^N

How To Change Your Mind, Pollan — How To Change Your Mind, Pollan^N

Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky — Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky^N

Essays, Emerson — Essays, Emerson^N

2024

Areopagitica, Milton — Areopagitica, Milton^N

Tractate of Education, Milton — Tractate of Education, Milton^N

Plainsong, Haruf — Plainsong, Haruf^N
★

At the Mountains of Madness, Lovecraft — At the Mountains of Madness, Lovecraft^N

New Atlantis, Bacon — New Atlantis, Bacon^N

Essays, Bacon — Essays, Bacon^N

Anatomy of the State, Rothbard — Anatomy of the State, Rothbard^N

Blood Meridian, McCarthy — Blood Meridian, McCarthy^N
★

The Torah — The Torah^N

The Golden Sayings, Epictetus — The Golden Sayings, Epictetus^N

The Trial and Death of Socrates, Plato — The Trial and Death of Socrates, Plato^N

On Numbers and Games, Conway — On Numbers and Games, Conway^N
★★
"The games we shall consider are in spirit closer to Chess than to Football."

Fruits of Solitude, Penn — Fruits of Solitude, Penn^N

Map and Territory, Yudkowsky — Map and Territory, Yudkowsky^N

The Journal of John Woolman — The Journal of John Woolman^N

The God Delusion, Dawkins — The God Delusion, Dawkins^N

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin — The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin^N

There Is No Antimemetics Division, qntm — There Is No Antimemetics Division, qntm^N

Norway, March — Norway, March^N

The Selfish Gene, Dawkins — The Selfish Gene, Dawkins^N

Optionality — Optionality^N

A Mathematician's Apology, Hardy — A Mathematician's Apology, Hardy^N

The Book of Numbers, Conway — The Book of Numbers, Conway^N
★

Quantum Computing Since Democritus, Aaronson — Quantum Computing Since Democritus, Aaronson^N
★★
"While quantum mechanics was invented a century ago to solve technical problems in physics, today it can be fruitfully explained from an extremely different perspective: as part of the history of ideas, in math, logic, computation, and philosophy, about the limits of the knowable."

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Márquez — One Hundred Years of Solitude, Márquez^N
★★
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

80,000 Hours, Todd — 80,000 Hours, Todd^N
★★

The Alchemist, Coelho — The Alchemist, Coelho^N

Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck — Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck^N
★

Poems of the Decade 2011-2020 — Poems of the Decade 2011-2020^N

Revenge, Ogawa — Revenge, Ogawa^N

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Hoffman — The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Hoffman^N
★
"Erdős first did mathematics at the age of three, but for the last twenty-five years of his life, since the death of his mother, he put in nineteen-hour days, keeping himself fortified with 10 to 20 milligrams of Bezedrine or Ritalin, strong espresso, and caffeine tablets."

Gone Girl, Flynn — Gone Girl, Flynn^N
★

Unfinished

The Road to Reality, Penrose — The Road to Reality, Penrose^N

2023

The MANIAC, Labatut — The MANIAC, Labatut^N
★

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle — The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle^N

Flatland, Abbott — Flatland, Abbott^N

Red Notice, Browder — Red Notice, Browder^N

The Best of Roald Dahl — The Best of Roald Dahl^N
★
"I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?"

Math Games with Bad Drawings, Orlin — Math Games with Bad Drawings, Orlin^N

Murder on the Orient Express, Christie — Murder on the Orient Express, Christie^N

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Christie — The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Christie^N

Norse Mythology, Gaiman — Norse Mythology, Gaiman^N

Poems of the Decade 2001-2010 — Poems of the Decade 2001-2010^N
★

Tools of Titans, Ferris — Tools of Titans, Ferris^N

Zero to One, Thiel — Zero to One, Thiel^N

Love and Math, Frenkel — Love and Math, Frenkel^N

Mythos, Fry — Mythos, Fry^N
★

Fictions, Borges — Fictions, Borges^N
★

What is ChatGPT Doing?, Wolfram — What is ChatGPT Doing?, Wolfram^N

The Stranger — The Stranger^N

Unfinished

Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman — Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman^N

The Moscow Puzzles, Kordemsky — The Moscow Puzzles, Kordemsky^N

2022

The Trial — The Trial^N

Capitalist Realism — Capitalist Realism^N

How do undergraduates do mathematics? — How do undergraduates do mathematics?^N

Genius At Play — Genius At Play^N
★★

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat — The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat^N
★

Good Omens — Good Omens^N

Pale Blue Dot — Pale Blue Dot^N
★
"For all its material advantages, the sedentary life has left us... edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villages and cities, we haven't forgotten."

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets^N

The Metropolitan Man — The Metropolitan Man^N

Unfinished

The Precipice — The Precipice^N

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Rowling — Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Rowling^N

The Elephant in the Brain, Hanson — The Elephant in the Brain, Hanson^N

The Fascination of Groups — The Fascination of Groups^N

Half-assing it with everything you've got^N

2021

Unfinished

2020

The Count of Monte Cristo — The Count of Monte Cristo^N

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives — Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives^N
★★

Flow — Flow^N

The Way of Kings, Sanderson — The Way of Kings, Sanderson^N
★

Lord of the Flies, Golding — Lord of the Flies, Golding^N

Unfinished

Spark — Spark^N

Words of Radiance, Sanderson — Words of Radiance, Sanderson^N

Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery — Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery^N

Sapiens, Harari — Sapiens, Harari^N

Pre-2020

Stardust, Gaiman — Stardust, Gaiman^N

Catch-22, Heller — Catch-22, Heller^N

The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger — The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger^N

1984, Orwell — 1984, Orwell^N

Frankenstein, Shelley — Frankenstein, Shelley^N

Brave New World — Brave New World^N

The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck — The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck^N

To Kill a Mockingbird — To Kill a Mockingbird^N

The Great Gatsby — The Great Gatsby^N

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest^N

Slaughterhouse 5 — Slaughterhouse 5^N
"Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."

Meditations, Aurelius — Meditations, Aurelius^N
★★