Artem

Well written captivating book with some good advice, but arrogant

Revisado: 12-22-23

So first of all it's obvious that the far left wouldn't even be able to start reading this book - they have their own demons to fight with. Far right MAGA folks on the other would love the author.

So assuming you're not either one of those folks and a moderate Republican/independent/democrat like me and take pleasure in challenging your own worldview you will probably want to know a bit more in depth what the fuss is about.

well It's very well written and it boils down to a decent psychological advice about money. But it's not entirely correct and it's too preachy.


There's a useful illustration about assets and liabilities - assets generate income and liabilities cost money and importance of focusing on assets in order to afford liabilities.


In essence we all should be investing more, investing better and spending less, - that's the essential message of the book and it's a good message.

It doesn't give you anything useful logically. But it can give you motivation through powerful presentation.


Also on a personal level it's a good advise.


But anytime author goes into complexities of how the world works - first of all none of us really know it, but even an average historian and economist understands the world better than the author.

He was consistently incorrect about economy and it's "inevitable crash" and he's still incorrect today unwilling to learn from his mistakes.


His worldview is riddled with inconsistencies and conspiracies.

I think for cautious reader who read a lot of books about economy and history it could be useful to know the contents of this book. For a young and inexperienced mind it can be useful on a personal wealth level but it could lead them down the wrong path chasing wild conspiracies.

approach with caution.

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Not as great as "why nations fail", but not bad

Revisado: 10-13-23

I read why nations fail a few times and it's really an eye opener especially with brief history into how dictatorships form.

So I had hoped for something approaching that. Instead we got somewhat biased and sometimes plain wrong content.

For example when authors attempted to explain the nature of machine learning they went along the lines of "oh you throw a bunch of data into this machine and it gives you some mostly substandard results". When in reality it's more like a mock up of biological neurons with some differences but a lot of similarities. If biological neurons are like birds, then artificial neurons are like planes. They work in a very similar fashion.

That was never mentioned and uneducated reader will be mislead about the technical nature of ML.
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Next comes deep mind Alpha go zero. The most fascinating thing about it was that it was one of first AI systems that had a much broader capability than any system before. It went from "narrow AI" quite a few steps towards "general AI".
Not only it was able to play Go, but it managed to also master countless other tasks - something no other system was ever able to do. All previous systems could only be made for a single purpose. Like chess engines. Or NPC agent or ECU in a car. These could only do one thing. Alpha go zero could do many things.

Obviously still VERY far from true general purpose, but nevertheless less that was it's defining feature.

Instead authors chose to spend time talking how narrow Alpha go is -if that's not misleading than what is?

Because I'm very familiar with these two subjects I was able to spot these mistakes. But with that I couldn't help but be more skeptical towards the rest of the content, which I wasn't familiar with and could learn a great deal.

However it's still a great book that draws inspiration from Yuval Noah Harari books and Daron Acemoglu previous Why Nations Fail book.

It's still a world class book. Just take with a grain of salt and it will provide a lot of food for thought.

Another note: as a left leaning centrist techno-optimist it was a bit of a challenge to take it, but I still did it and enjoyed challenging my views. But for someone right leaning book could be extremely hard to swallow unless you're ready to listen to another side.

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Tim masterfully breaks down complex topic

Revisado: 03-03-23

Edit (a week later): It's still a great book, but Tim spends way too much time describing SJF and it's problems. Nearly entire 2nd half of the book is about SJF criticism. Like we get it, it's low rung wing that is going a bit too far. But is it really important to spend half of the book there?

I want to see a bunch of different examples like he did in first half of the book describing societies and movements their high or low rungness. I want to see more of king mustache, I want to see more illustrations and zoomed out discussions.
After reading though all of it, in retrospect I recommend to pay extra attention to first half of the book, get to SJF and just read as much as needed to grasp the problem, but I don't think hours and hours of this is really necessary.

I took one star off a story as a result. Still incredibly important book, better than most books in my library and it would be really unproductive to give it anything less than 2 stars, while lesser, easier less confrontational, but less useful book get 5 stars with ease.

Old review:
It did feel a bit strange to read, because my default position prior to this read was similar to Tim's - I wanted to be a nuanced independent or someone who would vote sometimes democrats, sometimes republicans.

So my Primitive Mind didn't reject this book and I swallowed it whole - reading on his blog and listening to audio book at the same time.

If you enjoy this book I highly recommend getting it on his blog first and foremost. When listening to audio book, you often miss on the details. You can rewind of course, but what if you're driving? Besides illustrations really great and help with understanding tremendously.

This is a rare book that makes me shift and reflect on my opinion and ultimately change it with renewed understanding. Tim did it twice to me now - first in 2015, and now in 2023.

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must read

Revisado: 01-18-20

it's not "just" a whistleblower tale about mass surveillance, it's also an Edward Snowden story. His deep thoughts, feelings, struggle, even a love story. A must read

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Yuval Noah Harari is a king

Revisado: 02-24-19

I had to lower my ratings for my other titles on audible, because Yuval Noah Harari is on the whole different level!

I've read Nick Bostrom, Max Tegmark, Steven Pinker, Daniel Kahneman and many others and despite immense value of their work in general, none of these books can have a chance vs Homo Deus when it comes to the way he presents information.

It's insane! He talks about many different topics in a non biased way such that you hang on to every word.

He gives you a ton to think about without any rigidity in his point of view. From reading you can't tell if he's libertarian or liberal or someone else.

Take it with a grain of salt, but anecdotally my gut feeling impression from reading was that he's a smartest person I've ever had a chance to listen to.

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It's was a fundamental book to read about SuperAI

Revisado: 02-24-19

But in 2019 it feels outdated and I'll be blunt - it's boring especially comparing with Max Tegmark Life 3.0 or Yuval Noah Harari Homo Deus. I had to stop somewhere at mid point when I realize that nothing new is there. I already knew everything Bostrom was talking about.

Basically cut down and refined version of this book you can view here:
https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html

Tim Urban does a far better job at presenting material in digestible way without losing valuable information about the subject. And adding more relevant info for context.

That said, the narrator was perfect for this title! Silky smooth, with a sense of impending danger. I don't think you could find a better narrator for a book like this.

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