brunny.eth

Hobbies

I spend most of my time working at Pluto or tinkering on side projects.

When I get some free time, I learn more about the world. My main focus areas today are computer science and cryptography, but I also try to learn about some other unrelated topics I find interesting, like longevity, space exploration, and the deep intricacies of finance. I follow along to free online university resources, read books, listen to podcasts, and generally do my best to stay constantly curious about the world.

I also like to cook, eat, play golf, and spend time with my family and friends.

Learning

I carve out a few hours a week to go through high-quality learning material from across the interwebs. Here are some of the best materials I've gone through recently:

Reading

I'm an avid reader. Here are some of my favorites:

The Three-Body Problem Trilogy by Cixin Liu

Description: A sci-fi trilogy that explores the centuries-long consequences of humanity's first contact with an alien civilization.

My thoughts: The best sci-fi books I've ever read. A unique perspective on humanity's place in the universe. Lots of game theory and technological optimism sprinkled throughout the 3 books... and plenty of dark, sobering pieces too.

Rating: 10/10

The Chip by J.R. Reid

Description: How two Americans invented the silicon microchip and launched the global information industry.

My thoughts: For such a complicated technical topic, this book does a great job going through the history of how technologists went from 'electrons moving through a vacuum' to 'hundreds of billions of chips all around us'. Semi-technical but not dense at all.

Rating: 9/10

Everything Happens For a Reason by Kate Bowler

Description: A young, newly-married mother gets diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and grapples with her own mortality.

My thoughts: Phenomenal, inspiring book. Thought it would be very self-help-y but it was just beautiful.

Rating: 9/10

Crypto by Steven Levy

Description: The comprehensive history of cryptography and its impact on modern society. 'Crypto' tells the story of how a group of nerds and visionaries beat Big Brother to ensure our right to privacy on the Internet

My thoughts: Interesting, thought provoking. An underrated story about the war on crypto(graphy).

Rating: 9/10

The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle

Description: A 1950s sci-fi novel about an 'alien' arrival to Earth, where the 'alien' is an enormous cloud of gas that seems likely to destroy Earth by blocking the Sun's radiation.

My thoughts: Really fun book. High quality writing that doesn't lose any power in the 70+ years since it first came out.

Rating: 9/10

And here are some books that often appear on "Must Read" lists, but that I don't actually recommend to others:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

Description: A philosophical novel about a father-son motorcycle trip across America.

My thoughts: I have many friends who strongly disagree with me on this one. Mostly, I just found it slow and boring. Reading it felt like driving down Nebraska cornfields for hours at a time - novel at first but the novelty wears off quickly.

Rating: 4/10

Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman

Description: An edited collection of reminiscences by the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman.

My thoughts: I really wanted to like this book. And it *does* have lots of little gems. But his writing style had too much rambling / meandering into random directions for my liking.

Rating: 6/10

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Description: The biography of Steve Jobs.

My thoughts: Interesting, but far too long for my taste. Became redundant and repetitive. Almost turned me off from reading Walter Isaacson's Elon Musk biography, which I ended up finding much more interesting than this one. No disrespect intended to Steve Jobs, but far from my favorite book.

Rating: 5/10

A mostly-full list of every book I've read in the last few years is here.

Cooking

I love experimenting in the kitchen. Check out my running list of recipes for some of my favorite dishes. A few highlights below:

They are not very fancy, but these bagel sandwiches with the best bagels in the world (from Kismet in Philly) are amazing.

A homemade, cheesy crust quesarito with chicken.

I like to make big batches of bone broth. The cap of fat on top of the broth is beef tallow, which is a great fat to use in cooking.

My wife Hannah gets all of the credit for making these, but these strawberry chocolate muffins with balsamic glaze were 10/10

Steak sandwich, some garlicky cowboy sauce, and some sauteed onions.

My healthier lunch option of a tuna steak with an edamame salad.

Golf

When the weather permits, you can find me on the golf course. Golf pushes me to be outside in nature with friends, unplugged from the rest of the world and focused solely on getting the little white ball into the hole in as few strokes as possible. It's a mental and physical challenge and it takes tons of discipline to get good at golf (and I am very much still working on getting 'good' at golf).