Books - Because Knowledge does not end at College

Any fool can know. The point is to understand.

- Albert Einstein

As 2026 starts, there will be a few books that I hope to read as the year progresses. These books range from already known subjects to new and interesting topics I hope to be more knowledgable in. I personally do not read for fun but to learn. I wish to spend any freetime getting down and improving myself either intelectually or spiritually this year. Please email me any topics you think I should read about or if you have any reccomendations for this year or next year's book list.

1. The Nature of Code - Daniel Shiffman

This is an amazing javascript related book that models natural systems into code. Examples would be the currents in the river, flocks of birds, branching trees, and even neural networks. While I understand javascript and am comfortable with it I still always have something to learn. There is also a guided walkthrough of different projects that you can do which makes it feel very much like a class in university. In this transition time, it feels natural to still do something related to classes while also branching into it becoming a free time activity of still learning. This is definitely a top book this year and I hope to add this to my completed pile.

Something that I found interesting about this book specifically is that it has a bookmark tithe in it as well as a follow-along github page. If I wanted to, I could read this book online as well as with paperback, as long as I am coding along, and just updating where I would be at on either platform. The author also has an amazing youtube channel so that I can learn about other similar topics in video essay format which I highly enjoy.

2. Quantum Computing - Andrew Glassner

This is a book that I am bringing over from 2025. I was very interested in quantum computing during my junior year of University. So much so that I elected to take an extra class that I did not have to take just because Dakota State University was doing a pilot program and the professor really wanted me to be part of the first group of students to test drive it. Even while posting about the book on Linkedin, the author reached out and liked my post! That really felt special to me because while he might get many replies daily, he picked mine to react to, so that meant the world to me.

I have also taken and enjoyed classes in linear algebra, so the first few chapters explaining this information and how it relates to matrixes was amazing and clicked really well for me. I enjoy the way the author writes and is able to translate the information onto the page. Highly recommend this book to anyone in school or not that wants to learn and break into this budding realm of learning.

3. Practical AI Security - Harriet Farlow

This book is part of a haul that I got to start the year off with. While AI continues to be on the rise and become more and more parts of our lives through LLMs, it is important to know the right way and wrong ways to safely integrate it into our systems. This book boasts the abilities to attack, defend against, and also securing AI systems and I hope that will be true. While I havent started yet on this book, I have very high hopes skimming through it in what it can bring to the table.

4. Tender is the Flesh - Agustina Bazterrica

To step away from the traditional learning books for this list I chose a classic. While this appears on the banned books list as well as the classics list, I felt as if this is a perfect book to read in these times we live in. This book is about the possible future in which all animals develop a desease that kills humans and so the world switches to cannibalism. The government changes the words, hands out punishments, and strictly regulates everything to keep the statis quo going on but everyone in the world seems to know whats actually going on while trying to make it seem normal themselves.

Not only has this book been amazing so far, it has also been an amazing perspective shift. I have not read a non fiction book since high school and to be able to dive into a story rather then just read facts is refreshing. Not only that, but I have enjoyed the parallels that the book makes. It feels very 1987 and I hope it continues to amaze as I get closer to the end.

5. & 6. Travel books

These books are related to the next pilgrimages that I want to do. These trail guides cover both the Shikoku 88 Route and the Kumano Kodo. The Kumano Kodo is the sister camino to the Camino de Santiago in Spain which I talked about in length in my Travel Blog. Travel has always interested me and to be able to go for periods of time to these foreign lands and soak up the culture, of course I will take the opportunity to do so. Just like I did with the Spain Camino, I will take my time and read as much as I can about these walks so that I can be as prepared as possible for whatever comes my way. It has been very enjoyable to learn not only about my career but also how the people around the world all have their similarities.