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In 2025, AI became impossible to ignore. I submitted to the siren song, and returned to industry, this time with headquarters in Redmond. The SF-Redmond commute brought transit time, more reading time, and twice as many books as last year (109 vs. 54). My focus reverted back to English, though AI translated Chinese is creeping into short-form content. Books settled into three foci: AI (mostly disappointing), 20th-century presidents (useful grounding), and escape—fiction, with a few deliberate turns toward print and poetry. ...

2023 was a return to the new normal – full-time work resumed, but at OpenAI. Daily commutes resumed, but on a skateboard rather than a bus. On the home front, our decision to teach our children Chinese has been a case study in unintended consequences, with this decision affecting their interactions with each other, with us, and with the broader world. In reading, 2023 focused on four areas - books directly relevant to my profession, catching up on nonfiction around China, understanding America’s military foreign policy in the 20th century, and strategies to raise a family. I ended up reading about 120 books, and here were the best of the lot: ...