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Genius Makers by Cade Metz

With the popularity of ChatGPT, artificial intelligence (AI) is getting more attention than ever. Even though I’m working as a data engineer, besides a rudimentary understanding and occasionally using ChatGPT, I have limited knowledge when it comes to AI and how it got to today’s prominence. So when I was browsing an Indigo book store nearby, Genius Makers by Cade Metz was my #1 choice from the Heather’s pick recommendation section.

Instead of focusing on the CEOs of leading tech companies, such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Baidu and OpenAI, Cade focused on the engineers and academics working on pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence. This gave the story a refreshing narrative as media often focuses on the CEOs and top executives instead. By following the career progression of leading figures in the field, it helps illustrate how fierce the competition for talent was and the potential people see in it.

Unbeknownst to me, Geoffrey Hinton, one of the leading figures in deep learning, did research and taught at University of Toronto where I also went to school. Hinton received the 2018 Turing Award with Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio for their work on deep learning and are regarded as the Godfathers of Deep Learning. Their influence spanned multiple companies, with many of their students and previous colleagues working at leading positions in the field today.

One of the main takeaways I got is the challenges these AI scientists and academics have to overcome and the persistence it requires from the community to get artificial intelligence to where it is today. Decades ago, artificial intelligence involves coding up complex behavioral logic one line at a time. Deep learning on the other hand was often ridiculed by the leading scientists at the time. This made advancement in this field much more difficult since without broad support funds were also hard to come by in a field that requires heavy machinery and resources.

Genius Makers by Cade Metz is a page turner. It touches on the key advancement and milestone for AI, including DeepMind’s AlphaGo defeating one of the best GO players in the world, OpenAI and how it got to this point, the arms race for AI talent, and a hot topic these days… the ethics of AI. With more company investing resources into AI and the growing utility and adoption in everyday lives, it’s an exciting field to follow. I would highly recommend this book if you would like to also know the history of AI and the leading contributors of it.

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The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914 by Richard J. Evans

The Pursuit of Power by Richard J. Evans is part of the acclaimed Penguin History of Europe series, covering the time between the fall of Napoleon and the outbreak of World War I. It provides an in-depth exploration of the social, technological, and political developments that shaped Europe during this era.

The book covers a wide range of topics, including the Industrial Revolution, the rise of nationalism, the growth of democracy, and the tensions that eventually led to World War I. It provides insights into the impact and timeline of these developments across different regions, which gives readers a holistic view of the interconnectedness of European countries.

The level of detail provided by Richard J. Evans is impressive. It includes a list of maps for topics such as the abolition of serfdom and railway building to help illustrate the different pace each region progresses. It shows how ideas spread and how decisions about adopting certain reforms can be critical to a country’s progress.

Summarizing 100 years of European history is no easy task, but Richard J. Evans has done a great job of explaining the complex forces that shaped Europe in the 19th century. One thing I would have done differently is to take notes when reading books with this amount of information provided. I find it hard to recollect some takeaways I had looking back now. Nonetheless, it’s a great book for readers looking to learn more about European history.

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Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Whenever I go shopping, Nike is the one store that I always visit. I love Nike’s simplistic logo along with its casual and sporty look. However, when it comes to Nike’s history, all I do know is it’s the largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and it sponsors many of the NBA players I follow.

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is a memoir on how Phil founded Nike and grew it to the empire we know today. As one of the most successful entrepreneurs, Phil didn’t emphasize his contributions. On the contrary, he simply tells the story of Nike and might even give you the impression that he was just lucky to be surrounded by geniuses who propelled him. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Luck plays a big role. Yes, I’d like to publicly acknowledge the power of luck. Athletes get lucky, poets get lucky, businesses get lucky. Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome. Some people might not call it luck. They might call it Tao, or Logos, or Jñāna, or Dharma. Or Spirit. Or God. Put it this way. The harder you work, the better your Tao.

Phil Knight

Phil Knight was lucky. When Phil asked to be the US distributor for Onitsuka, a Japanese shoe company, they agreed to it based on Phil’s lie that he represented Blue Ribbons, a company he made up on the spot. His track and field coach at Oregon, Bill Bowerman, was a mad genius at experimenting with shoe designs who was also the Olympic track and field US head coach. His reputation and charisma alone garnered respect in the shoe industry and his constant pursuant of a more performant shoe was a competitive advantage which set Nike apart from its competitors. Phil didn’t approach Bowerman to be his partner. Bowerman was the one who asked to be in on the partnership after Phil sent Bowerman shoe samples from Onitsuka.

Phil’s first full time employee, Jeff Johnson, happened to be another mad genius who worked tirelessly and took care of sales, advertising, customer retention, store opening, you name it with minimum leadership and oversight from Phil. These are just a few examples of how lucky Phil was.

However, if you read closely, you will see the brilliance of Phil Knight. Phil was a kid who loved running whose final year entrepreneurship project claimed that Japanese running shoes can make deep cuts into the shoe market similar to how Japanese cameras did. Unlike the majority of us, his crazy idea didn’t end with the course. He did his research, understood the shoe market, and identified Onitsuka Tiger as the shoes he wanted to distribute. Then he flew to Japan alone.

Bill Bowerman saw Phil as someone he wanted to partner with and asked for Phil to have controlling stakes of the company. His number one full time employee, Jeff Johnson, had nonstop ideas on how to improve the business. Phil unlike many managers we see today, did not micromanage and instead allowed Jeff the autonomy to maximize his impact. Phil greatly appreciates and values those around him and you can clearly tell from how he described each of those he worked with.

For all the great qualities that Phil possess, one of the most important is his persistence to accomplish his dream. There were the times when Onitsuka did not deliver the initial Tiger shoe samples for more than a year, when Kitami, Onisuka’s export manager, went behind their agreed contract and planned to replace Nike with a different US distributor, and when Onitsuka was looking for a distributor who had a store on the east coast which Nike didn’t have. These were all valid excuses that nearly all of us would have used to give up. But Phil didn’t, he pushed forward, got a group of people to work together and resolved one challenge at a time.

Shoe Dog is by far my favorite memoir. Phil Knight is an excellent writer and was able to reflect on his past with such truthfulness. I learned a lot about the type of challenges that come along with starting a company. Shoe Dog is one of my top book recommendations and I hope you will enjoy it.

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The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

My parents escaped Việt Nam on a boat so their children could grow up in freedom.

Our parent-child relationship is one that we seldom reflect upon. In the illustrated memoir, The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui examines her relationship with her parents and how their history of having to live through the Indochina wars have impacted who they are today.

Thi Bui is a novelist born in Vietnam, three months before the end of the Vietnam war. In an effort to become closer to her parents, Thi began to inquire about her family’s background and their journey of escaping to the United States as refugees in 1978.

The Best We Could Do started with Thi in labor and concluded with Thi and her son, however the plot is mainly revolved around Thi’s parents, Bố and Má (father and mother in Vietnamese). The lives they led before they met each other were very different. Má’s father was the chief of public works for the government so she grew up living in a big house in Cambodia with servants, cooks, and gardeners. Má was always the top student in class and won many awards. On the other hand, Bố’s family had to survive by whatever means they had during the Second World War. One night Bố watched his father beat his mother and threw her out. As a result, Bố was never able to develop a close relationship with his parents.

Afraid of my father, craving safety and comfort. I had no idea that the terror I felt was only the long shadow of his own.

There were trouble in Cambodia where Vietnamese people were being killed, which forced Má’s family back to Vietnam. Bố looking to avoid joining the army, applied and passed the exams to join a teacher’s college, where he met Má. Even though Má’s family was not fond of Bố, they still ended up married. During the Vietnam war, bombings happened regularly and they had to survive skyrocketing inflation with fixed teachers’ salaries. Friends, neighbours, and students were killed and people including children were incentivized and taught to spy on each other including their parents.

There is no single story of that day, April 30, 1975. In Việt Nam today, among the victors, it is called Liberation Day. Overseas, among expats like my parents, it is remembered as the day we lost our country.

After South Vietnam lost the Vietnam war, living conditions were still poor. People in the south were name called and distrusted. Families were constantly monitored and could at any moment be separated. With the changed currency and inflation once again, there was a daily survival for food. Bố and Má then decided to flee Vietnam and was able to escape via boat and reached Malaysia in 1978.

The Best We Could Do is the first illustrated novel I’ve ever read. It’s an easy read and the graphics helped visualize the living conditions during the wars. The plot is well told and I’m impressed at how truthful Thi was at examining her vulnerabilities and her relationship with her parents. I enjoyed reading this book and I’ve learned a lot about Vietnam and got a glimpse of life during the Vietnam war.