Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology

Author: Chris Miller Publication Date: October 2022

2025-02-20 3 min read Sincheenz

Initially promoted by the U.S. military after World War II to stay ahead of the Soviets in the arms race, semiconductors later became commercialized and embedded in our everyday gadgets. The journey of chip technology is truly fascinating. While innovation and advancements have surged, so have the choke points. This technology has driven globalization and progress, yet it’s unsettling to realize how few companies control such a critical industry. The invention of the transistor by physicists like Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain, and its commercialization by pioneers like Noyce, Moore, Kilby, and others, is a remarkable story. Continue reading

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The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma

Author: Mustafa Suleyman, Michael Bhaskar Publication Date: September 2023

2025-02-04 3 min read Sincheenz

Last month, I reviewed a book called AI Snake Oil, published in September 2024, which discusses the hype surrounding AI and argues that the distrust and fear expressed by several prominent figures and scientists are unwarranted. This book, The Coming Wave, was written a year earlier, in September 2023. After exploring both sides of the argument—one dismissing AI as unlikely to become all-consuming, more intelligent, or more capable than humans, and the other outlining various use cases where things could spiral out of control—I find both perspectives valid. Continue reading

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Elon Musk

Author: Walter Isaacson Publication Date: September 2023

2025-01-31 2 min read Sincheenz

I listened to the audio version of this book. I wanted to understand how a libertarian, environmental champion, and technology visionary became an eccentric, detached dictator with no sense of reality. I find the book sad—not because of Elon’s tough childhood. I believe you can’t keep blaming your actions on past experiences. Yes, there’s baggage, but at some point, you are responsible for your present-day decisions. What makes it truly sad is the inconsistency. Continue reading

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AI Snake Oil - What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference

Author: Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor Publication Date: September 2024

2025-01-12 4 min read Sincheenz

In the introduction, the authors present a witty definition of AI “AI is whatever hasn’t been done yet.” This sets the tone of this book, highlighting the existing hype around AI and the misconceptions that exist. Though the definition of AI is still not universally agreed upon, the authors pose three questions to qualify a product or solution as AI, serving as a starting point for this book: Does the task require creative effort or training for a human to perform? Continue reading

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Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

Author: Cat Bohannon Publication Date: October 2023

2024-12-24 3 min read Sincheenz

There are so many things to applaud in this book. Firstly, the very idea of writing a book on the role of females in evolution. Evolution has mostly explained from the male perspective and has been accepted as the norm. But it is a very fundamental fact that without women and their reproductive success, there would not be 8 billion Homo sapiens on this earth today. The author has done a brilliant job of bringing across this message. Continue reading

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