inspiration
the people, literature, and media that fueled my curiosity and shaped my thinking. also a collection of stuff i enjoyed lol.
people
james vowles — his leadership at the williams f1 team is nothing short of inspiring. his strategic thinking and ability to turn around a struggling team motivate me to approach challenges with a growth mindset and fostering a culture of leadership.
daniel dalen — his lessons about building a business and the public documentation of his journey have been incredibly insightful. his approach to sharing his advice and being vulnerable about his experiences has taught me the value of transparency and authenticity in entrepreneurship.
andrej karpathy — his ability to explain complex ai concepts clearly and his work on ml have had me hooked on the field.
readings
"a mathematical theory of communication" by c.e. shannon — this paper was super interesting to read; i barely understood it but my biggest takeway was the relationship between information and noise (or entropy). and that no communication system can be perfect, but we can design systems that are robust to noise. this basic principle influenced my work in tensorforest and as well as how i communicate with others.
"the inner game of tennis" by w. timothy gallwey — this book was a game-changer for me in changing the way i mentally approach karate. it taught me the importance of perspective, awareness and being easy on myself. the lessons about focus and self-awareness have been invaluable in my competitve success in karate and beyond.
"superlinear returns" — the idea isn't unique to paul, but his way of presenting this principle in the context of business and technology has helped me understand how to leverage my resources and skills to achieve the results i want.
media
"stuff made here" youtube channel — shane's engineering projects are incredible examples of creative problem-solving. also his warnings and crashouts about integration hell are so valid, especially as i ran into it with my own projects.
"the content closet" and "life of riza" youtube channels — colt's cinematic, fun, story-driven approach to videos about his sidequests; tejas's documentary-style deep-dives into the most random and interesting topics; shervin's engaging storytelling and unique perspective on technology and fitness and kariza's beautifully cinematic lessons on life all have me inspired to make my own content, eventually