June quarterly update


Hard to believe we're halfway through the year already! Just a quick update this quarter with only 2 summaries. But I have some more free time now and expect to publish more next quarter.

Book summaries

  • Chokepoints by Edward Fishman (24 mins). A very interesting (and timely!) book about how the US started using its financial and technological power to achieve foreign policy goals.
  • Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller (21 mins). This is a much lighter read about how different attachment styles can affect the ways we approach our romantic relationships.

The next summary I'm working on is for a book about AI called If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. The name might sound alarming, but I think the underlying message is an important one that deserves more attention than it's gotten so far. So I hope you'll give my summary a read when it comes out next month.

Until next time,

To Summarise

ToSummarise.com

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My latest summary is for If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares. The "It" in the title refers to an artificial superintelligence that is vastly more capable than humans across a broad range of domains. The authors argue that once it crosses a certain threshold, such AI would pose an extinction-level threat to humanity. As usual, the key takeaways are below, and you can find the full summary by clicking the link above. KEY TAKEAWAYS What is AI? One way to think...

I'm back after a month off with a new summary for Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller. The book explains how our different attachment styles affect how we approach our romantic relationships. As usual, the key takeaways are below, and you can find the full summary by clicking the link above. KEY TAKEAWAYS Attachment theory describes 3 attachment styles in romantic relationships: Secure (over 50% of people) describes those who are comfortable with intimacy. Anxious (~20%) describes those...

My latest summary for Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare explains how the US started using its financial and technological power to achieve foreign policy goals. While it doesn’t discuss use of physical chokepoints like the current Strait of Hormuz blockade, Fishman gives us rich insight into how economic warfare decisions (including those that led to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal) were made. As usual, the key takeaways are below, and you can find the full summary by...