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MachinePix Weekly: The Holiday Reading List

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MachinePix Weekly: The Holiday Reading List

The favorite books of 2021's interviews 📚

MachinePix
Dec 21, 2021
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MachinePix Weekly: The Holiday Reading List

www.machinepix.com

Let’s address the elephant in the room: I’m twelve weeks behind on @machinepix weekly updates 😅

I’ll be picking up the regular in-depth weekly in January, but I didn’t want to end the year as yet-another-lapsed newsletter.

In 2021 I interviewed fourteen incredible engineers, creators, and writers, and I always made a point to ask them their favorite book. So to send off 2021, here is the MachinePix Holiday Reading List, curated through a year of interviews:


Frank Ippolito is the founder of Thingergy, which makes costumes, props, statues, special effects makeup, and all kind of things for epic sci fi series including Star Wars. Fitting that his favorite book this year was a space opera series, Expeditionary Force.

Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force Book 1) - Hardcover - Autographed an –  Craig Alanson

Laura Kampf makes and restores delightfully creative tools from unexpected scrap on her eponymous YouTube channel. Her recent favorite book was creative fiction The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

Stephen King's 'Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' Movie in the Works - Variety

Dr. Steve Gass is the inventor of SawStop, a top-selling table saw and beloved by woodworkers that enjoy keeping their fingers. When he wasn’t woodworking, he was reading the epic fantasy Stormlight Archive.

Stormlight Archive MM Boxed Set I, Books 1-3: The Way of Kings, Words of  Radiance,

fnnch is a prolific and mysterious street artist who nonetheless sat down with me to explain his artistic and technical processes. He recommended a book which became one of my favorite nonfiction reads this year, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark.

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art on  Apple Books

Kyle Wiens is the man behind iFixit, staunch advocate for Right to Repair, and a general pain-in-the-ass to corporate lawyers. His very-on-brand favorite book this year was The Innovation Delusion.

The Innovation Delusion on Apple Books

Milo Werner was the woman that made the Model S and Model X happen as Director of NPI for Tesla, no doubt aided by her favorite book Radical Candor.

Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition on Apple Books

Shyam Srinivasan is an electrical engineering who’s designed electronics for iPod, Nest, Snap, and EVs. He has an axe to grind with the fossil fuel industry and recommended Internal Combustion.

Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to  Oil and Derailed the Alternatives by Edwin Black

Alfred Jones is the Director of Mechanical Engineering at Peloton and formerly Fitbit and Lyft. He swears by the leadership principles of Extreme Ownership.

Extreme Ownership on Apple Books

Abe Askenazi is the CTO of Zero Motorcycles, an EV motorcycle company and my favorite vehicle I’ve ever owned. His favorite book? The Call of the Wild.

The Call of the Wild on Apple Books

Dorrian Porter is the CEO of Vestaboard, a company that makes a modern split-flap display (you know, those whimsical flippy displays in train stations and airports). His favorite book also evokes a sense of adventure: The Neverending Story.

The Neverending Story on iTunes

Eric Migicovsky created the Pebble, the first commercially successful smartwatch, which surely made him empathize with the title of his favorite book this year: Project Hail Mary.

Project Hail Mary on Apple Books

Will Ahmed is the CEO of high-performance wearable company Whoop. He takes inspiration from the story of Nike, documented in the book Shoe Dog.

Shoe Dog on Apple Books

Brian Potter is a structural engineer and the author of Construction Physics, one of my favorite technical newsletters. When we spoke about the political challenges of building housing, he recommended Neighborhood Defenders.

Neighborhood Defenders by Katherine Levine Einstein

Jason Crawford runs the nonprofit progress studies institution Roots of Progress. He is writing his own book, The Story of Industrial Civilization—but he was quick to recommend The Beginning of Infinity.

The Beginning of Infinity on Apple Books

If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward it to friends (or interesting enemies). I am always looking to connect with interesting people and learn about interesting machines—reach out!

—Kane

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MachinePix Weekly: The Holiday Reading List

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