http://www.junjaytan.com/categories/books/ Recent content in Books on Junjay Tan Hugo en Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.junjaytan.com/blog/thinking-machine-nvidia-book/ Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.junjaytan.com/blog/thinking-machine-nvidia-book/ <p><img src="thinking-machine-cover.jpeg" alt="Thinking Machine book cover"></p> <p>Being a PC gaming aficianado since childhood, I was obsessed with 3D graphics cards when they came out, reading reviews of the latest ones and planning which ones I would get if only I had the money. The 1990s were a very different time for graphics cards than today since there were many manufacturers in the mix, with 3dfx being the market leader. Eventually, I started paying attention when positive reviews for cards based on a chipset known as the Riva TNT appeared from a new company called Nvidia.</p> http://www.junjaytan.com/blog/empire-of-ai-book/ Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.junjaytan.com/blog/empire-of-ai-book/ <p><img src="empire-of-ai-cover.jpeg" alt="Empire of AI book cover"></p> <p>I&rsquo;ve recently wanted to delve more into history behind the current AI boom because there&rsquo;s so much noise right now, and this noise obscures the reality about how we got here.</p> <p>I ran across Karen Hao&rsquo;s book <em>Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman&rsquo;s OpenAI</em> at the library and picked it up on a whim. I&rsquo;m glad I did. It&rsquo;s a hefty and comprehensive book, coming in at over 400 pages, that provides a wide-ranging survey of the the beginnings and main forces at play within the modern AI industry, even if it&rsquo;s missing some of the most recent developments (it was published in the &ldquo;ancient&rdquo; time of January 2025, and ends with OpenAI as the market leader whereas today Anthropic has raced ahead). I don&rsquo;t want to do a thorough review of the book, but I do want to highlight some key points she covers that I found fascinating.</p>