Philosophy

  1. From Socrates to Sartre, T. Z. Lavine: an introduction to philosophy.
  2. The Concept of Mind, Gilbert Ryle: final nail in the coffin of Descartes’ dualism.
  3. Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter

Robotics

  1. Mechanics of Manipulation, Matt Mason: textbook on the mechanics of manipulation, a field Matt Mason pioneered. Would love to chat with him once I understand the mathematical formulation of the problem and his contributions to the field.
  2. Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control Theory, Daniel Liberzon: a treatment of optimal control theory based on Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle. A non-dynamic-programming-based approach to solve optimal control seems unthinkable to me.

Decision Making

  1. The Book of Why, Judea Pearl: an accessible introduction to causality.

Mathematics

  1. An Introduction to Measure Theory, Terence Tao