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Reading Log #3

Here is what I read from 8th to 16th August 2026.

Blogs

  • Reflections on my relationship with social media

    My usage of social media is already low. I can go on days without opening Instagram. My Twitter/X usage has been spiking up a bit these days, so I looked around to see if there is something out there to help me. It is a solid post and I read it to gain more momentum to be more productive with how I use my time. There was this one point about “environments” that resonated with me.

  • If AI Writes All the Code, What Do the Programmers Do?

    I liked the “Do I Enjoy This?” section. One particular quote:

    My job isn’t to write code, my job is to fix problems and to ship new features, and “write code” was just the way I got that done before.

  • You don’t have to be smart if you can think clearly

    The difference between a “smart” engineer and a “strong” engineer is how they react to problems that aren’t solved instantly.

  • What is a product?

    A short essay about what is a product.

    If nobody uses it or cares, is it still a product? What makes a product is its usage. If nobody is using the thing you built, you don’t have a product, you have a toy. Have fun playing with it.

  • River binaries will get 10 kB lighter

    Good to read something Go related after a long time.

  • Joining Cursor

    I have been following Fatih’s journey for a while. I don’t think he will discover this blog, but if he did somehow: “congrats, buddy! I am watching this space closely and I look forward to your updates.”

  • Touring The Consensus, six months in

    I lurk around on the Software Internals discord and know about the Consensus project that Phil Eaton was working on. I haven’t had a chance to check it closely myself and this post came up as a good reminder of what the project has evolved into. I am exploring the site as I write this.

  • AI is removing the middle class of software engineering

    Must read for the AI era.

    You need to contribute beyond what everyone already gets by giving an agent a prompt

    I personally think every engineer will hit a phase like the one mentioned in the blog post due to the usage of AI at work. The blog post reinstates the engineering energy you need to tackle such situation.

  • startups need an asymmetry

    Startups are not easy. All startups are businesses, but not all businesses are startups. This one will help you identify a startup.

  • The human is the loop

    We don’t want the human trapped in the agent loop. The human is the loop, and we tag the agent in occasionally, thoughtfully.

  • Not Holding Back the Ocean

    Must read for engineers trying to navigate the current AI landscape. Discovered this post via a podcast (Next Token, Ep. 3).

  • Write something worth becoming known for

    Wholesome post for aspiring bloggers.

  • Notes from the AI Coding Transition

    I too felt lost in this AI coding transition phase. I am glad that I started reading blogs right now. A blog post like this is exactly what I wanted to read. This post is making me think how I am handling this transition and how can I better handle it.

Books

  • The Inner Game of Tennis

    (read 131 pages)

    Completed reading this book with this batch of papers. This is about a lot of things. It will make you a human being.

  • Tao Te Ching

    (read a few random pages)

    “The way is wide open”