Books mentioned in “Michael Nielsen – Why aliens will have a different tech stack than us”
Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein
Nielsen names it as the Einstein biography Dwarkesh recommended, source of the Michelson-Morley/ether history.
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The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes
Cited alongside the Pais biography as another source for the Michelson-Morley story; referenced again later for the Prout/isotope example.
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Principia Mathematica
Dwarkesh contrasts its 1687 publication and difficulty with Darwin's Origin of Species.
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On the Origin of Species
Discussed at length as Darwin's book compiling evidence for natural selection, contrasted with Newton's Principia.
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The Art of Computer Programming
Nielsen recounts Knuth's preface anecdote about computer science needing 'a thousand deep theorems.'
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Quantum Computation and Quantum Information
Referred to by its nickname 'Mike and Ike' as the definitive textbook on quantum information that Nielsen co-wrote.
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Special Relativity and Classical Field Theory (The Theoretical Minimum)
Dwarkesh says he went through three lectures of 'the Susskind special relativity book' to prepare for the interview.
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Neural Networks and Deep Learning
Dwarkesh's intro credits this unnamed deep learning book by Nielsen with drawing Chris Olah and Greg Brockman into the field.
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