Every year I try to be intentional about what I read. This year I'm mixing it up. Technical books to level up my craft, and some classical Indian literature that I've been meaning to get to for years.
Here's my reading list for 2026.
Technical Books
The engineering fundamentals that I want to really nail down this year.
Large Language Models
Designing Data-Intensive Applications
Head First Design Patterns
System Design by Alex Xu
Crucial Conversations
Deep Learning Book
Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Designing Data-Intensive Applications is the one I've been putting off for too long. Everyone keeps recommending it. Time to finally get through it.
System Design by Alex Xu is great for interviews but also just for thinking about scale. The volume 2 especially.
Crucial Conversations is a bit different. Not technical at all. But as I work more with teams and stakeholders, communication is becoming as important as code.
Classical Collection
I recently got a bunch of classical books from Banaras (Geeta Press, Vishwanath Temple) in India. These are by Swami Ramsukhdas. Simple yet profound.
वीर बालक
Veer Balak
अच्छे बनो
Achhe Bano
जित देखूं तित तू
Jit Dekhun Tit Tu
सागर के मोती
Sagar Ke Moti
सागर के मोती (Sagar ke moti) and अच्छे बनो (Achhe Bano) are especially good.
The Plan
I'm not going to pretend I'll finish all of these. But the goal is to be intentional. Read with purpose. Take notes. Actually apply what I learn.
Let's see how it goes.
If you have book recommendations, especially in the LLM/AI space or classical Indian philosophy, I'd love to hear them.