The library
Five read. Five to explore.
Mechanics, neural networks and economics. Reading dates are not recorded; the June–October shelves simply organise the collection. More suggestions.
Collection
- A Geometric Calculator Inside a Neural NetworkArticle Read
- GearsArticle Proposed reading
- Mechanical WatchArticle Read
- On the Biology of a Large Language ModelPaper Read
- On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient MarketsPaper Proposed reading
- Prospect TheoryPaper Proposed reading
- The Market for LemonsPaper Proposed reading
- The Nature of the FirmPaper Read
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July 2026Article
A Geometric Calculator Inside a Neural Network
GoodfireRead
Opening up a neural network to investigate a geometric calculation inside it, with the harder question close behind: is this a useful representation, or the mechanism doing the work?
Reading date not recorded.
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June 2026Article
Gears
Bartosz CiechanowskiProposed reading
Gear ratios are the easy part. Tooth shape is where the smooth motion comes from, and the moving diagrams make it much easier to see.
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June 2026Article
Mechanical Watch
Bartosz CiechanowskiRead
How a collection of springs, gears and tiny constraints manages to keep time. An explanation you can take apart one mechanism at a time.
Reading date not recorded.
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August 2026Paper
On the Biology of a Large Language Model
Lindsey and colleagues · AnthropicRead
Tracing some of the intermediate steps inside Claude 3.5 Haiku. The interesting test is whether changing a suspected circuit changes the behaviour it is meant to explain.
Reading date not recorded.
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October 2026Paper
On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets
Sanford J. Grossman and Joseph E. StiglitzProposed reading
If prices already told you everything, who would pay to find anything out? That tension is the starting point for the paper.
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August 2026Paper
Prospect Theory
Daniel Kahneman and Amos TverskyProposed reading
The same risky outcome can look different depending on where you start. Gains, losses and reference points turn out to matter a lot.
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September 2026Paper
The Market for Lemons
George A. AkerlofProposed reading
What happens to a market when the seller knows the quality and the buyer does not? Even trades that would help both sides can start to disappear.
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October 2026Paper
The Nature of the Firm
R. H. CoaseRead
If markets are so useful, why organise anything inside a firm? Coase starts with the costs of using the market itself.
Reading date not recorded.
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September 2026Paper
The Use of Knowledge in Society
F. A. HayekRead
How do you coordinate knowledge that nobody holds in one place? Hayek puts prices at the centre of the answer.
Reading date not recorded.
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July 2026Paper
Toy Models of Superposition
AnthropicProposed reading
How can a model fit more features into a space than it has dimensions? Small networks make that crowded geometry easier to study.
Select a volume to read its notes.