Book Cube
Books, ideas and engineering culture — every week
A Telegram channel with original notes and reviews on books about technology, architecture, management, economics and personal growth. Long-form posts with practical takeaways, no fluff, no ads.
Book Cube posts
Bilingual versions of channel posts, with sources and a link to the original Telegram publication.
- #Leadership
Why a manager returns to code — episode materials (Series #Leadership)
Materials for Code of Leadership #82 with Nikita Belokopytov: returning to code, management skills, and the limits of agent autonomy.
- #AI4SDLC
Harness engineering: how an experimental team at OpenAI reorganized development around agents for an internal product (Series #AI4SDLC)
OpenAI’s experience with repository knowledge, verifiable architecture, agent tools, and Symphony. An invitation to Research Insights #35.
- #AI4SDLC
Research Insights #34: handing work over between agent sessions
An invitation to Research Insights #34 on handing work over between sessions of the same agent, based on Anthropic’s article.
- #AI4SDLC
Warp: you corrected the agent. What did the system learn? (Series #AI4SDLC)
How Warp proposes turning engineers’ corrections into skill updates, and why those instructions also need verification.
- #AI4SDLC
Anthropic’s agent harness: handing work over between coding sessions (Series #AI4SDLC)
Handing work over between agent sessions: logs, Git, requirements, and verified state. An Anthropic article discussion with an annotated PDF.
- #AI4SDLC
Developers are becoming managers: a livestream with Andrey Dmitriev
An invitation to a livestream with Andrey Dmitriev from JUG.RU on why developers are becoming managers.
- #AI4SDLC
Conductor: how to conduct an orchestra of agents (Series #AI4SDLC)
Charlie Holtz on managing multiple agents, mandatory human review, team knowledge, and the cost of switching attention.
- #Leadership
Episode materials: how an engineer learns to negotiate — Sergey Kiselev (Series #Leadership)
Materials for Code of Leadership #83: platform development through collaboration, team autonomy, hiring, and incident follow-up.
- #AI4SDLC
SWE-agent: how an interface helps a model work with code (Series #AI4SDLC)
SWE-agent and its ACI: SWE-bench Lite results, the cost of constraints, and the move to mini-swe-agent. Includes an annotated PDF.
- #AI4SDLC
SWE-agent: how the interface changes the result / Research Insights Made Simple #33 (Series #AI4SDLC)
A livestream on SWE-agent: code search and editing, feedback, context management, and the results of the 2024 experiments.
- #AI4SDLC
Factory and HumanLayer: how much autonomy should agents have? (Series #AI4SDLC)
How Factory and HumanLayer approach agent autonomy, delivery costs, code review, and team readiness.
- #AI
One designer and hundreds of assets (Category #AI)
What caught my attention in Vincent Wendy's talk about AI Engineer was the designer's willingness to change his processes and build his own tools when the workload becomes too large to handle manually.
- #AI4SDLC
3 AImigo S1E8: AI-native companies — episode materials (Category #AI4SDLC)
Recordings, audio editions, an edited recap, and a longread accompanying the conversation with Aleksey Litvinov and Evgeny Sergeev about people and agents, process redesign, and automation economics.
- Books
While preparing to move, I started sorting through my books and clearing out my library.
A brief recommendation of Scott Page’s “The Model Thinker” and a recollection of his Coursera course, which started the author’s enthusiasm for online learning.
- #AI
Stanford CME295, Lecture 1: How Text Becomes Computation (Category #AI)
Stanford CME295’s first lecture explains tokens, embeddings, attention and the Transformer through an end-to-end translation example, with advice on who will benefit and what prior knowledge helps.
- #ForKids
Kamil Sees with His Hands (Category #ForKids)
A recommendation of a book about five-year-old Kamil, who is blind: humor, family love and a starting point for conversations with a child.
- #Data
Finding value in your own data: pricing, customers, and assortment — episode two materials (Category #Data)
Materials from episode two of Where’s the Profit in Data, Lebowski? Andrey Tsybin, Nikolay Golov, and Alexander Polomodov discuss pricing, customer profitability, assortment, and how to assess the effects of changes.
- #AI4SDLC
How AI changes the tech lead's role: roundtable recording (Category #AI4SDLC)
The Podlodka Techlead Crew roundtable on tech lead responsibility, AI economics, reviewing changes, and training engineers. A written recap and the author's position prepared before the discussion are also available.
- #AI
Stanford CME295: Getting into the Foundations of LLMs (Category #AI)
A recommendation of Afshine and Shervine Amidi’s course: accessible explanations of how LLMs work, the 2025 recordings, and the updated Autumn 2026 syllabus.
- #Leadership
How Engineers Learn to Negotiate: Live with Sergey Kiselev
An invitation to a livestream with Sergey Kiselev, head of devplatform at MWS, about how engineers learn to negotiate.
- #AI
Anthropic: Who Will Build the Next AI (#AI)
How research automation could accelerate new models, why the trend points toward 2027, and what still needs measuring before we can talk about autonomy and control.
- #Management
3 AImigo S1E8: AI-native — what does it mean for a company? (#Management)
An announcement for the October 2, 2026 3 AImigo live stream on AI-native companies with Evgeny Sergeev, Alexey Litvinov, and Alexander Polomodov.
- #AI
AMD Agrees to Acquire World Labs for $8.2 Billion (Category #AI)
AMD’s planned World Labs acquisition: spatial models, robot simulation, hardware feedback, and what to watch before judging the deal.
- #Leadership
Why Return to Coding as a Manager? Live with Nikita Belokopytov
Join a live conversation with Nikita Belokopytov about his career and why a manager might return to coding.
- #Leadership
Episode Materials: Leading in an Unfamiliar Field with Leonid Chernyy (Category #Leadership)
Recording and summary of Code of Leadership S2E23: Leonid Chernyy on moving from games to data, user habits, disagreeing with managers, and CDO authority.
- #AI
Kai Lentit on AI-Company Executives
Kai Lentit’s satirical take on the executives leading AI companies.
- #Leadership
How an Engineer Learns to Reach Agreement (Category #Leadership)
A conversation with Sergey Kiselev about moving from engineering into leadership, platform rules, hiring, incidents, DevOps, and AI’s effect on infrastructure work.
- #Data
Live Stream on Finding Profit in Data
A short invitation to a live stream examining concrete examples of companies monetizing their own data internally.
- #Books
The Man from the Future: First Impressions
First impressions of the John von Neumann biography The Man from the Future, spanning mathematics, quantum physics, history, and his influence on computing.
- #AI
Research Insights #32 Materials: vLLM and PagedAttention (Category #AI)
Episode materials on vLLM and PagedAttention: KV-cache management, shared prefixes, memory eviction, and measuring throughput together with latency.
- #AI
OpenAI Plans: Dots, Models, and New APIs
A compact list of OpenAI announcements covering Dots and Chat GPT Space, model and Pro tiers, APIs, Private Intelligence, Partner Apps, and the Marketplace.
- #Data
Where the Money Is in Your Own Data: Pricing, Customers, Assortment | Where’s the Data Profit, Lebowski? #002 (Category #Data)
The second podcast episode explores how companies can find profit in existing data through assortment, cost-to-serve, and B2B pricing.
- #Testing
JUG.RU Survey on the State of Testing
A short invitation for the channel’s audience to take part in JUG.RU’s survey on the state of testing.
- #Testing
We Have Been Running Heisenbug for 10 Years—What Topics Matter This Year?
Heisenbug’s survey on barriers to engineering culture, automation, test-design practices, and the use of AI in projects.
- #Management
Live Stream with Leonid Cherny
An invitation to a live stream with Leonid Cherny about leading in a domain that is new to the manager.
- #Management
Every: When It Is Time to Turn an AI Experiment into a Product (Category #Management)
Dan Shipper’s framework for a small AI research lab, experiment-selection criteria, and the move from prototype to product.
- #Management
What Makes a Good Productivity Metric? (Series #Management)
How Google validates a work-schedule consistency metric, and why its association with productivity does not establish the benefits of mandatory schedules.
- #AI
Livestream on the vLLM Paper and Virtual Memory
A short invitation to a livestream discussing the 2023 paper on virtual memory in vLLM and its influence on modern LLM inference.
- #Leadership
Why a Leader Returns to Coding (Category #Leadership)
A live conversation with Nikita Belokopytov about leaders returning to hands-on development, changing management work, and responsibility for AI systems.
- #AI
3 AImigo S1E7 Materials: Cheaper Generation, Costlier Verification (Category #AI)
Video, audio, an interactive deck, fact cards, and a recap of 3 AImigo episode seven, the September 2026 digest: agent harnesses as a product, security, agents as production services, and unit economics.
- #Books
Beastly Crimes: Reading with the Kids
Kirill, my five-year-old son, and I finished Shchipach. I found it gripping, but parts of the story frightened him.
- #Leadership
Episode Materials: Leading a Team with AI with Dima Tverdokhlebov (Category #Leadership)
Recording and recap of Code of Leadership S2E22 with Omnius.team founder Dima Tverdokhlebov: pilots on external data, shared team memory, knowledge outside generated code, hiring, and talant.club.
- #Football
Vágner Love’s Farewell Match
A brief personal note from Vágner Love’s farewell match—familiar names, a touch of showmanship, and a beautiful send-off for a club legend.
- #SystemDesign
System Design Space: design exercises, experiments, and knowledge checks (Category #SystemDesign)
Since the July announcement: 45 design exercises, 11 labs, a catalog of 20 interactive models, diagnostics and spaced review, 19 new chapters, and a redesign with a calmer color scheme.
- #Leadership
Episode Materials: What a CTO Has to Relearn in a New Industry — a Conversation with Fyodor Sukharev (Category #Leadership)
Recording and recap of Code of Leadership S2E21 with Fyodor Sukharev: billing at Orange, maturity levels and requirements at Arrival, products, system owners, and the insurance core at QIC.
- #AI
Anthropic: Three Scenarios for the Economy with AI Through 2030 (Series #AI)
A look at the Anthropic Institute model: five AI parameters, three scenarios for US GDP, wages, and unemployment, and an invitation to run the scenario for your own profession.
- #AI4SDLC
Research Insights Made Simple Episode #31 Materials: AI4SDLC — What I Would Do Differently (Series #AI4SDLC)
Materials from the solo episode of September 22, 2026, the director's cut of my Deep Tech Night talk: the AI stack ownership boundary, agent permissions, quality checks, and economics.
- #Engineering
AI Is Changing Software Development. What Matters for Engineers Now? (Series #Engineering)
Five takeaways from a DotNext keynote on AI's systemic impact, knowledge beyond code, and engineering responsibility.
- #AI
3 AImigo Live Stream: September News
A short announcement for a 3 AImigo live stream about September's news.
- #AI4SDLC
Felienne Hermans: Making Programming Accessible and the Cost of Understanding (Series #AI4SDLC)
A review of Felienne Hermans's talk on complexity as a professional value, program understanding, and the right to choose tools in the AI era.
Why subscribe
- 01Get notes on key books with practical takeaways and links to the originals
- 02See how the same idea echoes across engineering, management and economics
- 03Be the first to hear about new talks, articles and podcast episodes
- 04Keep a ready-to-use list of recommendations: 'what should I read on X'
How the channel works
Deep reviews
Reviews of books, research, and talks: key ideas, context, practical conclusions, and a personal perspective.
Topic tags
Posts are tagged: #Engineering, #Management, #AI, #Economics, #Software, #Leadership and more — easy to find everything on a topic.
Announcements & threads
New talks, tellmeabout.tech articles and Code of Leadership episodes are announced here too. One feed for everything.
Channel sections
Real tags from recent months — frequency reflects the channel's focus: tech, AI and management at the center, but not only.
Post genres
What you'll actually see in the feed.
Engineering book review
From 'Designing Data-Intensive Applications' to fresh AI engineering whitepapers — with a take on what's useful and for whom.
Talk announcement
When a new conference talk comes out — recording, slides, references and a short recap land here.
Practice note
Short observations and ideas: how we build architecture, how culture changes, what works in large orgs.
Whitepapers & research
Reviews of DORA, DevEx, AI4SDLC and other studies — with focus on what's actually applicable.
Who it's for
- Engineers who want depth, not summaries of summaries
- Team leads and managers looking for books in their growth zone
- CTOs and founders holding both the tech and the business context
- Anyone who prefers long, thoughtful posts over a news feed
Subscribe
One post every few days, zero ads, thousands of readers as of May 2026 — join if you learn through books.
Open Book Cube