Crimes, Cathedrals, and AI: Why a Tech Profile Should Read Fiction
There is a stereotype that those of us who work in technology only read O'Reilly manuals, Elon Musk biographies, or extreme productivity books. Nothing could be further from the truth. My "reading pile" is dominated by unsolved murders, historical mysteries, and philosophical essays. And I am convinced that these readings help me understand algorithms better than any textbook. Here is why.
The Logic of Chaos: Noir and Thriller
Programming and noir fiction share an identical structure: there is a system error (a crime), scattered clues (logs/evidence), and an imperative need to restore order.
Reading Juan Gómez-Jurado and his Red Queen (Reina Roja) is a pure exercise in logic. Antonia Scott is basically a human representation of an advanced AI: massive data processing, patterns, and simulations. Similarly, when I read Mikel Santiago (especially the Illumbe Trilogy or The Last Night at Tremore Beach), I train the ability to see how small environmental details create an atmosphere; in UX (User Experience), this is crucial.
Authors like Javier Castillo (The Snow Girl) or the Swiss master Joël Dicker teach us about information architecture. Their plots are temporal puzzles (past, present, future) that must fit together perfectly. If, as a software architect, you can follow a plot twist by Dicker without getting lost, you can design a complex data flow without problems.
Complex Systems: Historical Fiction
If noir fiction is *debugging*, historical fiction is *systems design*. When I read Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth), I don't just see a story about monks; I see the management of a pharaonic project with limited resources, difficult *stakeholders* (kings and bishops), and deadlines that stretch over decades. It is the ultimate project management.
On a more local level, Enric Calpena (with his chronicles of Barcelona) or Javier Cercas (Soldiers of Salamis, Terra Alta) remind me that technology does not exist in a vacuum. Every technological system is implanted in a society with wounds, history, and gray nuances. Technology is binary (0 or 1), but human history never is. Understanding this ambiguity is what differentiates a good product manager from a mediocre one.
The Ethics of Tomorrow: Essential Essays
Finally, to stay grounded, one must read essays. But not necessarily about business, rather about thought.
Mustafa Suleyman in The Coming Wave provides one of the best analyses on the challenge of containing AI. It is not a technical book; it is a book about governance, power, and the future of the species. As an AI professional, it is mandatory reading to understand the responsibility we hold.
And at the other extreme, the beauty and obsession of Manuel Baixauli (L'home manuscrit, Ignot). Baixauli reminds us of the importance of art, oblivion, and that which no machine will ever be able to generate: the imperfect human soul. Reading Baixauli is the perfect antidote against the coldness of data.
Conclusion: Read What You Like
The next time you feel guilty for reading an "addictive" thriller instead of a book on "Atomic Habits," remember: you are training your brain to detect patterns, understand human motivations, and manage complexity. And that, at the end of the day, makes you a better professional.