2018: Best books I read all year



Non-fiction : 

  2. Red Notice 
  3. The Teenage Liberation Guide
  5. Founders at Work. Favorite interview: Max Levchin. 
  7. Thinking and reasoning: a very short introduction.
  8. The Art of Living by Epictetus. Nifty.



  3. Chemistry by Zumdahl and Zumdahl
  4. Fundamentals of Physics by David Halliday et al.
  5. Calculus by Michael Spivak.
  6. Campbell Biology
  7. Principles of Neural Science by Eric Kandel
  8. Neuroscience by Mark Bear
  10. The cartoon guide to Physics
  11. The cartoon guide to Chemistry
  12. Programming Arduino by Simon Monk
  13. Programming Raspberry Pi by Simon Monk
  15. Make electronics
  19. The Brain: a very short introduction 
  20. The Scientists by John Gribbin
  21. What If?


  1. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance.


I’m currently reading Autonomy and this book by Scott Adams. 

If you have any suggestions of books that influenced you a lot, please send them at harshita@harshitaapps.com!


2018: Favorite places and restaurants in the Bay Area

Intellectual Stimulation:

  1. The Exploratorium! Best museum I’ve ever been to. I posted photos from my visit here
  2. Noisebridge. A wonderful hackerspace with an industrial 3D printer, a whole bunch of electronic components, soldering station, woodwork room, other specialized equipment like VR and EEG headsets, an amazing ~1000 books library, and really smart and kind people! I’ll visit it more often in 2019 to work there. 


  1. Sandbox VR! Fun VR games. I posted photos and a video from my visit here

In no particular order, here is a list of restaurants I remember liking a lot. Nom nom nom. 

Favorite Restaurants: 

  1. La Fondue. 5/5 stars. My favorite restaurant, ever. Love their cheese and chocolate fondue. A little expensive, however. 
  2. Lolo. 4/5 stars. Great Mexican food. The shrimp rice were amazing. 
  3. Little Star Pizza. 3/5. Good deep dish pizza. Not the best I’ve had, but still pretty good! 
  4. La Fringale. 3/5 stars. Okay-ish Italian food. 
  5. Panda Express. 5/5 stars. I ❤ Panda Express. My friends laugh at me when I say this and nobody wants to go to Panda Express with me 😦 I love everything there, but my favorites are orange chicken, honey walnut shrimp, teriyaki chicken, and broccoli beef. I’ve been to Panda Express so many times this year that I’ve probably tried out everything. 
  6. Mayflower Seafood restaurant in Milpitas. 4/5 stars. Best dim sum I’ve had. People go to Chinatown for dim sum. I tried that once and found the dim sum at Chinatown to be pretty disgusting. 
  7. One Waan. 4/5 stars. Best Thai food I’ve found in the Bay Area. 
  8. Kasa Indian eatery. 4/5 stars. Fantastic mango lassi, butter chicken, and paneer tikka. 
  9. Amber India. 4/5 stars. Liked their shrimp curry and rice. 
  10. Dandelion Chocolate. 3/5 stars. Good place for meetings, coffee, and chocolate. A bit overpriced I think.
  11. Chocolate Covered. 5/5 stars. Wonderful store with so much variety of chocolate. 
  12. MY China. 5/5 stars. Amazing Chinese food. Recommended: spicy seafood dumplings, spicy chicken wings, seafood noodles, duck, beef fried rice — all very delicious.
  13. La Taqueria. 3/5 stars. Nice Mexican restaurant. I go here often because it’s very close to where I live.  

I searched through my images gallery to find photos of food from the above restaurants. Found exactly one photo — from Dandelion Chocolate. Please enjoy a photo of their Chef Tasting Plate!

If you have any restaurant suggestions or would like to explore food together, email me at harshita@harshitaapps.com! 🙂

A poem on science

When I close my eyes and go to sleep,

I think all about Science, quite deep.

I can see the invisible microbes moving around,

And hear the below 20 Hz frequency sound.


And the CO2 gas coming out of the cars.

I can see a satellite flying in the orbit,

And the current flowing in the circuit.

I can see the crops getting ready for the harvest,

And a man cutting down the last forest.


And also myself smiling in the space.

I can see the seven colors of the white light,

And the fungi causing the potato blight.

I can see the light traveling so fast,

Also, the universe getting even more vast.

I can feel the earthquake jolting my bed,

And the yeast fermenting my bread.

I can see the electrical impulses in my brain

And the blood carried by my vein.

I can see my Earth going in the black hole,

And also the electrons going on a stroll.

I couldn’t think about a place where there wasn’t Science,

Science is in me and in every appliance.

