Giuliano Giacaglia
Who are you, and what did you write?
My name is Giuliano, and I'm an engineer by training. I’ve written Making Things Think. It is a detailed yet approachable explanation for the intelligent reader of how machine learning algorithms work, how they arise, and where they are going.
What hardware and software do you write with?
A Macbook Air and Google Docs. It took a long time to get the final version. I wrote the first draft in parts. There are six main sections for the book. I've done a bunch of research for each one, including the knowledge that I already had. For one of the sections, "What Can AI Learn from Animal Brains?", I did a ton of research online and asked a friend who is doing a postdoc in neuroscience to send me all the most important papers on the topic. I've read it all before starting to write that section.
After finishing the first draft, I revised it twice and then hired an editor to edit the whole book. She helped me re-structured the book. Then, I spent time talking to publishers. After I got a deal with a publisher, Holloway, we had an editor revise the entire book again; he went through the book twice, and I helped clarify and edit it.
The book also has many images, and I drew them a few times around to get them to look great. I ended up using Excalidraw and Figma to create them. I had to go through a few iterations of each image to get them to look the way I liked. It was a lot of work :-)
When and where do you write?
It took me five years to complete the project. I wrote the book at night and on weekends. I spent time at home writing it and at Brooklyn and San Francisco coffee shops.
What's your dream writing setup?
I love my home office. I have the perfect setup there. I have an external LG monitor attached to an adjustable standing desk. I also have a mug heater. It has a good view of the city and a really big window. I love it!