In case you’re looking for some summer reading, here are a couple of books that I’ve read this year and want to recommend:
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It’s a story about two time agents who fight on the opposing sides but slowly they get to know each other. The story is told entirely through the letters they send to each other. The book is rich in language and references.
I recommend it to sci-fi readers, but I think that even people who are not into sci-fi could like it if you’re into literature.
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou. The book tells the story of the infamous Silicon Valley startup Theranos. To me, it’s a story of the magic of Silicon Valley: you can will almost anything to existence if you are just persistent enough, and have the right connections and look the part. It’s rather thrilling!
I recommend it to people who follow Silicon Valley startup news. (If you’re a programmer and you read Hacker News, that counts.)
Monimuotoisuus by Juha Kauppinen. This one is in Finnish. It’s about the decline of diversity in the Finnish nature. The author visits a number of places in Finland, looking for species that are threatened or already extinct. These eloquent stories are used to explain the importance of diverse habitats. It’s a sad book.
I’d recommend it to people who enjoy the nature, and can read in Finnish, of course.