The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu was a recommendation from two previous colleagues on LinkedIn. It has recently been adapted on Netflix. For reasons unknown I had never heard of this SF series and when I read it… I absolutely loved it. I ripped through the first two books in a month and I am currently about half way through the third book. Basically, it covers the impending doom of an alien armada heading towards earth. It’s got everything, dystopia, science, physics, politics and the Chinese authorship gives it a very different slant. I wrote in my notes: “enjoyable cross between ready player one, a textbook and project Hail Mary!”. Some of the translation felt a bit off occasionally but didn’t spoil it for me. In places it was devastatingly good, couldn’t put it down. The book was definitely better than Netflix, i’ll say that, but we have watched that through as well. Read on Kindle. Highly Recommended – loved it. I’m about half way through the 3rd book at end of March.

The Madd Adam trilogy by Margaret Atwood was a recommendation from … my wife! I have been meaning to read this for years, and finally got round to it. This is proper dystopian end of the world stuff where genetic engineering is out of control. Had quite a lot of shades of 1984 in places (big corporations controlling narratives) particularly in the second book. Both books are long (400+ pages) and deal with some quite difficult topics including exploitation at times. I read the actual physical books. Very strong recommendation, will be reading the third one when I finish Three Body Book 3

The Art of Explanation by Ros Atkins (BBC journalist) was very good. I listened on audiobook and then went to a talk he did near to where I live and bought signed hard copy. Very practical and prescriptive book and it really helped going and watching some of videos he mentions on youtube to illuminate some concepts. This one was quite focused on facts and figures and cutting out superfluous detail, explaining hard topics, as you’d expect from a journalist.

Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks I listened again on audiobook, and was much more about telling personal stories I thought. The guy has lived a very challenging life at times and this book I thought was much more focused on personal stories. I liked the idea put forward near the start of the book that you should try and capture a story theme every day. Keep a spreadsheet, and develop those ideas. Not every theme will develop into a story you can play back. As someone who struggles to tell personal stories, I plan to adopt this habit. I really liked a lot of the “rules” for storytelling in this one (focus on change, focus on small moments). I will say it was a very easy listen on Audiobook this one, as you would hope.

Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg was new in February and I picked it up on a whim. It was reasonably short but I felt wasn’t quite as strong as the other 2 nevertheless it still contained a lot of good info and theory and I enjoyed it. But in a sense it was concentrating more onon the EQ side of things, developing trust and relationships.

I don’t read that many biographies but I picked up a pristine hardback copy of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson in a charity shop for £2 (!). I really enjoyed the writing, as an an apple fan – the backstory and history and understanding the genesis of many of the products. An added bonus was a couple of references to my old stomping ground at Sun Microsystems. It was a very interesting and well researched book, and took a long look at Jobs’ demons and what it must have been like to work for him in the Valley in the 80s/90s. I enjoyed the writers style and not long after finishing this one, picked up his bio of Leonardo Da Vinci so hopefully that will make it onto the Q2 list! Read in hardback.

Scary Smart by Mo Gawdat was a good, but very long (12 or 13h?) audiobook about the future of AI. it rather laboured the points and scaremongering, similar to the book I read last quarter – “The Coming Wave” (Suleyman). I thought this was better than the Suleyman book – it was a bit more optimistic and more personable. He shares a devastating story about his sons death that makes it clear why he is so driven towards focusing on kindness and happiness and imparting that to the AI.

Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish. I requested this as a Christmas present and really enjoyed it. Very much in the realm of James Clear / Cal Newport / Greg McKeown school of productivity with a touch of Daniel Kahnemann in it as well. I particularly liked the focus on personal purpose and values, and using rational thought, logic and wisdom rather tha conformity and emotion to make decisions. Of course this appeals to the computer programmer in me I suppose.