20 books to read during the 2017 summer holidays

A reading list for the beach and for the mind

It’s my habit to spend the year preparing a list of the books I want to read during holidays.

I’ve read the lists of the most linked books in Hacker News, Stack Overflow and others, but they’re way too technical, and business-oriented.

A reading list should be mind opening. There should be surprises in it. Stuff you never heard about before. And stuff you’ve been waiting to read for decades.

Doing the list is a pleasure in itself. I like to mix it a lot. Have some nonfiction and novels together. Bring in new books from authors that I like, or have a few oldies that will bring me comfort and reassurance. Let a little bit of serendipity sip in by adding a few recommendations from amazon, goodreads or your local bookshop keeper, and here you are.

Don’t worry if you don’t read everything. It’s not some university course material. Maybe you’ll end your reading later. Maybe you won’t. Who cares. Nobody will be judging you. Don’t worry also if you don’t like everything. It’s good to read books you hate.

So, here is my list for this summer on goodreads.

And in a more detailed way, here below:

• Peter F. Hamilton, The Abyss Beyond Dreams and A Night Without Stars: I’ve loved Peter F. Hamilton since I read Pandora’s Star, a book with fast pace and new ideas. I’ll certainly take a few days to read these two ones.
• Frans de Waal, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?: I added this one because a friend recommended it. But it looks boring and I am not sure I’ll actually read it. I’ll probably give a chance to the introduction and the first chapter, maybe also read the conclusion.

• Sean Carroll, The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself: It looks great, but I am just finishing “The Gene” and I am not sure, I’ll feel like reading another science book so soon.
• Robert Caro, Master of the Senate: this account of Lyndon Johnson’s rise to power reads like a novel. It’s a masterpiece and I’ve been wanting to finish reading this third volume for some years. Now might be the time.
• Tom Clancy, Without Remorse: it’s the first installment in the Jack Ryan series. The one with The Hunt for Red October in it. Everybody say it’s good. So why not?
• James Clavell, Shogun: same thing :) It lacks Ninjas though. Or maybe not, I’ll see.
• Michel Zevaco, Les Pardaillan: this author was quite famous in the 60s. It’s swashbuckling but with a twist. You can have a look at the trailer of the movie that was released in 1962… it’s fun to say the least.

• Paul Féval père, Le Bossu: same thing :) And there is also a 1959 movie with Jean Marais and Bourvil. A sure win.

• Cathy O’Neil, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy: back to nonfiction, this is a no-brainer, but I am afraid it might end up being a bit superficial.
• Stephen King, Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and The End Of Watch: I’ve always been a huge fan of Stephen King, especially since his writing became more serious after his accident. The three books form a trilogy. I’ll devour it on the beach and at night.

• Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America: I discovered it thanks to an article in the New York Time. First published in 1962, this book introduced the notion of “pseudo-events” — events such as press conferences and presidential debates, which are manufactured solely in order to be reported. As a fan of Robert Anton Wilson and a specialist of Fake News issues, this is a must-read for me.
• John Ralston Saul, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin: I stumbled upon this through Goodreads recommendations. As I read Voltaire’s Bastards when I was in high school, I know the author quite well. This one is about the “Great Ministry” of Canada in 1848–51 when these two fellows took their country on the way to social-liberalism by creating public services and chosing a way opposite to the US. A necessary discussion as we need to reinvent public services in the digital world.
• Don Wislow, The Cartel: I read The Power of the Dog last year, and I loved it. With more cocaine traffickers, politicians, and murders, it looks like this sequel is even better.

• H.L. Mencken, The American Language: This one is from the list of the Modern Library. I always love to read a few of them every year. From an author who attacked chiropractors, the Ku Klux Klan, politicians, other journalists and, most of all, Puritan morality.
• John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money: Never read it before. It’s the next installment in the Modern Library’s list.
• Charles Stross, Empire Games: A little cyberpunk something to finish the list? It looks like the perfect final touch.

• Jeremy Black, Anthony Green: Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary: because it’s an important part of history, especially now that symbols are more important than ever.
• Duff McDonald, The Golden Passport: Harvard Business School, the Limits of Capitalism, and the Moral Failure of the MBA Elite: This actually looks a lot like Voltaire’s Bastards from John Sault which I referenced earlier. It received a lot of good critics and deal with an important topic for the future of government, in the US and everywhere else.

And since 20 books are probably not enough to please everyone. Here are few bonus choices:

• Bonus 1: Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run: come on… it’s The Boss!
• Bonus 2: Stephen Kinzer, The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire
• Bonus 3: Patrick Boucheron, Histoire mondiale de la France
• Bonus 4: Hod Lipson, Melba Kurman, Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead

• Bonus 5: David Callahan, Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America

Update: the beauty of this kind of list is that it never ends and you never stop updating it. That’s why I decided to add “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century”, by Timothy Snyder, after reading a powerful interview of him where he claims that Donald Trump is likely to stage a coup in the months to come.