LIT-SIS Summer Reading
Looking for some good books to read this summer? LIT-SIS has your back! And you don’t have to buy them – check the Library Extension to see if your local library has copies in print, ebook, or audio.
Non-Fiction I’ve Already Read
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy – Cathy O’Neil
The problem of the opaque model creating bias in algorithmic outcomes predates GenAI. O’Neil explores how problematic models affect people every day — from college applications, to getting loans, to the justice system itself.
A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains – Max S. Bennet
How did humans evolve the brains we have today, and what does that have to do with the development of AI? Bennet explores the evolutionary leaps that led to our complex brains and why those leaps will be difficult to replicate with AI.
Democracy’s Data: The Hidden Stories in the U.S. Census and How to Read Them – Dan Bouk
Explore the history of one of the greatest data caches available to us, and what the census means for our current lives and the future. Bouk walks us through the details of the 1940 census, exploring what information was captured, what was left out, and what we can read between the lines.
The Possessed: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them – Elif Batuman
Did you fall in love with Anna Karenina at first sight? Did you find War and Peace a great journey rather than a slog? Do you agree that Behemoth from The Master and Margarita is one of the most awesome cats in literature? Then read this book immediately!
Note: you’ll probably want to read Eugene Onegin before tackling this, but since it’s one of the best literary poems ever, that’s barely an inconvenience.
Non-Fiction I Haven’t Read Yet but Looks Interesting
Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present – Fareed Zakaria
Zakaria explores four current-day revolutions: globalization, technology, identity, and geopolitics. I’m looking forward to reading this to learn more about how these revolutions impact us today and what they might mean for our future.
More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI – John Warner
If GenAI can write essays for students, how should we think about teaching in this current climate?
Fiction I Have Read
About AI
All Systems Red (book 1 of the Murderbot series, ongoing )– Martha Wells
Murderbot is a rogue security unit who just wants to be left alone to enjoy its favorite serial, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. But first, he must save its clients from the many things that want to kill them. Can’t a bot watch serials in peace? Now on Apple TV (but you’ll want to read the book as well).
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (book 1 of the Bobverse series, ongoing) – Dennis E. Taylor
Freeze your head when you die, they said. Wake up in a better future in a healthy body, they said. But the life Bob Johansson wakes up to 117 years after a freak accident is nothing like what he expected. For one thing, he’s a brain in a computer, destined to become the AI for a spaceship. For another, he discovers he can clone his brain into new computers. Is he still human? Are his clones? And can they survive interstellar war long enough to find out?
About climate change
The Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson
What if climate change becomes worse, but there is a slim possibility we can do something about it? Set, well, now, an organization of various experts band together to try to reverse one of the greatest threats to the world before it’s too late.
Parable of the Sower (book 1 of the Parable trilogy, unfinished) – Octavia Butler
What if climate change becomes worse, taking down our world along with it? Set in a 2024 that’s not so remarkably different from our own, a young woman is forced out of her home to look for a better place. As she meets other refugees on her journey, she gathers them into a community that hopefully can survive a nation turned to chaos.
Note: Butler died in 2006 and never finished the third book in this trilogy.
The Fifth Season (book 1 of The Broken Earch trilogy, complete) – N. K. Jemisin
What if climate change becomes weird? And also people have energy powers strong enough to destroy continents? Like Parable of the Sower, this book also follows women on dangerous journeys, but in a much more fantastical setting.
About cats as therapy
We’ll Prescribe You a Cat (book 1 of a series, ongoing) – Syou Ishida
Can cats fix what’s bothering you? They can certainly try! Enjoy this series of short stories about an unusual mental health clinic in Kyoto featuring curious medical staff and unorthodox (if very cute) cures.
