3 book recommendations from Eliot Peper
I never imagined I'd have a book reviewed in The New York Times. So when Amal El-Mohtar's Bandwidth review dropped last month, it blew my mind:
"Real and urgent... a thoughtful meditation on the ethics of power among those who broker it. Peper manages a great deal of complexity without sacrificing clarity or pace, and I read it all in a single fascinated sitting." -The New York Times Book Review
You can read the full review right here. And if you haven't yet read Bandwidth, you can snag a copy right here.
As cool as is it is to see Bandwidth in the headlines, my focus is always writing the best stories I possibly can and sharing those stories with you, my closest friends and readers. It was lovely to see some of you at the book launch party in Oakland a few weeks ago and if you couldn't make it, I look forward to meeting you sometime soon. Books live and die on grassroots word of mouth, and you are the wind in their sails. An incredible case in point, Bandwidth came out on May 1 and just hit 600 reviews on Amazon. 600!!!
You are the best readers ever, and I can't emphasize enough how much a difference every review and recommendation makes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And now, books I love that you might too:
Void Star by Zachary Mason is a mind-bending literary science fiction novel that tells the most subtle story I've ever read about the future of AI. Mason is a computer scientist and weaves deep, challenging ideas about digital cognition into a globe-trotting adventure packed with intrigue, parkour, and high-fashion. A philosophical thriller of the highest caliber, it left me wrestling with paradoxes I'd never considered.
The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann tells the incredible true stories of two little-known but highly influential scientists whose work and ideas shaped the 20th century. Norman Borlaug's high-yield crops saved millions (maybe billions) from starvation and William Vogt more or less founded the environmental movement. Their diametrically opposed views about humanity's relationship with nature and the kind of future we should strive to build have defined the debate over agriculture, water, energy, and climate change for generations. Rigorously researched and compellingly told, this story embraces complexity in a way that illuminates deeper truths and challenges us to ask hard questions instead of settling for easy answers.
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman is a novelistic adaptation of its namesake by one of the greatest living storytellers. Gaiman does a fabulous job bringing Thor, Loki, Odin, Freya, and the rest of the pantheon to life and following their misadventures as they barrel toward Ragnarok. Entertaining and thought-provoking, these tales show how the denizens of Valhalla were at once brave and greedy, wise and petty, and forever creating more problems than they solved.
Bonus recommendation: I interviewed novelist and award-winning journalist Omar El Akkad about the price of power, the psychology of extremism, and building a better future for this country than the one he depicts in his critically-acclaimed dystopian debut, American War. Incidentally, I recommended American War in
In other news, Franco Faraudo interviewed me for the Chicago Review of Books about inspirations, creative process, and how our feeds create our reality. I went on the Techdirt podcast to talk to Mike Masnick about science fiction, scenario planning, and how to make sense of the future. John DeNardo included Bandwidth in his Kirkus column on new and notable speculative fiction. John is the editor of the Hugo Award-winning SF Signal where I've discovered many great books over the years. Rick Liebling interviewed me for The Adjacent Possible about privacy, surveillance, hacktivism, and the power of imagination. If you want a dose of science fiction thinking in your inbox, I'm a big fan of Rick's newsletter. Finally, Dr. Janet Bastiman reviewed Bandwidth and explored its connections with cognitive bias theory.
If you enjoy this newsletter and want to support it, forward this email to a friend. I love sharing amazing stories that explore the intersection of technology and culture. The goal of this newsletter is to recommend books, both fiction and nonfiction, that crackle and fizz with big ideas, keep us turning pages deep into the night, challenge our assumptions, help us find meaning in a changing world, and make us think, feel, and ask hard questions. In an age of digital abundance, quality is the new scarcity. The right book at the right time can change your life.
I also pull back the curtain on my creative process. When I'm not reading books, I'm writing them. If you're interested, you can find my books right here. They've been praised by Businessweek, Popular Science, TechCrunch, io9, and Ars Technica. I'd love to hear what you think if you give them a read.
Cheers, Eliot
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