My favorite books of 2018

Every month or so, I recommend three books that changed the way I see the world. Now, for the first time in the short history of this little newsletter, I've gone back and selected one book from each 2018 missive to assemble my favorite books of the year. I discovered so many gems that choosing between them was excruciating, so I hope you enjoy this list of the twelve best books I read in 2018:

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami is a dark, weird, and profoundly moving literary fantasy about two characters wrestling with loneliness and the search for connection in a world where reality is fraying around the edges. The protagonists are so deeply human that they feel like close friends instead of fictional figments. Murakami has a unique ability to let the reader slip inside someone else's skin, illuminate the wonder and contradictions of human experience, and weave it all into a tale of conspiracy, magic, and redemption that is impossible to put down.

H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald is a deeply-moving memoir about grieving the loss of a parent by training a bird of prey. Macdonald's prose is transcendent, and there are lines so beautiful I reread them over and over again. But more powerful than the lyrical grace of the writing is the profound emotional force contained in the pages of this book. Macdonald excises her heart and soul with surgical precision, and I constantly found myself contemplating my own life and loved ones and reflecting on our shared relationship with the world we live in.

Gnomon by Nick Harkaway is a mind-bending labyrinth of a science fiction novel that splices the allure and danger of an algorithmically optimized society into a fiendish Borgesian puzzle box. Detectives, artists, financiers, alchemists, and conspirators vie for position in a dance that nobody completely understands, but that will shape the future of a nation. Harkaway's prose is a literary disco ball that glitters with big ideas, satisfying twists, and resonant characters. He's one of those writers who I will follow almost anywhere and I recommended his debut novel in a previous edition of the newsletter.

Sourdough by Robin Sloan is moving, whimsical adventure that I consumed with the ravenous enthusiasm its eponym inspires. It captures the emotional magic of stepping through the looking glass to explore a new world, while remaining rooted firmly in the San Francisco Bay Area. The story is deeply hopeful without being naive, and a refreshing reminder that human nature is so much kinder than the headlines contend.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid is a profoundly moving novel that imagines a future shaped by accelerating human migration. The story follows two refugees whose intertwined lives reveal many of the forces already at work in the world today. Hamid illuminates the hearts and minds of the protagonists with clear-eyed empathy and his prose is sprinkled with insights that stuck with me long after reaching the end. Engaging, philosophical, and full of pain and wonder, this is speculative fiction at its best.

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.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells is an incredibly compelling science fiction story told from the perspective of a reluctant, snarky robot designed to be a killing machine. Somehow Wells manages to make it action-packed and full of insight at the same time. The adventure sucked me in immediately and spat me out gasping. I'm still thinking about how much I love the protagonist.

The Planet Remade by Oliver Morton is a brilliant profile of a difficult and important topic. Rigorously researched, richly imagined, and compellingly told, it weaves the science, philosophy, and politics of geoengineering into a thought-provoking narrative that shows how this little-known field may take the world stage in the not-too-far future. I found it utterly fascinating and thought-provoking in the extreme. No matter what you think about geoengineering or climate change, this book will deepen and complicate your perspective.

The Control of Nature by John McPhee is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction that brings to life people battling the Mississippi, Icelandic volcanoes, and the San Gabriel Mountains in order to protect and expand their cities and settlements. Filled with fascinating natural history, well-drawn characters, and heartbreakingly precise metaphors, McPhee reveals the creativity and hubris that lie at the heart of our ceaseless grappling with Mother Nature.

The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant packs more insight into 100 pages than most books manage in 600. The Durants are Pulitzer Prize-winning historians and this slim volume distills two lifetimes of research into human nature, the fate of nations, and the meaning of progress. This is a book that everyone should read, and re-read. It will challenge your assumptions, put the present in context, and empower you to see the future through fresh eyes.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is an extraordinary novel that follows six different characters through an intricate web of interconnected stories spanning three centuries. This book is a feat of pure M.C. Escher-esque imagination, featuring a structure as creative and compelling as its content. Mitchell takes the reader on a journey ranging from the 19th century South Pacific to a far-future Korean corpocracy and challenges us to rethink the very idea of civilization along the way. This book reminded me why I love to read (and write).

Bonus recommendation: I had two books of my own come out this year. Both are lush speculative novels that will take you on a wild ride through a near future. They have earned praise from people like Malka Older, Craig Newmark, and Shane Parrish, as well as publications like the New York Times Book Review, Ars Technica, and the Verge.

Bandwidth wrestles with how feeds shape our lives and the geopolitics of climate change. Andrew Chamberlain writes that “Bandwidth blows the lid off today’s techno optimists, revealing a thrilling and all-too-realistic future in which the ubiquitous ‘feed’—an immersive algorithm used by millions—becomes a tool for high-stakes blackmail, with climate change hanging in the balance. An eye-opening look at how simple, everyday technologies can change our world, one notification at a time.”

Borderless extrapolates the rise of tech platforms and the decline of nation states. The East Bay Express calls it “A sharply rendered, wildly entertaining thriller speaking to the dangerous realities of our present: climate change, the changing shape of power, the very American values that defined Peper's grandparents' post-war lives—themes that are now fraught within our real world as it becomes increasingly globalized and divided.”

Happy reading!

If you enjoy this newsletter and want to support it, tell your friends or become a patron. 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 the New York Times Book Review, Businessweek, Popular Science, Boing Boing, 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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