12. The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer
“I laugh heartily but it strikes me that the laugh was born in a sad pouch somewhere inside me. I’m not being natural. I just want him to like me. I want everyone to like me. You have to be adaptable to pull it off, though, and it’s a lot of effort. I don’t know what my end game is, but I suppose it’s better than collecting enemies.”
Summary: I have a really soft spot for books (also TV Shows and movies) set in places I recognise, and this is one of those, it being set in South London. It’s about a shithouse, Gary, who meets a girl at a bar in Peckham after his mate bails on him. He is smitten by her but she leaves before he gets her number and all he has is the book she was reading which she left behind for him. With clues from their conversation he tries to track her down for personal reasons but also because he needs an alibi for a crime. Worlds get intertwined and we are drawn into a world of corrupt police officers and shady contractors. It’s a story about relationships between, friends, neighbours, coworkers, lovers and even family, it’s funny at times and like the imagination in a lot of the conversations in the book, I like how quirky the characters are as well. All in all an easy read start to finish, I liked it but I won’t be buying the rights to the movie, that’s for sure.
11. Of Boys and Men: Why the modern male is struggling, why it matters, and what to do about it by Richard Reeves
“What is required here is a simple change in mindset, recognizing that gender inequalities can go in both directions. I said simple, not easy... Many people on the political Left seem to fear that even acknowledging the problems of boys and men will somehow weaken efforts for women and girls. This is the progressive version of zero-sum thinking. Anything extra for boys and men must mean less for girls and women. This is entirely false as a matter of practice, and creates a dangerous political dynamic. There are real problems facing many boys and men, which need to be addressed, and if progressives ignore them others will be sure to pick them up. Our politics are now so poisoned that it has become almost impossible for people on the Left to even discuss the problems of boys and men, let alone devise solutions. This is a missed opportunity. We need the strongest advocates for gender equality, many of whom are on the liberal side of the political spectrum, to take a more balanced view. Otherwise, the danger is that boys and men will look elsewhere”
Summary: I knew this book was going to be decent when I saw someone I assume is a right-wing nutter dissing the author for being a pussy and not calling out the Left enough for one thing or the other. I would really like all my friends (the women especially) to read this and let me know their thoughts about it. It talks a great deal about the issues faced by boys in school, men with work and fatherhood. He talks about the effect of those issues on society and how they are often unaddressed as talking about them is often seen as taboo in certain circles, even more so actually trying to do something about it. He tries to pinpoint the root cause of some of these issues, such as biology in boys in school, automation and free trade affecting men’s employability, and culture not having caught up with the immense growth in opportunities for women. It talks about how addressing problems for men does not have to mean taking away opportunities for women, as it is not a zero-sum game. He addresses the groups the suffer the most: black and lower class boys and men, and discusses how they bear a huge brunt. He also offers solutions to the problems, some I think are more feasible than others, read to find out! I think he was very balanced as well, and offers perspectives from both sides of the political divide.
10. Nigeria’s Soldiers of Fortune: The Abacha and Obasanjo Years by Max Siollun
Nigeria’s story has not only been about its elites. Nigerians often treated elected civilian leaders and military dictators as two rival lovers courting them. When civilians are in power, Nigerians often nostalgically recall the supposed discipline and stability of military rule. Yet when suffering under military dictatorship, they campaigned for democracy as a utopian salvation. Being in Nigeria sometimes feels like being on a frightening rollercoaster ride. While on the ride one will scream in terror and want the ride to end. However, once it ends, one wants to get back on and experience the adrenaline rush again. Along with their adrenaline addiction, many Nigerians harbour a Messiah complex that their country is potentially a great one, if only power would fall into the hands of a visionary leader.
Summary: This is an incredible historical account on the Nigerian political climate it the late 90’s. It starts from the end of Ibrahim Babangida’s reign and annulment of the June 12 elections, the ING transition government. Abacha’s coup and reign, and Nigeria’s first elections. It looks at key characters IBB, Abacha, MKO Abiola and Obasanjo and the roles they played in shaping politics in Nigeria. It showed a lot of influential figures thought military government was the solution to inept civilian government. It also highlights the delicate balance involved in keeping the union called Nigeria intact and navigating dichotomies like the North-South divide and Christian-Muslim divide, which are still relevant today. Was fascinating seeing the roles of populars names played back then (Tinubu, Buhari, Osibanjo, Dokubo, Yar’Adua etc) And also gave a more nuanced view on “heroes” like Ken Saro-Wiwa and MKO Abiola that showed there are no saints in politics. All in all is a very educative book and would recommend to all Nigerians.
9. What Just Happened?! Dispatches from Turbulent Times by Marina Hyde
“We’ve already lost the rights to this wedding to the US news site TMZ, which has wiped the floor with their British counterparts in terms of scoops, in arguably the most shaming defeat since Yorktown. Certainly, since England capitulated to the US in the 1950 World Cup. Wasn’t it OUR tabloids that used to go into hospitals and try to get stories off recovering patients? Wasn’t it OUR tabloids that used to goad relatives into saying terrible things for money? Aren’t WE the best at ruining lives? What happened to us, man? Perhaps another sort of changing of the guard has occurred.”
Summary: I think Marina Hyde is a great columnist! A fair bit of the references fly over my head though, but when they land, boy do they land. It’s why she’s like the only columnist whose name I know and why I thought I’d support by buying a book. However, I didn’t know and it isn’t clear from any of the blurbs that the book is literally just a collection of columns she has written. It is like releasing an album of songs from previous mixtapes (looking at you HER and The Weeknd). I was very disappointed by that because my expectations were not set appropriately. But yeah if you want a coffee table book with insightful and witty commentary on Sports, Pop Culture and UK Politics, then you might enjoy this
Fun Fact: First book I’ve read that’s a collection of columns
8. Exhalation by Ted Chang
“The paper version of the story was curiously disappointing. Jijingi remembered that when he had first learned about writing, he’d imagined it would enable him to see a storytelling performance as vividly as if he were there. But writing didn’t do that. When Kokwa told the story, he didn’t merely use words; he used the sound of his voice, the movement of his hands, the light in his eyes. He told you the story with his whole body, and you understood it the same way. None of that was captured on paper; only the bare words could be written down. And reading just the words gave you only a hint of the experience of listening to Kokwa himself, as if one were licking the pot in which okra had been cooked instead of eating the okra itself.”
Summary: A collection of short stories of varying length about various sci-fi topics told from the varied lens. A time-travel door story in which you can’t actually alter the future so explains the finality of both past and future. Humans having machine parts that has parallels to humanity’s approach to global warming. The shortest story is one on the illusion of free-will and choice. The longest story of the book is one that has themes on the future of artificial intelligence and shows that how humans raise these intelligent beings could have an impact on how they turn out.My favourite story is one which features a journalist writing on lifelogging, a futurist concept in which everything in your life is recorded (like that Black Mirror episode) and he makes an argument for both sides. All the stories are very thought provoking and make sci-fi feel only a few years away and quite plausible/feasible. Thoroughly recommend
Fun Fact: Recommended from someone's IG Story
7. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
She’d posed a rude question to the senior CDC official on the call: How can you keep saying that Americans are at low risk from the virus if you aren’t even testing for the virus? She’d been answered with silence, and then the official moved on to the next topic…Charity thought that the virus was already spreading fast, and unseen. Her attempts to sound an alarm in California had gotten her banned by her new boss from participating in discussions about it. There was, in effect, no leadership, either from the state or the federal government. She knew that the weaker-spined local health officers around the country would defer to the CDC, as it got them off the hook for making their own hard decisions
Summary: What do a dad helping his daughter with a science project building a model for disease transmission, a doctor that worked in Veteran’s affairs, a prodigy post doctorate researcher and a local health officer have in common? They are key characters in this book who had been perfectly placed to help America prepare for a global pandemic several years before it happened, in fact some of them had helped come up with federal guidelines for how to respond to a pandemic. These characters are very talented and their stories and background are interesting enough by themselves. However, another part of the book is how through lack of leadership from the CDC, federal and state government, their talents were wasted. It is story of how America failed at handling the COVID-19 pandemic even though they are a global leader in several categories and had a headstart in recording their first cases later than other countries and more importantly a headstart with a whole pandemic plan wrritten years before and several talented people. It’s a detailed book for those interested in pandemics and how to combat them, genomic technology, and just the COVID-19 period as a whole.
Fun Fact: It references the Mann Gulch fire which was referenced in a book I read last year called Think Again. The story about the fire is pretty fascinating
6. Atlanta Noir
“She seemed to be able to see beyond the obvious, to find beauty in any situation. I’d never learned that. Things had to make direct sense to me. Gleaning goodness from tragedy, for example, meant simply lying about pain. Faith meant hope, and I simply didn’t have it. I believed in being positive, but also believed in being truthful. And the truth was rarely beautiful to me”
Summary: Part of the Noir collection. It’s split into 3 parts which cover different themes. Not all the stories here felt like classic noir to me, not that I’m a noir connoisseur or should I say connoirsseur. I like the first part which had stories of getting burgled in a snow storm, a drop-off gone wrong, a crooked judge and a neighbour that needed mental help. The third part was also really enjoyable but most of the stories in the middle fell a bit flat for me. Anyways the stories are all set in different parts of Atlanta and kind of give you a picture of what it is like.
Fun fact: Got this book in Atlanta in a cool gift shope at Ponce City Market
5. Drunk on All Your Strange New Words By Eddie Robson
She always wondered why games set in realistic locations are so popular when you can play games that let you be a Valkyrie and slay dragons, or an interdimensional wizard rewriting reality itself. But maybe people don’t want fantasy, they want to feel they’re in control, that they’re playing by rules they understand and that it’s possible to win
Summary: This is a book set some time in the future in a world were Aliens are have trade relations with Earth. The main character is a translator to an Alien that works in the embassy. It follows her as she tries to uncover who is responsible for the murder of her boss. The murder mystery part of the book is a bit weak and not that gripping. However the world which the story is set is interesting as it shows a futuristic world where only a few people actually know how to drive as it is all automated, but there is still massive distrust of police. It’s a world where everything can be recorded and under surveillance but it is a world that still has to contend with solving for fake news and the mental pressures of social media. Imagining the world which it was set was more interesting than the story itself
Fun fact: got this book from the coolest bookstore in LA: The Last Bookstore
4.The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel
“…no one actually thinks luck doesn’t play a role in financial success. But since it’s hard to quantify luck and rude to suggest people’s success is owed to it, the default stance is often to implicitly ignore luck as a factor of success…When judging others, attributing success to luck makes you look jealous and mean, even if we know it exists. And when judging yourself, attributing success to luck can be too demoralizing to accept”
Summary: This is a fantastic book that I would like to revisit in the future. It talks about the psychological aspects of money. The things we know subconsciously that should help drive some of the financial decisions we make. It explains how behaviour plays a bigger part than smarts when it comes to doing well with money. It highlights the role of luck and risk in financial outcomes, know what is enough, the power of compounding, huge impact of small events, and a great definition of freedom — being able to do what you love with who you want when you want it, the importance of rainy-day saving and so much more. It shows how different experiences, and goals, can shape their view of money and why long term planning is hard — becuase the world and people’s goals change over time. There are 20 chapters, each in digestible chunk with examples to drive home the points. Thoroughly recommend to any one who has recently entered the workforce
3. Get Rich or Lie Trying: Ambition and Deceit in the New Influencer Economy By Symeon Brown
Whether we have 200,000 followers or 200, the rewards from a social media presence encourage us to represent ourselves in a way that is beneficial to us. Whether that means beefing up our employment history to prospective employers on LinkedIn, expressing outrage on Twitter to appear enlightened, or airbrushing our photos to get more likes, social media encourages us to glamorise ourselves and misrepresent our reality as it introduces a profit motive into our social lives, with a profound impact on the way we behave
Summary: A short and easy read on modern day social media influencing. It talks about some of the major ways people gain influence and the costs and price at which they come. From Fast Fashion Influencers, and the mistreatment of workers that make them, BBLs and their physical costs, Only Fans and digital sex work to the success stories being the exception rather than the rule. Those three topics felt a bit weird coming from a male author though there is no doubt truth in it. The book also covers, Multi-level marketing, hustle and grind culture and life coaching, finance influencers so activist influencers. It tells a story ow pretty much everything on social media is for sale and the lengths people will go to gain influence. It paints a sorry state of affairs but offers no real solutions, just commentary but it’s does do a good job on shining a light on the people on the short end of the thirst for influence.
Fun Fact: Saw on Social Media. How’s that for irony
2. The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
They have created a man — no, a Frankenstein’s monster — and branded it with his name before setting it loose…They are blind to Mahmood Hussein Mattan and all his real manifestations: the tireless stoker, the poker shark, the elegant wanderer, the love-starved husband, the soft-hearted father.
Summary: This is a story about a Somali seaman wrongfully accused of murder. It touches on subjects such as islamophobia and racism, particularly racism experienced due to inter-racial marriages. It shows the cruelty of the prison system and the irony of capital punishment being used a way to show the value of life. It highlights how racist police and environment can make it so that any crime can be pinned on you if you happen to be unlucky. It’s a pretty sad book and you find yourself rooting for the main character to the end. Not my normal type of book though, felt it was lacking a bit of punch.
Fun Fact: Recommended to me by someone on Instagram
1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson: The Exclusive Biography
It had been a grueling ride, and many egos had been bruised by Jobs’s obnoxious and rough management style. But neither Raskin nor Wozniak nor Sculley nor anyone else at the company could have pulled off the creation of the Macintosh. Nor would it likely have emerged from focus groups and committees.
Summary: This is an excellent biography about Steve Jobs that talks about his upbringing and childhood, as well as his experiences starting up in the world of computing. From creating Apple with Steve Wozniak to revolutionizing personal computers with the Mac and then being ousted mostly because of his abrasive management style. It also focused on his time with NeXT and Pixar and his return to Apple and launching them into success with again with iPods, iPhones and iPads. It touches on negotiations with the music execs in creating iTunes, rivalry with Microsoft and his development of the Apple Stores to control the entire user experience and his knack for marketing and showmanship. It also talks about some of his personal life, flaws in relationships with some family members as well as his battle with cancer. It paints a picture of a man full of contradictions who revolutionized the world with wonderfully designed products though some people were hurt along the way.
Fun Fact: Not much here other than it has been on my list for ages