What are you reading?

I’m reading On Things As Ideas edited by Robert Stadler and Alex Valliant. Its excellent so far, definitely challenges my mind in relation to design theory.

Just finished “The Comedians” by Kliph Nesteroff. It’s a brief history of comedy. The first 3-4 chapters are hard going because I had no reference for the people he was talking about. The rest of the book was great though. It gave me a small glimpse into the real life characters of some of the comedians I grew up listening to.

The Martian.

Honestly have been reading this since January this year, and halfway through the book I got stuck on a chapter chock full of scientific/technical stuff. I haven’t watched the movie yet, and for this book, I look up anything that’s unknown to me for a better picture (MAV, chemical processes, etc). I also get more out of reading this during +1hr sessions. OK I promise I will finish the book this year. Great book though… gets the gears turning and is hilarious at times!

A few recent reads

Just finished Interstellar Age by Jim Bell (An Arizona State professor!). Pretty good book about the Voyager program. I would have preferred a little more on the discoveries and the development process of the spacecraft, but I get it, this is for mass consumption.

Having said that, I do think that the Voyager program may be the most important single project in human history since Columbus’ voyage to Hispanola. In a similar way, Voyager doubled the size of our universe by actually visiting our solar system’s outer planets.

Just finished “Autonomous”… the first novel by Annalee Newitz, one of the editors of io9.com. A slightly bleak look forward at how the world of indentured autonomous machines might effect policies on human rights and how global pharma is directing law enforcement. It still manages to be fun insight of the heavy topics.

Just got a few pages into “Artemis”, Andy Weir’s second novel. Weir wrote “The Martian” and he packs in lots of hard science. It is good so far.

I just joined and love this thread! Getting a lot of reading ideas! :slight_smile:

I am thinking of reading Factfulness by Hans Rosling.
And in similar spirit, A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

If anyone has read these and they make sense to read for industrial designers, please share!

I’m on the last book of The Three Body problem trilogy by Chinese author Cixin Liu

https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B00YUQP6AE/ref=dp_st_0765377063

I recently finished Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, it blew my mind, the vast reach of the sotry in terms of space and time, changing all characters every couple of chapters, the thoughtful description of the politics of power… I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Surpried no one has gone for a film or a series, after all this time.

The foundation Trilogy is fantastic. Check out his Caves of Steel Trilogy. They connect!

Right now I’m reading American War by Omar El Akkad… this book is haunting me. Written by a Cairo born Canadian journalist who spent time covering Afghanistan, South America, and Ferguson. He decided to write a speculative Sci Fi piece about where he saw all this going…

http://www.powells.com/book/american-war-9780451493583

I just finished the Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini and am currently expanding into ‘Persuasive Technology’ by B.J. Fogg. Thinking about design as a tool for persuasion makes you think more about ID from a sales perspective, if that is what you want.

I just started Dune. I can’t believe I’ve never read this! With a new Dune movie coming out in 2019 I figured I better read it.

Bruce Cockburn’s memoir, “Rumours of Glory”.

No kidding. You’ve got some work to do!
I didn’t hear 2019 for a potential release, but I think they cast Muad’Dib. Its going to be split into two films, which is a good thing.

I just finished book one last night and my take away is how the heck are they going to turn that into a movie?! So many characters, so many key characters dying left and right… it seems better sited o a Netflix long form thing like Game of Throwns. But I’m looking forward to checking it out. Denis Villeneuve is slatted to be the director I think?

I ordered book 2, I read it is darker than book 1. Looking forward to it.

Ralph: I finished Factfullness two weeks ago. Maybe the most inspirational thing I’ve ever read. I encourage everyone to go to https://www.gapminder.org/ and click on “take the Gapminder test”. It will probably make you feel better about the world, and open your eyes at the same time.

I am currently reading a lot of university physics, some of which I like. My reading list is:

I am not reading these books for fun. I’m reading because I’m required to. Of course, I’m not reading all of them, just those deemed necessary by my instructors and advisors.

Other than this, I’ve been wanting to read Carl Sagan Neil and Tyson for a while now. I’m not sure if I will ever get around to reading them. Student life is disappointing sometimes.

Just borrowed from the local library Carl Sagan “Varieties of Scientific Experience” which is his take on science and theology.
Also NEED to burn through “Sharp Objects” on Kindle, as the HBO series just finished and I was all WTF at the ending of that.

That was on my reading list, too. I just read the Introduction to Sagan’s “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” yesterday. Can’t wait to dig in further :smiley: