Recommended Books

Uncanny Valley
Author:
Anna Wiener
ISBN 13:
978-1250785695
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES 'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2020. Named one of the Best Books of 2020 by The Washington Post , The Atlantic, NPR, the Los Angeles Times , ELLE , Esquire , Parade , Teen Vogue , The Boston Globe, Forbes, The Times (UK), Fortune, Chicago Tribune, Glamour, The A.V. Club, Vox, Jezebel, Town & Country, OneZero, Apartment Therapy , Good Housekeeping, PopMatters, Electric Literature, Self, The Week (UK) and BookPage. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a January 2020 IndieNext Pick. "A definitive document of a world in transition: I won't be alone in returning to it for clarity and consolation for many years to come." --Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion The prescient, page-turning account of a journey in Silicon Valley: a defining memoir of our digital age In her mid-twenties, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wienerâstuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial--left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, progress . Anna arrived amidst a massive cultural shift, as the tech industry rapidly transformed into a locus of wealth and power rivaling Wall Street. But amid the company ski vacations and in-office speakeasies, boyish camaraderie and ride-or-die corporate fealty, a new Silicon Valley began to emerge: one in far over its head, one that enriched itself at the expense of the idyllic future it claimed to be building. Part coming-of-age-story, part portrait of an already-bygone era, Anna Wienerâs memoir is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune, and accelerating political power. With wit, candor, and heart, Anna deftly charts the tech industryâs shift from self-appointed world savior to democracy-endangering liability, alongside a personal narrative of aspiration, ambivalence, and disillusionment. Unsparing and incisive, Uncanny Valley is a cautionary tale, and a revelatory interrogation of a world reckoning with consequences its unwitting designers are only beginning to understand.

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming
Author:
David Wallace-Wells
ISBN 13:
978-0525576716
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ⢠â The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon.ââAndrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon With a new afterword It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possibleâfood shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation. An âepoch-defining bookâ ( The Guardian ) and âthis generationâs Silent Spring â ( The Washington Post ), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through itâthe ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress. The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generationâtodayâs. Praise for The Uninhabitable Earth âThe Uninhabitable Earth is the most terrifying book I have ever read. Its subject is climate change, and its method is scientific, but its mode is Old Testament. The book is a meticulously documented, white-knuckled tour through the cascading catastrophes that will soon engulf our warming planet.â âFarhad Manjoo, The New York Times âRiveting. . . . Some readers will find Mr. Wallace-Wellsâs outline of possible futures alarmist. He is indeed alarmed. You should be, too.â âThe Economist âPotent and evocative. . . . Wallace-Wells has resolved to offer something other than the standard narrative of climate change. . . . He avoids the âeerily banal language of climatologyâ in favor of lush, rolling prose.â âJennifer Szalai, The New York Times âThe book has potential to be this generationâs Silent Spring .â âThe Washington Post â The Uninhabitable Earth, which has become a best seller, taps into the underlying emotion of the day: fear. . . . I encourage people to read this book.â âAlan Weisman, The New York Review of Books

Nothing to See Here: A Novel
Author:
Kevin Wilson
ISBN 13:
978-0062913494
A New York Times Bestseller ⢠A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review , The Washington Post , People , Entertainment Weekly , USA Today , TIME, The A.V. Club, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar âI canât believe how good this book is.... Itâs wholly original. Itâs also perfect.... Wilson writes with such a light touch.... The brilliance of the novel [is] that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didnât see coming. Youâre laughing so hard you donât even realize that youâve suddenly caught fire.â âTaffy Brodesser-Akner, author of Fleishman is in Trouble , New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of The Family Fang , a moving and uproarious novel about a woman who finds meaning in her life when she begins caring for two children with a remarkable ability. Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. But then Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly in the wake of a scandal and theyâve barely spoken since. Until now, when Lillian gets a letter from Madison pleading for her help. Madisonâs twin stepkids are moving in with her family and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, thereâs a catch: the twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way. Lillian is convinced Madison is pulling her leg, but itâs the truth. Thinking of her dead-end life at home, the life that has consistently disappointed her, Lillian figures she has nothing to lose. Over the course of one humid, demanding summer, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each otherâand stay coolâwhile also staying out of the way of Madisonâs buttoned-up politician husband. Surprised by her own ingenuity yet unused to the intense feelings of protectiveness she feels for them, Lillian ultimately begins to accept that she needs these strange children as much as they need herâurgently and fiercely. Couldnât this be the start of the amazing life sheâd always hoped for? With white-hot wit and a big, tender heart, Kevin Wilson has written his best book yetâa most unusual story of parental love.