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There are tons of intriguing books coming out in September. Here are 3 that I'm most looking forward to reading.
🖉 September 2024 Book Releases 🎒
Nexus: A Brief History Of Information Networks From The Stone Age To AI by Yuval Noah Harari
Adult Science / Technology Nonfiction
September 10, 2024
Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive? Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence. Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.
Why I want to read it: The author's other book, Sapiens, gave me a lot to think about. Also, the synopsis of Nexus inspired me to let AI write the opening paragraph of this blog post. I don't think I'll use AI again. I wasn't overly impressed with its intelligence. However, I shouldn't criticize because the AI analyzed my blog. Maybe that means I'm not overly impressed with my own intelligence? Now I'm having a mental crisis.
Entitlement by Rumaan Alam
Adult Literary Fiction
September 17, 2024
Brooke wants. She isn’t in need, but there are things she wants. A sense of purpose, for instance. She wants to make a difference in the world, to impress her mother along the way, to spend time with friends and secure her independence. Her job assisting an octogenarian billionaire in his quest to give away a vast fortune could help her achieve many of these goals. It may inspire new desires as proximity to wealth turns out to be nothing less than transformative. What is money, really, but a kind of belief?
Why I want to read it: I might be the only person who completely adored Leave The World Behind. I haven't seen many good reviews of it. Entitlement doesn't sound like my usual kind of read, but I'm curious! What if I have another unpopular opinion and think it's awesome?
When The World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson
Young Adult Contemporary
September 24, 2024
The Fall siblings live in hot Northern California wine country, where the sun pours out of the sky, and the devil winds blow so hard they whip the sense right out of your head. Years ago, the Fall kids’ father mysteriously disappeared, cracking the family into pieces. Now Dizzy Fall, age twelve, bakes cakes, sees spirits, and wishes she were a heroine of a romance novel. Miles Fall, seventeen, brainiac, athlete, and dog-whisperer, is a raving beauty, but also lost, and desperate to meet the kind of guy he dreams of. And Wynton Fall, nineteen, who raises the temperature of a room just by entering it, is a virtuoso violinist set on a crash course for fame . . . or self-destruction. Then an enigmatic rainbow-haired girl shows up, tipping the Falls’ world over. She might be an angel. Or a saint. Or an ordinary girl. Somehow, she is vital to each of them. But before anyone can figure out who she is, catastrophe strikes, leaving the Falls more broken than ever. And more desperate to be whole.
Why I want to read it: Remember Jandy Nelson? Her books were absolutely everywhere in 2010-2015. Then she kind of disappeared. I want to know what she was writing during the time she wasn't publishing.
Wow, Jandy Nelson! This new book totally flew past my radar, but I loved I'll Give You The Sun so I'm curious to read it :) Thanks for highlighting it!
ReplyDeleteI've actually never heard of Jandy Nelson, but this book sounds really interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt is exciting to have a new Jandy Nelson book to look forward to. Early reviews are good as well.
ReplyDeleteNexus looks interesting! I haven't read Jandy Nelson, but I know the author is pretty popular with at least one other book!
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping us updated on new books. Nexus appears to be interesting.
ReplyDeleteI was a fan of Leave the World Behind both book & movie. I read an early copy of Entitlement. It begins & meanders a bit slowly. The character loses her bearings a bit. ha. It's worth checking out ... though wasn't as great as LTWB ... still unsettling and raises some good issues.
ReplyDeleteCurious about Entitlement too. I still want to read LTWB, or watch the movie, or both, who can tell. Nexus also seems really interesting! And yesss, I need the new Jandy Nelson book! That thing has been on my TBR for over a decade, kind of wild that it's finally actually being published!
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to Nexus too. Sapiens is one of the books that changed my world view. I was always reticent with Harari's position about AI, but the way he's framing it in the book, as the history of information, seems really interesting. I hope it's not too pessimistic though.
ReplyDelete