Great Reads for June
Sorry I missed May.
Time has been moving pretty quickly and I missed the May missive. That said, I have three excellent books for you all and I’m glad summer is here so you can enjoy them on a beach or in some cedar-smelling cabin.
Updates on my side include the growth of the Media Copilot, a training and newsletter platform that is teaching people how to use AI. If you’re a writer, PR person, or artist, you need to connect with us.
My Keep Going podcast has been joined by something called the Startup Show. It’s basically a show that focuses on founders and lets them pitch their startup in a safe environment. It’s been a lot of fun and I really love doing it. For smaller chunks of video feel free to follow my Instagram.
I’m also working with some friends on Intaglio, a service that protects written work from AI meddling. Basically, it’s place to register work that you don’t want AI to read. It’s still very early but please sign up for beta access if you do anything with the written word.
Finally, I need some screenwriters to try a new product I’m working on with another group of friends. I can’t say much more but if you’ve been trying to write a screenplay, reply to this message and I’ll hook you up.
I hope you get to dangle a foot in a pond at some point this season. I definitely intend to.
And now, onto the books.
The Ministry of Time
by Kaliane Bradley
In this clever bit of sci-fi a bunch of expats in time are pulled out of their own timelines and dumped into modern day London where they have to learn about toilets and television. The book is wonderfully written and straightforward and the story is part thriller and part romance. It’s a good beach read.
One standout quote? “This was one of my first lessons in how you make the future: moment by moment, you seal the doors of possibility behind you.”
Dark Wire
by Joseph Cox
This book could have been an article but I guess Cox got a good book contract so here we are. This is basically the tale of Anom, a secure phone company that sold cellphones to criminals around the world. The catch? The phones had a back door in each one that sent everything - photos, chats, emails - to various law enforcement agencies around the world.
The book runs through the origin of the company and then kind of meanders as you hear about how clueless criminals started blaming each other for leaks when it was really their phones. Again, you can just read a few articles about this but feel free to pick this up if you liked books like the Cuckoo’s Egg (which is much better.)
The Paris Novel
by Ruth Reichl
Oh, the Paris Novel. Such a weird book. Reichl is a delight and her descriptions of Paris and food are wonderful. The plot, on the other hand, is a bit tough. Basically it’s a “sad girl goes to Paris and becomes an amazing woman,” a trope that we all know and love. If you can get past the story, however, the writing draws you in and makes things whole at the end. Besides, who doesn’t want to read a book about Paris on a hot Summer afternoon?