Yet Another Book Club

"A City on Mars" by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith

This book is a refreshing critique of insane plans to settle Mars. The authors outline the pros and cons of the settlement from multiple perspectives: psychology, sociology, politics, law, physics, and more. Overall, I feel like "A City on Mars" turned my perspective 180 degrees, and now I

"Mostly Harmless" by Douglas Adams

Welp, here goes another series that I've completed! Overall, the bleakest book in the trilogy (even though it's the fifth book). I wouldn't say there's much sci-fi added here besides parallel universes. Arthur has a daughter who is in a constant, raging

"Future Boy" by Michael J. Fox

I knew so little about Back to the Future and Michael before this book randomly popped up on my radar. It's a genuine story of how the author got the role and how Back to the Future was developed. I never knew they had to reshoot 6 weeks

"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" by Douglas Adams

I don't know if it's me or if the books in the series become less and less coherent with every consequent issue. This book was challenging to read because the plot was so complex to follow. I mean, no one reads Adams for the plot, but

"Life, the Universe and Everything" by Douglas Adams

OK, the third book in the series. Not going to lie, this would have killed as a video game; in the book medium, it reads, well, as anything that Adams has written publicly. It is full of unexpected turns of events that seem to have no relation to each other,

"The Land Trap" by Mike Bird

I picked up this book because the WealthSimple email newsletter recommended it, featuring the author in one of their latest issues. I don't know what I expected, but the book is profound in history and facts about how it came to have such high real estate prices. Essentially,

"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" by Douglas Adams

I love reading Adams, in fact, so much that it looks like I've read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at least five times. Funny thing, though, I was going to write a review of the first book of the series when it struck me: I

"Founder vs Investor" by Elizabeth Joy Zalman and Jerry Neumann

I'm going to start recommending this book to anyone interested in raising money alongside "Fundraising" by Bryan Breslow. Both books together describe how exactly the fundraising world operates. Having gone through two rounds at my company, this book gets my seal of approval. It isn'

"The Shadow Factory" by James Bamford

What is surprising is that this book was published in 2008, 5 years before Snowden released documents that basically proved what the author was saying. Here's the gist without details: NSA was at risk of downsizing, then 9/11 happened, then NSA's budget and authority blew

"Ubik" by Philip K. Dick

Woah, this book was a journey! Even though the last quarter of the book is simple action, the ending is very on-brand for PKD. Just as we'll never know whether the bladerunner is an android himself, we won't ever know why the money is this way

"3001: The Final Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke

This book is basically the precursor or inspiration to "The Death's End" and "Expanse" novels. It opens up the world of 3001 on Earth, which, as read in 2025, is very redundant. E.g. space elevators and inertia-nullifiers are so prevalent in sci-fi today

"2061: Odyssey Three" by Arthur C. Clarke

I realized I had forgotten to write a review of the third installment of the Space Odyssey saga when I was supposed to write one for the fourth book. It might be the age of the book, but even though I didn't find it breathtaking or mysterious, it

"The Let Them Theory" by Mel Robbins

This is a compelling book, yet its concept is straightforward. All you need to do is: * Stop trying to control others and accept their behaviour as part of their personal story, shaped by experiences and fears * Say "Let Them" to stop trying to change other people or react

"The Sirens' Call" by Chris Hayes

I liked how the author explored the evolved attention economy. First, he outlined three types of attention: * Voluntary (conscious focus) * Involuntary (automatic response to stimuli) * Social (attention exchanged in relationships, also when your name is called) Then, he described how social media and most modern corporations exploit these modes of

"The Myth of Self-Esteem" by Albert Ellis

The main idea of the book revolves around the fact that self-esteem building doesn't quite work the way we want it to work. Even though Albert seems to have gone into a more critical examination of other psychologists, this work has a few useful bits. Basically, Ellis is

"The Robots of Dawn" by Isaac Asimov

It is remarkable how relevant Asimov's books remain in 2026, the era of AI. In the third of the four books, we follow the detective again, now going to Aurora. Overall, a solid sci-fi novel, and mostly the only notable things I remember are that Daneel is the

"If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies" by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares

This was, most likely, the most unsettling book of 2025 for me. This little blog of mine started with a review of Eliezer's book, and now here we are again, discussing another one of his. This time, though, I felt that the message's importance overcame the

"The Ride of a Lifetime" by Robert Iger

I can't say I loved this book. It felt like the one I've read on Meta or Phillip Morris. It is primarily a resume of Robert Iger with corporate politics and some obvious life lessons thrown in. Sure, innovate, but account for risks. Give creative freedom,

"2010: Odyssey Two" by Arthur C. Clarke

Did I like this book? Did I not like this book? I'm not sure. I certainly enjoyed the exploration of space. However, I'm unsure if this blatant (and kind of unnecessary?) setup of alien life in the Solar system was necessary. At this point, I look

"Values" by Mark Carney

I'm glad I read this book; it made me more hopeful for Canada! It's always a good feeling when adults drive the country in a boring, nonpopulist fashion. Instead of slogans, we now have a politician who can at least maintain a deep dialogue between the

"The Naked Sun" by Isaac Asimov

God forbid you search the name of this book on the Internet, lol. Anyway, another title by Isaac is down, and it is brilliant. In the late Foundation, there is less stuff about robot intelligence and a bit more towards the "humans." The detective story is decent, too,

"Uncertain" by Maggie Jackson

I don't know how I feel about this book. On one hand, it is full of little insides; on the other, I'm unsure if the structure is coherent or if putting it all under the "uncertain" umbrella makes sense. Huh, I guess I'

"2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke

I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and the preface about how the book was conceived. It is a unique approach to write both the novel and the screenplay simultaneously! Interestingly, I found many parallels between 2001 and Contact in the endings. Maybe Sagan was even inspired by Clarke! This is

"Tesla: Wizard at War" by W. Bernard Carlson

This might as well be the most complete biography of Tesla without any omissions. I'm not sure how I feel about Nicola now, though. From the book, it seems that even though he built the AC motor, he was also following many fringe beliefs to either capitalize on

"The Caves of Steel" by Isaac Asimov

I'm back at the robot series by Asimov! Turning Sci-Fi into a detective story with multiple people under suspicion was a nice move. Up until the end, I didn't know who the murderer was (but, again, I'm here for Sci-Fi and don't