Books of 2023 - Part 2
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 3:22PM Gazettabyte asks industry figures to pick their reads of the year. In Part 2, Alan Liu, Yves LeMaitre, and, in this case, the editor of Gazettabyte list their recommended reads.
A foreign cathedral .... in RennesAlan Liu, CEO & Co-Founder at Quintessent Inc.
One book that left a deep impression on me is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, a recounting and reflection by the author of his time as a prisoner in various concentration camps during WWII.
I listened to the audiobook mostly during commutes to work at the beginning of the year. Whatever challenges awaited me for the day, no matter how big, they seemed less daunting when reframed against the book's stories.
The extreme deprivation and suffering described also gave me a deeper appreciation for the basic creature comforts of modern life that we enjoy (such as food, shelter, and coffee), which are easy to take for granted due to their constancy.
Yves LeMaitre, CEO of AstroBeam
Let me start with my favourite spy novel writer, John Le Carre. Pick any of his books. I just read his first small novel from 1961: Call for the Dead.
I recommend starting with his first major success, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold and if you like it, work your way to more recent books relevant to today's tumultuous world: The Little Drummer Girl and A Most Wanted Man. Hopefully, it will bring you with an alternative viewpoint on some of today's geopolitical hotspots
As the world continues to accept more diversity, if you want to glimpse Native American culture, try the easy path of the Tony Hillerman mystery books.
Then follow up with a trip to the Navajo and Hopi reservations in the Southwest. I promise it will change completely your views of the US history and Indian land ownership and occupation.
My favourite is A Thief of Time: A Leaphorn and Chee Novel but you can safely pick any of his books.
If you want to have the best Native guides in the Southwest, call my friend, Louis Williams, at Ancient Wayves River and Hiking Adventures: Guided Tours. He will make you discover the world of Diné and the incredible mystery of the lost Anasazi people.
Last summer, we had the best rafting trip on the San Juan River with his team, with incredible hikes in hidden canyons discovering ruins and artefacts left behind by the Ancient People.
Roy Rubenstein, Editor, Gazettabyte
One reading topic of continual interest is Israel. I have also listened to more podcasts this year and am a big fan of long-read articles.
I'm reading Isabel Kershner's book: The Land of Hope and Fear: Israel's Battle for Its Inner Soul. Kershner is the New York Times's veteran correspondent in Israel. There is no shortage of books by journalists impacted by covering Israel. This is a timely primer for anyone wanting to understand the complexities of Israel.
Kai Bird is known for co-authoring the book on Robert Oppenheimer that was the basis of this year's blockbuster film. But years ago he wrote a biography about CIA intelligence officer, Robert Aimes. Aimes was an outstanding character who served in the Middle East and died in the truck bomb assault on the US embassy in Beirut in 1983. Aimes got the Americans to talk to the PLO, ultimately leading to the Oslo Peace Accords.
Simon Baron-Cohen's book, The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty is another revisited book. The author is a psychologist and a leading authority on autism. Early in the book, he explains that he has an issue with the word 'Evil'. In it, he explores why certain people cannot read, or don't care, how others feel. He discusses the brain and structures such as the empathy circuit function. Empathy is absent when the circuit doesn't work. However, the effects can vary significantly: people with autism differ from psychopaths. Why the circuit may malfunction is complex. It involves genetics, social, and environmental issues. The book, published in 2011, gives a different view on how to think about and treat cruelty.
In 2014, Prof Baron-Cohen co-signed a letter to The Times (of London) addressed to the leaders in Israel and Gaza that ends with the word empathy: "So, we say to the leaders of Israel and Hamas, please sit down, talk without table thumping, listen to each other and start a new politics based on the principles of respect, dignity, and empathy."
One of my best reads is the book Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family, by Daniel Finkelstein. It combines a period of upheaval in Europe and the Soviet Union with the survival of the author's parents - who eventually meet and settle in Hendon, North London.
The book describes the history happening around two individuals who spent the rest of their lives bringing up their children in a loving home. The tale is remarkable and moving, including an early chapter where the author pays tribute to his father.
I met Finkelstein's parents in the early 1990s but knew nothing of their story. I was also at Daniel's sister's wedding and remember being incredibly moved by the father's speech.
Jonathan Raban is an author I lost track of only for him to resurface in the obituary columns, sadly. I realise he had moved to the US two decades ago.
His last book, Father and Son: A Memoir, is just out: about his recovery from a stroke coupled with the story of his parents and their love letters while separated during WWII.
Raban is a beautiful writer. "A nurse had assisted me into the wheelchair, and I was dozing there when Julia (his daughter) arrived to visit. The oddity of the situation made us both shy. We were deferential newcomers to the conventions of the hospital, like tourists with lowered voices tiptoeing around a foreign cathedral.
Lastly, The Atlantic and The New Yorker magazines published some great articles on AI this year:
Reader Comments (1)
Interested in real unadulterated intelligence, encryption, espionage and ungentlemanly warfare? Do read the epic fact based spy thriller, Bill Fairclough's Beyond Enkription, the first stand-alone novel of six in TheBurlingtonFiles series. He was one of Pemberton’s People in MI6.
Beyond Enkription follows the real life of a real spy, Bill Fairclough (MI6 codename JJ) aka Edward Burlington who worked for British Intelligence, the CIA et al. It’s the stuff memorable spy films are made of, unadulterated, realistic yet punchy, pacy and provocative; a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
For the synopsis of Beyond Enkription see TheBurlingtonFiles website. This thriller is like nothing we have ever come across before. Indeed, we wonder what The Burlington Files would have been like if David Cornwell aka John le Carré had collaborated with Bill Fairclough. They did consider it and even though they didn’t collaborate, Beyond Enkription is still described as ”up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”. Why? The novel explores the exploitation of the ignorance and naivety of agents to the same extent as MI6 does in real life.
As for Bill Fairclough, he has even been described as a real life posh Harry Palmer; there are many intriguing bios of him on the web. As for Beyond Enkription, it’s a must read for espionage cognoscenti. To relish in this totally different fact based espionage thriller best do some research first. Try reading three brief news articles published on TheBurlingtonFiles website. One is about Bill Fairclough (August 2023), characters' identities (September 2021) and Pemberton's People (October 2022). What is amazing is that these articles were only published many years after Beyond Enkription itself was. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world! No wonder it's mandatory reading on some countries’ intelligence induction programs.
As for TheBurlingtonFiles website, it is like a living espionage museum and as breathtaking as a compelling thriller in its own right. You can find the articles at https://theburlingtonfiles.org/news_2021.09.26.php and https://theburlingtonfiles.org/news_2022.10.31.php.