Reading on parental leave

My parental leave ends today — a very bittersweet milestone. Among many other things, it gave me an opportunity to read a bunch of books. (It turns out audio books are an excellent way to extend your patience when sitting with a screaming baby in the middle of the night.)

So, here’s what I read/listened to over the past six-ish weeks:

• Storm Front and Fool Moon – Jim Butcher
  The first two books in the Dresden Files series. Entertaining enough.
• Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning – Peter Beinart
  Tickled my confirmation bias just right. I dream of a Judaism without Zionism.
• American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race – Douglas Brinkley
  More of the political side of the story than I knew before. Interesting, but parts felt like Cold War pro-capitalism propaganda itself.
• Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History – Erik Larson
  I’m not sure how I feel about narrative nonfiction that creates scenes and dialog out of whole cloth, but an interesting story nonetheless for this history of science and weather nerd.
• Geniuses at War: Bletchley Park, Colossus, and the Dawn of the Digital Age – David A. Price
  A history + group biography + technology book set in WWII, in the spirit of Richard Rhodes.
• Doppelganger – Naomi Klein
  More left-wing confirmation bias comfort food that tied together some things in ways I hadn’t thought about before.
• Gemini: Stepping Stone to the Moon – Jeffrey Kluger
  Continuing my vintage space kick. Sent me down a YouTube rabbit hole to learn about the orbital dynamics of rendezvous and docking. But the tidbit that sticks with me the most is that NASA declared it pronounced Geminee (/ˈdʒɛmɪni:/), with a long e.
• Polostan – Neal Stephenson
  I love a good Neal Stephenson, and he’s in true form here. Next book in the series is due out October 22, 2026.
• All Systems Red and Artificial Condition – Martha Wells
  The first two books in the Murder Bot series. People rave about Murderbot, but I dunno. It’s enjoyable, though.

Also: Chicago Public Library FTW!