Non-Fiction
Careless People
Want to understand just how bad the Facebook brass is at management, then read this book. From Sheryl Sandberg asking employees to sleep in her bed with her, then getting bitchy when they refuse the offer, to the same Sandberg talking publicly about zero tolerance for sexual harassment at work while ignoring it in her subordinates, you’ve got a lot of dumb people doing dumb stuff because they think they’re smart.
I didn’t like Facebook before, but this just continues to solidify the fact that Facebook, and possibly all social media, is far more toxic to society than we realize. The worst part is that the C-Suite understands how powerful their tools are and just can’t be bothered to deploy enough people to deal with stuff like a genocide enhanced by the false information promoted on their platform.
Those that run Facebook are bad at their jobs. They just happened into a profitable idea at the right time so they’re insulated from their bad ideas by a bunch of money. Money that lets them keep telling themselves how good they are at everything, because they never have to suffer the consequences of their idiocy.
Take Back the Fight
This was our January 2026 book club book. I wrote lots about it so join if you want all of that type of content.
Take Back the Fight looks at activism in the digital age from a feminist Canadian viewpoint. Despite this somewhat narrow view it presents lots to think about in an age when we need more activism if we don’t want all the rights generations before us fought for eroded.
One of the key points is Loreto makes is that neoliberalism convinces us that a singular voice making some post on social media can make a difference. She specifically cites the #MeToo movement, which did stop some serial abusers, but didn’t go the next step and change society so that abusers are no longer tolerated in the halls of power. We only have to look at the power Donald Trump, who lost a civil trial where he was accused of sexual abuse, who feels it’s okay to boast about grabbing women by the pussy, is still in power and shameless about his abuses of power.
#MeToo did make a few changes, but because of the lack of a larger organization and longer campaign we don’t see the societal change needed to build a society where abuse isn’t something that can be boasted about in some corners. This happens in part because many people were happy to just promote a post on social media, instead of joining a larger group where they could work on that longer campaign.
In many ways, this talked about how much power social media makes us feel like we have, while it does so little to help us build a more just society.
Fiction
Kutath – The Faded Sun Trilogy
This is the last book in the Faded Sun Trilogy, one of my most read series of fiction books. Many years I end and start my year by reading through these three books, and last year I treated myself to the original printing of them. I’ll keep my paperback that bundles the whole series, but the original printing is what I’ll read.
This brings the culmination of the chase of the mri by a combined human and regul force. We learn why all the worlds the mri have lived on are dead and how far some are willing to go to eliminate a perceived threat.
Impossible Creatures & The Poisoned King
After my kids show off their books, my middlest daughter wanted me to read Impossible Creatures and The Poisoned King.
Impossible Creatures introduces us to a magical world hidden from the rest of the population of Earth. This is where the creatures of mythology survive because there is still magic fuelling them.
The Girl and the Galudrian
My youngest daughter showed this book off in the video linked above and asked me to read it as well. The art is excellent in this book, and the world shows some real depth I didn’t expect in a kids graphic novel. Where did the girls dad, a Pig and a wizard, go? How did a human girl come to be taken care of by a pig? Where are the Galudrian’s and why did the sun go away?
We get some of the answers in this book, but really just start the adventure.
Tailored Realities
This is a look at a bunch of Brandon Sanderson’s early short stories. Some of them involve the Sanderson universe, but others are just stand alone short stories with no connection to his established properties.
The quality varies, but nothing is terrible. It’s all good, and it’s good to remember that even the best authors were only okay at the beginning of their careers, or in works they didn’t spend as much time reworking.
Artificial Condition
This is the second entry into the Murderbot Diaries, and is just as fun and fast a space romp as the first one. Murderbot investigates the scene of their memories to try and figure out if they murdered a bunch of people before or after their governor module was hacked. On the way Murderbot encounters a powerful space ship that helps it out on his quest of discovery.
He also decides Murderbot likes more humans and helps another group out.
I very much enjoyed the second entry and have put the third book on hold at the library.
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