Summer Reading List Part 2: Sci-Fi, Spy Fiction & Analog Treasures

The summer reading list concludes — and takes some wonderfully unexpected turns. In part two of their annual tradition, Sean and Andrew trade the cyberpunk canon of part one for a stack that ranges from Terry Pratchett's razor-sharp academic satire to a hard-to-find photography book that has to be ordered from Paris. Andrew opens with Unseen Academicals and the Bromeliad trilogy, drawing an unlikely thread between Pratchett's send-up of universities and last episode's conversation about enshittification: where does real value actually live in our institutions? Sean counters with Henri Cartier-Bresson's The Decisive Moment, sparking a reflection on analog intentionality, street photography's technological origins, and why every photograph carries a piece of the person who made it. From there the conversation slips into time travel — Connie Willis's Blackout and All Clear transport readers into the London Blitz, while the 1962 French short film La Jetée proves that a handful of still photographs can seed decades of storytelling. The list rounds out with poolside pleasures: Mick Herron's Slow Horses novels, the full-cast Harry Potter audio dramatizations, a return to Silo ahead of its new season, and two friends-and-family picks — Riz Virk's The Simulation Hypothesis and AI and the Art of Being Human by Jeffrey Abbott and Andrew Maynard. Along the way, a deeper theme emerges: the best stories aren't the ones we finish, but the ones that plant a nugget we can't shake — the kind that keeps growing long after the last page. Wherever your summer takes you, this list has something to pack.

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Modem Futura is a production of the Future of Being Human initiative at Arizona State University. Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. To learn more about the Future of Being Human initiative and all of our other projects visit - https://futureofbeinghuman.asu.edu

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Host Bios:

Sean M. Leahy, PhD - ASU Bio
Sean is an internationally recognized technologist, futurist, and educator innovating humanistic approaches to emerging technology through a Futures Studies approach. He is the Executive Director for the Future of Being Human Initiative and Research Scientist for the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and Senior Global Futures Scholar with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University.

Andrew Maynard, PhD - ASU Bio
Andrew is a scientist, author, thought leader, and Professor of Advanced Technology Transitions in the ASU School for the Future of Innovation in Society. He is the founder of the ASU Future of Being Human initiative, Director of the ASU Risk Innovation Nexus, and was previously Associate Dean in the ASU College of Global Futures.

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