Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Robert T. Kiyosaki
Plata Publishing, 2017. 352 pages. Nonfiction.

Robert Kiyosaki presents the basics of financial literacy by presenting the fiscal policies he learned from two men, his father and his friend's father. His father worked a traditional job, considered his house an asset, and believed in education (meaning a college degree) as one of the greatest driving factors behind lifelong success. His friend's father believed in taking financial risks when it made sense to do so, assets being only defined as things that make your money, and that and education (meaning a college degree) is only as useful as the financial education you pair with it. Kiyosaki walks you through the story of his own financial literacy journey from when he was a child and he collected toothpaste tubes to melt down and literally mint money with to today. He helps explain what assets should be, and how traditional assets like a house, often aren't an asset at all. 

After finished this book, much of the financial advice the flies around the internet finally made sense. Kiyosaki gives you a framework with which to evaluate and analyze financial information you hear in passing as potentially useful or potentially useless. It isn't a traditional book of finance that describes a specific type of investing or financial development. No, Kiyosaki presents the basics that schools don't teach, so that his readers can start to understand the financial world by its most basic units: assets and liabilities. This book is for anyone that might want to get started with becoming financially literate.

-SMM

Hench

Hench
by Natalie Zina Walschots
William Morrow, 2020. 403 pages. Science Fiction.

Anna has a boring job in an exciting industry. She's a data analyst by trade, but she uses that skill set as a hench. In other words, she works as a data scientist for supervillains. After receiving a traumatic injury from a superhero trying to stop her supervillain boss, Anna discovers that by the numbers, superheroes cause more loss of life than even natural disasters. Using her skills, and with the resources of a mysterious supervillain named Leviathan, Anna proves that you don't need superpowers to stand up to those in power. All you need is some clever math, a little social engineering, a well-designed spreadsheet, and a passion (or hatred) strong enough to overcome any obstacle that might get in your way. 

Hench is a very clever take on the superhero/supervillain genre of stories. Much in the vein of Marissa Meyer's Renegades or Victoria Schwab's Vicious, Walschots uses the traditional black and white fight between good and evil represented in most superhero media projects, throws it into a bucket of grey, and then uses the result to present an interesting commentary on the adage "absolute power corrupts absolutely." For those looking for superhero stories that go against the grain found in the MCU and DCEU, this book is exactly what you're looking for.

The Blade Itself

The Blade Itself
by Joe Ambercrombie
Orbit, 2015. 542 pages. Fantasy.

Magic is leeching from the world, or so Ambercrombie writes as he introduces us to a new fantasy world where no one can be trusted and nothing is what you'd expect. The Union, a kingdom where everyone is born into their place in the world with nobles and commoners and merchants, becomes embroiled in a war with the Gurkals of the South and King Bethod in the North. All the while, conflict with an ancient evil millennia in the making is just about to get started. Without magic or a true understanding of history, the main 3 characters of the book find that they must face an evil few men understand, or war will be the least of the worlds problems. The Blade Itself follows 3 major characters and the story of how they get roped into the fight to save the world. Logan Nine-Fingers, a barbarian from the north whose bloody history defined the shaping of a kingdom, escapes a supernatural evil in order to answer the call of world's oldest (and literally the first) Magi. Captain Jezal dan Luthar, a selfish, self-absorbed nobleman, who's constantly forced into situations he would rather avoid by people who are far smarter than him. And Inquisitor San dan Glokta, a man who survived being tortured about a mile past the edge of his life and who now tortures others in service to his king.

The Blade Itself brings together political intrigue, the corruption of governments and history, and the classic gathering of heroes to fight the storm of an ancient evil, and does so without providing us any hope that things will get better. That might sound like a bad thing, but Ambercrombie does such a good job of making us root for morally grey characters that despite a future outlook that appears grim and dark, we want to watch these characters go through the process of trying to save the world. For those that like classic fantasy by David Eddings or Terry Brooks, but want a darker world where any character that is "good" must compromise their definition of "good" to survive (à la A Song of Ice and Fire) this book (and this trilogy) is for you.

Finder

Finder
by Suzanne Palmer
DAW, 2019. 391 pages. Science Fiction.

Fergus Ferguson has a job that gets him into a lot of trouble. To some, he's a thief, a con artist. To others, a repo man. But to himself, he's a self-proclaimed finder. He travels the stars finding things for the people who hire him. Sometimes this is complicated. Luckily in the case of his most recent job, it should be simple. Steal back a state-of-the-art spaceship from a former noble turned criminal trade boss. The location, a small colony called Cernee out in the armpit of the galaxy. All he has to do is get in, decode the ship's compromised AI, and then get out. But when a cable car he's on explodes minutes after he arrives, Fergus finds himself planted in a power struggle between the colonies three factions. Using his charm, wits, and luck, he gathers the most trustworthy of the colony's people to help him. Getting the ship means solving the colony's struggle. To make matters more complicated, an alien species, known for abductions and hostile flybys, comes in for a prolonged, silent visit. Fergus, or whatever alliterated name he decides to go by, will have to decide who he is, what he cares about, and if he can really solve enough problems to both save Cernee from destruction and recover the ship he's been sent to find.

Finder is an interesting mix of comedy heists like Ocean's Eleven and interstellar found families stories like The Long Way to a Small Angry, Planet by Becky Chambers. For those looking for a more personal, emotionally focused space adventure, without the epic stakes of the common space opera, this is the book is for you.

Old Man's War

Old Man's War
by John Scalzi
Tor, 2005. 316 pages. Science Fiction.

John Perry, age 75, begins his new life by being declared legally dead and joining the space marines. Why did he do it? For a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is the Colonial Defense Force's (CDF) centuries old promise that they can make the old young again. Joining the CDF means leaving Earth for good, fighting the wars to save humanity out there in space for a period of 2-10 years, and then retire to a colony with beaches. But as he and the friends he makes among the other senior citizen recruits discover, being made young again isn't what they thought it would be, it's better.

So starts the saga of the Old Man's War, where senior citizens protect the human race among the stars. Scalzi does a great job of incorporating a wise-with-years character into a young, overly capable body to humorous effect, all the while asking deep philosophical questions about relationships how the family we gather to us can mean just as much to us as the families we are born into. 

For those who enjoy series like The Expanse by James A. Corey, but want something with a little more humor and military science fiction added in, this book is for you!

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe

by Alex White

Orbit, 2018. 473 pages. Science Fiction

Nilah Brio wants one thing, to be the youngest Pan Galactic Racing Federation Champion. She’s well on her way, when she’s blamed for a devastating murder that takes place right in front of her during a race. As she joins forces with a treasure hunter named Boots Elsworth, and the crew of a smuggling ship from a long-finished war, she discovers a secret society responsible for the death of millions. The conspiracy wraps up everything from wars, magic, technology, and her very own racing art, as the secret society sets up for their biggest move yet. 

For those that enjoyed James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series and books the mix magic and technology, this should be the next book on your list! The way the author mixes magic and technology is profoundly interesting. Not only that, but he takes that technology to its political, moral, and religious extreme to set up the universe spanning conflict. 

Stars Uncharted

Stars Uncharted

by S. K. Dunstall

Ace, 2018. 401 pages. Science Fiction.

What does a cargo space captain, a celebrity gene modder, and a seemingly innocuous engineer have in common? Usually nothing, but when Captain Roystan, a cargo runner who happens across a ship in the vastness of space, the salvage of which could be the find of a lifetime, he gets far more than he bargained for. When what he finds on that ship puts Roystan and his crew in the cross hairs of some of the most powerful players in the universe, he teams up with his ship engineer, Josune Arriola, who happens to be decked out with some of the most high-end bioware implants and Nika Rick Terry, a gene modder of unparalleled skill, to combat the forces that want nothing more than to destroy them all.

While being an action packed adventure with lost treasure and corporate espionage, Dunstall asks some big questions about technology and how it affects the perceptions we have of ourselves. With active, out patient, gene modding making it possible to switch around everything about yourself, how do we hold on to the fragments of our identity that were two or three mods ago? For one of the main characters, Roystan, this is an even bigger mystery as he finds he's been modded so much he may not be who he thinks he is.

To some degree, Stars Uncharted reads a little like an Indiana Jones movie (but in space), with the setup of a traditional cyberpunk novel where the corporations run everything and are the ultimate enemy, and a large injection of genetic engineering like in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. While that may sound chaotic, Dunstall does a great job of squishing all those different genre pieces into a cohesive and enjoyable story.

SMM

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Becky Chambers
Harper Voyager, 2016. 443 pages. Science Fiction.

Desperate to leave Mars behind, Rosemary Harper takes a job on the aging ship, the Wayfarer. Rosemary signs on to be their clerk. And while her job is mundane, the crew is not. The crew of the Wayfarer, made up of four different species, four humans with backgrounds just as different as one species is from another, and an AI with a burgeoning sentience, punch holes in spacetime to make interplanetary and interstellar highways for small ships. When the captain takes on a job that will set up the future of his entire crew, what he doesn't know is that he is putting himself and his crew in between forces that have already drastically altered Rosemary's life as well as in the midst of a cultural war.

Offering a meditation on how families can be created through shared experiences and how different cultures can coexist despite their drastic differences, Chambers the space opera genre and gives it a core of family drama, filling a universe with characters that feel like real people. For people who want the action packed space operas like Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey, but want a down-to-earth component that provides a breath of fresh air in between tense sections of the book.

SMM

The Poppy War

The Poppy War

by R. F. Kuang

Harper Voyager, 2018. 530 pages. Fantasy.

Inspired by the bloody history of China's 20th century, R. F. Kuang brings an a unique tale of fantasy where gods inhabit the bodies of those who seek them out. For Rin, a war orphan whose been forced to work with her aunt's opium business, the gods are the furthest thing from her mind. All she wants to do is escape marrying a man triple her age. Do to that, she goes to the extreme and finds a way to test into the most prestigious war school in the country. What starts as simply a journey of running away, leads Rin to face the worse prejudices of her country, discovering magic through altered states of mind, learning of that magic's dangers, and choosing destruction over safety for her world.

For those that like Ken Liu's Grace of Kings and N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance trilogy, this book starts a strong fantasy trilogy that does not shy away from showing the horrors of war.

-SMM

Kings of the Wyld

Kings of the Wyld
by Nicholas Eames
Orbit, 2017. 529 pages. Fantasy.

In one of the most unique recent twists on the adventuring fantasy genre, Kings of the Wyld follows a band of adventurers who have retired from the hero life. Clay "Slow-hand" Cooper has retired to a tiny village and works as a guard to support his wife and daughter. Then one of Clay's former band companions, Gabe, shows up asking for help with an impossible task--to infiltrate a city besieged by an army of monsters to save his daughter Rose. What ensues is an amazing adventure of washed out heroes completing impossible task after impossible task, losing limbs, saving the known world, and finding the cure of an incurable disease, all while they begrudgingly deal with the fact that they aren't as young as they used to be. If anything, Clay learns that being a hero is more about the friends you have, not being afraid to take risks, and a whole lot of luck.

Eames injects a huge dose of humor into his absurdist fantasy story (a la Terry Pratchet) while grounding it in a very relatable situation--a father doing everthing he can to save his daughter. For readers who liked The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and Terry Pratchett's Discworld, this book is a must read.

Animal Farm: The Graphic Novel

Animal Farm: The Graphic Novel
by Odyr
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019. 175 pgs. Graphic Novel.

Odyr, a Brazilian graphic novelist, brings to life the events of George Orwell's Animal Farm with page after page of gorgeous surrealist-esque images. Odyr took Orwell's vision of a parable fable and gets across in images the truly bloody results of communism and trusting societal powers too much. On a farm in England, a pig named Major has a dream, a dream that tells him of the farm animal's oppressed state, of the fact that they are slaves. Once major dies, his dream becomes the prophetic backing for a new movement called Animalism, where those with two legs are the enemy, those with four legs or wings are friends, all animals are equal, and animals should not wear clothes, drink alcohol, sleep in a bed, or kill another animal. An opportunity arises, and the animals rebel, taking over the farm. With the power in hand, the animals set out to make a world where their animalism values are honored, and in the process trade one oppressive leader for another.

For those who like the classics like Ray Bradbury's Faranheit 451 and Orwell's 1984, but want to experience a classic in a different way, this book is for you. The graphic novel edition also does a great job of giving you some emotional distance from the characters so you can really see and understand what Orwell was trying to say about the political philosophies that gave rise to the Soviet Union.

Going Postal

Going Postal
by Terry Pratchett
Harper, 2004. 471 pages. Fantasy.

The book starts with Moist Van Litwig, an accomplished con man, thief, swindler, etc., waiting for his own execution. Just after he is hanged, he wakes up to find Lord Ventinari, the ruler of Ankh-Morpork, offering him job--a government job. Always the swindler, Moist decides that a job that might lead to his freedom is a far better choice than death and so he becomes the Postmaster. Ventinari tasks Moist with restoring the the post office (a once grand institution) to its former glory, especially because the Grand Trunk, a communication company that uses light to pass messages between towers, has started to shut down so often it's like they don't exist. Somewhere in the process of getting the position, Moist does what he does best, cons himself into actually achieving more than anyone would have thought from an already dead conman.

Despite this being book 33 of 40 Discworld novels, it is a great place to start if you want to get used to Pratchet's comedic timing and writing style before starting the trek from book 1 to 40.

-SMM

Ninth House

Ninth House
by Leigh Bardugo
Flatiron Books, 2019. Fantasy.

For her entire life, Galaxy "Alex" Stern has been able to see the dead, an ability that lands her acceptance to Yale University and a position with Lethe House. Lethe House has one express purpose, to manage and control the magical rituals of the other house societies. But it's not all pixie dust and wands, these rituals require blood or human capital to work, and Lethe is the only house that makes sure the other houses don't go to far. When a local girl turns up dead, a girl with a connection to one of the houses, Alex can't shake that the feeling that more is going on than just a local drugging getting killed by her boyfriend, so she investigates. What starts with the death of a girl, becomes a journey that helps Alex discover who and what she is, and shows us all how privilege and complacency can influence even those most intelligent and kind person to destroy their moral compass.

For those that like secret societies and magic more aligned with the TV show Supernatural than Harry Potter, this book is for you.

Skyward (Vol. 1): My Low-G Life

Skyward (Vol. 1): My Low-G Life
Author: Joe Henderson, Artist: Lee Garbett, Antonio Fabela
Image Comics, 2018. 136 pages. Graphic Novel

Twenty years after Earth's gravity mysteriously reduced to a fraction of its normal strength, Willa Fowler can't help but love flying. With no gravity to hold her down, Willa flies in, around, and between the skyscrapers of Chicago to deliver messages and other items. But it's not all fun and games, lower gravity has made the sky the most dangerous place in the world. Debris from the initial event liters the sky, making airplanes impossible. Storms make giant balls of water hover in the sky, a trap that anyone can drown in if they aren't careful. For Willa, the dangers are worth it. For her father, not so much. But her father has more than a fear of the sky, he has a secret that goes back to before gravity changed, a secret that will lead to Willa being labeled a terrorist, a folk hero, and an invader. Her father's secret will lead her on an adventure that will make her life look like she'd been doing nothing but floating in place.

For those that like tales of self-discovery with a flavor of science fiction, this book is for you.

-SMM

Skyward

Skyward
Brandon Sanderson
Delecorte Press, 2018. 528 pages. Young Adult.

Spensa has always wanted to be a pilot. On her planet, pilots protect the last of humanity against constant attack, alien star fighters appearing frequently to bomb and destroy whatever Spensa's society has tried to build. Spensa's father was a pilot, and she can't imagine doing anything else. Spensa's father is also known as a traitor. Spensa must navigate her complicated past in order to prove her loyalty to humankind, all the while trying to repair an ancient space ship she finds in a cave. Spensa will find out that her world is far larger and more sinister than a ship in a cave or a society that doesn't want her. In her quest to prove everyone wrong (about both her and her father), she'll discover what really holds humanity to a rocky planet that can barely support life.

Sanderson's newest foray into Young Adult fiction holds true to his style of intricate systems, great characters, and incredibly satisfying twists.

-SMM

Foundryside

Foundryside
by Robert Jackson Bennett
Crown. 2018. 503 pg. Fantasy.

In this book, Robert Jackson Bennett has crafted a world where magic brings objects to life. Each object is programmed through a magic called scriving, to have one purpose: a wheel to believe it is always moving down hill, a door to open , a door to stay closed, making a stone foundation think it is stronger than it actually is, etc. And through scriving, the world has become industrialized, the society shifting to a more urban-central society. Sancia (the main character) lives in the city of Tevanne, where the major merchant houses have a strangle hold on the city through their secretive knowledge of scriving instructions, research, and development. Sancia, though, is a thief with her own magical abilities that allow her to know what an object has been scrived to do and to see when there are people nearby. She's been hired to steal a small, unassuming object: a key. What she doesn't know is that that key leads her on a journey that may very well result in the destruction of the world. Bennett interweaves a number of characters, world building elements, and plot hooks so masterfully, you won't notice the heist he's performing through the words on the page. As Sancia steals to survive, Bennett steals your attention until, and you'll be scrambling for the second book before you realize the first book is over

For those who like interesting takes on old genres such as Scythe by Neal Shusterman and A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab, this should be the next book on your list.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
by Mark Manson
HarperOne. 2016. 212 pg. Nonfiction.

Despite what the title seems to imply, Mark Manson does not teach you how to not care about the world around you. He doesn't teach you how to be indifferent. Instead, he helps you as the reader think about what you care about, why you care about it, and if caring about it is worth it. Manson argues that as a modern society, our Achilles heel is that we don't have things to care about that matter, and when we don't have things like survival to care about, we invent frivolous things to stress over. That guy just cut you off on the street, you aren't healthy enough, thin enough, athletic enough are just a few examples. What's worse, these things that make us stress create a feedback loop because we are conscious of the fact that they we are dumb to stress over the things we stress over. Then we are a loser for calling ourselves dumb, then stupid for calling ourselves a loser, etc. etc. Manson definitely doesn't shy away from using the F-word to describe this entire process, but in some ways his use of language shocks you as the reader into a different state of mind. His language, and his logic, enables you to start accepting the negative aspects of your life as temporary rather than things that must be fixed or our world will end.

But for me, Manson's most profound point is that we have forgotten that it is okay for life to suck sometimes. We can always try again tomorrow.

For those looking for a fresh perspective of how to see the world, this book is for you!

The Nocturnal Brain

The Nocturnal Brain
by Dr. Guy Leschziner
St. Martin's Press. 2019. 353 pgs. Nonfiction.

Dr. Leschziner, a consulting neurologist to three different hospitals in the UK, takes you through some  of the worst cases of sleep disorders he's encountered across his career. What's most interesting is that, despite retelling the worst experiences, he frames the stories in such a way so that we understand the differing levels in the severity of symptoms that each disorder can express. A number of times, he explains so thoroughly (while still being entertaining) a disorder's symptoms and causes, it's easy to see the mild forms of a disorder in our own troubled sleep. His main focus for the book is to educate others on sleep disorders, namely the symptoms, causes, and effects on an individual who experiences these disorders, while being direct about the fact that sometimes the answer to sleep issues is "I don't know." Dr. Leschziner brings a fresh perspective and attitude to what might otherwise be a boring subject. He's able to narrate some of the funnier aspects of these disorders while still respecting how terrible living with these conditions can be.

For anyone interested in the way the human mind can be affected by the world around us, and how that then affects a persons body and life, this will be a very interesting book to pick up.

SMM

The Philosopher's Flight

The Philosopher's Flight (Philosophers #1)
by Tom Miller
Simon & Schuster. 2018. 422 pg. Fantasy.

In Robert Weekes' world, magic is feminine. Almost all magic, or empirical philosophy, is only possible for woman. Men can do some of it, but usually only women have the natural aptitudes required to create the more extreme philosophical effects like smokecarving, transporting, or flying. But for Robert, whose mother is a decorated war hero philosopher and father one of the strongest male philosophers in the world, he has all the necessary aptitudes to, at the very least, be competitive in the philosophy world. He's run rescue missions with his mother, trained in philosophy since before he could walk, and can out fly most woman he's met. But when he moves from Montana to Boston to attend school under a military scholarship, he comes to face the prejudice of being different in a field ruled by one gender. His goal is to become an operative of the Search and Rescue corps, an entirely female corps of the military focused on saving injured soldiers from the war front, but standing in his way is generations of tradition, religious condemnation of philosophy, and simple prejudice that male philosophers simply aren't as good.

Miller takes flips the script one a few social issues to accurately shows that a difference in power is the true source of prejudice and oppression. But, most of all, the social commentary doesn't overpower the good and entertaining story he wanted to tell, a story one that involves personal struggles, relationships, true bravery, and simple yet fantastical magic.

For those who've enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and The Man in the High Castle, this will be a great book to pick up!

SMM

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising (Red Rising #1)
by Pierce Brown
Del Rey, 2014. 382 pages. Science Fiction.

Darrow, a Red Helldiver whose sole responsibility is mining Helium-3, a gas mined on Mars that is used in the terraforming process for mars and other planets in the solar system, loves his people and his wife. After a few heartrending events, Darrow discovers that many of the things he's believed his whole life are false and have been for hundreds of years. To correct those falsehoods, Darrow sacrifices his life and identity and becomes the people he hates, all for the love of his people and the dream of the woman he loves.

Pierce Brown uses a unique mixture of dystopian fiction tropes such as castes of people (each referred to by a single name) that are controlled for the betterment of a ruling class, violent games played by kids, a system of government that uses obfuscation and fear to keep the slave class slaves, rebellion against the system, a corrupt and hypocritical society that participates in the very activities they claim to be wrong, etc. in order to show that even tropes can still be impactful.

For those who like Hunger Games and The Giver, this is definitely a book to pick up.

SMM