The reason that I read the first book in this trilogy was that it was dirt cheap. A total treat.Ĭolumbus Day, SpecOps, and Paradise (Expeditionary Force Series) by Craig Alanson How many sci-fi book make you laugh out loud? Scalzi has mastered so many genres that I imagine he intimidates all other sci-fi authors. Actually, the real reason to read The Collapsing Empire (and really everything that Scalzi writes) is that his books are ridiculously funny. If that description does not make you immediately stop what you are doing and download Scalzi’s latest book then I fear that you are beyond hope. I read a review somewhere that The Collapsing Empire reads like a mashup of the best parts of Game of Thrones and Star Wars. Change Agent also demonstrates his improving craft as a writer of can’t put down thrillers. Suarez is reliably imaginative and detailed about the technology. (too many pesky laws) to the unregulated frontiers of East Asia. The world of 2045 in Change Agent is one where gene tech has supplanted silicon, and the center of gravity of the startup / knowledge economy world has moved away from the U.S. He extends his curiosity into the world gene editing and genetic engineering. Change Agent is Suarez’s most ambitious and polished work to date. His books get the tech right because Suarez is first and foremost a techie. Suarez’s first self-published book Daemon came out while he was a working DBA. What would man made climate change skeptics make of this fabulous book?ĭaniel Suarez has gained serious street credibility amongst the sci-fi reading developer, coder, system admin, and database administrator crowd. The book is a NYC history lesson, a treatise on comparative economic systems, and an entertaining adventure story. New York 2140 is so much more than a climate change fable.

Robinson pulls off a completely believable world of rising oceans, coastal flooding, and economic cataclysm brought on by un-checked unchecked carbon emissions and the resultant global warming. You may have seen some mixed reviews about New York 2140 (too long, too much, etc.). I take it that he has an enthusiastic following of fans. The 6 books that I’ll lobby for Bryan to include in his Near-Future Science Fiction Book Club (with special emphasis on the first 3) are: A good sci-fi book can recharge the batteries for that next digital learning / organizational change push. It is exhausting to always be thinking about all the bad paths that our higher ed industry could travel, and all the ways that technology has not actually improved much of anything in postsecondary education. Summertime for me is a time to escape into escapist fiction. In a shameless effort to influence which book Bryan chooses to discuss next, I’ll share the 6 latest sci-fi books that have been in my ears and eyes. The center of the higher ed / edtech universe for discussing sci-fi books is Bryan Alexander’s Near-Future Science Fiction Online Book Club.

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