Best Summer Reads

Below are a few books recommended by our industry leading tutors. Spanning fiction and non-fiction, politics and science, they represent what some of the best and brightest are stimulating their minds with this summer.

 

The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

 

Soon to be a major Netflix production, this award-winning Chinese science fiction book (the first in a trilogy) takes place in a world where science has hit its limits at the worst possible time—just as earth has made first contact with a threatening alien race. It’s a fascinating and imaginative read and all the more interesting for being written from a contemporary Chinese perspective.

 

Silverview by John le Carré

 

The last novel to come from the pen of one of Britain’s finest authors, this spy novel investigates the secret world (and the secrets people keep) hidden within a small seaside town in England. A fascinating depiction public duties vs private morals, this espionage novel is a classic from a now-classic author.

 

Liberalism and its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama 

 

This slim volume by one of the world’s leading political scientists provides an insightful study into why liberalism is both the source and the solution to many of the world’s identity-driven problems.

 

The Age of AI: and our human future by Henry Kissinger

 

This fascinating book is co-written by Henry Kissinger (the most famous diplomat of the 20^th century), Eric Schmidt (former CEO of Google), and Daniel Huttenlocher (Dean of the College of Computing at MIT). Together they explore AI and the ways it is transforming human society and human identity – and what it means for us all, both now and in the future.

 

Why We Sleep: the new science of sleep and dreams by Matthew Walker

 

This book is a perennial favourite at Think Tutors. It’s a masterful scientific account about why sleep is not only vital, but how impaired we become – in both the short and long term – by a lack of sleep opportunities. Read this and you’ll never sleep the same again!

Learn a New Subject

Perhaps you are a budding historian, but you’d like to know more about cognitive psychology; or a future biologist who’s interested in learning more about ethics. If so, the Oxford Very Short Introduction series is perfect for you. Written at a first-year undergraduate level, these short introductions cover a huge array of subjects and are highly accessible. They offer up-to-date scholarly research and are academically reliable. You can read one for fun in an afternoon and quote them in your essays next year… how good is that?

 

Earth System Science: A Very Short Introduction by Tim Lenton

 

Lenton explores the concept of the Earth’s atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, soil, and rocks operating as a closely interacting system. Drawing on elements of geology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics, it explores whether Earth system science can help guide us on to a sustainable course before we alter the Earth system to the point where we destroy ourselves and current civilization.

 

Robotics: A Very Short Introduction by Alan Winfield

 

This book explains how it is that robotics can simultaneously present us with success and disappointment, how they can remain both commonplace and extraordinary, and investigates recent developments in science with a view to their applications in everyday life.

 

Environmental Ethics: A Very Short Introduction by Robin Attfield

 

This book explores the principles and values that are involved in combating environmental issues like pollution, loss of habitats and species, and climate change. Exploring a wide array of approaches to ethical decision making and judgements, it stresses the importance of making both production and consumption sustainable, addressing human population levels, and what must be done policy-wise to preserve species, sub-species, and their habitats.

Make the Most of Audio Books

If you don’t want to spend all summer indoors reading books, Think Tutors highly recommends using audio books (such as those provided by Amazon’s Audible). Not only does this enable you to listen to a book while on the move, but you can also listen at faster than 1x speed (you can listen at 1.5x speed and won’t miss a word). This way you can get through more books than you would otherwise and come out the other side of the summer as brain buff as never before.

 

To discuss more strategies and recommendations for maximizing your summer reading and learning, be sure to connect with Think Tutors. Our industry leading team is well equipped to create bespoke programmes that will help you or your child to flourish this summer and beyond.