Reading List: Week 42, 2026
21 Books · 2026 · by publication date, oldest first
- 2026
- Week 42
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Oct 12
The Day the World Came to Town
Some days, you start to lose faith in humanity. On days like that, I’d recommend this book. It tells the story of how a small Canadian town opened its doors to the people stranded …
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Oct 12
Der Computer - Mein Lebenswerk: 100 Jahre Zuse
Konrad Zuse is one of the many giants on whose shoulders my industry stands. I still remember being a know-it-all teenager and pointing out to my English teacher, Mrs. W. (yes, …
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Oct 12
The life of Chuck
A few days ago, I watched The Life of Chuck. It’s a truly unusual film, especially considering it’s based on a Stephen King story. Tom Hiddleston’s dance scene may be what sticks …
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Oct 12
Large Language Kabbala
I don’t think many people really understand how LLMs work. Why they manage to come across as if they “know” things, even though they’re “just” a model of language, not of …
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Oct 13
Jagd auf Roter Oktober
As a teenager and young adult, I loved reading Tom Clancy. I lost interest at some point, but I really enjoyed his early books. Yes, his writing was very pro-American, to put it …
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Oct 13
Red Storm Rising
It was the first book I ever read in English, out of necessity: for a long time, it simply wasn’t available in German (the translation, “Im Sturm,” only came out much later). A …
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Oct 13
Der dicke fette Pfannkuchen
At some point, I was standing in a bookshop looking for a present for my niece. And then I found it: a story I’ve known since childhood. It was in my reader back in primary …
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Oct 13
Das Echo aller Furcht
This book was another Christmas present – though one I picked out myself. I think it was 1993, though it may have been a year earlier. I was out Christmas shopping with my …
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Oct 13
Project Hail Mary
It was one of the books I took with me to hospital last year. I didn’t actually get round to reading it until after rehab, though: Project Hail Mary. The film does the book …
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Oct 13
Smart Home mit openHAB 2
At some point, you burn your last CD without knowing it’s the last time. At some point, you buy your last DVD without knowing your collection will never grow again. I bought this …
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Oct 13
The Stand - Das letzte Gefecht
You’re up to your neck in it! In myth? No – in religion. That was the first thing that struck me when I held this book in my hands. The battle of good versus evil, built on a …
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Oct 14
Das Foucaultsche Pendel
Well, what can I say? No – strictly speaking, the question should be: what should I say? And to that, there’s a clear answer: nothing, really. This book is my final boss. I’ve …
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Oct 14
Unser Kosmos
As a fourth-grader, staying up late isn’t exactly easy. I had to promise not to be grumpy the next morning, however tired I was. I kept that promise, and so I was actually allowed …
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Oct 16
Die Faust Gottes
I still remember exactly where I bought this book: Münster. In a bookshop in town. The Bundeswehr had sent me there, and the barracks were fairly close to the city centre. So, …
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Oct 16
Der Junge, der Maulwurf, der Fuchs und das Pferd
In 2023 I gave away this book-shaped blend of candy floss, halva and the entire display case of a Turkish bakery as a gift. Fortune-cookie wisdom on every page. But sometimes …
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Oct 16
Truth, Lies, and O-Rings
There are images of events that have burned themselves indelibly into my memory: the falling towers on September 11, the crumpled ICE train at Eschede. And that image of the …
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Oct 17
Künstliche Intelligenz und der neue Faschismus
Reclam publishes a small but, in my opinion, very fine series of little books. The series is called “Was bedeutet das alles?” (“What does it all mean?”). The books are roughly the …
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Oct 17
Über die Dummheit
When you sit in a doctor’s waiting room with a book, you almost feel like a snob already, while everyone around you stares into their phone, completely entangled in the net. If on …
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Oct 17
Snoopy für alle Lebenslagen
Really, there is only one important question in life for judging people: chocolate scoop or vanilla scoop on top?
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Oct 18
Die Hölle ist die Abwesenheit Gottes
I’ll admit it right away: I bought this book for one reason only. I had seen the film Arrival and liked it immediately. The film is based on Ted Chiang’s novella “Story of Your …
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Oct 18
High Fidelity
I can’t say exactly when I bought this book. My edition came out in 1999, and the price on the back is still in Deutschmarks. I think it was 2001. I do remember where I bought it: …
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