In 2024, to relax, I read many novels. I mostly read the famous ones. I intend to keep that pace for next year. I enjoyed these novels very much. I decided to write this blog post, to retrieve my old good habit and also share my thoughts on these books. I typically do hours of research before I start reading something. I write this blog post for people who are struggling to find a worthy book to read.

The Romance of Three Kingdoms

After moving to Sydney, this was the first book I started reading. It is a very long novel. I got the suggestion from Shan Jiang, colleague from the Macquarie University Centre for Health Economy.

I must say that this is by far the most interesting book I had read in the last five years, maybe even before. It made me realize the depth of the Chinese civilization and in fact helped me better understand some of the modern political conundrums. It was extremely hard to read because there are just too many characters. I had done quite extensive research and read summaries to better understand the overall evolution of the history during the three kingdoms period.

As someone who is passionate about strategic thinking (chess, politics, strategy games, etc.), this book was an amazing history novel. Some of the things, as noted by many, are not real history but rather the author’s (or people’s) dramatization of events. But the overall story sticks to real history. The book also has many mystic components which I disliked as it puzzled me from time to time, but I did not mind it.

It shows how alliances are formed and broken. The battles involve complex psychological, political, and military strategies. I have learned about many historical figures, such as Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao, in Chinese culture after reading the book.

Dune

Frank Herbert’s Dune is a masterpiece of science fiction that explores political intrigue, ecological wisdom, and human evolution. I read this book upon ‪Ensar Vahapoglu‬‬’s suggestion. He works at the University of New South Wales on quantum computers. We had many heated debates on social issues and technology together. He was extremely affected by the novelty of Dune and inspired me to read. The book is especially relevant to today because of one of the book’s underlying premises regarding artificial intelligence.

While it is not the main theme of the book, Frank Herbert warned against surrendering our critical thinking faculties to thinking machines (what he called AI in his universe). In the universe of Dune, a big war (Butlerian Jihad) arose when a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals concentrated immense AI power to exploit everyone else. This is a crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots. The solution, according to Herbert, is not to eradicate AI entirely nor to rely solely on human hyper-intelligence concentrated among the elite. Instead, the real power lies in distributing computers (and thus AI) into the hands of as many people as possible. When everyone has access, the technology’s destructive potential is mitigated by widespread empowerment.

I am in general very pessimistic about AI. Especially after seeing irresponsible, selfish and (you can put more insults here) people like Sam Altman leading OpenAI. Frank Herbert’s prediction is coming to realization gradually, as people in charge are trying to monopolize this technology in front of our eyes.

I will probably write another blog post on this premise in the book in the light of the recent events…

The German Genius

I just wanted to stop reading novels for a while and found this book. It was in my reading list for many years but I never started reading. The German Genius by Peter Watson is an ambitious exploration of Germany’s intellectual history, covering the country’s contributions to art, science, philosophy, and culture. The book showcases how German thinkers and innovators shaped modernity despite the country’s tumultuous history. It’s an enlightening read for anyone interested in understanding the cultural and intellectual roots of Germany.

While I cannot say I processed many details in the book, I just want to point out one aspect: How Prussians distributed education and universities to the public. As in the UK, university was not a privilege of certain groups. This process led to the emergence of many German scholars such as Albert Einstein, Max Weber, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (to name a few).

Prussia has deep effects on European culture, which is mainly reflected in German culture. It has social, economic, and scientific consequences. I find it especially relevant to my ideas I shared in my podcast regarding education. Universities were not just for aristocrats, but for anyone with academic potential. This laid a foundation for significant discoveries in many fields, which later influenced the rest of Europe and the world. Also, this book helps you understand how Germany stands as a distinct economic power in Europe.

The Three-Body Problem / The Dark Forest / Death’s End

Another book suggested by Shan Jiang. I was extremely reluctant to read this trilogy because (1) it is too long and (2) I had just read Dune, so I did not want to read another science fiction. But upon watching the terribly produced Netflix series on Three Body Problem, I read this book because the series was enough for me to convince otherwise.

If I come back to why I did not want to read it, it is because I found many negative comments on this science fiction in Reddit and Goodreads. I consider my time to read books as an important investment, hence I do strong research before starting anything. As also someone who is not an expert in science fiction, I must say that I cannot assess the overall quality, but I enjoyed reading it very much.

In addition to many criticisms toward this trilogy, I must say that this book will not be time-resistant as much as other famous science fictions (e.g., Dune) because it relies on many strong assumptions about the advance of science and technology. There are many controversial sequential assumptions. In a few decades, it might look too ridiculous and may turn into a garbage science fiction. For example, even today, as we see the advances in generative AI, we can clearly see that Liu Cixin could not predict how relevant AI would be during these events, but we see that it is absent in the upcoming hundreds of years in human history (except the author predicts there will be AI only with aliens’ advanced computers named photons).

However, the book is thrilling to read today. These controversial assumptions are not weak assumptions. I think it takes courage and a broad mind to write such science fiction. I had many criticisms throughout my reading, and I found that the author has already reflected on those issues and has chosen a rational approach in his speculations.

Remembering this book is fiction, I must point out another criticism. I think the author takes the “miracle of life” too lightly. I had listened to many podcasts by Betul Kacar (Turkish astrobiologist) and did some other short readings on the topic. My understanding is that life beyond Earth is still uncertain. The astrobiology field operates on a mixture of scientific optimism, theoretical frameworks, and cautious skepticism (to my limited knowledge). More to that, even if there is life somewhere in the universe, the emergence of intelligence is not guaranteed. So, I always thought about this trilogy as a fantasy book, just like The Lord of the Rings (which I read several times).

That said, as my colleague and friend, Shan pointed out, this book will widen your perspective so much. The way you look at life, science, and beyond. I strongly suggest reading it (despite my criticisms).

The Courage to Be Disliked

Written by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, The Courage to Be Disliked presents the principles of Adlerian psychology (Alfred Adler) as dialogues between a philosopher and a young person. The way Plato wrote his book where Socrates had dialogues with, typically, young people, but we only have two people speaking in this book.

I could not benefit from this book frankly as I had not done any reading on psychology before, but I found intriguing ideas, which are relevant again to my podcast on education, such as “separation of tasks” and “happiness is defined by the extent of your feeling of contribution to your social network.”

Again, as I did not understand it well, I cannot say much about this book. I decided to read the book mainly because it was written as dialogues. I wanted a light reading, which ended up being quite heavy :)