Fantastic Metropolis

Stranger Things Happen, Kelly Link

(Weird short stories and then some)

Also not published in 2003, but I got it for my birthday this year—Kelly Links stories are like no-one else’s, and no two are even close to alike. Impossible to describe, so I won’t. Read it!

How the Universe Got Its Spots, Janna Levin

(Non fiction, cosmology)

Into the non-fiction now, and after reading a number of heavy tomes on hyperspace, string theory et al, I was pleasantly surprised with the elegance and ease with which Janna Levin coolly explains current developments in cosmology, as well as narrating a moving and poetic slice of her own personal life and the way in which it is informed by the scientific work she does.

A Devil’s Chaplain, Richard Dawkins

(Academic articles)

Dawkins is one of my heroes—there’s no-one better in the academic world for cutting through the post-modern, New-Age, born-again bullshit we all have stomach on a day to day basis and handing you a huge card with the words REALITY CHECK inscribed. Required reading for anyone who has a brain and wants to use it.

The New Rulers of the World, John Pilger

(Journalism)

Another of my heroes—what Dawkins does for academia and the life sciences, Pilger does in the political arena. Anyone who still thinks we in the West are the good guys needs to read this.

Globalization and its Discontents, Joseph Stiglitz

(Economics)

The title speaks for itself. Stiglitz used to work for the World Bank and now he doesn’t, for reasons which become rapidly apparent as you speed through this indictment of global economics and its principal players. A devastating critique from someone who was there in the thick of it and knows what they’re talking about.

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Richard K. Morgan is the author of the Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novel Altered Carbon, which is currently being adapted to the big screen. Its sequel, Broken Angels is due out in the United States in April 2004, while a new novel titled Market Forces will appear in the UK.