1 Project Hail Mary | Andy Weir | Science-heavy space thriller with dad jokes | Late at night when you’re too wired to sleep but still pretending you’ll get eight hours | This is like watching a very stressed-out engineer speedrun a FEA problem in space, but with feelings. Extremely fun, surprisingly tender, and the science-sandbox puzzles absolutely scratched the nerd itch. |
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2 The Fifth Season | N. K. Jemisin | Apocalyptic epic fantasy with geology and rage | Rainy weekend when you’re okay with being emotionally wrecked in a good way | Reads like someone took plate tectonics, systemic injustice, and a gut-punch family story, then turned the dials to 11. Wildly inventive worldbuilding; also made me side-eye every fault line map I’ve ever seen. |
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3 All Systems Red | Martha Wells | Snarky sci‑fi novella with an anxious murderbot | On the train when you want something short, sharp, and oddly wholesome | If you’ve ever wanted to mute your own social anxiety and just watch TV instead of talking to people, you and Murderbot are the same species. Tight plot, big heart, zero wasted pages. I inhaled it. |
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4 Piranesi | Susanna Clarke | Dreamy, uncanny fantasy in an endless labyrinth | Quiet evening when your brain can handle slow, weird, beautiful | Feels like wandering an Escher drawing while someone whispers a mystery over your shoulder. Minimal plot fireworks, maximum vibes. I kept stopping to just stare at the wall and think (in a good way). |
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5 The Design of Everyday Things | Don Norman | Design / usability classic with petty energy about bad doors | When you’ve just fought with a terrible interface and need to feel vindicated | This book turned every faucet, door handle, and microwave into a design critique. Dangerous to read if you already rant about user error actually being design error. Extremely useful, mildly life-ruining. |
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6 Braiding Sweetgrass | Robin Wall Kimmerer | Nature writing, Indigenous wisdom, gentle science brain-hug | Slow Sunday morning with coffee and zero notifications | Reads like a lab notebook that fell in love with a forest. It’s patient, kind, and quietly reprograms how you think about reciprocity and "resources." I ended up underlining whole paragraphs like a maniac. |
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7 Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World | David Epstein | Pop science / careers, very anti-one-true-path | Whenever you’re spiraling about not having a perfectly linear life plan | As someone juggling CAD, rec leagues, and random rabbit holes, this felt like permission to be a chaos raccoon. Lots of case studies, but the big takeaway is: your weird mashup of interests is actually a feature. |
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8 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet | Becky Chambers | Found-family space opera, cozy and queer | Weeknights when you want low-stress sci‑fi with high feelings | Honestly like a sitcom set on a tunneling spaceship, but with better anthropology. Not a big pew‑pew book; more about relationships, cultural differences, and food. Big comfort read energy. |
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9 Station Eleven | Emily St. John Mandel | Post‑pandemic literary sci‑fi, sad and hopeful | When you can emotionally handle a pandemic story that’s more about people than plague | Yes, pandemic, but it’s really about art, memory, and the tiny ways people keep each other alive. Nonlinear, a little haunting, and I kept thinking about it every time the T randomly stalled between stops. |
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10 The Calculating Stars | Mary Robinette Kowal | Alt‑history space race with math and misogyny to punch | Anytime you want "Hidden Figures" energy but with more rockets | Lady astronaut, lots of equations, absolutely infuriating sexism you get to watch her bulldoze through. The anxiety is REAL but so is the triumph. Also, the flight math bits weirdly made me happy. |
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TheLysts
