I Sound Like a Chicken
Why do I sound like a chicken? Because all day long I say “book, book, book.” Thank you for coming to my comedy show.
Reading Things
I had a big mental block during the first few years of COVID when I tried to read books. I could handle articles and short things, and consume books for research, but I found myself incapable of picking up fiction or non-fiction for fun. I’ve spent the last couple of years working to train myself back into regular reading with some success.
Your Face Belongs To Us: A riveting non-fiction story about the development and mass deployment of increasingly accurate and still horribly biased facial-recognition technology. Kashmir Hill always tells a good, solidly reported tale, whether at the New York Times or other outlets.
The Tomb of Dragons: The third installment in Katharine Addison’s improbable sequel to her outstanding The Goblin Emperor, I gather she never intended to write much more in that world? But one of the side characters in Emperor took over, and I’m so glad—he’s a Witness for the Dead, who can literally talk (in a certain way) to the dead, but he has suffered and continues to suffer much. The books are meditative studies of people not exactly like us, but with recognizable motives. It takes place largely at ground level, in city streets. Mystery crossed with a bit of horror, but also about memory, guilt, and much more. I read the third book, then re-read all three.
The Saint of Bright Doors: I am in love with Vajra Chandrasekera’s writing, which is a fresh shining light in this genre of…is it fantasy? Yes. But it’s fantasy more like Hermann Hesse’s Journey to the East is fantasy. A country fears closed doors. Why? Dangerous when opened afterwards. Possibly the entire world has been broken and changed. I found myself thinking of Ursula K. LeGuin, N.K. Jemisin, and Angela Carter (particularly The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman). His second novel, Rakesfall, is nearly impenetrable. I adored it, even though I was mystified by it in parts—some people were mad at the book! I love that feeling. Something like Cloud Atlas.
Watching Things
Of course, like many people, I fell into TV when there was little else to do, and then felt the pang when the combination of the Hollywood strikes and streaming service cancellations led to big gaps in series and new movies. That seems to be ending. A few things I watched the last couple of years that truly delivered:
Foundation: Of course, I read everything Isaac Asimov wrote, and most of it had terrible characterization and great plots and concepts. Foundation is a mangy series spanning centuries with additional installments written after Asimov died. The general outline: It’s thousands of years in the future, humanity has spread througout the galaxy, and trillions of people are under the yoke of the Empire. The Apple TV+ series started weakly. The first season didn’t have its footing. But it had promise. Season 2 picked up—and season 3 went bonkers with ambition and story arcs. It doesn’t always make perfect sense, but the conceit of using the same actors over time through cloning, robotics, and cryosleep helps the continuity. Another season is coming. I spoke about S1 and S2 on The Incomparable podcast.
Silo: I had heard about Silo and thought it was just another dystopian sci-fi: about 10,000 people are living in an underground silo and don’t seem to know why. They can’t leave. That’s the premise. Then I gave in and started watching. It’s unlike almost anything ever filmed in sci-fi. I could see myself living in the silo, and reacting the way many people in different positions of knowledge and power do. Two seasons are out, and I lost my mind at the season 2 finale ending. Also Apple TV+! Another season is also coming! Likewise, I was on a panel at the Incomparable podcast talking about this show’s S1 and S2.
Severance: Listen, I can’t say anything more about it than everyone already knows. Also also Apple TV+—I am not a shill.
Take Control of Nearly Everything
The last several weeks have involved updating many, many books in the Take Control Books series to account for Apple’s new “26” series of operating system releases. Between books I’ve written and some I have taken on from other authors in my role as Executive Editor at the ol’ T.C.B., I apparently update 13 books now!
Some of the ones I think have the most appeal to readers of this newsletter are:
Take Control of Securing Your Apple Devices: This title provides answers to any issue related to keeping your physical device and its data secure.
Take Control of FaceTime and Messages: With many thousands of changes in the latest releases due to changes in FaceTime, Messages, and Phone (which this book also covers), you might find it invaluable to figure out how to do stuff you already knew how to do—as well as use the revamped Phone app, now available on iPad and Mac.
Take Control of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26: If you’re trying to learn all the many little and big changes Apple made in the updates to the iPhone and iPad operating systems, I have you covered in this title.
Also exciting is the addition in July of the Take Control Premium option. For $14.99, you get 50% off every title for one year, including those in the shopping cart in which you add the Premium item. We had found we were on a merry-go-round of sales, and this option lets you effectively have our best discount whenever you want.
Six Centuries of Type and Printing
If you were looking for a gift for an upcoming holiday, take a gander at the website for my book Six Centuries of Type & Printing. You can purchase the book in an ebook/print bundle, have it signed and inscribed, add an audiobook, and throw in unique bookmarks I designed and had letterpress printed.
Our Long National Nightmare
I edit other people’s books and provide crowdfunding consulting and logistics (like printing and shipping) for folks, too. I just helped Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins) launch a campaign for Our Long National Nightmare, his latest collection of comics spanning over five years and nearly 300 cartoons!
Dan has been at it as a weekly editorial cartoonist since the late 1980s, appearing mostly in alt-weeklies that he has outlasted nearly all of. I did the layout and production on the book and helped him budget and structure the campaign. Very nicely, it passed 100% funding in the first few hours and is on track to hit 200%—maybe higher!
Thanks as Always!
I’ll have more updates later in the fall as I launch more campaigns for other folks, update more Take Control books, and plan for 2026.
I have a title for my next book—Flong Time, No See. I may even provide a preview of my in-progress book cover in the next issue!
All the best in this time of conflict,
Glenn