*Neil Gaiman? Benjamin Bratton? Who knew?
via playbook@politico.eu
SUMMER READING
DISCONNECT OR DIVE IN? There are two schools of thought on what to put on the summer reading list: some want to escape work, others desire to finally delve deeper into the issues they have to deal with.
Matters of belief: The latter is true for European Parliament President Antonio Tajani. He told me he’ll read “Il Cigno Nero e il Cavaliere Bianco,” or “The Black Swan and the White Knight,” by Roberto Napoletano, the former editor of the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. In the words of the book’s subtitle, the book is a “diary of the big crisis,” charting the period from the market turmoil in November 2011 and the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister, to the supposed savior’s latest moves (that would be European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, not Berlusconi). Tajani will also read “Liberare la Libertà,” an essay on belief and politics by Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI.
Fantastic myths: Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis belongs to the escapist camp (and so does Playbook, if we had to choose). He’s currently reading “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman. “I enjoy the company of Shadow and the way his character is forced to evolve,” Dombrovskis told me, referring to the book’s mysterious and taciturn hero. “The novel is like a multi-layered road movie across the American landscape and it is also a journey deep into ancient and modern mythology. Disconnect from work guaranteed!”
Democracy in crisis: Commissioner Pierre Moscovici thought through his reading list and came up with “five ways to think about the uncertain future of democracy, through literature and essays,” he said. A fews classics: Robert Penn Warren’s “All the King’s Men,” Georges Orwell’s “1984,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Emily St. John Mandel’s “Station Eleven.”
Moscovici also suggested a new non-fiction book, published this year: Timothy Snyder’s essay on “The Road to Unfreedom,” which is on his to-read pile, and on my own too. Writer Yuval Noah Harari called it “a brilliant and disturbing analysis, which should be read by anyone wishing to understand the political crisis currently engulfing the world.”
Best of both worlds: Udo Bullmann, chairman of the Socialist and Democrats group in European Parliament, found a way to “change genres without losing sight of the topic,” he texted to report. He’ll read Wolfgang Schorlau’s “Der Große Plan.” In it, private eye Georg Dengler investigates the case of kidnapped EU official Anna Hartmann and looks for some missing billions that were meant to save Greece. Speaking of ways to relax (or not!), Bullmann also said he can’t wait for the Bundesliga to return, and is curious to see how his club, SV Werder Bremen, “comes out of the starting blocks.”
After Europe: Věra Jourová‘s top read for the year is Ivan Krastev’s “After Europe,” which the justice commissioner called “a spot-on analysis” and “a good read for those who want to understand better the ongoing debates on serious issues such as migration, but also on dual quality of food. A sober read but with a glimmer of hope.”
Playbook recommended the book earlier this year too. “If you haven’t read it yet, do so, as everybody else has, from cardinals to leftist MEPs,” we wrote at the time. “You’ll be surprised on how many panels, and in how many conversations, people slip in a Krastev line or two, mostly without attribution.”
On software, sovereignty and robots: Jourová’s “most ambitious read of this year, both in terms of volume and complexity,” was Benjamin H. Bratton’s “The Stack,” she said. “In Bratton’s view today’s global technology services and other aspects of the digital world slowly replace other forms of governance and this change can have huge political consequences. I recommend reading it to take some distance from the daily political battle between right and left, the government and the opposition. It could be that the real change is coming from somewhere else.”
Czech irony: Michal Viewegh is a contemporary and popular Czech author “writing with witty irony about relationships” and the “ordinary yet rich and full lives” of everyday people. “Pick any of his books if you want to relax and laugh and perhaps at the same time know a bit about the Czech soul and reality,” Jourová suggests. Try “A Man and a Woman.”
Back to robots: Another tip for a read on the ongoing industrial revolution comes from Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete. He recommends data scientists Nick Polson and James Scott’s guide to artificial intelligence, “AIQ: How artificial intelligence works and how we can harness its power for a better world.”
Cañete will also read “Hével,” the latest crime thriller from French author Patrick Pécherot — a Playbook favorite.
What Whitehall is reading: Playbook’s London colleague Jack Blanchard has more on what Theresa May and her ministers read.
