This is a summary of what I read recently.
1.) Anthony Bourdain - A Cook's Tour : This is a biased review: Make no mistake about it. I'm a fan of Anthony Bourdain and have watched all of his shows. But I can see his brilliance in his writing, and every word written I imagine him saying. Therefore, I find this to be one of his best books: he articulates the places he's visited and how the food tastes and the quirks of the region with amazing accuracy. It's almost as if you're there with him. He's witty and he doesn't give a shit. You should watch the show. 10/10.
2.) Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential : Also a great read. This struck me as one of his first books, so his writing was very precise, but he goes into more detail about his background. To me, this was unapologetic and very raw. It's him saying, "I don't care about the way things have always been done". 8.75/10.
3.) Aaron Bastani - Fully Automated Luxury Communism : At the start it was thought provoking, introducing a post scarcity world through the lens of previously explored ideas and I saw what it was going for. But I must to admit: I couldn't finish it. It started pretty strong, but towards the middle felt a little unfocused. But I appreciate that it challenged some of my existing thoughts about economies of scale, post scarcity, and meaning. For someone that can tolerate the build up, I think it has potential. 6.5/10.
4.) Charles Stross - Accelerando : For being written in 2005, this attacks a technological singularity in an interesting way. I could appreciate "Venture Altruism", post scarcity, and parts. But it was a little strange, from cloning human brains into neural structures and then having those spawn off and do their own tasks and measuring the entirety of the solar system with compute power, this casted a wide net. 7/10.