Summer reading list

There are a number of themes that shape our view of the world. For me, Star Trek and Star Wars and lots of other sci-fi. I love visions of the future from Metropolis to Minority Report. There are others that are meant to frighten us too, such as Alien, The Terminator and Ex Machina.

We also read books and, partly inspired by a friend’s summary of Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel Player Piano (published in 1952) this morning, I was thinking about the books that really made me think and I would list five specifically, although there are many more.

The five I would pick on are:

• The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (1909)
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
• 1984 by George Orwell (1949)
• I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov (1950)
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

A quick summary of each below so that you can add these to your summer reads, but it begs the question: what would be your five?

The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (1909)

The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster is about a future where humans live underground, completely dependent on a vast machine for all their needs, communicating only through screens. Vashti embraces this world, but her son Kuno rebels, seeking real experience on the Earth’s surface. When the Machine begins to fail, no one knows how to fix it, and civilisation collapses. It’s a warning about relying too heavily on technology and losing touch with real human life written over a century ago.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley imagines a future society where humans are engineered and conditioned for stability and happiness. People are created in labs, assigned social classes, and kept content through pleasure, consumerism, and a drug called soma. Individuality, deep emotion, and critical thinking are suppressed in favour of comfort and control. It’s a warning about a society that sacrifices freedom, truth, and individuality for comfort and artificial happiness.

1984 by George Orwell (1949)

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is set in a totalitarian society ruled by the Party and its leader, Big Brother. The state controls everything—information, language, and even thought—through constant surveillance and propaganda. Winston Smith secretly rebels, seeking truth and freedom, but is eventually caught and broken by the regime. It’s a chilling warning about absolute power, manipulation of truth, and the loss of individual freedom under authoritarian control.

I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov (1950)

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov is a collection of interconnected stories about the development of robots and their relationship with humans.

The stories revolve around the Three Laws of Robotics, designed to ensure robots serve and protect humans. However, as robots become more advanced, unexpected dilemmas and paradoxes arise, challenging how those laws are interpreted. It explores how intelligent machines behave, the limits of control, and the complex relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. Most importantly, it introduced the three laws for robotics:

• First Law: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
• Second Law: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
• Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is set in a future society where books are banned and “firemen” burn any that are found. Guy Montag, a fireman, begins to question this world after meeting a young woman who opens his mind to ideas and curiosity. As he secretly reads books, he realises how deeply society has been numbed by entertainment and censorship. Eventually, he rebels and goes on the run. It’s a warning about censorship, the loss of critical thinking, and a culture distracted into ignorance.

What intrigues me is that, as I put this list together, nearly all the books envisioning our future were written just after the second world war and as the Cold War emerged between America and Russia. I wonder what books are being written today in light of the battles between Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Israel and America?