Tim O’Reilly

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today. George Saunders shares his twenty-year experience teaching a class on Russian short stories to MFA students at Syracuse University. In this book, he pairs iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol with his technical yet accessible essays on how narrative functions, why we stay immersed in a story, and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster to create compelling fiction. Through this exploration, Saunders illuminates how the mind itself works while reading and how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.

Explore the fascinating life of iconic visionary Stewart Brand, from his involvement with the counterculture and creation of the influential Whole Earth Catalog, to his commitment to environmentalism and pragmatic embrace of technology. Written by technology and society chronicler John Markoff, this biography delves into Brand's contradictions and powerful influence on California culture and the wider world. With his emphasis on direct power and planetary consciousness, Brand's story is one that will inspire readers to reimagine how we live on this planet.