What We Are Reading Today: The Disappearing Act

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Updated 20 December 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: The Disappearing Act

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Author: Florence de Changy

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying 239 passengers, disappeared into the night, never to be seen or heard from again.

Writing for Le Monde in the days and months after the plane’s disappearance, journalist Florence de Changy closely documented the chaotic international investigation that followed, uncovering more questions than answers.

The mystery, until now, is riddled with inconsistencies, contradictions and a lack of basic communication between authorities.

De Changy draws together countless eyewitness testimonies, press releases, independent investigative reports and expert opinion, to offer an eloquent and deeply unnerving narrative of what happened to the missing aircraft.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Brain, In Theory’ by Romain Brette

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Brain, In Theory’ by Romain Brette
Updated 07 September 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Brain, In Theory’ by Romain Brette

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Brain, In Theory’ by Romain Brette

Mainstream theories of the brain are often expressed through engineering concepts—computation, code, control, reverse-engineering, optimization. 

These theories cast the living organism as a machine and the brain as a computer. 

The fact that cognition is a biological phenomenon seems merely anecdotal; biology is considered just “implementation.” 

In “The Brain, In Theory,” Romain Brette argues that the brain is not a “biological computer” because living organisms are not engineered.


What We Are Reading Today: Dragonflies of Britain and Ireland

What We Are Reading Today: Dragonflies of Britain and Ireland
Updated 06 September 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Dragonflies of Britain and Ireland

What We Are Reading Today: Dragonflies of Britain and Ireland

Authors: Dave Smallshire and Andy Swash

“Dragonflies of Britain and Ireland” is the only comprehensive photographic field guide to the damselflies and dragonflies of the region.

Written by two of Britain’s foremost Dragonfly experts, this updated fifth edition features hundreds of stunning images and identification charts covering all 58 resident, migrant and former breeding species.

Detailed species profiles provide concise information on identification, status and trend, distribution, flight period, behavior, breeding habitat, and population and conservation. 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘AI, Automation, and War’

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Updated 05 September 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘AI, Automation, and War’

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  • King explains that military commanders, enabled by the data processing power of AI, will be able to see the battlespace at a previously unattainable depth, fidelity, and speed

Author: Anthony King

Is AI about to automate war? Will autonomous drone swarms and killer robots controlled by AI dominate the battlespace and determine the winner? In “AI, Automation, and War,” Anthony King debunks this science fiction–tinged narrative of AI’s military potential, exploring instead the actual applications of AI by the armed forces over the last decade.

He finds that AI is not going to replace human commanders and combatants; the machines are not about to take over. Rather, the military has used, and will continue to use, AI to process data at a scale and speed that exceeds the capacity of humans. AI will be used primarily to improve military understanding and intelligence.

King explains that military commanders, enabled by the data processing power of AI, will be able to see the battlespace at a previously unattainable depth, fidelity, and speed.

AI will help the armed forces plan, target, and conduct cyber operations faster and more effectively.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Designing San Francisco’ by Alison Isenberg

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Designing San Francisco’ by Alison Isenberg
Updated 05 September 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Designing San Francisco’ by Alison Isenberg

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Designing San Francisco’ by Alison Isenberg

“Designing San Francisco” is the untold story of the formative postwar decades when US cities took their modern shape amid clashing visions of the future. In this pathbreaking and richly illustrated book, Alison Isenberg shifts the focus from architects and city planners—those most often hailed in histories of urban development and design—to the unsung artists, activists, and others who played pivotal roles in rebuilding San Francisco between the 1940s and the 1970s.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The First King of England’ by David Woodman

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The First King of England’ by David Woodman
Updated 03 September 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The First King of England’ by David Woodman

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The First King of England’ by David Woodman

“The First King of England” is a foundational biography of Æthelstan (d. 939), the early medieval king whose territorial conquests and shrewd statesmanship united the peoples, languages, and cultures that would come to be known as the “Kingdom of the English.”

In this panoramic work, David Woodman blends masterful storytelling with the latest scholarship to paint a multifaceted portrait of this immensely important but neglected figure, a man celebrated in his day as much for his benevolence, piety, and love of learning as he was for his ambitious reign.