What We Are Reading Today: Cambodia’s Curse

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Updated 03 August 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Cambodia’s Curse

Author: Joel Brinkley

A generation after the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia shows every sign of having overcome its history — the streets of Phnom Penh are paved; skyscrapers dot the skyline.
But under this facade lies a country still haunted by its years of terror.
Joel Brinkley won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting in Cambodia on the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed one quarter of the nation's population during its years in power. In 1992.
In 2008 and 2009, Brinkley discovered a population in the grip of a venal government.
In this book, his extensive close-up reporting illuminates the country, its people, and the deep historical roots of its modern-day behavior, according to a review on goodreads.com.

 


What We Are Reading Today: The Cultural House in Riyadh

Updated 3 min 27 sec ago
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What We Are Reading Today: The Cultural House in Riyadh

  • The library itself is designed with comfort in mind, offering various zones, including a tech space, a kids’ area, flexible workspaces, and a cafe on the ground floor

I recently visited the newly opened Culture House public library, an initiative by the Libraries Commission and Riyadh municipality.

The library is part of the King Salman Science Oasis project in Al-Ta’awun neighborhood, and it exceeded my expectations.

Before visiting, I was aware that I needed to book a time for my preferred section. This is an important detail to note, as you must have a reservation to access any area of the library.

Upon arrival, I easily scanned a QR code, filled in my name and phone number, and waited just 10 minutes for my tour.

The staff at the library were exceptional; the representative who guided me was friendly and informative and made the experience more enjoyable.

The library itself is designed with comfort in mind, offering various zones, including a tech space, a kids’ area, flexible workspaces, and a cafe on the ground floor.

The first floor features the main library with ample seating for both group and solo activities, as well as an outdoor space. It was great to see workstations equipped with computers, printers, and scanners that facilitate scanning colored books.

I particularly enjoyed the outdoor area, which includes a playground and relaxing spots near the water, as well as food trucks. It’s a great place for families and friends to gather.

While I was unable to explore the middle or main section fully, I am eager to return.

A couple of guidelines to consider: The library’s washroom closes at midnight and while cycling on the grounds is not permitted, skateboards are allowed. Additionally, sitting on the grass is not allowed, though sitting on the floor is.

I highly recommend a visit to the library. The clean, quiet environment, combined with friendly staff and great amenities, makes it a standout space in Riyadh.

For a city of its size, I hope to see more libraries like this across the Kingdom’s capital and beyond.

 


What We Are Reading Today: Narcoland

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Updated 21 June 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Narcoland

  • The book explains in detail how Mexico became a base for the mega cartels of Latin America and one of the most violent places on the planet

Author: Anabel Hernandez

This book is a product of years of investigative reporting, and is considered a publishing and political sensation in Mexico.
The book offers a definitive history and anatomy of the drug cartels and the “war on drugs” that has cost thousands of lives in the country, according to a review on goodreads.com.

The book explains in detail how Mexico became a base for the mega cartels of Latin America and one of the most violent places on the planet. The previous books of the writer have focused on political corruption in the country.

 


What We Are Reading Today: Cold War Civil Rights

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Updated 20 June 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Cold War Civil Rights

  • Soon after World War II, American racism became a major concern of US allies, a chief Soviet propaganda theme, and an obstacle to American Cold War goals throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America

Author: Mary L. Dudziak

In 1958, an African American handyman named Jimmy Wilson was sentenced to die in Alabama for stealing less than two dollars. Shocking as this sentence was, it was overturned only after intense international attention and the interference of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.

Soon after World War II, American racism became a major concern of US allies, a chief Soviet propaganda theme, and an obstacle to American Cold War goals throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Racial segregation undermined the American image, harming foreign relations in every administration from Truman to Johnson. Mary Dudziak shows how the Cold War helped to facilitate desegregation and other key social reforms at home as the US sought to polish its image abroad, yet how a focus on appearances over substance limited the nature and extent of progress.


What We Are Reading Today: Top Ten Ideas of Physics by Anthony Zee

Updated 18 June 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Top Ten Ideas of Physics by Anthony Zee

Could any discovery be more unexpected and shocking than the realization that the reality we were born into is but an approximation of an underlying quantum world that is barely within our grasp? This is just one of the foundational pillars of theoretical physics that A. Zee discusses in this book. Join him as he presents his Top Ten List of the biggest, most breathtaking ideas in physics—the ones that have fundamentally transformed our understanding of the universe.

“Top Ten Ideas of Physics” tells a story that will keep readers enthralled, along the way explaining the meaning of each idea and how it came about. Leading the list are the notions that the physical world is comprehensible and that the laws of physics are the same here, there, and everywhere. 

As the story unfolds, the apparently solid world dissolves into an intertwining web of dancing fields, exhibiting greater symmetries as we examine them at deeper and deeper levels.


What We Are Reading Today: Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian

Updated 18 June 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian

In “Forest Euphoria,” Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian introduces readers to the queerness of all the life around us.

In snakes, snails, and, above all, fungi, she saw her own developing identities as a queer, neurodivergent person reflected back at her — and in them, too, she found a personal path to a life of science.

Nature, Kaishian shows us, is filled with the unusual, the overlooked, and the marginalized — and they have lessons for us all.