Hi there, and welcome to Series Two of The Context.

Firstly, I want to thank you all for making Series One so much fun. I still bump into people who are talking about and reading the last few books, and this is exactly why I started a book club! Because some of the ideas and frameworks that we come across in books are worth hanging onto and thinking about, long after you’ve finished reading the book.

For good or bad, ideas have the ability to transform and to live, essentially, forever.

I also wanted to thank everybody for reaching out with their own book ideas, but unfortunately, none were good enough to make it into this list (just kidding!). Seriously – sharing books that don’t make the algorithmically-decided New York Times bestseller list is another reason why I started this. Because not only are books where the best ideas belong, the best books are the ones that often aren’t backed by marketing budgets big enough to get them into bestseller lists.

So, Season Two. Six books. Six podcasts. Six weeks.

And this season, we have partnered with the amazing Books At One who have these books ready for you to buy, in a discounted bundle, from their store online. (Yes, this community bookstore is infinitely less evil than Amazon and really helps its local readers!).

Here are the books:

  1. Boundless by Nick Kostov and Sean McLain
  2. The Hidden Hand by Clive Hamilton
  3. The World for Sale by Javier Blah and Jack Farchy
  4. Sideways by Josh O’Kane
  5. Carmageddon by Daniel Knowles
  6. Wasteland by Oli Franklin-Wells

I have tried to avoid the books that most people will have read, and like last season, these are the books that I enjoyed most over the last few months. They are books that I ended up having tons and tons of conversations about, not only about the specific book and stories contained within it, but the subject itself ignited conversation after conversation for me during meetings and dinner parties alike.

And this season, you’ll notice the books all kind of talk about global infrastructure: oil and gas, cars, waste, cities, and aluminum. Along with, of course, those that try to influence such assets: notably the Chinese Communist Party and Google.

This is a clear reflection of my complete disinterest in algorithms, venture capital, inflated asset prices and anything that belongs to the bullshit economy. Indeed, Season Two of The Context is all about the future that we’re building, and who is trying to influence that, in a very real and very physical sense.

Of course, it goes without saying that I hope you enjoy reading these books as much as I did! 

Season two of The Context: Part One – Boundless by Nick Kostov and Sean McLain